------
“When one predator leaves, another inevitably
will take its place. A void never remains a void for long.” ― A.T. Baron
“My mom is cool and she taught me to always be
on the right track.” ― Sam Hyde
“Observing a tigress with her cubs in the wild
is like sitting in the class of the best B”-School with the finest teacher in
the world” … Me.
Well, its about forest & it’s about tadoba
also & UKWS (Umred Karhndala Wildlife Sanctuary) but more it was about my
chase to have a look at two of my most favourite tigress moms (super moms
actually), i.e. Junabai at Tadoba & F2 at UKWS. Though I have written about
them in the past also, yet this time I specifically visited these places to
have a look at them as F2 is having her second litter & Junabai her fourth
but the common factor is both are having 4 cubs respectively! And Junabai has
experience of raising 4 cubs as she started with that number then F2 has raised
5 cubs which were her first litter. And both have many common things between
them such as both single handedly helps surviving their respective forest
literally! Means, UKWS tourism depends on F2, especially Gothangaon gate, an
area or zone which is F2’s territory. Junabai rules Madanapur buffer of
tadoba which has become a hotspot for wildlife lovers because of her. Both are
used to living around humans & the neighbouring villagers treat them like
residents of their village such is the bonding between these two tigresses’
& the locals & that’s not an easy thing to achieve for a tiger with
humans. It’s very easy to say Save tigers when they are thousands of kilometers
away from you but when you & a tiger share the same road, & same land,
well I wonder how many can still stick to the slogan Save Tiger! Yet, these two
tigresses are doing it for years & in doing so they have followed certain
rules, such as keeping distance from the humans or their belongings (read as
cattle) by hunting deer or wild boar & it is very difficult than hunting
cattle which are available in plenty around. Training the cubs also to follow
these rules. And agreed, wildlife is not about only tigers but it has tigers in
it & this wonderful animal is saviour of not just forest but humans also
which in turn becomes saviour for the wildlife as whole, this is beautiful
dynamics of wildlife conservation which I wanted to share & which I am
learning more with my every encounter with tigresses like F2 & Junabai.
First, about F2 & I won’t waste much time
(words) to explain her home i.e. Gothangaon at UKWS & she is a
tigress which represents lineage as legendary as Fairy as her mom &
carrying the legend ahead. I have seen her as a cub, as a teen ager, as a subadult, I have seen her
journey from princess to a queen, making her territory, I have seen her as a
young mother who took on challenge of raising five tigers in first go with
nobody to guide & today, I saw her as a matured Mother Queen of four cubs,
her second litter, she is F2, u disputed Super Mom of UKWS! She single handedly
runs Gothangaon gate of Park, supporting hundreds of human families along with
raising her cubs! Best part is, she rarely enters into conflict with humans,
not killing cattle unless extreme times, which are very few. It’s never an easy
thing to raise 5 or 4 tigers at a time, as they grow their food demands
increases & hunting cattle in compare to hunting deer or wild boar in wilds
is like clearing a galli level quiz in compare to cracking JEE for IIT &
yet F2 is wise not to go for easy ways as in the long term it will be harmful
for her in keeping peace with humans which surrounds her queendom. As if she
starts killing cattle i.e. domestic animals means her cubs will also learn that
only means conflict with humans as often it’s for protecting cattle humans come
in between tiger & its prey & outcome is death or injuries to the tiger
or the humans & it means enmity with humans which ends in only one result,
death or capturing of the tiger which F2 knows instinctively & that’s what
makes her very unique! This time I went on quest to have a look of matured mom,
and she didn’t disappoint me, though trouble (read as your trouble, not F2s’)
with zones like Gothangaon where there is only one ruling tigress is, if she
has moved out of tourism area or on hunting mode then the entire safari goes
without tiger sighting. Agreed, I love to click butterflies also which are
abundant at this time of year yet when (if) you are visiting specifically for
one tiger family then be ready to get disappointed also & that’s beauty of
wildlife, it doesn’t run on your wish or liking!
Though when the cubs of tigress are as small
as F2s’ are presently, just three to four months old then the tigress can’t
take them to the kill but she has to drag the kill to the cubs or she has to
hunt nearby around the cubs, making chances of her sightings more. But there is
another problem, as cubs are so small then if the kill is in grass, then you
can see the cubs & mom but can’t click shots you want (photographer’s
cribbing) which is what happened in our trip. We saw F2 & cubs & enjoyed
their family time which itself is a memorable sight & with some luck from
whatever window I could get from the grass & bushes, I got some adorable
moments of mom & cubs. The real beauty was, when she suddenly came out of
the grass & crossed the road ahead of us with the little ones following her
step to step or say paw to paw! As it happens in UKWS, those who are regulars,
the roads are narrow & only two vehicles can get clear sight of a tiger on
road, that too in opposite direction, i.e. gipsies on front, from both directions
& the ear ones (like mine) can do is try to bend, stretch as much we can in
our respective gipsies & get shots best possible, which I did! Four tiny
tigers which soon (in a span of eighteen months) will be grown up & start
searching for their own territory, & F2 will have to protect her territory
from them only, yet today she is doing her best to make these small ones
survive & giving her all energy & efforts for the cause & in doing
so she is helping so many faces happy & live on it too, that’s true Super
Mom! Every time when I say bye to such sights my heart gets filled with
happiness, peace & frankly beat of fear too, that how much more time
tigresses like F2 can roam freely in the wilds as from all sides their already
small home is shrinking & that too because of me & my fellow humans!
With a promise to myself that I will do my best to make F2 at peace, I left
UKWS in hope of seeing another Super Mom i.e. Junabai of tadoba buffers!
UKWS to Kolara side of Tadoba, is mere forty
minutes’ drive via Chimur & practically is a corridor for many tigers with
no human settlements in between except patches of forests & cotton fields
through which tigers easily navigate their path! Junabai is a veteran Super Mom
with her fourth litter (if I am right) & just the way F2 is single handedly
ruling UKWS Gothangaon zone, Junabai is solo queen of Kolara madnapur buffers
for decades now. She too is known to have three to four cubs at a time &
has been mom for many legendary tigers of Tadoba. She at present having four
cubs which are nearly seven -eight months old & though just two months back
I had been here but that was very brief trip & practically washed away with
heavy rains, so I decided to give (read as take) one more chance with Junabai
but as I mentioned above, wildlife runs on its own script. Just when we reached
the gate of Madnapur, we came to know that Junabai had killed a wild boar near
the main road outside of forest (means protected forest) & dragged it
inside the field. Now, unlike F2, Junabai’s cubs are big enough to walk &
it was sure that the cubs would have also joined mom for the feast & if she
has killed wild boar in morning means for next thirty-six hours in which our three
safaris have been aligned there won’t be no Junabai or cubs in this part of
forest, that’s wildlife!
We accepted our fate & started looking for
other tigers which is now a common scene across Tadoba as so many sub adults
getting added every year & they all need space (read as food) & till
they f make their own territory these sub adult tigers keep wandering,
especially empty patches of forests such as this one because of temporary
absence of Junabai! And to our delight we came to know a male tiger named
Jogamoga has been sighted by a gypsy & is on move, Now, this was something
as this whole area is being ruled by biggest tiger of Tadoba i.e. Xylo & I
have never seen Jogamoga, who is hardly three or four years old but must be
trying to settle in some forest. If he is here then even the guides said he
won’t remain in this part for long because of Xylo, yet we decided to take a
chance (what else we could do) & started roaming around the area where JM
(Jogamoga) had last sighted. And to our surprise at one water hole, here he
was, a handsome young male sniffing for the scent of another tiger & moving
around marking his arrival, on the trees. He was young yet with large head
& stout body & distinguishably green eyes reminding me of CM (plz
google) as he also comes from the forest which was ruled for many years by CM
& the name jogamoga is also from a chowki in Alizanza forest!
While the tiger is moving around it's very
important not just for photographers but even for normal tourists also to align
our gypsy in the best possible way, without disturbing the tiger as well other
tourists’ sight & this is where experience of observing a tiger comes handy
as well skill of the driver & the guide too! There were few other vehicles
around & excitedly they all aligned the gypsy in the direction from where
tiger is arriving, we went a further down the trail & waited, as agreed we
couldn’t saw him approaching but once JM male is in the dried water body, ours
was the only vehicle having him in full view! This, I shared not how great a
tracker I (read as we) am but a little bit of patience & study does help a
lot making your sighting more exciting & then there is a joy of little
achievement that your judgement was right in the wilds, thing! As well
the JM male gave us a typical tiger pose with tongue hanging out & actually
you feel that the tiger is laughing or tongue teasing you, which is not the
case, tigers do it for a purpose, which I will take more information about
& share in coming writeups for sure!
And yes there were butterflies,
lots of them with every possible color, danching around the wild flowers! This
is something you must do when you are waiting for tiger, look around & see
what other things lives in the forest making it beautiful & butterflies are
on the top list, more about these other things later! Last but least, in
UKWS we came across a pair of wild dogs, who gave us good show of their
relationship on road & the guide said, sir last year this was sixteen dogs
pack now only two are remaining, most died by some rabies type decease or
nobody know, but this pair survived. This is the problem, with all
good efforts from forest dept & people, yet our forests are under great
threat of encroachment, not only from the humans but along with human
settlements comes its side effects, such as stray dogs & so comes their problems
along & though the wildlife is capable of dealing with any nature generated
challenge but it’s not ready for the human created challenges, this is the
hardest & ongoing war where we must support to the nature in every possible
way! With
this promise to myself, I left for our concrete jungle from UKWS, yet those
four pairs of eyes of wild dogs’ I can still feel on me, what have you done to
us, they are asking to me, that’s my curse & that’s my responsibility too,
adios with this note!
Watch more moments at Flickr link along…
https://www.flickr.com/photos/coexistance_is_the_key/albums/72177720336603916
--
Sanjay Deshpande
Sanjeevani Dev.
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https://jeevnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/2026/08/
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