--
“Never consider the luck will be on your side but on the day
when you know the luck is on your side, then make most of it” ... Me.
Well,
above words are by me only & this is what I felt after the day when I was
going through my clicks (and there were many) post full day safari at Bandhavgarh
National Park & was counting the tiger sightings we had! I have seen enough
tigers in the wilds (though it’s never enough actually) & I know the
die-hard wild lifers’ (read as, not the wildlife photographers but those who
has understood wildlife & their number is very few actually) will say that,
tiger alone is not forest & one has to see the wilderness in totality &
every specie in the forest counts & all such stuff! And I also love to be just in any forest,
tiger or no tiger is also true, yet when you see those yellow black stripes
walking towards you (or even away from you) in the greens of the forests the
something different happens. You can feel the adrenaline rush in your blood
& its not just you getting exited by the sight of a tiger but the entire
forest’s atmosphere suddenly changes, sometimes its alarm calls of deer with
languor & sometimes it becomes total silent, & all eyes focused on the
tiger, such is the power the animal has got in it! And though I have
travelled many forests, I am still human to get transfixed by the tiger effect
on me & I am glad for it, let me confess! And when in one day you get to
see 21 tigers including cubs (yes you have read right figure, 21 tigers) then
you can say there can’t be more lucky day for a wildlife lover or any human
being, such was mine in Bandhavgarh forest!
My,
this sharing is about these tiger sightings & what I learnt out of them
& not just about glorifying the tiger show, however elated I may have been,
as we all know how difficult (as well of luck) even sighting one tiger can be
& when you get to see 21 tigers in a day & if you are not going to
learn anything out of it then you indeed are a fool, right? First of all, let
me tell you I was on a full day safari which means you need not have to get out
of the park during noon & that gives you some fourteen odd hours in the
park in an open gipsy & do mind, in mid-summer of central India, it’s not a
pleasant job unless you are die hard wild lifer as well it’s a costly affair
(we were sharing though) as the charges which are nearly ten times more than the
normal safari! But that gives you chance to move across all the zone for e.g.,
in Bandhavgarh there are three zones with separate entry gates i.e., Tala,
Magadhi & Khatouli which all are accessible to you in a full day safari
& that’s an advantage to locate the tiger sightings! But with all the added
hours as well accessibility yet its nearly 800 plus sq. km area to cover in
aday & there are some forty plus tigers which can be anywhere & the
thing you need to have along with luck is, patience as well some logic &
knowledge of the forests!
We
started at 5.15 am from tala gate to enter & for the first two hours there
was nothing, no movement & to add on our frustration the sky started
getting full with dark clouds & weather suddenly become cold. This was a
bad sign for tiger sighting as the cold makes the tigers at comfort wherever
they are i.e., not feeling the need of getting in the open or to waterholes,
yet when we crossed the zone & enter in Magdhi zone we could see Gipsys’
aligned around a huge grassland & that means tiger! So, were there a
tigress Spotty & her three sub adult cubs, playing hide & seek with the
watchers in the grass & it’s a wonderful sight! The sun was yet behind the clouds
& it was nearly now four hours for us in the park when another gipsy passed
by & told us about the sighting, they had of a young tigress kajari &
her tiny cubs of age of three months, in the same zone but at other side of the
grassland we were.
I
have not seen of-late such young cubs of tiger & we decided to have a shot
at Kajari tigress to try our luck as with such small cubs to raise the tigress
is very careful & though here movements are restricted in a comparatively
small area yet she prefers to keep away from any living species which is perfectly
understandable! When we reached the spot, it was 10.30 am & still the sky
was clouded & weather was cool & there too few vehicles were waiting to
have glimpse of the tigress. One of the guides told us the tigress is in the
area & has been resting in thickset along a nallah which flows parallel to
road we were standing on as well there was equal chance of the cubs along
somewhere near only! This news made our mood a shade better & we decided to
wait at the spot & an hour passed in the wait. Good thing about
waiting for the tiger is, you can see lot many things happening around during
the wait, like there was an Indian Pitta (Navrang bird) pair feeding under
shadow of a tendu tree & I could click some good shots of them as well the
best entertainment comes from the languor (monkeys) as they are continuously
doing something & plays an important role in warning about the tiger’s
presence because of their sharp sight from the trees! Now its past 10.30
am & most gipsys’ departed as their timing was 11 am to get out of the park
for morning safari, so now only two gipsys left, of full day safari! The wait was on & the other gipsy also
moved away to check other location (for tiger of course), yet relying on the
info about presence of the tigress, we decided to wait there only. It was 12 pm
now & fortunately the cloud cover has been gone & sun was at its peak
& we saw a male spotted deer advancing cautiously towards the nallah for
drinking water exactly where the tigress was resting in the shadows of a jamun
tree. This was a boon as the deer was going to disturb the tigress & she
will wakeup & give us a show is what we thought & waited, though the
deer couldn’t see the tigress but it definitely has smelled her & was very
nervous which we could see (and understand too). In what seems to be a slow-motion
movie mode, the deer was advancing towards the water body & at some 30 ft
distance from the jamun tree suddenly it saw the tigress & gave an alarm
call which awakened the tigress & she came out of the bushes & the deer
ran away while we were all up with our cameras! Slowly the kajri tigress came
in open with her three tiny cubs running behind her which she was taking to a
cave across the road where we were standing because with three cubs running
behind you its impossible for the tigress to hunt or kill & it was necessary
for her to put them at a safe place & such way, we got to see the best
caring mom with her cubs along in the wilds!
The excitement
has washed away all our frustration & fatigue of seven hours of moving in
gipsy & we decided to check Khatouli zone where there were reports of
sighting of a family of six tigers with female named Ra tigress & Bajarang
male tiger. And to here also the family was resting in grass patch which made
the sight impossible yet we decided to wait. This place was on the bank of a
small river & some 100 meters on upstream there was a bridge on a state
highway & from the place we were standing we could see the cars on the high
way & suddenly the male tiger appeared from the grass & started
drinking water & gave us a curious glance & slept with his back towards
us. One hour more passed & it was now 3 pm & again our luck shined
& a huge male Indian gaur came towards the direction of the tiger grazing
on the green grass. Rest of the tiger family was still hidden on the bushes
along the bank while the tiger was sleeping & slowly the huge gaur walked
past the tiger & entered in to the area where cubs & female were
sleeping & all of them came out at the approach of the gaur & one by
one settled around the male tiger! The cubs started jumping around while the
tiger couple preferred to slept & what a wonderful sight it was, in a way
such sightings are hope for entire wildlife, is what I thought to myself! After
this one mope drama happened when one of the cubs hardly of six months &
the size of a big Labrador dog decided to charge on the gaur but that episode I
will cover in my next sharing!
When
we started to check other parts of the forest in Khatoli zone & turned away
from this family on a turn suddenly our driver applied breaks & shouted,
“sir, look, a tiger on road’ & to our surprise, some 100 meters ahead one
sub adult male tiger was standing right in the middle of the road with deer
alarm calls on! Sighting our gipsy, the cub entered in the bushes along the
road & waited there panting as we could see its tired & on hunt. The
guide told us that it is one of the three litters of a tigress named tara &
she has left them for another male & these cubs are of two years & are
on their own to survive. Looking at the empty stomach & panting face of
the cub I could guess it’s hunger & exhaustion & felt pity as they the
cub was not of proper age to hunt on its own yet they have no one to feed as he
is tiger & that’s the curse of being a tiger, right?
Leaving
the cub on its own to hunt we headed for a water hole & saw a gipsy (the
other full day one) with cameras directed towards the water hole, a clear sign
of who is in the water hole! A huge male tiger with just its head out of water,
was relaxing in the pool which was in a 30 feet deep valley. The guide told us
there was a kill nearby by the tiger named Chota Bheem & that’s why it was
cooling in the water post meal. As the tigers eat raw meat, that generates
extreme heat in their body & on top of it the May heat outside, all this
makes them a must to take solace in the nearest water body & in such
condition they can sit in the water for hours. After clicking the shots of
Chota Bheem, we realized this was our 17th tiger of the day
(including the cubs) which we have sighted & we were super thrilled as
that’s not a small thing in any forest to witness.
Now,
the sun was on its down journey & our guide decided to check few of the
unvisited spots & took us to an upward hill road turning away from the main
road. I was sitting in middle seat & suddenly as our gipsy turned on a tree
aligned canopy road I saw a female tigress standing right on the turn looking
strait at us at the same time the driver also braked the vehicle & asked
me, “sir, gadi aage lu kya so photo achha aayega” & started moving ahead
& I was whispering to him (rather it was a muffled shout) abbe, aur kaha
aage lega yahi ruk ( don’t take the gipsy ahead, stand where ever we are) yet
is insisted to take ahead & I have to grab him by his shoulder & make
him stop! And then I realized he couldn’t see the tigress standing ahead on the
turning road as his view was blocked by the tree on his side but he was
pointing towards two more tigers sitting along side the road on his side while
the guide was pointing towards the fourth tiger! This was a family of a tigress
named Darhah with three near grownup tiger cubs & all of them were equally
baffled by the sudden encounter with us & were staring at us. Slowly the
tigers started their advance towards the river behind us & we too started
in reverse gear & in the mean time one more gipsy approached with some
foreigners in it. The tourists haven’t seen the tigers behind us & thought
we are reversing in general & when I waved at them & asked them to
stand where they are, then they realized & to their surprise one by one
when four tigers came out of the forest in open, I was more thrilled to see
their faces than the tigers, as such sights, is what they will carry to their
country with them! The grownup cubs posed in every possible way for us in the
river while the tigress preferred to soak herself in the water at some
distance!
Our watch reminded us that it was time to get out of the park
& then we realized we have spent 14 hours in the forests & have seen 21
tigers in a day & that may be a record, is what our guide said! Well, it
may or may not be a record as for me it was one of that day when the luck keeps
riding with you & with some patience & logic you can make best of it,
is what I have learnt today in the school named, forest! As the tigers are
apex animal in Indian forests but more than that they are animals of habit
which makes them more vulnerable too in compare to the other animals. The whole
day I have been seeing tigers of different age & that has given me a far
better sight or say chance to observe the way tigers move in the forests &
it was an amazing memorable experience which I will cherish for ever, I think
that’s my best take away from the day. With that satisfied feeling (overwhelmed
would-be right word) that I left the park but for the day as next two days I
saw some more tigers & wonderful sightings & more about them in next
sharing!
—
Sanjay Deshpande
Sanjeevani Dev.
Please view my sharing about real estate in Pune at You Tube link
below..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4xX7eopH5o&t=5s
Please do visit my blog links below to read about real estate & home
buying!
https://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2021/09/choosing-right-home.html
http://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/2021/09/blog-post_21.html
Creating Togetherness; team Sanjeevani Way (Click link below)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/albums/72157627904681345
For any of your complaints about city, log in at link below
www.punecorporation.org
Take your issues to Hon PM at link below..
Think Green, Think Life
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please leave ur name, email id along with ur comment. It will help me to reply ur comment as well improve the blog as per ur suggestions if any... :)
Sanjay