Tigers (Panthera tigris) have fascinated us since time immemorial. In the last 20 years India has become the tiger capital of the world. Every foreign tourist has the two “T’s” on their list the Taj and the Tiger. Since the mid 90’s Bandhavgarh in the state of Madya Pradesh has been one of the best places to sight a tiger in the wild. As a matter of strange coincidence my fascination for the tiger started when I saw documentaries of “Sita” and “Charger” and as luck would have it I saw my very first tiger in the wild in Bandhavgarh. Ever since, Bandhavgarh has held a special place in my heart. I make it a point to visit there at least once a year if not more, since the last six years. Split primarily into three zones each one has a wide variety of flora and fauna. Magdhi is where the story of a tiger family got scripted in true Bollywood style The world population of tigers is estimated at about 3,890 with about 2,226 tigers in India. The Bandhavgarth Nation Park supports a tiger population of about 60 adult tigers and 35 cubs.
It was the summer of 2015 when I had my very first encounter with Choti Kankati who was named after a famous Bandhavgarh tigress (Kankati) who died defending her cubs from another male tiger. Choti Kankati is the daughter of another Bandhavgarh legend, the Rajbehra female. Kankati actually got the famous cut on her ear in a fight with another tigress called Solo. I can never forget the sighting as it was a very strange one. Something that maybe defined the way in which people and tigers interact today. It was peak summer in the month of May 2016 and the temperature was around 42 to 43 Celsius. There were forest workers working near a waterhole called Tadoba saucer (yes, it’s strange to name a water whole in Bandhavgarh after another tiger park in Maharashtra). Suddenly a tigress walks right up to the bush cover and is patiently waiting for the workers to go before she can come and drink some water and cool off. The photographer inside me was hoping the workers made a quick exit, but in the heat of the moment I failed to put into perspective the understanding between the cat and the people.
As soon as the people moved, the tigress came out, sat in the pool and posed. Little did we know at that time that she would soon give birth to cubs in the months to follow. In December of 2016 when I visited Bandhavgarh again, I was unable to see the tigress as she could have given birth to the cubs fathered by a male tiger known as Bamera’s son/ X Male. The three cubs (one female and two males) were first seen in February 2017. There was a strange connection being built here as the new cubs were fathered by the son of the very first tiger I had seen in the wild (Bamera grandson of the great Charger) and their mother (the daughter of the Rajbehra female). In terms of tiger genes, it couldn’t have been any better.
I was desperate to come and try and see the family yet again in the summer, but was unable to visit Bandhavgarh. I kept track of the family via pictures on facebook and regular updates from my friends in the park. The legend was growing… people said all you have to do is take your jeep to Tadoba saucer and wait – they eventually come. After a long time was one getting to see pictures of a male tiger interacting with his cubs and the entire family making regular appearances together. It was stuff that dreams are made of – five tigers around a water body.
Male tigers are generally shy and avoid jeeps. Seeing pictures of one playing with the cubs made me very envious. I had already made up my mind and planned a trip in December 2017. The parks were shut during the monsoon and as soon as they opened again in October 2017 I was waiting to hear from my friends about the family at Tadoba saucer. A week into the park opening, the cubs were seen with their father. They looked healthy and in good shape. A few more days went by but there was no sign of Choti Kankati. Alarm bells started to ring and the forest department stepped in. There was a search party put into place to find the mother of the cubs and a few days into the search they discovered the carcass of the tigress. She most likely died in a fight with another tiger, meeting a fate similar to the tigress she was named after. Personally, all hell broke loose for me. At the back of my mind I kept telling myself that maybe it’s a case of mistaken identity how could the cubs have survived without the mother but another dimension to tiger behavior was coming into play. Prior to this it was well documented in Ranthambhore that a male tiger had single handedly raised cubs. X- Male was in unchartered territory of a male tiger in Bandhavgarh but was doing a fantastic job as the cubs seemed to be in very good shape. Soon after an enclosure was built around Tadoba saucer for the safety of the cubs and they were no longer visible to tourists.
I returned to Bandhavgarh a few months after the park opened in December 2017. The routes to the enclosure were closed and during the trip and I realized that there was no way I was going to be able to see the cubs. I kept hearing stories about how the cubs were doing and the fact that when their father would come near the enclosure they would come close to him and interact with him but at the same time they kept away from any other tiger coming near the enclosure. For people who find it hard to understand the dynamics that come into play in a tiger family there can’t be a better example than this. As fate would have it, Solo the very tigress that gave their mother her name had by now started covering the area around the enclosure so there was no way now that the cubs would be out of it.
In between then and my next summer visit in May 2018 I kept hearing about how the cubs were being raised in a way by which human contact was being minimised so that they didnt’t get used to humans. Also, the fact that live prey was being released into the enclosure and the cubs had learnt to stalk and kill raised hopes of them being released sometime in the future. Fate again played its hand and Magdhi was badly destroyed by a forest fire just weeks before my summer trip and until a few days before my travel, jeeps were no longer permitted into the zone. I was more worried about the fate of the cubs but the forest department had other ideas. Special instructions were given to guard the enclosure day and night to ensure that no harm comes to the cubs.
Some may argue why the extreme security, but I feel that as people are responsible for the decline in their numbers people have to be responsible for saving them from extinction. Before booking the permits for the trip I kept asking people if there was any way to see Kankati’s cubs and the prompt reply was no. So we had booked all our permits for either Tala or Khitauli. On the second day we reached the gate at Tala and I removed the permit for verification along with the ids when I realized that we actually had the safari in Magdhi and not in Tala. By the time we would get to Magdhi we were about 30 minutes late. I was wondering if we would have any sightings or would it be easier since most of the jeeps would already be tracking down the pug marks or the fact that it was a waste of time since we had already lost so much of it and most of the routes were shut due to the forest fire.
Kanuji area that was normally open during the season was now shut due to the forest fire. So, the jeeps had to take the route through Tadoba saucer. As soon as the jeep took the right towards Tadoba saucer my heart skipped a beat. I asked the naturalist will we be able to see the cubs to which he replied if they are around the water you will see them if in the shade it will be difficult. Shailee and me were both praying, it was a hot afternoon so both scenarios had an equal probability of taking place. As soon as I saw the enclosure the first thing I was amazed by was the sheer size of it and a green cloth covering it. We drove a little further to the point where the water body was. I told the naturalist that I couldn’t see anything because of the green cloth and he politely smiled at me and said ‘stand’. At that moment I did not realize why he was smiling but as soon as I stood up I too had a big smile on my face. I was face to face with one of the male cubs sitting in the water.
When you are lucky you are just lucky. A few minutes into the encounter we had the other two also come and join their brother. All three of them sat right in front of us at the Tadoba saucer. Jeeps kept passing by us wondering why these people want to see tigers in an enclosure? why come all the way to Bandhavgarh to see this… might as well go to a zoo, but I doubt if many of them have any idea of how fate played a role in the cubs getting into the enclosure and in us getting to the enclosure.
Bandhavgarh National park has in recent times relocated tigers to other reserves having fewer tiger numbers. With the cubs hunting and stalking live prey, they now stand a much better chance at survival if they are released in the wild compared to hand raised tigers. The two male cubs will most likely have to be relocated to another reserve but the female cub may just build on the legacy and in the years to come raise another tiger family near the Tadoba saucer…
