Five Wildlife Sightings You Can Expect Without Going on Safari

Published on: 08/07/2024

Rusty-spotted cat on a log looking at the viewer.

Photo title: Rusty Spotted Cat

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Photo Credits: Gowri Subramanya

Safaris are all about expecting the unexpected, and when we travel to a jungle, our minds are full of anticipation of happy surprise encounters with elephants and leopards. But a jungle is much more than its Big Five. Some of my best moments in the jungle involved some of the lesser-known creatures. I have had a few exciting and surprisingly close encounters with wildlife in Kabini outside the gates of the National Park, while on a nature walk or a drive on the village roads.

Here are five animals you can expect to see, if you step outdoors and keep your eyes peeled for wildlife:

Golden Jackal

Unlike bigger predators, jackals are not averse to scouring the edges of forests, for rodents and birds or sneaking around village borders scavenging for garbage. I suspect people see them more often than they know because it is so easy to mistake them for dogs, as I almost did when I was walking around the resort one foggy morning looking for francolins when I chanced on a pair of curious canine faces watching me from a distance. As soon as our eyes met, they turned their backs. My initial impression was that they were stray dogs, but my handy camera helped confirm they were indeed jackals.

Mongoose

Kabini claims to be home to the largest Asiatic mongoose species – the stripe-necked mongoose. The large reddish-brown mongoose moves about in pairs but I have only ever seen it in the deepest parts of the jungle, most notably around the backwaters. They seem to have a particular fondness for elephant dung where they dig out beetles from, so I usually scan around for mongooses when there is an elephant around.

That said, the most likely mongoose species we see outside the National Park are the Indian Grey Mongoose and the Ruddy Mongoose (almost similar with a black tip to the tail that is always upturned). The great thing about spotting a pair of Mongoose on an open field is that they are rarely startled and don’t just vanish. Their incredible fearlessness makes them carry on with equanimity whatever it is they are doing, regardless of being spotted.

Two jackals walking through sunlit grass.

Photo title: Ravan - Hazara Rama Temple

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Photo Credits: Vikram Nanjappa

Black-naped Hare

Commonly out in the wilderness before sunrise or after dark, hares do a great job of staying hidden. Every predator we know – jackals, dogs, wild and feral, cats, big and small, mongoose and raptors – are on their heels, waiting to make a quick meal of them. Yet, I have managed to see a hare almost on every trip to Kabini, sometimes darting out from one side of the road, making a mad dash to the other, and sometimes sprinting along the road for a few seconds before disappearing into thickets. On a rare occasion, I noticed an empty nest of sticks on the ground (unlike rabbits that burrow, hares build nests) and an alarmed face twitching its nose, nervously watching from under a shrub.

Small Cats

The Nilgiri Biosphere is home to many small predators and more cat species than we are normally aware of – but most of them are nocturnal and seeing them in their natural habitat is like finding the proverbial needle in a haystack. Jungle cats are one of the more commonly uncommon small cat species that can show up on the fringes of the forest and can be told easily from a common domestic cat. Sandy brown, with long legs that have black ‘arm band’ like marks, and pointed ears, they are slightly bigger than regular cats, although much leaner.

The world’s smallest cat species the Rusty spotted cat, however, is barely different from a regular tabby, at least at the first glance. And that is the cat we are likelier to spot than others, but it is also equally likely that we are none the wiser even after having seen them sitting next to a bundle of hay, thinking you must be looking at a house kitten.

Monitor Lizard

Peeking out of holes in trees or climbing them, monitor lizards camouflage exceptionally well against trees and dead logs. Although they are becoming rarer around villages, as they are readily hounded by humans, it is still not uncommon to sight them around the edges of forests or water.

Of course, this is not a list of ‘guaranteed sightings’, because as everyone knows, nothing is guaranteed in the wild. But not all sightings happen from a jeep -- what fun to know that and add it to our anticipation list! After all, half the excitement of going to a jungle is in the anticipation!

Gowri Subramanya

Gowri Subramanya is an editor and learning consultant based in Bengaluru, India. Writing and photography are her chosen tools of creative expression and the wilderness is her muse. A keen observer of the interaction between nature and culture, she loves to explore the history as well as the natural history of new places during her travels. With a soft spot for bird songs and a weakness for flowers, she indulges in a healthy dose of tree gazing every morning.

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Five Wildlife Sightings You Can Expect Without Going on Safari

Gowri Subramanya