The Bera Safari Lodge is in the heart of the jawai leopard sanctuary. there are 50+ leopards in the region and the 'boutique' lodge has just 5 cottages with outside seating areas from where we're told you can occasionally view a leopard. I think its more true to say you can view the mountains/hills where the leopards live! The area was awarded Conservation Status in 2013 but apparently there are now moves afoot to allow more stone mining quarries in the area which will have a detrimental effect on the wildlife.
Quite basic but large and comfortable enough with 2 bathrooms and a nice terrace all round.
Our host is a keen conservationist and
has worked with David Attenborough on documentaries about the
leopards of India.
This area is one where the leopards
live in reasonable harmony with the local humans. In some areas
villagers put out poisoned bait to kill the tigers to prevent loss of
their livestock. The Government does have a compensation scheme
whereby it pays a sum to the villager/shepherd for each goat/sheep
loss but this amount is equivalent to around 75% of a fat healthy
specimen and must be supported by photographic evidence. As most
villagers don't have cameras or phones capable of taking photos our
host and his team have an arrangement whereby they will photograph
any kills and take the evidence to the police to facilitate fast
compensation payment so everyone is happy. Apparently its common
for the villagers to put out older/non productive animals (the
weakest) which wouldn't have a big market value so when they get
taken by leopards the compensation is more than the worth of the poor
sacrificial animal!
The drive here took just over 2 hours and we
were given lunch immediately and told to be ready for the first
'leopard seeking' drive leaving at 3.30pm. There were two other
guests, a lovely French couple and we were allocated different jeeps
heading for different sites on the basis that whoever saw a leopard
first would contact the other driver/jeep. In the event neither of
us spotted leopards. Are going to be very disapppointed? On a previous trip we went in search of tigers. All we saw was a mark in the sand which the guide said was from a tiger - or his shoe, we thought.
We were joined in our jeep by the
cousin of our host who was visiting for the afternoon. He spoke
perfect English so was able to explain things along the way as our
driver/spotter had limited English. The terrain here is amazing –
its kind of volcanic with huge granite 'boulders' which were pushed
out of the sea to form hills and mountains of varying sizes and
strange shapes.
Our driver/spotter was very gung-ho
racing the jeep forwards and backwards over seemingly impossible
routes to obtain height so we'd get a decent view of the caves where
leopards are known to go (they change their dwellings every couple of
days apparently). Even David's faced paled a couple of times when
he saw the rockfaces the driver intended taking!
I was seriously annoyed as we sped past
a fabulous Eagle Owl who was perched on a rock (shoulder high) about
2 yards from our jeep but we whizzed past at such speed by the time
the driver reacted to my shout for him to stop we were way past and
had to reverse back so the owl took off for a perch much further
away. It would have been a fabulous shot …. and the highlight of
my evening drive!
This is the 'poor' shot we ended up with
After two hours of driving round and
round the cave sites it became dark but our spotter wouldn't give up
and we spent a further 2 hours driving in the dark with him using a
large flashlight to highlight the terrain and spot the glow of feline
eyes. Eventually we were rewarded with twin 'headlights' as his
light picked up the eyes of a leopard … it was so dark we couldn't
see the animal itself
We were absolutely frozen and I was
very uncomfortable having started a grotty cold yesterday with
streaming eyes/nose and not really relishing being bounced all over
the place. We'd been told to wear warm clothing but nothing
prepared for us how cold we would feel when the driver was speeding
along in the open jeep. Every time I thought he'd give up and go
back to camp he decided to take yet another look ….. until I was
ready to throttle him (and David felt the same)
But, to give him his due, our
driver/spotter did spot a nightjar on the track and I managed to get
a couple of photos of it. I've never seen one before. It looks quite amazing in flight.
It took 3 glasses of rum sitting round
the campfire afterwards to thaw out!
Such an adventure !
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