Daroji Bear Sanctuary

Visiting Daroji Sloth Bear Sanctuary had been on our long standing wish list of places to visit, but it somehow never materialized. Thus when the Sloth Bear Foundation announced the Karnataka birders meet on 15-16 December, we knew we couldn’t miss this opportunity. The intent of the meet was to increase the awareness of the place and to let people experience the wonders it has to offer.

Yellow Eyed Babbler	Painted Spurfowl

The trip did live up to our expectations and probably a lot more. The rocky terrain of Daroji provides an excellent habitat for the Sloth bear amongst other animal and bird species. It also provided fantastic photographing opportunities. We got to meet and interact with a number seasoned bird watchers and naturalists. The group was very diverse both in terms of the age of the participants as well as their bird watching experience.

Jungle Babbler	Grey Francolin

We had great sightings of the Painted Spurfowl, Grey Francolins, Jungle Bush Quail, Peafowls, Jungle Babblers, Yellow-eyed Babblers, Lesser White-throat Warbler, Chestnut-shouldered Petronia and scores of other birds. Mammals sighted include the Sloth Bear, Mongoose, Wild-boar and the Black-naped hare.

 

Little Brown Dove	Brahminy Starling

We had a short visit to Hampi and its surrounding areas, which provided good sightings of the many birds including the Yellow-throated Bulbul, Plum-headed Parakeet and White Wagtail. Due to time constraints, we could hardly spend any time in the Hampi ruins which are fantastic and warrant another visit just for their exploration.

 

Jungle Babblers Feeding	Yellow Eyed Babblers

Daroji is surely a wonderful place to visit, both to experience the wildlife in the sanctuary as well as to enjoy the beauty of the surrounding Hampi. For more information on the approach to the place and accomodation, please visit the official Daroji website at www.karnataka.com/slothbear/