The land of tigers revisited - Tadoba Oct 2013

In my 15 yrs of wildlife excursions, I have predominantly been a birder and most of my trips have been to birding hotspots. Once I got into DSLR photography in 2009, I became even more choosier, preferring to go to birding spots which provide an opportunity to spot the lesser seen and more colorful birds for eg the Himalayan or eastern birds. Compared to the 4-wheeler safaris in National Parks, the birding trips are more physically exhaustive, but then who ever said that one can see the tiny, exotic creations of nature, sitting in an armchair?

My last trip in search of tigers was in April 2010.  http://sangeetadhanuka.blogspot.sg/2013/08/tadoba-land-of-tigers-april-2010.html
This year  I upgraded my gear to a Canon 7D in July and once again, suddenly, the tiger beckoned. And anybody who has seen a tiger in the wild, will agree that the pull is impossible to ignore. Having seen them in summer, where the color of the feline merges with the dry grass of the forest, I now wanted to see them against the lush greenery. Yes, I knew that the grass is quite tall post monsoon and we could end up with a trip without spotting any tigers. Moreover, the weather being pleasant, the movements of the animals would not be like the summer months where they are forced to move about in search of water. Nevertheless, one learns early in wildlife, that any spotting is just a matter of chance and the law of averages spares nobody. But there was one sighting where my average continued to be zero. In so many years in the wild, I was yet to see a leopard. And that really pinched. Even on a tiger safari I was willing to forego a tiger sighting for a leopard. I had innumerable narrow misses in so many years. Once again, when 4 of us planned this trip, I told my friends and our guide too, 'I don't mind not seeing a tiger, if I can get a leopard'. A week before our visit, the park had opened and my guide would tell me everyday over the phone that he had spotted a leopard. And I thought to myself- 'This guy is seeing them daily, the law of averages will catch up with him during our visit'. Not just that, he was spotting tigers in every safari as well. Like I had mentioned in my earlier blog on Tadoba, when you are out in search of tigers, you start believing in every superstition. While on the one hand, I was happy to hear about great sightings happening already, the 'law of averages' lurked in my mind.
The season being post-monsoon and the chances of tiger sightings being lesser, we had planned 8 safaris. The first one merely got us a glimpse of a sleeping tigress and when she woke up in the evening to go the waterhole, we were the 8th vehicle in the queue behind her and practically saw nothing. As luck (or bad luck) would have it, though it was October, the skies were overcast and some parts had been through a cyclone in the previous week. It seemed as if the shadows of the cyclone were still lurking about and the threat of a safari or two being washed out seemed imminent. Our worst fears came true and our 3rd safari saw a heavy downpour and you will see in the pics below, how we were under the covers in the gypsy. But if our average was going so bad, it had to improve as well. It did. Though we had just one tiger sighting, it was a huge male, in the open and we were only among the 2 vehicles who saw it for a good 10 minutes. And the 6th and 7th safaris were the icing on the cake. During the 6th one the leopard stared at us from the bushes right in front of our gypsy. There was a chain of gypsies lined up but we were the lucky ones. More was to follow. The 7th safari was a bounty. From a monitor lizard, walking on the road and then climbing up to a nest in the tree to snatch bird eggs/young, to a nightjar by the road and then the leopard. He was with us for a good 30 minutes and we were just 2 gypsies at the spot. Others were probably roaming the park in search of the tiger. It continued to be there and after 30 mins it was we who had enough of it and moved ahead. Talk of averages!!! Suddenly my 15 year average looks healthy :). The day ended with spotting a sloth bear at the waterhole. I am sharing pics from the trip, below. Hope you enjoy them.
























































Location: Tadoba Andhari Tiger Project, Maharashtra 441222, India

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