Vision of Life; by Sanjay: F2, Junabai, Jogamoga & Wild Dogs!

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“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

smd156812@gmail.com

Sanjeevani Dev.

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