MyMusingsSangSpeak - Tiger Seen Unseen

Tiger Seen Unseen

At the museum in Gavi National Park, the English is wrong, but, the sentiment is right.

Oh, to see a tiger in the wild, what a great experience! India is the tiger capital of the world with such a successful tiger conservation programme that people all over from the world come here to get a glimpse of this majestic cat in the jungle.  All the national parks across the length and breadth of the country offer a feline bonanza to wildlife lovers. Some people get lucky with a real good sighting and some like me keep waiting and wanting to get fortunate enough to see “The Tiger”.

Near Bor Dam, Nagpur

This is about my experiences to get that much sought-after sighting of the tiger. Its been 10 years since 2010 that I started visiting the various national parks including Kaziranga National Park, Pench National Park (MP side), Pench National Park (Maharashtra side), Gavi National Park and Ranthambore National Park. It is an exhilarating experience to visit a national park, almost a magical one. You get lost in the greenery and wilderness and literally forget the daily grind and drudgery of modern city life. The terrains are different in nearly all the national parks and hence, it is interesting to visit them and find that every experience is altogether new and enriching one.

Elephant grass, marshes and the rhino at Kaziranga

When I had visited Kaziranga in 2010, it was winter time and could see the tame as well as wild elephants, wild rhinoceros, water buffaloes, deer and monkeys along with many birds. The driver of our gypsy told us that tiger census is on and sightings are common but, it was sheer hard luck for us that we did not spot any tiger. It was a good experience to have spotted the other big mammals like the Rhino though. The landscape is of grasslands opening into thick jungles, furthermore opening into alternating marshlands. This was an unplanned visit and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Pugmarks at Pench National Park

Fast forward to year 2013 and we were posted at Nagpur, the tiger hub with numerous national parks in the vicinity. We could plan a visit to Pench National Park, the legendary Rudyard Kipling and Mowgli territory and drove in our own vehicle to stay in a lovely resort, Kipling’s Court of the MP Tourism. The stay was a comfortable one in cosy surroundings and we had opted for the early morning safari. We were ill prepared as regards the clothing and weather; it was terribly cold and we carried no jackets. The safari was a good experience, we saw herds of deer, some wild boars, a lone fox, langurs, peacocks, owls and pied hornbills and also the pugmarks of the elusive one. After hearing the alarm calls of peacocks and langurs, we waited for about 15 minutes as per the guide’s instructions to sight the tiger, but, no luck.  We missed the big cat here, but, overall, it was an enthralling experience. At the resort, they played a film for us, that of the successful tiger conservation program at Pench. This particular film showed the spy cameras carried by the elephants on their trunks and also the cameras fitted and placed at different spots frequented by the tigers. These films are always shown on Discovery and National Geographic and other such wildlife channels. We also enjoyed a super star gazing session at the resort, something that we always miss in the busy city life due to reasons like light pollution and so on.

That Tiger at Pench in the extreme right corner in the grass

Come 2016 and I had one more chance to visit Pench, this time from the Maharashtra side. We were in Pench for a destination wedding and had one morning free and this time we went well prepared with proper warm clothing as it was peak winters. It was a rainy morning and the gypsies are always open, so the seats were already damp, but, that did not dampen our spirits. We were upbeat about sighting the tiger. My friend from USA was with us and I hoped and prayed that we would sight the tiger. Luckily, the rain had stopped by the time we reached the entry gate. We told our driver that he must take us to the right place to sight the tiger. In reality, there is hardly any right place and time.

We had one tribal girl in our vehicle who was trained to be a guide, this is an initiative by the state government to provide employment to the tribals in the vicinity of the national parks. The girl was a novice, studying in Class 10 and very shy, we struck conversation with her to make her as comfortable as possible. Our driver drove us to a water hole and we waited here for about 25 minutes for the tiger to come. It was foggy and hazy. There was one canter ahead of us which also waited. This wait is really fraught with unspoken excitement, all speaking in hush hush tones, praying for the tiger to show up. Suddenly, there was commotion and one gypsy behind us turned and bolted in the opposite direction as tiger had been sighted about 500 metres away. Our driver also turned and sped in that direction. The tiger was walking in the grass thicket about 400 m away and felt like a ghost almost. I tried to adjust my camera and get a shot and hardly got anything in all the speed and commotion. So, that was my first tiger sighting finally. We all were so happy to at least see the tiger, even though it seemed like a figment of imagination.

Indian Gaur at Gavi National Park

In 2017 winter, I had a chance to visit the Gavi National Park, a dreamland like place. It is next to River Gavi and the dam. It has a rainforest, lots of mountains, elevations and is home to animals like wild elephants, Gaur, tiger, deer, wild boars, lion tailed macaques and so on. On every nook and turn, we looked for wild elephants but they eluded us. During the safari, we could sight Gaur, Sambar Deer, spotted deer, wild boars, lion tailed macaques but no tiger and elephants. Back at the Gavi Eco Resort, we were shown a film of tiger sighting just 2 days ago. Our guide in Gavi, Mr Palnisamy from the local tribal community was a knowledgeable and experienced person and kept us well informed about life in the national park.

The Sleeping Tiger at Ranthambore

The latest tiger experience for me was just about a month ago in Jan 2020 in the most enchanted forest of India, that of Ranthambore National Park. We took 2 safaris here and our new year began on a good note with tiger sighting on 1^st Jan 2020. It was like a touch and go situation. We took an afternoon safari just after arriving in Ranthambore on the same day. Our guide here was a resourceful fellow and my daughter requested earnestly to him to show us the tiger. When we started our safari, we literally felt that it is not happening actually, as the police had closed the road to the entry gate and large crowds of people were thronging all roads leading to that particular entry gate as it was new year and all wanted blessings from the Trinetra Ganesh, popular deity of Ranthambore.

We already lost 30 -40 minutes there. Finally, the entry and our guide told us that he will try his best to show us the tiger, he was not going to wait much enroute to see the small game animals. We sped along the route and saw many Sambar deer, herds of spotted deer, crocodiles, wild boars and finally reached the probable place of sighting. Around 30-40 vehicles had gathered at one spot and here began the wait. This waiting really tests one’s patience.  The tiger was sleeping in the grass thicket about 100 m away but we could hardly see it from where we waited. We waited for nearly 45 minutes till we could reach a point from where we could actually see the sleeping tiger, only for about a minute or so. My photographic capabilities hardly worked wonders here with an old camera. 

Here, however, we could see the many facets of human nature. The VIPs who stood with their vehicle in the same spot for about 40 minutes in one place so that they could get a good look at the sleeping tiger, the rest 40 vehicles could wait forever. Some people who kept making loud noises and ruckus despite the guide’s instructions not to do so.  Some guides who do not follow the rules and took the vehicle off track to get a good view. Some guides like ours who follow all the rules to the T.

The next day’s morning safari did not yield much results as we did not sight many animals, but the terrain was so enchanting that nothing else mattered. Ranthambore is fresh in my mind and all the guides told us to visit in summers when the sightings are by far common as the forests are dry and animals are easily visible near the water holes. So, I await my turn to visit the national parks during summer season and sight the tiger more clearly.