One of my favourite forms of photography using DSLR’s is to produce timelapses of everyday scenes. What’s timelapse?

As wikipedia says, “ Time-lapse photography is a cinematography technique whereby each film frame is captured at a rate much slower than it will be played back. When replayed at normal speed, time appears to be moving faster and thus lapsing. Time-lapse photography can be considered to be the opposite of high speed photography.

Processes that would normally appear subtle to the human eye, such as the motion of the sun and stars in the sky, become very pronounced. Time-lapse is the extreme version of the cinematography technique of undercranking, and can be confused with stop motion animation.”

So here’s a compilation of timelapses produced on various models of Canon DSLR’s over the various projects and years that I’ve been working in the western ghats.

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That’s right – the title does indeed read correctly. Better still, it’s his home too!! And he’s a far worthier resident of the property than I am.
Let me begin with a little history. The year was 1995. My father bought a parcel of land in the Singara region at the foothills of the Nilgiris range, deeming it to be a valuable investment. The property serves as an abode for a multitudinous array of flora and fauna, many species of which represent endemism. The estate was christened Anekaadu or “Forest of the Elephant”.
Although I always knew that tigers would thrive in such a suitable environment that consisted of a large prey base, I never made an effort to consciously track one down for 15 long years. True, I did visit the estate numerous times; however, I never looked for signs and tracks that would give me a clearer picture of a tiger’s whereabouts.
The last few months saw intensified tiger activity within the estate. The cat was almost asking me to track him down. My close friends Phillip, Vinay and Siva joined me on this expedition, and we were later joined by Sandesh and Srikanth. Nights were spent listening to the awe-inspiring call of a male tiger looking for a mate and the silence of dawn broken only by the sawing call of a leopard. It is in these winter months that big cat activity is at its height, and we were here to see what we could document.
On January 24, 2009, the four of us (Phillip, Vinay, Siva and I) were on a morning safari in Anekaadu. The sun had risen a fair amount, throwing golden light onto the land. The Nilgiri hills provided a resplendent backdrop. When, right there on the middle of the path stood a massive male tiger, golden light shining on him and providing his coat with a glistening luster. Within a split second, he got down on his haunches and went into stalk mode, staring at us with eyes that paralyzed me, causing me to surrender to him instantaneously. An apparent striped necklace draped his neck. He filled me with an awe and wonderment that’s indescribable. He stared at us for a good six to eight minutes, after which he decided he could calmly go about the rest of his day. Thus, he disappeared into the lantana bushes.

Believe people when they tell you that sighting a tiger in the wild is a monumental experience. Believe the poems and stories that put tigers on an elevated pedestal. Believe me when I say that having a wild tiger at your home is an ordeal that can provide you with goosebumps that refuse to leave you for a long, long time.

Camera traps showed that the male tiger had female companionship. A litter is inevitable. Happy mating, guys. May the Anekaadu tiger heritage become illimitable in the years to come!

Siddarth Reddy is an ardent birdwatcher and a keen naturalist with a passion to learn about the natural world around him. He enjoys writing about his travel and escapades and is a Felis Associate.

Trip Report by Abilash Mandappa

It started out with Alexander Frater’s Chasing the Monsoon. And so I’d spent the last few years chasing Cherapunji. Finally the alarm bells rang. 5: 30 a.m. Time to wake up and finally head to Cherapunji.
The taxi driver decided to remind me of that old Indian Standard Time joke. It wasn’t funny. Neither was the birdless morning and the 2 degree cold. It was surprising that I was surrounded by beautiful coniferous forests yet there wasn’t a single bird chirping me up. It seemed true that the locals did really devour all that moved. Finally I bundled into the car and started out at 8. The beginning of the journey only added more to Shillong’s size and did nothing to lift my spirits.
All that changed the moment we crossed a quintessential pretty, mountain bridge and turned the ridge. A deep valley unveiled itself, typical of Meghalaya postcards. Complete with green from grasslands and forests, right up to steep cliffs that adorned the edges. It still lacked any bird life, but the binoculars did reveal tiny houses perched in remote corners of the opposite vastness. We sped along the snake like road that clung on to the hill side, scared of falling down under. Zigging and zagging from the top of one valley, across the ridge, into another and so on. And then, the first signs of familiarity. What the books had showed, lay just off the road on the side, with the typical Indian view point. Doted by small kids selling cha, biscuits and every other knick knack that the discerning Indian family might have forgotten to bring along. However the sight beyond was anything but ordinary. The valley was beautifully shielded by two massive cliff walls that ran straight to the horizon. The valley fell snug in the middle until it opened up into the plains of Bangladesh. A few waterfalls still hung around. I could only imagine the splendour of this place, post monsoon. It was breathtaking already.
Time was moving a tad faster and I had to rush. After all the point, was my 9 0 clock appointment for river canyoning just past Cherrapunji town. It was half past 9 already. We went around the town rather than through it and soon descended another gorgeous valley. Somewhere in this vastness was the little village of Mawshomak and its big significance was the little gully that turned off to Tyrna. My date venue. Hardly 600 metres down a steep decline. The church stood proud and out. Making itself clear in the midst of a jungle of green. We were on the southern ridge of the mountain, having descended a few hundred metres.
It was here I met the guide. I had previously envisioned an ancient tribe with ancient names and was hoping to come back with one of Russel Peter’s funny names with a click in it. Meet Wesley. My 19 year old guide from the same ancient Khasi tribe. A short ride further and we started our unknowingly ardous hike.
We clambered down over 3000 steps. Cemented in the name of development. I did develop a pain in the knee. It seemed like we were going straight down. Woodpeckers did call from afar to give me some hope though on the way to the village at the bottom of the stairs. There was but little life despite the lush jungles. At the village I was further surprised as bird calls hung about the air. To my dismay I found little baskets ornately hung from the corner of each house and inside were Ashy Bulbuls. So that’s where they all went I thought.
We continued further communicating in broken English. The one of two languages my guide knew. A reminder of the richness of this jungle soon showed, with a Large Indian Civet scurrying about in the village plantation. As it disappeared the guide explained how most wildlife disappeared at the first sight of humans thanks to the rich hunting traditions. The forest and plantations played hide and seek while the only constant was a myriad of butterflies and orchids galore. Descending further, we finally came upon the river. A quiant, quiet spot that instantly relieved all the effort of having made it down. Tall mountains rose majestically on either side. A crystal clear pool lay mesmerizing between large boulders that sheltered this river. Freshening up, I readied myself for 2 hours of canyoning. Which basically entailed clambering from boulder to boulder and rock to rock all along the river.

We set out and I soon felt the magic of all my dreams culminate. This was something I’d been yearning to do. Lush jungles enveloped both sides of the bank. We couldn’t see far ahead but behind, the peaks towered over us like a lighthouse, reminding us where we had just come from. The beauty of the jungle over came the lack of wildlife it showed. Two hours of cliff hanging, wall hugging, jumping, hopping and skipping flaunted the beauty of the river far away from public eyes. We rested one last time at the end of the canyoning. And I thought of a country song. “Toes in the water, ass in the sand, not a worry in the world got a cold beer in my hand. Life is good today.” Perfect though the beer was missing. It was time to head back. Or up as i would soon find out. A wire bridge dangled dangerously over the river. Apparently it was these bridges that were the life line of these tribes. I bravely crossed mindless of the endeavours that lay ahead. Remember those majestic mountains that rose on either side. Well we were headed straight up over 6000 old stone steps. I gave up counting after a few hundred. More because I was out of breath and out of shape. Keeping my eyes down I chanced upon my biggest find of the trip. Scat. Never in my life would I have thought I would be so excited to see signs of scat. Or poop. Or shit. But the couple of samples I spotted was a good indicator at the wildlife these jungles houses. Mysterious cats seemed to thrive here. Though a chance encounter would not materialize immediately.     And so I huffed and puffed, slowly but surely all the way to the top. Over 2 hours and over 6000 steps. I rested atop the stairs, surrounded by lush jungle, as it slowly faded into the horizon. The mighty Khasi hills with all its secrets lay before my eyes. It sure felt great to be chasing dreams.

Abilash is a writer/photographer and is currently working as an intern with Felis. At the moment he is exploring the wilds of Arunachal Pradesh.

We’ve been waiting and waiting and waiting to launch Felis Creations’ own online nature and wildlife channel for a while, but there was always a good excuse to not launch it… no time, not enough content, yadayadayada… But now with 2010 having rolled in, we figured there’s no point in simply waiting. So here it is – FelisTV.

A good bit of content has been added here already – everything from educational videos produced for the Gorgas Science Foundation’s outreach program to clips of Indian wildlife and excerpts from the latest documentary programs we’ve been busy working on. Every month we are going to attempt to upload a new video related to nature – some may be a bit boring…. but educational and some fun but pointless. We appreciate your patronage, comments and feedback and look forward to actively uploading videos that will help inspire people to help conserve the beautiful and wondrous natural world around us, thereby living up to the company’s motto – We Create to Conserve!

In the latest video, we’ve put together a showreel of sorts combining footage from the latest films and travel. Showreel edited by Chinmay Rane.

JAN 08, 2009. FRIDAY.

BANDIPUR NATIONAL PARK

On a nice bright afternoon, I set out at 4pm on a game ride. We took the Reception Road and with in 5 mins of being on the game ride, my guide received a phone call that another group had seen a tiger on the other side of the park. We continued on with the ride and wanted to just get close to the area where the tiger was spotted. 15 mins later on, our jeep driver brakes the vehicle to a grinding halt and exclaims TIGER! TIGER! I pop my head out of the vehicle and try to spot the tiger in the direction that he was pointing. I look into all the far away bushes and openings, I couldnt see it! Until a movement very close to the jeep caught my attention. The tiger was sitting at about 15 ft away from the vehicle, in a slushy depression on the ground. The tiger was too close for my big lens, so had to change to a smaller one. This was the tourist friendly Big male tiger of Bandipur – Agasthya!

The depression he was sitting had some water and this had formed into a thick black slush because of the black soil around. I initially thought that the tiger was just cooling of the heat, but why this hole when there were many inviting bigger water holes near by? I really couldn’t make out what the tiger was doing with his head down in the pit. When I  saw the big black patches on his mouth,  I realized that he was slurping up the slush and soaking in it too. I was informed by the Guide that this tiger had a wound in its front paw and was last seen 15days ago with a bad limp. He got up and walked away after being in the pit for nearly 20 minutes, without any signs of a limp.

Was this tiger eating mud to heal its body or make up for some mineral deficiency or some intestinal disorder??

The guides with me were quite well informed and were able to predict where we would be able to catch him next, when he disappeared into the bushes. We spent an amazing 2 and half hours with the tiger – tracking, spotting and Clicking!! I ended up with some 400 images and 4 GB of HD videos!

DEC 18TH 2009, FRIDAY.

Its over 6 months since having gone out into the jungles or using  my cameras. Work and extended monsoon has kept me away from the jungles and I am very glad to be in the outdoors again.

A quick trip in the weekend to Bandipur and Nagarhole. It was the first day of my daughters Christmas holidays, and Ruthu accompanied me on this trip.

It is December and its Winter in the South Indian jungles. Chilly and Misty early mornings in the forests can be quite enchanting. This year has been very different – ITS STILL WARM AND ITS RAINING!! Does anybody why this is happening??

I only hope that the world leaders can work together and drawup a workable strategy to reverse the changing weather patterns and ofcourse we all, as  citizens of the world humbly contribute to Conserve and Preserve all forms  of our diminishing Natural resources.

We were quite lucky to see the beautiful Lady of the Bandipur forests. Tigress Ganga!

When she saw first saw us, she immediately walked  off the jeep track and into the bushes. She is quite a shy tigress and it was only because of the expertise of the accompanying guide that we were able to predict the route that she would use on her evening stroll. We had a good 12 minutes with this tigress and on one occasion she walked very close to the jeep. It was a very nice experience to see a tiger upclose in a South Indian jungle and cant mention Ruthus excitement.

We were told about a Big male tiger called Agasthya who roams around in the same area and is extremely tourist friendly. There is also another tigress called Gowri. Dont you all think that naming the wild tigers is a good idea? This should help effectively keep a track of various individuals.

Bandipur National park in the last two or three years is very frequent Tiger sightings. Well managed clearing of the undergrowth and also the Tigers becoming tourist friendly has helped this. The national highway that runs through the park is now closed for traffic in the night, which should further help animal movement and drastically bring down road kills.

It’s the weekend coming up and I’m sure everyone has one thing on their mind – to Get the Hell Away… Away from the hustle and bustle of traffic and the maze of bureaucracy and hypocrisy… and go far enough away to not have to deal with any of it… well, at least for the weekend.

Enter – The All New Mahindra Scorpio Getaway, the perfect vehicle to get you out there… away from it ALL (actually it’s not really new – it was released on Indian roads about a year ago) but anyhow… Well in advance I knew after having worked in the field for many years, this was the vehicle that would have to be a substitute for my dream vehicle – The Toyota Hi-Lux 4WD.

Well, this, is Mahindra’s answer to the Toyota Hi-lux. It’s got all the bells and whistles, but more importantly it’s inside engine capability and it’s outside appearance and performance fall only a long tad short of the Hi-lux. In attention to small detail and user usability the Hi-lux of course maintains higher ground and I wish Mahindra would pay more attention to the little things, rather than focus on thoughtless improvements like the irritating audio system, which reminds you every time you switch off and on the vehicle, “please wear your seat belt for a safe drive” Took me forever to figure out how to shut that off, because in the field you are always starting and stopping, and it’s not the nicest thing to be hearing when you are in the midst of an otherwise quiet jungle.

Whoever named the Getaway must’ve been a Lenny Kravitz fan and probably drew some inspiration from the song – Fly away

I wish that I could fly,
into the sky, so very high.
Just like a drangonfly.
I’d fly above the trees,
over the seas, in all degrees.
To anywhere I please.
Oh,

I want to get away.
I wanna fly away. (yeah, yeah, yeah)
I want to get away.

I would work up a full report, on the vehicle, but for now, this will have to suffice… More about it later.

The video was edited by Chinmay Rane, who is the newest member on board the Felis team. Well done Chinmay!

Marketing hasn’t been our strongest forte, but we do finally have the coffee-table book about India’s Western Ghats available for purchase from Amazon. If you know anyone who may be interested in purchasing a copy please do forward this link on to them and if you do buy a book from the store, please do fill up the customer reviews to help give the book a ranking of sorts.

Cover image of book

Gorgas Science Foundation has set up a storefront on Amazon and the books/DVD are available for purchase directly from GSF or from Amazon. Soon more items will become available on this store-front, so please do bookmark for future reference.

Many thanks for your support!

Sandesh

For those of you in the United States, check out NG channel this Saturday at 7PM and watch King Cobras from the comfort and safety of your television screens! We spent nearly a year documenting the natural history and behavior of King Cobras in the wild at Agumbe. Our base camp – Agumbe Rainforest Research Station. Here, Romulus Whitaker and Gowrishankar along with Matt Goode and a team of volunteers are at the forefront of King Cobra research in an effort to help conserve this incredible species. Watch this documentary to find out more about the on-going research work and learn about King Cobras in the wild!

Brief Synopsis: He is the king of serpents: Unblinking, hypnotic, deadly, and hungry for his own kind. The king cobra, the largest venomous snake in the world, is powerful enough to kill a full-grown elephant… and yet we know almost nothing about it. Fortunately, that’s about to change.

Watch the trailer:

The SECRET LIFE of the KING is an unprecedented journey into the natural history of the wild King Cobra following them into their world revealing what they do, where they go, and who they interact with, when we are not around. And surprisingly, the people of India are very much a part of the story. Early evidence suggests that kings might be more intertwined with humans than previously thought, making this project more important than ever. Its a close and personal look into the secret life of the King and the best chance we have of ensuring the survival of this legendary snake.

I can’t believe that it’s already been two months since I left India. I haven’t made any blog updates and hardly any FB updates either! This doesn’t mean I haven’t been doing anything, it just means that too much is going on that I wouldn’t even know where to start…

The highlight of my visit back to the US so far has been the visit to Boston and DC and screening of The Mountains of the Monsoon at the Baird auditorium in the Smithsonian Museum – The premiere Natural History Museum in the United States. I don’t know if you’ve watched the second part of Night at the Museum with Ben Stiller – I haven’t, but I’m going to go watch it tonight!

Kamal Bawa – Distinguished Professor from the University of Massachusetts and Founder of ATREE – Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, spoke about biodiversity hotspots and in particular about the Western Ghats and the need for conservation across this critical landscape.

Professor Bawa’s talk was then followed by Cristina Mittermeier, Founder of the International League of Conservation Photographers who spoke about the importance of using images to help further conservation. The ILCP is at the front line of spreading conservation through education in particular through the use of imagery.  Watch the video – ILCP

Cristina Mittermeier - Founder of the International League of Conservation Photographers

And after that, the last and least accomplished – myself, did a quick behind the scenes introduction into the making of the documentary which included bits and pieces of everything from bloody leeches to elephants up-close.  This was followed by the screening of the BBC/Animal Planet documentary – The Mountains of the Monsoon. The auditorium had a lovely new projector so even though we played through a DVD, the image looked almost HD, just because the projection was so good. Anyhow, all in all the event turned out quite well and I’d like to thank all who were there, ATREE, ILCP, the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and in particular to Debbie Rothberg who helped pull it all together at such short notice!