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“There is nothing like the thrill of walking through the jungle looking for a tiger and knowing they could be watching you already”… Ashlan Gorse Cousteau.
Ashlan Gorse Cousteau is an American entertainment journalist and explorer. She is known for her work with E! News, Discovery Channel and Travel Channel! Married Philippe Cousteau Jr. and they have produced and appeared together in several educational and environmental television programs & no wonder her work has taken her to many forests especially to the Indian Forests as her above words exactly describes the forests where tiger roams! And what better place there can be than Tadoba to live by her words as it’s here you see tigers in more abundance than any other forest (with heavy heart I am saying this as my first love is Kanha) & I mean it after visiting most tiger habitats in the country! And come March which I personally feel the best season to visit Tadoba & that’s for two reasons, first is its exam time so even if on-line bookings shows full yet actually turning is less that of enthu tourists whose only interest is tiger sighting. And second is the weather is just perfect, as at morning when you enter in park at 6.30 am its cozy chill in air & breeze, the sky is clear blue for photography & even when the sun rises up in sky still it’s not harsh as in April or May. Though it does get hot enough for tigers as well other animals to take resort at the water bodies, so there is lots of action at water holes in late mornings as well evening safaris which you can observe at leisure. And then for Choti Tara as well Maya (they are tigresses btw) posing for cameras is favorite time pass so that way season doesn’t affects their show. Sorry if I am sounding like Tadoba is some zoo & tigers makes show there but it’s not, I had taken full day safari & six rides in May & yet didn’t get to see a single tigress as after all its tiger & he (or she) gives us sighting only when our luck permits. Though as I have shared earlier also, when a tigress is with cubs then her movements gets restricted as she can’t move far away from the cubs & once you get her whereabouts (from guides & drivers obviously) then it’s safe to spend some time at such location. And if you lucky then chances are there to capture tigress or the cubs & if you are even more lucky then you might get information about the kill & then more the chances.
And this time we were surely more lucky as because of late reaching at Moharli, its slight delay for us to enter for first safari yet its 6.45am & its light cool breeze as the gipsy started moving the Tadoba forest came to greet us with open arms & I feel at home immediately. Even after so many years visiting forests yet when first safari enters through the gate my excitement is same as when I have seen first time a forest & when its Tadoba then anything can happen any moment! So was this first safari of the tour & when you are with likeminded friends then more the fun as the excitement gets multiplied & everybody starts pointing at some bush thinking he or she saw or hear something! My forest group was no exception, hemangi, saleel, aarti , shilpa & myself, though a bit cramped in one gypsy yet forest does makes you forget every discomfort is one more good thing about it! Well, this is one reason one should visit forests as it does cuts you off totally by body & mind not just from outer world but from even the person sitting next to you & he or she doesn’t mind it is the best part of it as he or she also is witnessing the same forest hypnotizing effect! In a way it’s like Meditation or Vipashyana as you are totally with yourself & become part of the nature (off-course if you enjoy forest then only or else I have seen people snoring & dead asleep on safaris, god forgive them is all I will say)! And we were told that Choti Tara has three cubs of some six months old & has made recent kill of Sambhar deer on Gosekhanar road. This is indeed her favorite territory as this road passes through bamboo thickset which is best hide-inn for the cubs as while so young the cubs are most vulnerable to attacks by smaller predators like jackals or leopards or even another male tiger as the two cubs out of three are male cubs! And by keeping them deep in bamboos tigress can move around for kill (hunting) as well eat it at peace. Here is where luck in forest matters as I will tell what happened ahead; the gypsy was on gosekhanar road where the kill was done & after khatoda gate (well there is a gate within the main moharli gate which only forest dept knows why), actually there is no need of any such gate as if you come by any other gate than moharli you need not have to make entry twice! And after making entry we headed to gosekhanar road & to our expectation soon we were looking at tail lamps of gypsies’ ahead, means tiger is there! Best part to my surprise was the gypsies were moving ahead at slow place yet moving means tiger was on move as we come closer towards the point where most cameras were focused I could see the reason of vehicles moving, dy. director of park was there with his vehicle parked & that’s why he was monitoring the traffic & it was great thing as Choti Tara has made a kill & had the officer not there then no gypsy would have moved making sighting to only few who were bang across her & soon that would have turned in arguments as well shouting from behind vehicles. But with this way all get to have a sighting & at peace. I think this is what the guides as well drivers must adopt by themselves but mostly they succumb to pressure from tourists (read photographers) and block entire way! Well, as I said even if you sight a tiger you need some luck along as in entire bamboo thickset there was an opening of say hardly 15 ft wide & tigress has dragged the kill right that spot giving all tourists perfect show of her lunch! Had she been sitting just few feet here or there then we would have been able to see her but no photograph would have been possible & this is what I call it lucky day! And on top of it when the mom was having her lunch the cubs gave us all the poses around her & the trip of foresters has started with a bang! I repeat it’s not just the tiger sighting which makes forest but then you don’t get to see such scenes often is also a fact & tiger is brand ambassador of the forests is fact we can’t deny! One more thing which I came to know from the guides later, though we have had our quota of Tara & cubs few tourists wanted some more of her (I can’t blame them) & as this route was one way & the officer was not allowing to stay any gypsy more than some five minutes which is good, so they requested they will go all way ahead & come round back which is nearly some 20 km distance but to their surprise the concerned officer denied that reentering which by me is shocking! As why one can’t go & come back all the way round & do mind people come here for seeing tigers the govt, forest dept as well tourism dept advertises so; then what’s point in making such weird rules; I think senior people in forest dept must take round among tourists to understand issues which unnecessary creates negativity about not just the forest dept but entire experience in forest!
And then next three days we were Tadoba as when in forest many people I have seen that once they get sighting of the tiger usually lost the interest in further anything, agreed tiger has that effect on any mortal but then that’s the challenge in front of not just forest dept or guides but entire system which we call as wild life conservation to make the tourists feel the world of forest in totality. Rather I have all together different experience as when we sight a tiger that too very first hours of the first safari then the mood gets so elated that everything then gets more beautiful! And this trip also wasn’t exception as with Tara & cubs we now moving with the way Poe the Panda moves with his tummy full! As I mentioned once the sun has come a bit up in the month of March its best time for birding & a bit late morning is time for raptors i.e. birds which hunts i.e. eagles, buzzards & such. These birds prefer to sit on atop of dry branch of a tree & gives best sighting with clear blue sky as the canvas! Actually all those who are regular visitors to the forests, birding is much more fun as well difficult for photography & Tadoba has got ample of birds too! As well Tadoba can surprise you with some unique sightings such as sloth bear or leopard though many of the tourists doesn’t understands importance of sloth bear sighting but let me tell you that is rare than tiger sighting as both these animals doesn’t have a fix destination or area & can wander anywhere. So sighting of bear or leopard is by chance only! And then while moving through forests one more thing you learn is fine tune your senses of smelling, hearing & looking! Because on the background of yellow-gray grass a small animal like gray mongoose searching its food can easily be over sighted & the trained eyes only can make you able to locate it & click! And this is why you need to have a good guide as well driver as their eyes & ears are trained to sight such small animals from a moving gypsy & after some time you also gets engrossed in that!
One such experience we got on very next day in buffer; for those who thinks buffer is some low type forest then behold as at Tadoba buffer zone which is outer part of core forest is more happening at present. Here the forest is dense, less travelled & with five tigresses & three of them with cubs, so you can imagine the action! On next morning as our gypsy was travelling through dense of buffer suddenly saleel & heamangi saw a gypsy standing beyond the dense foliage & its stillness told us what their eyes must be following, indeed a tigress was walking silently ahead that gypsy & this time I used a smaller lens to cover not just tiger but its entire surrounding. Nothing beats to look at a tigress walking in her own mood in her jungle & with the dense foliage around the whole scene was like some other planet! Best part came later we started following the tigress turning back & trying to track her movement using parallel routes. This is most fun that no alarm call at help as prey base is a bit less in buffer, the tigress’s territory is nearly some 30 sq km & she was on move to mark her territory. So we went ahead & started checking every cross path coming out of the foliage where she has vanished & then we spotted her coming out on a jungle track, that’s joy is no less than Columbus finding America! This time the tigress was coming towards us head on, every wild life photographers dream it is!
Then on the noon we again bumped with Choti Tara & her cubs with a road block as the gosekhanar road is one way & the family sat directly on road leaving no space for any vehicle to cross. At such time all one can do is waiting patiently & my experience is a tigress like Choti Tara never let your wait gets wasted! After some 49 minutes waits suddenly the gypsies ahead were rocking as the entire family walked past all the gypsies giving full sighting to all the eyes waiting for their glimpse, this is forest I told to myself! Actually sometimes camera is a botheration as you forget to enjoy the way drama unfolds in front of you but off-late I have learnt to keep camera aside for a while & keep looking at the object (read tiger) with bare eyes as these are the real take ways in form of the memory stored on hard disc of your brain! The cubs, hardly few months old are cute yet the stillness in their eyes warned their being tigers to every watcher! In summers the best time I always say is wait at water holes as lots of action happens there. Right from bison to wild boars to birds, every animal takes solace at water hole & in that process lot of action happens. One thing which is a bit funny is ban of cell phones on safaris in Tadoba. Agreed because of mobile cameras tourists tend to go close to the animals but at least the guides must have got cell phones as they can use the cameras to make documentation of many incidences in forest which is invaluable information. Or else with the help of NGO’s we can think of giving digital cameras to the guides of which they must give all the captures to forest dept at gate after each safari!
Another thing is we have to think of opening new routes or rotating the routes so new areas can be explored it will be interesting for the tourists as they will get to see more of variety in forest as well it’s like patrolling of the forest which will be great help for conservation. I think high time for forest dept to be a bit soft on such issues as do mind wild life conservation is not someone departments job but every person must be part of it & for that they has to be part of every corner of the forest. Indeed how to fit this in rule books is a tricky thing but rules are after all for conservation, isn’t it?
Actually six safaris is pretty short time in forest (well I doubt what number can satisfy me) yet the finest moment came when we were heading for tea break in buffer at Devada gate & as we approached the gate few gypsies were waiting for something (read tiger) & the tigress crossed the road right behind all the gypsies & the gate Disappointed faces went for tea stall at gate & I along with my friends headed for a souvenir shop on main road outside of the gate. There I met our another friend Anirudh Chaoji who is doing great job of conservation by actually staying at Tadoba giving up city life & do mind it does take hell lot gut to do that! While I was having cup of tea with anirudh, suddenly a shout came, “arr wo nikla tiger” & the tigress which has crossed behind the gypsies came on main Moharli-Chandrapur road & was crossing the road. Actually Tadoba buffer is divided for this road & it’s us, the humans recognize things like boundaries by gate & road type things while for the tiger all is his home. Fortunately my friend hemangi was carrying camera with her & in time I could click the tigress crossing main road. Many a times you don’t realize what you are clicking along with the object you are sighting & later when I checked the images, I could see the tigress was actually crossing from a zebra crossing & in the background a two wheeler guy (who was completely baffled by the sight of tiger on road) also has become part of the image, making all this lot more than normal tiger crossing image! Actually the entire drama lasted for merely two minutes but leaving behind life time memories for the lucky some fifty odd pairs of eyes; this is why we visit forests i.e. to take back such moments! There were few foreign tourists also & sure when they goes back to their countries they will tell, yes in India still tigers roam on the roads! When I posted tigress crossing main road on FB there were many comments especially about road kills of animals while crossing road. My observation is it’s not the people who live around the forests but the people who pass by as travelers are major issue. Especially the heavy vehicles drivers & their ignorance about responsibility towards the wild life is something we all need to work on! As we can’t expect to guard every mile of the roads passing through the forests & animals won’t be able to understand our traffic rules so we together (read forest dept, transport ministry) can take awareness drive, high time for this initiative! As well make a proper guard rail or fence all along the roads in the stretch of forests, at least some lives will be saved! As govt spend millions on conserving forests as well tigers & other animals & one rash driver’s ignorance ruins it all is the sad fate of wild life which we only can change!
To conclude, recently I was watching advertise of Lufthansa air lines on TV & its tag line was “Some places do change your life”; though Lufthansa doesn’t fly to Tadoba but yes it does change my life every time a shade better when I visit here & I think that’s all I wanted to share!, Thank You Tadoba, till I came again, adieu !
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Sanjay Deshpande
Sanjeevani Dev.
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