I just fell in love with Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve the very first time I visited it. It was 2nd December, 2006: my first time to the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) near Chandrapur Thermal Power Station in Maharashtra, about 140 kms south-east from Nagpur and only 35 odd kms north of Chandrapur. By the time we reached Tadoba TR, it was nearing 5PM, and the Park would close at 6. Rush, rush, rush. Good that we could take our Qualis into the Park and did not need to hire another vehicle. There was not much time and with dusk setting in rapidly, we had no major expectatations. But our guide, a 17 year old boy named Sachin Newale had an infectious enthusiasm and partly because of his unbounded optimism we decided to take a round of the Park.
In the 45 odd minutes we were inside the TATR, we were not disappointed. Plenty of Chitals and in particular a H...U..G...E Sambar walked across our vehicle. Frankly, sambars are a common sight in whichever jungle I visit in India but the size of the one that just strutted past was mind-blowing. Huge....really HUGE. Then immediately after, a full grown bull Gaur or Indian Bison.... the hump on its back was something to marvel at and we wondered whether the bright red colour of our vehicle would attract its wrath! Unfortunately, the light was very poor and all my efforts at getting a reasonably decent photograph came to naught. We returned to the MTDC bungalow quite buoyed by the prospects of the morning ahead. All along Sachin kept on chirping enthusiastically that we will surely have our date with Sher Khan the next day.
Darkness all around. We decided to take a drive in the jungle areas just outside Park on the outskirts of Moharli - the village adjacent to the Park boundaries. There's a large water-body formed by the Erai Dam and the prospects of sighting some wildlife was quite alluring. A large herd of Gaurs or Indian Bisons was around, their eyes reflecting as large white balls the light from our vehicle's headlights. Then a Nightjar sitting in the middle of the track. Let's get closer and closer and closer. It just stayed put where it was. Good for a close-up photo. I got down from the Qualis and got really close and took in a few shots. Nice night photo! Thank you Mr (or was it Ms - who knows!) Nightjar!
In the 45 odd minutes we were inside the TATR, we were not disappointed. Plenty of Chitals and in particular a H...U..G...E Sambar walked across our vehicle. Frankly, sambars are a common sight in whichever jungle I visit in India but the size of the one that just strutted past was mind-blowing. Huge....really HUGE. Then immediately after, a full grown bull Gaur or Indian Bison.... the hump on its back was something to marvel at and we wondered whether the bright red colour of our vehicle would attract its wrath! Unfortunately, the light was very poor and all my efforts at getting a reasonably decent photograph came to naught. We returned to the MTDC bungalow quite buoyed by the prospects of the morning ahead. All along Sachin kept on chirping enthusiastically that we will surely have our date with Sher Khan the next day.
Darkness all around. We decided to take a drive in the jungle areas just outside Park on the outskirts of Moharli - the village adjacent to the Park boundaries. There's a large water-body formed by the Erai Dam and the prospects of sighting some wildlife was quite alluring. A large herd of Gaurs or Indian Bisons was around, their eyes reflecting as large white balls the light from our vehicle's headlights. Then a Nightjar sitting in the middle of the track. Let's get closer and closer and closer. It just stayed put where it was. Good for a close-up photo. I got down from the Qualis and got really close and took in a few shots. Nice night photo! Thank you Mr (or was it Ms - who knows!) Nightjar!
Ronald, Sampat and I are all late-risers but the prospect of sighting the Big Cat was so exciting that we were already at the Park gate by 5.45am : waiting for the gates to open at 6. We had to resolve a small problem first. As per the Park rules, guides were made available to the visitors by rotation. But we wanted Sachin ... he was really enthusiastic and had established a great rapport with all three of us as also the driver.... so much so that we believed that Sachin would bring us luck into the jungle. We talked to the Park officials and finally it was decided that we pay the guide's fees to the person otherwise eligible and take Sachin along. Sachin too was keen and even suggested that he would accompany us anyway, with or without fees. The minor problem sorted out we made our foray into TATR.
Early morning in winter in the jungle was bitterly cold and we thanked our lucky stars that we were comfortably ensconed inside our Qualis and not riding on an open jeep. In the faint light of the early morning ... the sun would rise at least an hour later.... several Chitals (spotted deer) darted across the road and a bunch of Langurs clamoured noisily on top branches of the trees. Birds were chirping everywhere but no where seen good enough for a photo. We were driving along a good metalled road... something unique in this Park. Sachin explained that this road connected Moharli, in the southern end of the Park to Tadoba and then another village further north. Even buses plied on this road!
Shortly into the drive, we came across a series of tallish, slim, pyramid like towers with small rectangular openings near the tops. Sachin explained that Tadoba and neighbouring areas covering even Chandrapur and perhaps beyond, were once ruled by the Gond kings and these imposing towers or pillars acted as a signalling / communication system during their reign. The rectangular holes were peep-outs that probably doubled as mashal-holders at night.
Plenty of deer, langurs, wild boars and even some gaurs – but no sign of the Big Cat anywhere. Did Tadoba really have any? Nearly three hours had passed and we had already reached and started out from the Information Centre on the shores of the Tadoba Lake – a large water-body reputed to host marsh crocodiles. No crocodiles either! Anyway, hot tea and snacks were available. Chalo, kuchh chai-oye toh ho jaye!
Our patience was beginning to wear out and frustration creeping in. We were now seriously doubting the credibility of Sachin’s claims that Tadoba was teeming with tigers, at least 30-40 of them. “Arey Sachin, we hope you don’t cloak a friend in an old tiger-skin and plant him in the jungle to show off as a live tiger!!!!!” was one comment frequently interspersing our conversation! And Sachin, the kid that he was, became agitated and grew more and more vehement in his assertions that there were indeed tigers in Tadoba and before the day was done, he would surely show us one. “Arey, tab toh tera Deewali mana doonga” – our skepticism had now turned into offering enticements!
Sachin was quite scientific in his approach. He seemed to have divided the forest into several grids in his mind and was systematically covering various prospective localities in this grid. Our time was running out – we would have to leave the Park by 11AM and then head back to Nagpur post-lunch. Ronald and I had to catch a flight in the evening and an important meeting lay ahead at work the next morning.
The Park was essentially a dry deciduous forest with an abundance of teak, mango, jamun, mahua and kusum and many other trees – but peculiar to it was the profusion of bamboo groves. Bamboo thickets were almost everywhere and provided dense cover to all animals from the probing and intruding eyes of the human visitors.
It was now past 9.40 in the morning. We were slowly driving on the mud-track around Vasant Bandhara. On our left were sloping rocky platforms and on the right a small nalah with dense bamboo and teak forests on its banks. Only the frontal view at 90 degrees to the nalah gave a reasonably clear and unobstructed view. I commented aloud that this appeared to be a typical Kipling country and if tigers had to be anywhere, this had to be the place. No sooner than I had said this, Ronald sitting behind the driver, whispered excitedly that there WAS a tiger to our right at 1’O clock position. Anticipation immediately turned into extreme excitement. Yes, truly there was this Big Cat standing behind the bamboo bushes! Anticipating our intrusion into its privacy, it immediately chose to sit behind the bushes. No good for a digital camera.
Exactly 9.45 AM. We had about an hour in hand and decided to wait it out till the tiger made a move. Sooner or later it would because it had come to the creek to drink water in the first place. I desperately prayed for it to come out in the open at least once; I needed one – at least one - decent photograph of this magnificent animal. We carefully moved the vehicle a few yards to position ourselves in the middle of a culvert so that we got a more central view and waited. After about 20 minutes - it felt like an eternity in waiting though- the Big One made its move. Warily – always keeping an eye on us – it crossed the nalah now from our left to our right, went over to the other bank and surprise of surprises, began chewing grass! Tiger eating grass! No one would believe this so my camera went into an over-drive. I kept on shooting till I was sure I got one good shot. More prizes were yet to come!
After a few minutes of grass- eating ( later I could boast non-stop to my two-legged friends that when I AM around, even the tiger eats grass!!!!! A boast that I carry even now although I know that all canines and felines do eat grass for digestion purposes!), the tiger moved up the bank, reached a nearby tree and tail up, sprayed on it. We were quite a distance away and could not make out whether it was a tiger or a tigress. Looked more like a tigress but could not tell for sure. Territory marked, the majestic animal had a drink of water in the nalah and then proceeded to have a bath. We were being treated to a magnificent spectacle unparalleled in my life. It turned its back to the nalah, dipped the left hind leg into the water, then the right hind leg, then slowly slid in up to the waist and finally up to the shoulders. All this while, while we sat absolutely mesmerized (only to get out of the trance occasionally to take pictures) the Big Cat continued to hold onto the bank of the nalah with its front limbs much as a human being would do with his hands and never, never, even for a moment, took its eyes off us! In a way it was good for us as we continued to get in excellent photos.
Forty-five minutes had passed but it felt like only a few moments. The majestic cat was putting on quite a show and we, fortunately there were no other vehicles around, were the sole spectators quietly applauding the wonderful performance and repeatedly reminding ourselves as to how truly fortunate we were.
Then it moved out, shaking away the water from its limbs vigorously, and moved away
from us into the jungle beyond. That’s when our driver came up with a brilliant idea and suggested we move up the track straight ahead as the tiger was likely to take a semi-circular trek and cross our path somewhere. We had hardly crossed the culvert and gone about 20 yards or so when SHE arrived right in front of our vehicle, barely 25 feet away. Yes, it was definitely a SHE. No danglers anywhere! Definitely a she! The tigress kept moving right ahead of us. What a cat-walk it was! We wished the ramp-walkers that we see on fashions shows and TV-shows could see her – they could really have learned a trick or two from a real-life cat-walk!
Then the magic spell was broken rather rudely. A gypsy load of tourists arrived crying full throttle " Sher! Sher! Sher!". The Sherni had now enough and promptly proceeded to move into the dense grassland on our left. We tried following her but it was rather difficult with the clamorous crowd also on her trail.
Having given her up, I asked Sachin where she was likely to be heading and whether we had any chances of meeting up with her again. Sachin thought carefully and suggested we could try the Ambathia area and we hurriedly headed towards Ambathia. As we continued on our search, we saw that the jungle was divided into areas and compartments by the forest officials. We were now in compartment C, moving from C11 towards C12. There was a mid-sized water-body on our right and a group of forest workers, mostly women, were busy with their tasks on the far side. "Arey Sachin, where have you brought us? How can a tiger be here with so many people around?" Sachin whispered back his reply - " Saab, there IS a tiger on your left! In the bamboo thickets!" Unbelieveable! But true! There was this tiger and it was entirely a different one from the one we were following, standing in the bamboo thickets hardly 20 feet away from us to our left. Apparently it was coming for a drink at the water-hole and had its path cut-off by our vehicle! Can you believe our luck! I know many readers must be saying inwardly "What Hogwash!"; but it was true.
10.45AM. Two sightings within an hour of each other. How much more fortunate can a tiger-lover be?!
We had no intentions of leaving in a hurry and the tiger, perhaps sensing our mood, chose to sit down. Good for us as we now had a head-on view not even twenty feet away. I rolled down the window-pane of the Qualis and simply went berserk shooting with my camera while Sampat behind me kept rolling the Handycam. On the l..o..n..g lens the tiger appeared only at a hand-shaking distance. Must have shot nearly two hundred photos necessitating card and battery changes. The tiger sat where it was, but obviously wanting us to go away. Meanwhile our time was also running out - the deadline for leaving the Park was already reached. The tiger made faces at us, licked its paws, batted its tail, jiggled its ears and Y..A..W..N..E..D! Such a magnificent yawn I will never see.
Sachin now started to get fidgety reminding us that it was past 11 AM and we should leave else there would be hefty fines imposed by the forest officials. For the first time in my several jungle visits, we chose to break a rule and decided to spend another half-hour with the tiger, quite willing to pay a fine. The tiger, however, had enough of its time with us. It stood up and made to move away from us to the further left. The driver quickly reversed the vehicle and we were not even a dozen feet away behind HER. Yes, this too was a tigress albeit a fairer one, a different one and perhaps a smaller one. She, too, proceeded to spray on a nearby tree
and then seeing that we were still on her tail, swiftly moved away in an arc to our right, but not before giving us a long and rather indulgent stare, and disappeared into the dense jungle.
It was 11.15, and we decided to head towards the Park exit. Not before there was a twist in the tale though. While, we took it for granted that the tigress had gone into the jungle, she had rapidly completed a full circle and crossed into the water-hole barely yards behind our vehicle. I can still imagine her snigger at making a complete fool of us! We were late and all in all, we had had a wonderful day in the jungle, and, we realised that the tigress was thirsty. Sanity prevailed and we left her in peace, to proceed to the gates of the Park.
We reached the exit gate around 11.40. Sachin was nervous. But before the forest staff could admonish us I hurriedly got down and started to show-off my photos on the screen of my camera. The foresters, too, were happy and a group of tourists gathered around to see the pictures. Very few were lucky to have sighted a tiger that morning " aahs!" and "oohs!" frequented many compliments both for the tigresses and for the photographer! The senior forest official even suggested that I should present a photo of the yawning tigress to the photo-gallery in Tadoba. But the biggest compliment came from an elderly tourist... "You must have, in your previous life, been a benefactor to the tigers and must have done a lot of good to them. No wonder they show themselves to you and spend so much time with you and allow you to take so many pictures . In your heart you must be a true tiger-lover!"
We were all happy beyond words. Sachin, too, was delighted and we promised to come back again along with a Book of Birds for him. He really wanted to be a successful naturalist. Ronald, Sampat and I could never make another trip together again, although on my own I have since visited many other tiger sanctuaries in the country and have almost always sighted tigers. Even after so many years, every time I see a tiger in the wild, the elderly gentleman's words ring in my ears. I must have been good to tigers sometime somewhere... how else can I explain my good fortune in sighting them (otherwise so elusive) so well, so often.
(Completed today, 18 May 2010. End of Tadoba Tiger Tales Part 1.... Part 2 will follow.)
