Tales From The Bush: A Peek Into The World Of Satpura
Here is a brief look at the book documenting the Satpura landscape and its denizens as witnessed by the Jehan Numa family over a decade and a half
by
Aly Rashid | Shivang Mehta
Tales from the Bush is an amalgamation of stories, anecdotes and wildlife encounters, as witnessed by the Jehan Numa family in the Satpura landscape. Jehan Numa’s story in Satpura started in 2009 with Reni Pani Jungle Lodge and has continued till date with the addition of Bori Safari Lodge. The book encompasses contributions from the in-house field team led by Aly Rashid, lodge guests, and experts like Shivang Mehta, Pradip Krishen, Surya Ramachandran, David Raju and Sarosh Lodhi. The book features never-seen-before visuals of Satpura, which includes a chapter titled ‘Satpura After Dark’, where camera traps have captured the elusive nocturnal wildlife of the region.
Scroll down to see some of the amazing photographs from the book. Visit the Jehan Numa website to grab your copy of Tales from the Bush.
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Satpura is a relatively new park for tourism. A lot of conservation work is still ongoing, which makes it extra special to see a growing tiger population! Photograph: Erwin DRose
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Machli, the well-known tigress, is seen chasing down an Indian Gaur. Photograph: Sarosh Lodhi
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Satpura has an abundance of Indian Gaur and Sambar Deer. Unlike other Central Indian tiger habitats, where Spotted Deer are primary prey, in Satpura, tigers regularly make gaur and sambar kills. Seen here is the Fire-line Female pulling her prized kill to safety. Photograph: Erwin DRose
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Asiatic Wild Dogs or Dholes are prolific hunters and have strength in numbers. They are perfectly capable of hunting prey much larger than them in size. Photograph: Aly Rashid
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The Sloth Bear is the only bear species in the world that carries its young on its back. Mothers will carry their cubs everywhere they go for almost six months. Photograph: Aly Rashid
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During peak summer, a Sloth Bear arrives with her cubs to quench their thirst at the watering hole in the Reni Pani Jungle Lodge campus. Photograph: Shivang Mehta Photography Team
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A leopard quenches her thirst at a watering hole, where numerous other species like the Indian Fruit Bat, Indian Scops-Owl, Indian Bullfrog and Small Indian Civet have been documented. Photograph: Shivang Mehta Photography Team
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Leopards are frequent visitors to the Reni Pani Jungle Lodge campus. Once the naturalists identified that a leopard was using the main gate to enter and exit the campus, camera traps were set up to try and capture this unique visual. It took three months to record this perfectly framed photograph of a leopard checking out from the lodge. Photograph: Shivang Mehta Photography Team
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The Rusty Spotted Cat is the world’s smallest wild cat. Seeing one, let alone photographing one, is next to impossible due to its tiny size and strictly nocturnal habits. Photograph: Shivang Mehta
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The caves of Pachmarhi, some of which have rock paintings dating back to 40,000 years, are the perfect habitat for the Satpura Leopard Gecko. This rarely seen nocturnal lizard is an endemic species of the Satpura landscape. Photograph: Shivang Mehta
Thursday, 07 September, 2023
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Aly Rashid is the Director and CEO at Jehan Numa Wilderness. Wildlife and the wilderness have been a passion for Aly ever since childhood. This passion inspired him to work with his family to set up and run Reni Pani Jungle Lodge, one of the finest wilderness lodges in India. Among other wildlife and CSR initiatives that Aly has undertaken are the ongoing camera trap studies in the reserve forest area outside the park and his work with renowned small cat expert and scientist Shekhar Kolipaka for the Caracal Research and Conservation Project in 2014. A trained naturalist and ornithologist, he has travelled across the country and has been involved with wildlife in various localities.
An international award-winning wildlife photographer and the best-selling author of ‘A Decade with Tigers' and 'Chasing Horizons: Learnings from Africa', Shivang Mehta has donned many hats in his long career, including that of a journalist and a PR professional. Shivang's love for wildlife and nature led him to begin his on-field career in the sal forests of Kumaon almost two decades ago. As a part of his company, Nature Wanderers, he has conducted over 1000 wildlife photography tours and safaris in some of the toughest terrains on the planet and has mentored over a thousand amateur photographers. Shivang also specialises in photographing rare species like the Clouded Leopard, Snow Leopard, Fishing Cat and Red Panda, to name a few. As a part of his work, he makes extensive use of technology like DSLR camera trapping and remote shooting. He is also the brand ambassador for Canon and is a Columbia Sportswear athlete. He posts as @shivang.mehta on Instagram.
