Was Karazinga an amazing experience wildlife-wise (clearly it was in terms of rhinos!), Pertinax?
There was a National Geographic article on it a few years ago about how it is one of the only places left where you can see wild Asian elephants, rhinos, tigers, etc. in one place. I'd love to see it some day.
Yes, its pretty good (understatement maybe). But because it is very flat and vast, you don't necessarily get the feeling of 'teeming' wildlife all the time. Its mostly floodplain grassland,comprising tall elephantgrass and interspersed with small pockets of forest. The Rhinos are probably one of the most evident animals (there are about 1600 of them, or there were then) and they are well distributed in most parts of the park- its divided into west, central and eastern sectors- they are most abundant in the first two of those zones. They are very easy to see-in the daytime heat most of them are resting/wallowing in the swampy lakes(bheels) and they are out grazing in shorter grass areas in the cooler earlier and later hours. There are good numbers of Wild Buffalo too, as well as Hog and Swamp deer, though they tend to be concentrated in certain areas. (Wild) elephants we only saw a couple of times. Smaller mammals include Rhesus macaques and Short-clawed Otters. Birdlife is good of course- vultures, painted storks, ospreys, eagles, waterfowl, ringneck and plumheaded parakeets, G.I. Hornbill. etc. There are a couple of primitive concrete watchtowers overlooking bheels, where birdlife can be watched at more leisure.
Most viewing of the wildlife/rhinos was done by jeep safari, either early morning or evening periods. It seemed to me a very scary/dangerous affair when anywhere near the rhinos (unless they were bathing when they were completely relaxed). We also went in on elephant back too, which was more relaxed and IMO safer as the rhinos are fully tolerant of their close approach, though obviously you then look down on them from above. Also elephant -back is more of a short (hour or so) excursion just to get close to a few rhinos, rather than using the jeeps which can travel around the whole road layout of the park to see a full range of species.
Mr 'Sheer Khan' the tiger is present in good numbers but very hard to see. I heard of people who had been there a fortnight or even more and still failed to see one at all- they don't seem to be conditioned to people or monitored in any way by park staff to facilitate tourist viewing, as they are in some of the other Indian tiger reserves. We were lucky to see one at 10 a.m. in the morning- just drove round a corner in the jeep and there it was, walking along the track, very close, but it was only a very short glimpse before it quietly moved into the undergrowth and disappeared. Later I watched a more distant one but for much longer(20 minutes or so)- again a daytime/ morning sighting- it was moving along in tall elephant grass and trying to hunt Hog Deer, but it failed to catch anything.
Can thoroughly recommend you visit. For several years after mine, I wasn't very interested in captive G.I Rhinos, but gradually the interest returned!
