Author: Ravi Kailas (ficustours@gmail.com) Dates 23rd Feb to 8th March 2025 Locations Visited Kakaijona; Manas NP; Eaglenest WLS; Kaziranga NP and Hollongappar Gibbon WLS Tour Participants Clients: Jannis Göttling and Heike Göttling Naturalist: Ravi Kailas A natural history oriented visit to the Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary and the Assam Plains produced 31 species of identifiable mammalsContinue reading “Primates, Mainland Leopard Cat and Flying Squirrels aplenty: Eaglenest and Assam, Spring 2025”
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Endemic Mammals and Birds: Western Ghats, February 2025
Author: Ravi Kailas (ficustours@gmail.com) Dates 1st to 11th Feb 2025 Locations Visited Valaparai (Anamalai Tiger Reserve); Chinnar WLS; Eravikulam WLS (and surroundings); Thekkady (Periyar Tiger Reserve) Tour Participants Clients: James and Jill Hammersley Naturalist: Ravi Kailas A 10 night visit to the southern Western Ghats turned out to be interesting for a gamut of itsContinue reading “Endemic Mammals and Birds: Western Ghats, February 2025”
Endemic Primates, Brown Palm Civet and More: Western Ghats, January 2025
Author: Ravi Kailas (ficustours@gmail.com) Dates 26th to 31st January 2025 Locations Visited Valparai (Anamalai Tiger Reserve); Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary; Eravikulam National Park (and surroundings) Tour Participants Clients: Elias Filho, Flavio Coutrin, Ana Camargo, Waldir Carvalho, Monica Vale and Milton Filho Naturalists: Ravi Kailas and Ganesh Ramachandran A brief, mammal-watching focussed effort in the southern WesternContinue reading “Endemic Primates, Brown Palm Civet and More: Western Ghats, January 2025”
Asiatic Lion, Indian Wolf and More, November 2024, Trip Report
Author: Ravi Kailas (ficustours@gmail.com) Dates 11th to 15th November 2024 Locations Visited Gir National Park; Blackbuck National Park Velavadar Tour Participants Guests: Mai Phúóng and Martin Walsh Naturalist: Ravi Kailas (with invaluable assistance from Amit at Velavadar) These are highlights from a portion of trip that I guided, primarily in Gir NP, and for oneContinue reading “Asiatic Lion, Indian Wolf and More, November 2024, Trip Report”
Brown Palm Civet, Brown Mongoose and Lion-tailed Macaque: Western Ghats Feb 2024
Author: Ravi Kailas (ficustours@gmail.com) A brief mammal-watching oriented visit to the southern Western Ghats produced 27 species of mammals, including many of the ecoregion’s specialities, namely Lion-tailed Macaque, Nilgiri Langur, Nilgiri Tahr, Brown Palm Civet, Nilgiri Striped Squirrel and Brown Mongoose (seen only by me and Kumaraswamy). Sightings also included Leopard, Gaur, Indian Chevrotain, NilgiriContinue reading “Brown Palm Civet, Brown Mongoose and Lion-tailed Macaque: Western Ghats Feb 2024”
Lion-tailed Macaque, Indian Porcupine and Wayanad Laughingthrush, Western Ghats, Feb 2024: Trip Report
Author: Ravi Kailas (ficustours@gmail.com) Dates 1st to 5th February 2024 Participants Client: Hugh Lansdown (For a trip report from Hugh Lansdown and for much other interesting content please follow this link which leads to his informative website with quality wildlife images and reports from across the globe) Naturalist: Ravi Kailas Locations Visited Kabini (Nagarhole TigerContinue reading “Lion-tailed Macaque, Indian Porcupine and Wayanad Laughingthrush, Western Ghats, Feb 2024: Trip Report”
Western and Central India Dec 2023 – raining cats and dogs: Trip Report
Pictures: Jannis Göttling Text: Ravi Kailas (ficustours@gmail.com) A natural history oriented guided tour to Western (primarily) and Central (an aside) India, proved extremely productive for the diversity (and quality of sightings) of mammals and birds, many of them regional specialities and on the pre-tour wish list. Asiatic Wild Cat, Tiger, Leopard, Asiatic Lion, Indian Wolf,Continue reading “Western and Central India Dec 2023 – raining cats and dogs: Trip Report”
One Spring morning at NYC’s Central Park
Author: Ravi Kailas Having missed several opportunities to get the best of Spring migration birding when I lived in the US in the early 2000s, I was very keen to experience at least one hotspot, when I visited in April this year. Sadly, I could only dedicate a couple of hours one early April morningContinue reading “One Spring morning at NYC’s Central Park”
Striped Hyena, Indian Wolf and Asiatic Lion, Gujarat, Feb 2023: Trip Report
Author: Ravi Kailas (ficustours@gmail.com) Dates 16th to 22rd March 2023 Itinerary Outline Day 1, Wild Ass Sanctuary, Little Rann of Kutch Days 2, 3 & 4, Blackbuck National Park, Velavadar Days 5 & 6, Gir National Park Day 7, Transfer from Rajkot Airport Tour Participants Anand Ramesh, Ramesh Venkateswaran and Padmini Ramesh – very keenContinue reading “Striped Hyena, Indian Wolf and Asiatic Lion, Gujarat, Feb 2023: Trip Report”
Endemics and Megafauna, Western Ghats Winter 2023: Trip summary
Author: Ravi Kailas Dates 20th January to 4th Feb 2024 Participants John Wright, Karen Baker, Philip Telfer and Mark Bibby Guides Ravi Kailas and Ganesh Ramachandran Itinerary Outline Day 1: Galibore (Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary). Transfer from Bangalore AirportDays 2 to 5: Kabini (Nagarhole National Park). Days 5 to 7: Bandipur Tiger ReserveDays 7 to 10:Continue reading “Endemics and Megafauna, Western Ghats Winter 2023: Trip summary”
Ficus Wildlife and Natural History Tours 