Travel Reports

I returned home at the end of August from the west coast of the USA having spent time in Katmai National Park photographing the Brown (Grizzly) bears.  They were concentrating their efforts trying to catch Pacific salmon, which make their way up the rivers and streams to spawn.  Each year the salmon attempt this hazardous journey to return to their place of birth where the female lays her eggs - these are fertilized by the males before both sexes die from exhaustion after their arduo ...

I arrived at Bandhavgarh on 22 May with the main objective to photograph the Jhurjura tigress together with her three cubs (about 6 month old).  However, on arrival I was told that on the evening of the 18 May persons had illegally entered the park for a "night drive" and had mortally wounded the tigress by repeatedly hitting her with the vehicle in which they were travelling. At the time of writing this report, the tragic event is under investigation by the relevant authorities ...

I have just returned from a successful visit to Ranthambhore national park - it is early April 2010.  My trip was over a period of twenty days from the latter part of March.  Leaving cold and wet England I was happy to be heading to the warmth and looking forward to catching up with the tigers of India.  On this occasion, I photographed eight different tigers and talking to my guide I was able to update myself with news of those that I had seen before and newcomers!  Machal ...

I returned home from India on 4 November having spent almost three weeks travelling within the tiger reserves of Pench, Kanha and Bandhavgarh.  My journey commenced at Pench where I remained for three days.  The National Park is located in the Seoni and Chindwara districts of Madyha Pradesh and the beautiful park area is a blend of both dry and moist deciduous and tropical forest with the Pench River meandering through the entire 757 sq km stretch of the reserve.  Unfortunately, ...

I returned from the Arctic at the end of June 2009 having spent eleven days on the Russian ship, Vavilov, travelling the archipelago of Svalbard.  The journey was mainly to try and photograph wildlife-polar bears, walruses, seals and birdlife which included King Eider, Kittiwakes, Guillemots, Little Auks, Northern Fulmer, Puffins, Purple Sandpipers and more.  The scenery was stunning with vast glaciers, frozen pack ice and blue sky.  The twenty-four hour daylight also puts a ver ...

My Spring 2009 trip to the national park of Ranthambhore did not disappoint with tiger sightings most days during my two week stay.  However, this visit was tainted by tragedy and sadness.  A tigress I had seen on numerous occasions was killed on the night of the 3 April.  Conflict with a large male tiger proved fatal.  On the 2 April, during an early morning search, my guide and I discovered the tigress as Bakola; it was clear that she was in discomfort and limping ba ...

On 7 June I returned to Ranthambhore and during the morning on my first safari I was fortunate to find one of the three sub-adult cubs living in Kachida Valley.  It was a young male tiger cooling himself in the same pool where I had seen him last April with his mother and two other siblings.  The following day was spent at the Ranthambhore lakes where I was able to photograph one of the three female cubs born to 'Machali' about two years ago.  The young tigress looked so ...

I returned to India on the 22 April visiting Ranthambhore and Corbett National Parks.  At Ranthambhore I was very pleased to catch up with Machali, the tigress, whose life I have been following for a number of years.  Last June I saw her with three nine month old female cubs and I am happy to report that now being approximately twenty months old they are well and strong and beginning to become a little independent of their mother.  On one occasion at Nalghati, Machali and two of ...