Sundarapatan: Where the Wild Feels Like Home

I will continue my ongoing series showcasing the beauty of theHunter: Call of the Wild, one reserve at a time. I've exhausted all the DLC reserves I own, and now we're exploring those I don't, which I can still enjoy by playing in multiplayer sessions. You don't need to own a DLC map to play on it, provided someone is actively hosting it. Hosting doesn't cost anything, and you get to hunt with other online players, so many players are always hosting one map or another. This time, I logged into the Sundarapatan: Nepal Hunting Reserve.

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This reserve is one of those that feels like home to me. It features biomes and landscapes that I am very familiar with. The beautiful rhododendron forest, majestic Himalayas, trekking on hills, and the calming atmosphere all feel like I have been here many times.

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Even though it's based on Nepal, the terrain and biomes are very similar to the bordering areas in India, and I've been there plenty of times. However, hunting is strictly banned in India, and I've read somewhere that the game's developers won't be bringing any reserves based on India for that very reason. So, the Nepal map is as close as we can get from this game, I guess.

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Talking about the wildlife, you can find many big animals to hunt, including the infamous Bengal Tiger, aggressive Wild Yak, and Water Buffaloes. You'll also find the largest antelope, Nilgai (which were very common in my state, Haryana), and Black Buck (which is the state animal of Haryana). Both of these are fairly common in Nepal and India. Watching them in their wild habitats, even in a game, is such a nice experience.

One of the Wild Yaks tried to attack me, but I showed it who is at the top of the food chain, lol. I have yet to encounter the Bengal Tiger here; I don't play much in the lower, densely forested areas of the map where they lurk for their prey.

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The mountains in the background look so majestic here. The constant interplay of the clouds makes it look very realistic too. They know how to simulate clouds for this environment, which look and behave almost realistically.

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I'm impressed with the outpost designs in this reserve as well. Those buildings have a lot of character, with many symbols of the people's lives and their culture.

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I've seen a few Hindu temples here and there. They have a good population of Hindus living there, and having temples with good attention to detail is well done. Buddhism is the largest faith there, and that's why we see many religious symbols and cultural icons related to that. There are stupas on the trails and at outposts.

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This reserve is filled with flowers too. Many of the open grasslands and forests are packed with flowers. The rhododendron forests bloom brightly, and trekking in such a forest is a magical experience. The natives use this flower for medicines, food, and beverages. Their beverages are very refreshing in those hills. Back to the flowers, many wildflowers are growing in the grasslands; the orange ones seem to be marigold, but they look very flat, so I'm not sure.

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Some of the villagers seem to be harvesting mustard. The yellow mustard flowers are so iconic on this map. Another reason why I feel this could be called an Indian map, and I would believe it, lol.

Let me know your thoughts about this reserve, and tell me your favorite shot/s from the post.

Thanks for reading.