“Forests is a place which can surprise you every day, in a
new way”… Me.
In
our Indian Mythology there are wonderful & amazing stories which includes
many interesting creatures or objects & one of them is, “Wishing Tree,”
which supposedly fulfils your any wish which you make by sitting in its shadow!
I am big fan of all
such stories & believes these comes from experiences of our ancestors which
our science may not agree or say our so-called logical mind may not accept them
yet there are many things which science has yet to understand & that's why
you can name such phenomenon or objects as mythology, yet there always is a
chance that you may experience their mystery! Now, if you are wondering where
this Train of Words is going then, it's about Tadoba which made me experience
the magic of the Wishing Tree..!! That way, every time I go to forests with some
wish & mostly the forests helps me to tick it off & trust me, I am not
greedy as with so many travels in the wildlife has taught me patience not greed
yet when in just one trip you start ticking wish list every safari, human mind
does get greedy & to my wonder in this trip the forest accommodated my
greed & so many wish list items I ticked that for a while I was left
without one, so thought of sharing few of the tick stories here…
Tick 1. Goal in first minute of game.
I
have seen tigers & many of them yet every time its adrenaline rush when you
even feel the presence of one around & after hearing stories of tiger at
gate, I also used to wish I could see a tiger right at the entry of the forest.
This time in Alizanza buffer though I couldn’t see a tiger at entrance but our
driver decided to check a water hole which was hardly hundred meters from the
gate just in case some movement is there & the moment our gypsy took turn
& water hole came in sight a sub adult tiger was looking at us, like was
asking us, “3 baj gaye kya?” (safari entry time)! That was fastest ever I have
seen a tiger, within two minutes after entering the gate, just like witnessing
a goal as soon a football match started & the wish was ticked!
Tick 2. Who is She, looking at me?
This
wish I was carrying quite a long time as every time when I saw any image of a
tiger (or a leopard) drinking water & its reflection, I used to think can I
get to see such sight, if not click. As when you mention reflection then the
water must be absolutely clear & steady as well the light also plays a
major role & this is possible only before the tiger enters the water or
starts drinking it as after that the ripples disturbs the reflection. In the
forest where sighting of a tiger itself is such a big luck then to make all
above mentioned parameters in place, you can’t imagine how difficult it is but
in this trip that near impossible happened & that too in the same safari
when I have ticked the 1st wish! We were waiting at water hole where
we saw the sub adult cub & taking chance of its brother which must have been
around, will also join it in the water. And in the distant, there came an alarm
call of deer on which we thought it must be mom of the cubs so we decided of
following the calls. Nearly few kilometres away from the spot the calls lead us
to a water body with absolutely still water & lots of bird’s activities,
there was a group of Sambhar & Monkey waiting at water but not entering in
it, means the tige was around. And we decided to wait, in the meantime a
smabhar deer gave an alarm call, means it has seen the tiger which our urban
eyes have failed to see. Once again, we swiped the surrounding & behind the
bund the tigress was sleeping peacefully is what our guide declared & with
great efforts I could see her too! And the guide said this is not the mom of
the cubs which we have left behind but a different tigress named Zarani & a
very shy one, so he asked to be ready as if she comes at water then it will be
a window of just few minutes & we decided to wait. An hour passed we were
waiting patiently along with the Smabhar & Monkeys & silently a face appeared
in the bushes at the edge of the bund & the tiger came right on the bund,
looked at water & drank few gulps, walked on the bund, sat in water for
five minutes & disappeared in the thickset of bushes! Those five minutes
were enough for me to tick my wish yet there was one small hurdle, from my
position there was small patch of grass right in the line of face of the
tigress’s reflection, yet overall effect was good & I could take a video
too, with reflection! Second wish list got ticked in one safari & here is where
a bit of knowledge with patience helps as had we not heard & followed the
alarm calls & respected Sambhar deer’s alarm & kept patience; this
wouldn’t have been possible & of course luck along!
Tick 3. Eyewitness of the Hunt!
Actually,
when they say a tiger killed a deer or wild boar or let’s go to the kill referring
tiger’s food as kill, I always feel awkward as how we can call somebody’s food
as kill, imagine we going to KFC or some Non-Veg eating joint & we start
saying let’s go that kill joint, weird, isn’t it? Agreed, a tiger has to kill
some living animal for its food because it doesn’t have luxury of someone else
killing that animal & serve to it in cooked form yet we can definitely use
some different version to refer the tiger’s food/ hunting, is what I feel &
with due respect to the animal’s life which would get lost in feeding the tiger
I wanted to see how a tiger makes it hunting (kill). I have seen tigers feeding
on their kill but happening it & post action of the hunt is something I
haven’t witnessed. Here on a safari way back to the gate we saw a wild boar,
huge one standing at the edge of grass patch which was along the road & our
driver asked, ‘Sir bahot bada hai aur najdik bhi hai, pot leni hai kya?” (i.e.
Sir, it’s a big wild boar & it’s standing very near, you want to take
snap?). But as it was getting late ,I said no need to stop & let’s move
ahead so we moved past the wild boar & merely few feet ahead we heard a
strong shriek from behind which was definitely of the wild boar, it was such a
painful cry & it means the wild boar has been attacked which was possible
only by a tiger & I turned back in the gypsy & to my wonder a tigress
was pouncing on the wild boar which I refused to click & had caught it by
throt! We immediately reversed the gypsy as time was very short & light was
fading, yet in the grass we could see final fight for the life by the wild boar
as the tigress has held it firmly by the throat. All this happened in few
seconds & I have witnessed uncertainty of the life in the forest, as while
we moved past the wild boar the tigress must be hiding in the grass patch
itself adjoining to the beast & had we waited to click the wild boar I
could have actually clicked tigress attacking it or she may have waited &
the life of the wild boar would have spared, but all these were just guess
works, outcome was I have witnessed the way a tiger hunts. We decided to come
back in the morning as the wild boar was very big & the tigress will be definitely
around it or may be drag it to some safe space. This made me able to tick my fourth
wish at same spot!
Tick 4. Post hunting tactics!
As I
mentioned the tigress has killed big wild boar earlier evening & she must
have been near the kill, so I wanted to see how she dealt with the food (sorry,
kill) & we returned to the spot in the morning (in between I could click
the fifth wish, which I will share after this story). And we saw vehicles
waiting along the road, here the road was narrow & at one side only gypsy
can get parked but our driver & guide were veteran & they decided to
wait across the patch of the grass right opposite where we have witnessed the
hunting last evening. They said, water is in between that spot & where we
are standing & the tigress will try to pull the wild boar body towards the
water as it will make the flesh soft. And exactly same thing happened as the
heat started rising the tigress dragged the body of the wild boar out of the
grass & dumped it the near by water pool. After this our driver said, now
she will go back & rest for a while as it’s a heavy workout for the tigress
& she needs rest as well time to get the flesh soft so we now go to the
spot back. By now other vehicles have moved from there and we parked our gypsy
at side & waited. After some time, the tigress came out refreshed &
went to the kill in the water & again took it out & dragged to another
grass patch across the water body. I could see (and click) the entire process
in detail, like how the tail of the tiger acts as a support while it carries, pull,
or lift the kills’ body & not leaving the trace of the dragging so the scavengers
won’t follow, such a through work it was & one more wish ticked!
Tick 5. How can I get so lucky!
One more tick remaining for long was, being able to see (and
click) a male tiger with habitat in background as well its full profile at eye
level. Again, an ambitious wish as a male tiger has territory five times more
than a tigress & it can be anywhere in the forest! Yet sometimes forest
surprises you & you actually experience the Marathi
phrase ,"anadhala magato ek aani dev deto don" i.e. a blind
man asks for one eye's vision to the god & god gives him vision of both the
eyes! At Tadoba, we have witnessed the Collerwali hunting wild boar in front of
us (that's another story) but it was late evening & we needed to be at gate
so we left the scene & first thing in the morning to return to the location
as fortunately we had booking of same zone, so we could revisit the spot.
While we reached Junona grass land right behind MTDC resort at Moahrli,
we saw a tiger walking away from the kill & our guide said the tigress must
be taking shelter nearby, though by me the size of the walking tiger was a lot
bigger than what we had seen earlier day evening yet we decided to turn the
vehicle back & just in time we could traverse the meadow to see the tiger
walking parallel to us & to our surprise it was huge male tiger Chota
Dadhiyal, which must have drawn towards the kill as it was in his territory as
well he was in mating with the Collerwali tigress! It’s such a super sight to
capture his huge frame though with gypsy moving & tiger also walking at his
pace (and my so-so clicking skill) it's always difficult to get a clear shot
yet to watch him was a sheer joy & best part in his sighting was a super
surprise as we weren’t even looking for him, but that's what tadoba is, full of
surprises!
Well, there are still a few more wish ticks which got ticked but,
in another sharing, or you will wish to tick to stop reading my sharing’s! What I learned while every above wish was getting ticked
is, in the forest you should respect smallest of the details as well plan the
safaris in tune keeping such sequences in the mind & respect the experience
of the driver & guides. As
had we not paid attention to the alarm calls in the distance, we wouldn’t have
recached to the place where the Zarni tigress was sleeping, as the same time
listening to what your guide says is important as those people knows the
movement of the animals & especially the tiger is animal of habit & it
follows a set path usually! And then there is
luck aspect, but to test that luck you have to visit the forests, right? Making
a promise to try my luck soon, again & allowing myself time to make new wish-list
I left Tadoba with super satisfying mind & loads of memories!
You can
experience visual wish ticking moments at link below…
https://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/albums/72177720317550777
-
Sanjay
Deshpande
Sanjeevani Dev.
Please view my sharing about finding a Right
Home/ Office in Pune, at YouTube link below & share if liked..
https://youtu.be/27j3I3rwGPQ?si=-ODYBxVI2Dl_C345
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below to read about real estate & home buying!
https://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2024/01/choosing-your-home-along-with-future-of.html
http://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/2023/02/blog-post.html
Creating Togetherness; team Sanjeevani Way (Click link below)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/albums/72157627904681345
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