Some great links on wolves . . .

Interesting Facts And Stories About The Wolf. (article)

Alaskan Wolves. (article)

The Grey Wolf. (Wikipedia page). Largest of the wolves.

Eurasian Wolf . (Wikipedia page), sub-species of the grey wolf.

Red Wolf. (Wikipedia page). Lives in southern US.

Arctic Wolf. (Wikipedia page). Another sub-species of Grey Wolf.

Eastern Wolf. (Wikipedia page). Probably a distinct species, related to the red wolf.

(Click on an image for more details) . . .

An amazing wolf photo, the intense gaze of the wolf

appearing from out of the dark birch forest, so well camoflaged

and at home in its wilderness. Wise and wild yet somehow gentle.

A grey wolf among the silver birches and the white of the snow,

focussed and alert yet calm and in control.

Three powerful and beautiful wolves gazing with focussed intensity

their fur black, cream and almost orange, keeping them hidden among the

shadows of the winter forest.

The hidden wolf, almost unseen in the habitat it is so perfectly adapted to.

It’s colors matching the bark of the trees of the forest, it’s ability to see

without being seen. Powerful and mysterious, wise and elusive in its wilderness home.

Bright with intelligence, the focussed gaze of the wise wolf in winter.

The timber wolf moving through the winter forest, intensely aware of

its environment, at home in its endless wilderness.

The strange white wolves of the arctic, aloof and distant in their frozen home.

A tall slim wolf in its winter wilderness, infinitely varying grays of its fur

against the cool white of the snow.

The intense but calm gaze of the wolf, warm in its beautiful fur,

at home in the endless northern forests.

Agression and warning, the intensity of its gaze an expression of

the power of its determination for survival and freedom.

A relaxed family group of pale wolves, so comfortable in each others company.

The alert gaze of the proud wolf, the beauty of its long fur

expressing the health and vitality of its ability to survive

in the winter wilderness.

The face of the wolf . . . intense yet calm, focussed yet aware of everything.

The dark wolf, supreme hunter of the northern forests.

Focussed curiosity and intelligence, supreme survival ability.

A tender moment between confirming the togetherness of the pack.

Gray wolf in a gray land.

Gazing from between the birches, clever and curious, able and alert.

The howl in the wilderness, the sound of the wild.

A powerful presense rarely seen in its winter wilderness.

Pale grays against the cool snow, self-reliant pride in its wild life.

White wolf in the vast gray wilderness.

Black wolfs gaze . . . nothing escapes the intelligence behind those eyes.

Pacing the wild beach in prefect step with each other,

wolf-shadows gray on the untouched sand.

Wolf on the prowl, no escape.

The alert wolf mother ready to defend her pup.

Wolf springs . . . focussed and aware in the perfect grace of its instinctual flow.

In May 2006 I experienced my most memorable wildlife trip yet, which was an amazing trip to Ranthambore National Park in Rajastan, north-west India. This park is famous as being one of the best places in the world to see wild tigers, and the tigers and other wildlife there have been the stars of many TV programmes. However the experience of Ranthambore was for me about much more than the tigers . . . my trip to Ranthambore would have been well worth the time and effort of going there even if I’d not seen any tigers.

The Ranthambore National Park is one of the largest and most famous national parks in northern India. It is about two hours by comfortable airconditioned train (or about seven hours by local bus which gives one a more in-depth experience of local villages etc. as well as being cheaper) from the popular tourist destination of Jaipur (where the closest airport is). Jaipur (known for the red city with the famous palace, and semi-precious stone trading) is in the province of Rajasthan which is one of India’s most popular tourist destinations. There are a variety of hotels in the road leading to the national park, of varying prices and quality, all of which can organise you onto a safari either on a shared open-top vehicle carrying about 20 people (which I enjoyed) or in smaller groups on a jeep. One of the advantages of going in the larger group vehicles, is that you might meet experts who can be a wonderful source of information . . . I very much enjoyed talking to a bird expert on one of my trips there.

This National park was formed in 1955, officially became a national park in 1980, and then was enlarged in 1984 to cover an area of 392 square kilometers. Poaching and other human-related problems decreased the tiger population from 44 in 1982, to only 24 when I was there in 2006 . The good news is that the tiger population is now on the increase, with 14 cubs sighted in 2008.

The season I visited the park was towards the end of the dry season a few weeks before the monsoons were due to begin. The season was obvious from the state of the vegetation in the park, which was mostly dry and yellow. The atmosphere of the park was truly amazing . . . a wonderfully evocotive taste of “old India”. Despite being with a group of about twenty people, I could percieve that aprt from the groups of tourists there were very few people for many miles in any direction, which was a huge contrast to most of India which is heavily populated.

During the first safari I did into Ranthambore, I didn’t see any tigers, but the experience was still very well worth going. The second safari (safari’s are for a few hours either just after dawn, or just before sunset, the rest of the day being uncomfortably hot) I glimpsed a tiger down in a shallow cave from about twenty meters away. Then near the beginning of the third trip the guide got a message that tigers had been spotted on a kill, and we drove off towards them. We stopped about twenty meters away from a mother tiger and her adult cub on a sambar deer they’d recently killed just off the edge of the track!! Then as I watched, her other adult cub joined them . . . we watched for about fourty minutes in total. It was truly amazing, watching these 3 wild tigers so close to us, going about their lives as if we weren’t there. A year later I saw those same cubs on a TV documentary . . . I’m so glad I went there and saw them for myself.

The concept of tigers so close was a scary one in some ways because we were in an open-topped vehicle and the guides don’t carry guns, so if the tigers had wanted to suppliment their diet with one of us, there would have been nothing at all to stop them! Actually, the only time the tigers paid us any attention at all was when one of the tourists used a flash on their camera (after being told not to) which drew a quick snarl and a moment of intenesly focussed attention from one tiger, which was fascinating to watch . . . the tiger focussed totally in that direction, powerful and alert.

The whole scene was just amazing with these 3 tigers feasting on their kill just by the side of the track and a one of a troup of langur monkeys screaming their warning call at them from the top of a short tree just opposite. The dry trees, sparse vegetation and the scents of dust and forest in our nostrils. Then the sureal addition of a jeep and two open-topped vehicles full of tourists watching them and constantly taking photos. The tigers seem very well used to humans and mostly ignored the presense of us and the vehicle, even when we slowly drove past them . . . at one point I was only about fourmeters away from these magnificant wild tigers. A truly memorable experience

The three tigers I saw, later featured in a TV programme that I saw . . . it was fascinating to see the same beautiful and powerful animals in more detail and from a different perspective. But being there myself was still incompararbly better than seeing them on TV, because of the whole atmosphere and ambience that the direct experience conveys.

I did one more safari after that . . . the Indian hotel staff could’t understand why I went back again because the concept of taking snap-shots of a tiger was what they related to as “the tourist experience”, where as I was thoroughly entranced by the whole atmosphere of the park, and interested in far more than the tigers however amazing they were.

There are more than 270 species of birds in that one park alone . . . we saw a wide variety of them, including a male paradise flycatcher flying nearby . . . a gorgeous pale powdery-blue bird with it’s feathery tail many times as long as its small body. We also saw vultures and, near the few sources of water, a great variety of small birds including a green wren-like bird and many other beautiful and exotic species. Peacocks were also a common, and very evocative wildlife experience in Ranthambore, and shockingly resplendant in their bright plumage among the dull earthy browns and ochres of the dried-out park. On one of my trips, a bird expert from a nearby city in India was among the tourists, and happy to provide details of all the birds we saw which added an interesting intellectual element to the raw experience.

Another time we spent a while looking at a leopard sillhouetted on the top of a cliff . . . rather a long way away but still clearly visible and wonderful to see. The most commonly sighted mammals in the park are deer, mostly chital (spotted deer, which are India’s most common deer) and the larger sambar.

Langur monkeys (which often associate with spotted deer for mutual protection) are also very common there and powerfully evocotive of the exotic oriental atmosphere I loved so much. Also notable in Ranthambore are the banyan trees, so characteristic of tropical Asia, with their many contacts with the ground and rope-like branches intertwined and sometimes growing through each other to create a fascinating and beautiful latticework.

Crocodiles were common in the lakes, as were egrets and other birds around the edges, and some of the old red-stone buildings of the Ranthambore palace which the park was named after, which added ethnic elements to the gorgeous scenery.

We saw a Jackal by the side of the track and watched it for a while . . . watching wildlife is similar to what someone said about wars . . . long periods of inactivity with very occasional dramas! Still, just being in the evocotive ambience of the park was a wonderous experience for me. We also briefly spotted a mongoose and Indian gazelle.

The guides who work at the park were generally excellent (although years ago one park staff was involved in tiger poaching, but all the staff I met were very good), and obviously cared deeply about the park and the wildllife in it, and it seems to me that paying the entrance fee to the park helps contribute to the continual upkeep of such a spectacular and immensely valuable wildlife resource for the world today. In my observation, the tourists in the park had little detrimental effect on the wildlife which generally almost ignored us.

I recommend this trip very highly to anyone with an interest in wildlife photography, wildlife art, or wildlife and nature in general.

(Additional source :- Wikipedia)