Elusive Tigers…

Not any more…

Warning : Over exuberant, gloating post ahead. You might need shades to protect your eyes from the shine my preening feathers might throw up !!!!

To get the record straight, this was my 8th safari of 4-5 hours in Tiger country spread over a decade & 3 national parks that finally I managed to spot my first tiger in the wild

They say the fruits of patience are quite sweet and I can now understand, after roaming about on rocky bumpy roads for so many times finally I met the big cat and how…. I didn’t just spot it from a distance… She came to greet me as near as 5 feet from my jeep !!!!

On day 2 of our trip in the morning we were lucky to spot a leopard, which is claimed by most as even more elusive than the tiger (pics later) somehow though, I have been lucky, I have spotted a leopard two times earlier on foot !! In Gir and Sheoganj both This was the first time I saw it from a jeep. The tiger however eluded us in the morning, apparently the biggest male in Ranthambore T-24 as the guides identify him had perhaps run whole night and it left our driver and guide completely confused where it was, there were way too many pugmarks and at many places we could see pugmarks going in one direction and simultaneously returning the same day. Normally female tigers have a territory of around 10-12 sq. km. as per the guides in Ranthambore but Male tigers have bigger territories, 20-25 sq.km, T-24 apparently, the biggest tiger in Ranthambore has a territory of almost 40 sq. km!!! As if it was not a difficult enough possibility to spot a solitary tiger in a 40 sq. km. area that the guide announced that these males mark their entire territory every 2-3 days and as per him T-24 doesn’t feel nice without checking out atleast a couple of other female tiger territories every 2-3 days. After trying for 2 hours, eventually we gave up on tracking T-24 and ventured into shooting the jungle and the deer and other birds.

The afternoon though was lucky, Kanhaiya, our guide came to our hotel to pick us up after lunch at 2.30 with news that we have been alloted route no.4 where a tiger was spotted in the morning and it was also reported that the tiger was resting near some caves. Now that was good news, normally tigers walk about and roam a lot in the nights, however around 9-10 in the morning they find a place in shade and near water and laze. Some are so lazy they do not even wake up or move an inch till evening. So off we sped straight to the spot the Tigress was spotted. On the way we learnt that the tiger that we were off to watch was not a tiger but a tigress. Now she was no common tigress, infact, she is the most photographed and documented tiger in India.

She is a legend in herself, The lady of the lake, Machli, T-16, Park ki Naani are some of the names that she is known by!!!! BBC had made a documentary on this tigress which was first spotted in 1997 in Ranthambore, today almost all the tigers in Ranthambore are perhaps her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. She once was a very very strong and ferocious tigress that ruled the most beautiful parts of the Ranthambore park that had 3 lakes and the picturesque Rajbaug. She is believed to have killed as many as 8 crocodiles thanks to having the 3 lakes in her territory. Today though, the territory has been taken up by Sundari, her youngest daughter and Machli has been left with perhaps the smallest of all territories among all tigers in Ranthambore.

We reached the spot where she was first spotted and in about 15 minutes saw first movements from her, although quite far, I spotted her move and was thrilled to bits…

But after a couple of minutes of spotting her from a distance she disappeared in the bushes and our driver Shambhusingh reckoned she went and sat in the ‘nullah’ (a small stream of water, behind the slope) I considered myself fortunate enough to see her even from such a distance and was thrilled that I had my first tiger pics

Eventually after 20 mins of waiting our guide and driver insisted we leave the area and take a trip around in another tiger’s area and also photograph the jungle, I was kinda not keen to move from there but they advised we would come back here after a while nearer to 5pm when it would be relatively cooler and the tiger might start moving again. We saw some very beautiful parts of the forest with red algae infested lakes and all but somehow my mind was just not into photographing anything else and I just wanted to go back to the place where we had spotted Machli.

Eventually when we reached there, unlike earlier when we had the tiger just to us, this time the front row was already taken by 3 canters and 5 jeeps already waiting and I was already cursing my driver beneath my breath that we were the farthest and no chance to get a decent shot. Besides me were two foreigners who had lens that were atleast 2 feet long and I was already getting a complex of sorts about how wonderful their pics would come and how pale my pics would be.

However, watching tigers and keeping patience is not everyone’s cup of tea. At 6 the park closes and everyone has to be out, so as the clock struck 5.30 the canters had moved, all jeeps too gone and with them the 2 feet lens just 2 jeeps left, us and another govt. guests who didnt have to follow the 6 pm rule. (snobs I tell ya)

We were sitting and clicking Lapwings and Tree pie’s when suddenly the driver of the other jeep spotted movement, Machli, returned from the ‘nullah’ half her body was wet. She again sat on the slopes and tried to go to sleep and we thought that was it. She was not coming any more near. Then as our driver picked up, she is being troubled by some fleas or flies or bees… who are not letting her sleep and then again the tigress started moving this time towards a road. Our driver who was pretty experienced took us further ahead to a crossing he reckoned she would come out from and lo….

This pic was taken when she came out of the bushes and was watching the jeep behind us… YES YES YES !!!!

I took this pic Me me me…. After all these many years of searching the tiger decided to pay me a visit Then after checking us two jeeps she started ambling towards our jeep and our voices started to become low toned shrieks with my wife and son whispering in shrieks almost she is coming so near so near so near so near and then she came to almost 5 feet close to our jeep before she changed her track and crossed our jeep from the front side and went into the bushes there and fell to rest again !!!!

Look at that 17 year old, does she look like an old tigress in the evening of her life. Well I am no tiger expert and I can never tell. This pic has her playfully raising her tail and her tongue out as if she is coming to play with her Daddy !

The biggest quandary for a photographer and a wild life enthusiast I guess is to decide whether to observe with his eyes or to capture with the lens. Although Machli was kind enough to let me do both, when it came ambling towards our jeep I held by son tight and watched it and then as my wife pulled my son back I got enough time to click loads of shots here are some of them

That is when she came real close… apparently our driver spotted her whilst ambling that she was hurt in her left fore limb which we only saw later when we saw pics in our laptop in the evening.

Walking oblivious of us, after all, she is the queen of these forests.

Traces of having taken a dip recently are quite visible here…

That gives you some idea of how near she had come and mind you this is when she started going away… she was nearer than this… we were thrilled while she was around. Cat caught my tongue was what literally happened to me… I just kept clicking it…

it was only after she went away that I realised how vulnerable we were if she decided to give us a royal lick but well so far I have understood these animals are a lot more kind then we humans are and she didn’t change that understanding of mine at all.

The moment it went into the bushes you could see how difficult it is to spot a tiger… see how easily it camouflages itself.

And then it went back to its favourite pastime in the day… Sleeping, Hobbes, I am sure you can completely related to this…

PICS Courtesy: yours truly !

A start of the week holiday…

Unlike most weekend holidays this was a start of the week holiday with it beginning at 11pm on a Sunday

Ever since my visit to Jim Corbett 11 years ago, I have not been able to visit a tiger sanctuary for some reason or the other, numerous times programs to Kanha, Bandavgarh and Melghat have failed. Sometimes the programs didn’t take off, sometimes I couldn’t make the trip and as would be usual this time when we were looking to book for Ranthambore we could not find any safari’s on weekends and eventually we booked a safari for Monday and Tuesday. This was done in January and I didn’t want to jinx this holiday so tried to keep it a lil low key… eventually last week as junior’s exams got over I was cock-a-hoop about this holiday when the two friends of mine bailed out of the trip so instead of the 7 people it was going to be just the 3 of us. This time though I stuck by it and me and wifey and junior set about to Sawai Madhopur.

Junior is madly interested in animals and infact knows more facts about them than me so he was thrilled all along the only talk was of what all species of animals and birds were there. I did try to tone his excitement down that maybe we might not see all that he expects to. I have been on safari in a tiger park I think for 6-7 times each time for 4-5 hours and have never spotted a tiger. Unlike me my son is not a greedy traveller who is a little over keen on seeing a tiger, he was happy with deer he told me.

Our agenda for the trip was quite clear, safari, swimming pool, safari, swimming pool and so on !

We reached our hotel Ranthambore Safari Lodge, marketed by Camps of India Ahmedabad, around 11.30 am and were happy to be given a comfortable room near the swimming pool, the resorts garden had lots of tree of mulberry (setur) and hence the not only you could always feed yourself but it meant there were lots and lots and lots of birds in the resort for you to click anytime you feel bored… not just that they provided for very constant sweet music to the ears…

they were game to be clicked

Picture a scene of the wife relaxing on a pool chair reading a book, the kid bathing in the pool and the husband clicking the bushes well that was us in about 30 mins of reaching the resort well, for a while atleast ! Before we were dragged to the pool by a shrieking kid…

After an exhausting session in the pool and a heavy lunch we had to leave for our safari at 2.30 pm and surprisingly it was not hot, it was kinda comfortable and once inside the park it was rather pleasant. We entered the park and once we crossed the Ganesh Mandir and Ranthambore fort the main park area started. Ranthambore has 9 zones and we were to go on zone 2 for the first day. There was plenty of life in the jungle even in at that time of the afternoon. In no time we had spotted Chital (spotted deer), Sambhar, Nilgai, Rufous Tree Magpie, Black Drongo, Peacocks by the dozen, Parakeets, White bellied Drongo, a wood pecker, an owl, a few croc’s, cormorants, painted stork’s, grey heron, mongoose, patridge… I would say those were just about spotted in the first hour. Junior couldn’t stop shrieking and it was tough to tell him to stop talking and exclaiming and to maintain silence. After a little while again the driver’s started looking for call’s to check if the tiger was on the move, around 2 hours were spent on trying to track the tiger and all jeep and canter driver’s would exchange information what they saw and where.

Whilst we spotted so many animals inside me there was something that was telling me this is going the same way again… no tiger… he was being elusive once again…

In the wild I have seen all the other animals somehow but a tiger in the wild has always eluded me, leopard, lion all seen but the Tiger somehow was playing hide with me I still had 3 more safari’s up my sleeve and yet admist all the joy that my son was experiencing I was still waiting for my first Tiger in the wild.

Now I have heard a lot of people say that you must enjoy the jungle and watch the other so many rare animals and not just bother about the big cat, but really, I just wanted to for once experience the thrill of watching a Tiger. For those who have never tried to track a tiger they must surely read the book The Man Eaters of Kumaon by Jim Corbett.

Unlike a lion that you spot in a pride a Tiger is a solitary being, unless in mating season or with cubs. Cubs too stay with their mom only till 2-2.5 years and then once independent might even struggle with their parents for the territory. When the tiger is sitting the jungle goes about on its merry way, its kinda nice and peaceful. The moment a tiger starts walking, some Langur or Deer will give a warning call and alert the jungle that it is on the prowl. The whole jungle in a way gangs up against him. A tiger could take up a territory of 10-12 square km’s and some strong males are known to even take up territories about 40 square km. Tigers are also masters of camouflage, so understand that if you missed one tiger in a bush at the edge of its territory you could be roaming about for quite a while without any chance of seeing it. Tiger’s for their sheer elusiveness I guess are so much of a sought after cat compared to all others. The fact that it is the biggest cat is another and the fact that there are so few left in the wild that you do not want to miss watching one in the wild in your lifetime. A guy who grew up on jungle book was bound to be fascinated by this Sher Khan not the Sher Khan that IHM claims as her family member

However, once you are ready to forget the tiger and leave it to luck, Ranthambore was a very beautiful jungle to photograph. Not just the animals but the old ruins and the lakes are super wonderful for pictures. I will leave you with a few more of the pics we took before I prepare for the next day which was to be the luckiest for me ever in my life when I spotted not just one cat but two !!! so until then you gorge on these pics

The curious deer

The classic woodpecker pic

There was plenty of water around for March in Rajasthan, atleast to my mind I had thought there would be scant water and it would be very hot, however it was very pleasant weather and lots of lakes throughout the jungle.

A lake full of red algae that is the favorite of the Sambhar who in turn is a favorite food of the tiger… the setting of the jungle is quite beautiful and my pic doesn’t do justice… I just needed to be here during sunset !!!

And then how can I leave you without a pic of Rajbaug the place the Maharaja of Jaipur camped during his prime days, today the place is roamed by tigers and other animals.

of leopard sightings, complexes and sighs…

Visiting a sanctuary/jungle for me has always been a very very exciting proposition. The mere mention of watching a herd of Deer grazing freely in their natural habitat or watching a Hornbill flap its wings in the jungle jumping from tree to tree, a cat on prowl, the jungle plotting against the predator and warning each other thrills me like no end. I can safely act as a watchman of any society a couple of nights before I am off to a jungle safari as I cannot sleep a bit. The excitement climbs over me, I wonder of how I will track a tiger and how it will pose and roam about my jeep. How I am going to be watching so many animals. Most of my trips have been pretty much decent when it comes to spotting animals and birds. Apart from Corbett where I spotted unbelievable number of animals most other forests have also not disappointed. One trip to Gir during monsoon was particularly depressing as we could not spot much more than peacocks. Peacocks with due respect are unbelievably beautiful birds, however having them in my own colony and watching them every other day somehow robs them of their exotic appeal for me.

I remember a strange incident, in Corbett, during my honeymoon, yes, my wife too is a wild life / nature enthusiast, we were tracking wild elephants following their pugmarks and remarking on how fresh their dung smelled. We spent about 2 hours with no avail of any wild elephant herd. Then at one point we were at a view point over looking the reservoir of Ramganga river at Dhikala when we spotted a couple of elephants near the water and we were kinda excited that wow !! Finally we spotted wild elephants !!! Suddenly our guide stepped up and told us they were not wild elephants but the elephants used for the elephant ride in safari and we kinda were so totally disappointed at that fact utterance and we totally stopped admiring the PETS !!!! I mean who came to Corbett to watch a couple of PETS ! We were there to see Wild Animals not Domestic ones…. not as if the Elephants lost any of their characteristics. Just the mere fact that they were used to human’s around them and they were friendly didn’t for one minute take away either their sheer size or magnanimity. We did realise a little later that an Elephant was an Elephant after all and it remained an amazingly huge beast and its mannerisms could be studied so much more when they allowed you to go so near it.

Off late, the camera has been an obsession and watching wild life pics which has always been a hobby always wanted me to capture some stunning shots of the animals in their natural habitat. Now, having started with an SLR first came the news that with an 18-55 lens the possibility of capturing animals up-close was remote unless they were domestic and allowed me near them. Many attempts and even the squirrel’s, pigeon pics seemed too far out with the 18-55. So when you get a friend who has a 55-200mm lens join you for a visit to a jungle that promises almost sure sighting of leopards you are thrilled. The fact that you will capture a picture of the leopard licking its fur, sitting on a tree with its tail dangling with a back drop of a sunset was almost a given now. Atleast to the naive me over expectedness, over excitedness are a norm. Even if those were not english words I trust it explains to you the state of my mind. I couldn’t sleep two nights, I couldn’t even take my most loved afternoon siesta and after driving a whole night without blinking the eye when we reached the hotel in Sheoganj at 10 in the morning to the news that the safari would begin at 4pm I still couldn’t rest.

Then when in the jungle finally after a 2 hour vigil we spotted two jackals that were too far… although there were no rules in Sheoganj and so we got off the jeep and chased behind the jackals who were sly, smart and much faster, they didn’t let us get a clear shot of them. We huffed and puffed back to our jeep. When we finally heard that two leopards were spotted sitting on a cliff we zoomed to the spot getting our camera’s ready for a shoot with the beast. Only to reach the spot and being hushed to keep the jeep’s motor down, many other’s had taken position, as we kept quizzing where was the leopard these all were looking at our guide handed us the binoculars and they seemed atleast 500-800 meters high up on the cliff. You couldn’t see it with your naked eyes and needed the binoculars. Then you see the group full of photo enthusiasts with len’s that are atleast 8-10 times bigger than yours and you actually feel as tiny as the leopard seemed about 500 meters up the slope.

Well we actually thought it was a better idea to shoot these guys than shooting the leopards.

And then when we beat all these wise cracks to spot the leopard from very near in pitch darkness all to ourselves 15 yards from our jeep, fools, yes, us, instead of admiring the beauty, poise, grace of the beast were busy trying to click it like mad when the lack of light would just not let the camera click…. no wonder I have my photo blog id as Amateur clicker …. Sigh…. So much for expectations all we came up of leopard shots when it was really close to us were these

This one was taken in program mode and hence the lens remained open for a lil while longer and so the light was captured more than the leopard

The other shot, I think will atleast please Sakshi , well, that was just about what I could capture of it for you SIGH.. though I must admit the sight that we captured with our eyes will always stay with us.

Well, human’s as they say, are a bundle of desires and let me say none of my desires are diminishing as yet, if anything they just keep getting longer, bigger and deeper. Sigh… Life is so short and so so many things to do.