After all these years being surrounded by the dunes of Arabia, it was time I headed back home to India. It’s been a while since I’ve ventured into wildlife photography and a dedicated trip to capture the spirits of the wild was absolutely necessary.
After some research I found a forest complemented by harmonious weather and throbbing wildlife. It was the “Tadoba National Park”, also known as the “Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve” which is one of India’s 47 project tiger reserves existing in India. It lies in the Chandrapur district of Maharashtra state and is approximately 150 km from Nagpur city. The total area of the tiger reserve is 1,727 square kilometers, which includes the Tadoba National Park, created in the year 1955.
So our expedition began, we reached Nagpur to its scorching heat and we really felt the 48° C temperature instantly. To pick us up from the airport a taxi has arrived from Mohali. We boarded out first ride and headed towards Mohali which was 150 odd kilometers away from Nagpur. After a few hours we reached a beautiful village where we had arranged our stay. A comfortable homestay which became our home for the next few days and during these time we took a total of 6 jungle safaris.
The next morning our safari jeep arrived to pick us up for our first safari. The feeling you get while trembling into the forest is indescribable. So we set out for our adventure. The Safari team handed us the breakfast package for everyone which would be consumed during a 10 min break in between the Safari at a designated spot where all the safari vehicles meet.
The breakfast is nothing special to ride home about. It’s usually a sandwich or something along that line. Although the lush jungle is bless with a lot of tree lives the scorching heat still penetrates inside and we could feel it. To battle the heat we packed a couple bottles of water in an ice box to stay hydrated along the way. The Safari team also provided us with a big bag to store the leftovers and empty bottles. With all these we proceeded to attacking the trails of the jungle.
When we entered the forest, the first animal we met was the Sambar deer which was standing proud and tall on a lush meadow in all its glory. However, the real star of every reserve in India is still the tiger and the story isn’t any different here. The safari team more or less has the objective to get the sighting of a tiger or more. To find a tiger in this dense forest is looking for a needle in a haystack but during hot summers they tend to roam near water bodies with primarily two intentions. One is to submerge themselves underwater to cool their body and the other is to prey on other animals coming towards the water bodies for drinking the water.
So we set our sights to finding a water body in hopes to get a tiger sighting and after a good few kilometers we struck gold. We got the sighting of not one but three tigers. Tigers residing in every reserve are usually given a name for easy identification by the officers and the story wasn’t any different here. The majestic one we saw here was the tigress “Maya” and her two young tigers. The young tigers were around two years old. We captured their images to our hearts content. After a while we moved from there only to be blessed by another tiger which was submerged in a water body as we expected earlier.
We didn’t waste any time and started capturing him in his complete glory. Along our way we got the sightings of several other tigers and we often stopped for a long time to capture images. Our Safari started at 6 am and usually the Safari wraps up at around 10:30 am and any time beyond this will be unbearable due to the extreme heat. We then rounded back to our room to freshen up and have our lunch only to start the next safari of the day which starts in the evening. This was the routine for the upcoming days and during these times I gathered a ton of valuable memories in which two of them stand out particularly. The first one was during our second day, the safari for this day was around 75 KM away from Mohali. After a long drive we reached at the gates at around 3 PM. The safari started as expected and we ventured into the forest. While on a safari we’ll always have a guide with us to ease the navigation. Once our Safari was o ! and after a few minutes our jeep halted and our guide hopped on top of our vehicle and asked us to remain silent. After listening for a bit our guide pointed to a bush a bit farther from our position and he said “tiger”. Every pair of eyes on that jeep searched for them. Through the thick bush we saw not one but three tigers.
There were two male tigers and one female tiger and two of the tigers were mating at the time. Usually when two tigers are mating and during this time if another tiger invades their space the two male tigers proceeds into a ferocious fight and whoever wins the duel will win the territory as male tigers have the habit of ruling their very own territory. The female tigress was named “Mayoori” and the tiger invading their territory was a new one and he didn’t have a name given yet.
While all these were happening we were struck with the disappointment of not being able to capture a good image. While all this were going down Mayoori came towards us and laid down near our Safari jeep. We were able to capture some good images of Mayoori. There were around 20 Safari jeeps halting at the same place during this time and the tigers were mating some distance from all of us.
This is when the unexpected happened. The male tiger was disrupted of his peace due to our overwhelming presence and he ferociously leaped towards us. Everyone on our jeep yelled for their lives and hearing this the tiger halted suddenly near us. Tigers are usually very gentle creatures in their habitat and it only becomes aggressive when we invade their territory which this incident made very clear. We wrapped up our safari for the day and returned to Mohali afterwards.
The next incident was during our third day. We were on our usually evening safari and which was a quite one with mediocre sightings, we were all more or less disappointed to say the least. The safari was about to end in a few minutes and it was when we saw that eye catching instance. A large open meadow with a huge pond in the middle where a bunch of deer were drinking water from and near to them was a tiger carefully making ground towards the dears without making any slightest of noises.
To any photographer witnessing a live tiger hunt is probably one of the rarest and the most challenging shots to get a hold of and we were all excited naturally. All the curious eyes on our jeep were fixed on the tiger. The tiger carefully made up ground towards the deer without alerting them. Every step the tiger took was with at most precision and accuracy. Everyone started getting impatient as the tiger took his mighty time to getting near the deer and everyone who had their eyes fixed on the viewfinder of their lenses was starting to get tired. Some even gave up and started to enjoy the scenery with their own eyes. I endured the pain in hopes of getting a spectacular shot.
After a while the tiger carefully laid down near the deer and the deer didn’t even suspect a thing. To our hearts disappointment the deer had then sensed the danger and flocked away from the tiger instantly. The tiger didn’t proceed to a chase to our surprise. We were all disappointed to say the least.
However, the spirit from our safari team to let us stay in the forest although after safari timings to get the shot was commendable. This was the only day when we reached our home later than usual. Although, we couldn’t witness a whole hunt we were still amazed by the tigers stealthy approach to grab a hold of its prey and it will be something that we’ll all be cherishing for the rest of our lives when we think of Tadoba.
Our most successful photography trip, the trip where we got the maximum number of tiger sightings, the names to summarize our Tadoba trip was plenty and it sure was eventful indeed. With all these experiences and memories we returned back home.
