TADOBA GLORY !!!

August 10, 2013

TADOBA GLORY !!!

Wildlife travel in India is an enchanting experience for the die-hard nature admirer. Indian wildlife and adventure tours offer vast opportunities for adventures and to explore great wildlife habitats in India. For the wanderlust, Indian wildlife treasures diversity of wildlife in different parts of India. By taking up wildlife tours to India one can encounter the great Indian tiger at Jim Corbett in the sub-Himalayan region, the gigantic Indian elephant at Periyar in Kerala, the majestic Asiatic lion at Gir in the west and great Indian one-horned rhino in Kaziranga in the north east of India.

In fact, adventure never ceases to exist in this land of stupefaction, India wildlife adventure will take more than life time for its complete discovery.

In this blog I talk about my experience at Tadoba. I am a HR professional working for 3M and have a lot of respect for Wildlife and would like to spend time in Nature when ever I find one. Untill this trip happened I had one wild tiger sighting. In the last 6 years of my visits to Wildlife National Parks I had seen very few cats. But this trip changed those numbers drastically. I had never heard about Tadoba until I saw an image of Prasanna Venkatesh (Two cubs in air punching each other). That hooked me. From then on I have been to Tadoba every year. 2013 (March), 2014 (Feb) and recently 2015 (June) !!

Tadoba Adhari Tiger Reserve or TATR is a pristine and unique ecosystem situated in Chandrapur district of Maharashtra. This was created in 1995 with some of the best flora and fauna.

We had waited for this trip all through the year. Six months of preparation, spoke to quite a few to join us. Finally the same group which sighted 2 cats in 2 days at Kabini was roped in to be Vastu compliant :).

The date was March 19^th and we went ahead and booked our flights to Nagpur. I realized then that I am going to miss my wife s birthday. Started feeling weak in my knees. It was a catch 22 situation as her birthday was falling on the 22^nd of March and we would be in Tadoba then. But then I am fortunate to have a wife who respects my passion and I respect her’s (Classical dance). Touchdown Nagpur and we were all rearing to go.. the heat was touching 40+ but all the adrenalin rush made us ignore it completely. Hopped on to the taxi and we headed towards Tadoba for our resort. En-route as we were nearing the forest we saw a cattle kill with puncture wounds on its neck. This could have been done only by a large cat like a tiger or leopard. Now this added to our excitement as we have heard horror stories of how humans and wildlife coexist in Tadoba and Andhari.

We checked into our resort (IRAI Safari Retreat(http://iraisafariretreat.com) – Highly recommend the place) and polished a great meal and were rearing to go into our first safari. They offered refreshing Chaas and pampered us with Lemonades to cut the heat.

Madhuri, Eda Anna, Gabbar, Waghdoh, Choti Tara, Sonam, Maya, these are not names of Bollywood stars but are famous tigers from Tadoba... fingers crossed on how many we can see on this trip. The reserve also houses Wild Dogs, Sambar deer, Chital, Wild Boar, Crocodiles, Sloth Bears, Leopards, Jackals Neelgai, and 100 s of species of birds.

The safari jeep came right into our resort and the staff were really good and packed us some snacks and a Cooler box with chilled water bottles. What more can you ask for. With four of us and only one big bazooka we were all set.

We were four of us travelling together and had picked up one 800 mm lens with 3 more 100-400 s. The understanding was each one of us will have the 800 mm with us for at least 2 safaris.

We arrived at Jhamun Jhora and whoa !!!! I see 2 cubs which are of the size of adults resting. After a few minutes one more joins.

It was just mayhem as we started shooting the 3 cubs(Lara, Geetha & Mona).They are actually four cubs all female and the other cub being Sonam. Waghdoh and Madhuri are the proud parents of these 4 cubs and they are doing very well. Recently Sonam has given birth too. Since she had driven these 3 sisters out of the territory, these 3 were very wary.

Hunger got these 3 together and we observed one of the most unusual behaviors where the 3 hunted in packs and they were able to bring down huge preys like the Gaur and Sloth Bear. Never was any document made of Tigers hunting in a coordinated way. One more unusual behaviour was the way Waghdoh stayed around with the family and cubs until they were 18 months old.

I got to use the lens on the safari in the morning too and I was hopeful for more spectacular shots. The markings on a tiger’s forehead closely resemble the Chinese character for king, giving tigers a cultural status as a regal animal. The stripes are also unique like human finger prints but none of those could we make out as all four tiger cubs looked alike..We were not experts anyways. Cubs did I say.. They looked so grown up at 19 months.

GEETHA & LAURA have a dip at Jhamun Jhora

SNARL

GEETHA, LAURA & MONA

We started off on an early morning safari at Tadoba. We were all excited on what we had experienced the previous evening. four Telia cubs at the Jamun Jhora Lake. What a welcome it was to us who were craving to have at least one sighting of a wild tiger for the entire trip.

We decided to drive towards the Tadoba Lake. I recollect an image of a Tiger overlooking the sun set on the green mounds around the Taboba Lake in one of the leading wildlife magazines. How I wished I could visualize something like this. There was a serene calmness around the lake. We were the first to arrive at the lake and started soaking the early morning sun. I looked at my BAZOOKA (referring to my 800 lens) and started wondering if I would ever get some nice clicks.

COMMON KINGFISHER

WHITE THROATED KINGFISHER

MOTTLED OWL

We spent almost an hour and were telling ourselves ALL IS WELL .. PATIENCE PAYS. There were a few more jeeps and private vehicles (this is one thing I dislike at TADOBA.. you cannot let private vehicles in. I also saw quite a few forest officials going around in bikes !!) We were looking at each other as if to say four tigers at one spot was a little too much the previous day and our luck had run out.

Swoosh !!! We could see a wild boar bolt from the lake towards the deep jungle. Also see 2nd image above, of the spotted deer who is in on red alert with his tail raised. Suddenly our hopes rose with alarm calls all around but then we could see no cats around. I could hear my heart beat as I held my camera to my eyes and started to steady my five kg lens when I thought I saw some movement of stripes at the far end. No one else could visualize the same as it was quite a distance and it’s only because of my lens that I could have a firsthand look at the stealth of a great wild cat.

The next two hours was sheer bliss to watch this Pandher Pauni Tigress almost make a kill. For moments like this naturalists and wildlife photographers wait for ages. The next set of images says the story. She came there scanned the lake which had deer, wild boar, peacock, sambar deer, marsh crocodiles and a number of birds. Unlike almost all other big cats, tigers are adept swimmers. They enjoy bathing and often play in the water when young. As adults, they often swim several kilometers to hunt or to cross rivers, and at least one has been recorded to have swum almost 30km in a day.

She waited for some time and decided to have a drink. It was a cautious descent and she slid to the bank and stopped. I guess she was taken aback by her own reflection. These moments were very comical. I was in a situation where I was tempted to have looked with my naked eyes at what was unfolding in front of me but as a photographer you need to remember your job. She then had her drink (Unlike many other animals, tigers do not drink water by lapping it up on the top of their tongue, due to their tongue bristles. Instead, they cup the back of their tongue to flick water droplets into the air, which they then close their mouth over.) What was also comical was my other bunch of friends who were trying to grab my lens as they all carried 400s.

She then went towards the base of a tree and settled down. It was majestic. It was sheer bliss to watch her bask in the early morning sun and the sun rays creating magic on velvet skin.

This went on for 45 min and we were having loud conversation despite the tiger being around. Tigers are the largest of all cats, but also have the most variability in size. The largest subspecies, the Siberian tiger, grows to over 3.5m long with a mass of over 300k. The smallest subspecies, the Sumatran tiger, is only around 2m long and 100kg when fully-grown.

Meanwhile my friends had borrowed my lens to take some close up shots. With all this commotion I could sense the tiger making a slight move and within 3 seconds it moved into a hiding.

Tigers prefer to hunt large prey by ambush. If you look at a tiger, it is less likely to attack, as it has lost the element of surprise. In some locations in India, people traditionally wear a mask on the back of their head while walking through forests to prevent tigers from pouncing from behind. Tigers usually kill prey by strangulation or blood loss. They ambush the animal by leaping out and seizing its neck in their teeth. If a major artery is severed, the animal dies in seconds. Otherwise, the tiger hangs on as the prey thrashes, and it quickly dies of strangulation. The images below show us how the lone stag made its way into the water front unaware of a tiger resting. She could then get his smell but unable to see him. The tiger was in an excellent position to make the kill (Tigers can sprint at over 60km/h for short distances. Tigers can leap distances of over 6m, and jump up to 5m vertically. Their muscular legs are so powerful that they can remain standing even when dead.) But for some unknown reason it decided to let go. The stag had its drink and moved on to live another day.

Only one in ten tiger hunts are successful, so tigers typically go several days without eating before gorging themselves on over 30 kg of meat after a triumphant hunt.

GABBAR - Only Male Tiger I have seen in Tadoba

Image Credit: Siddhesh Mungekar

We were left disappointed that the kill did not happen but also felt a relief the stag got to live another day.. it was mixed emotions but one which we shall never forget. She slowly moved towards the central mound of grass and slid towards the water edge scaring a marsh crocodile. Clearly she was the queen of this lake. As she slid into the water we made our move. By now 20 odd jeeps with 100 odd people had witnessed this spectacle but the elation was that very few got close up shots the way I got.

The next few safaris had some close calls.. we ran into a couple of tigers who had dragged a fresh kill very close to the paddy fields. Could hear a tiger growl in close quarters and my spine froze. We also saw the Telia cubs make a formation and it almost seemed a coordinated hunt. All in all we saw 9 TIGRESSES.. this was the only disappointment as we could on run into any Male tiger.. talk about Diversity. We missed the mighty Waghdoh tiger(Father of the Telia cubs) by a whisker.

Maya in all her Glory (June 2015)

MAYA 2015

5 safaris, 9 tigers and 4 of us realized its not an easy job to photograph wild animals. Searing heat, dusty roads, loads of patience and an eye to capture the right moment. But then it was all worth with the amazing captures we got and also what we got to see in the wild for the first time. This is one trip we shall never forget.

If you really want to have sure shot sightings of tigers in the wild TATR is the place. The most recent census, carried out in 2012, found that the core area has 43 tigers. There are another 22 tigers in the buffer area, and a further 35 in the area surrounding the park.

Please save this magnificent beast. SAVE THE TIGER.

2016, Nov Trip

This trip to Tadoba was a leveller in many ways. Tadoba is a land of tigers and more often we come back with a feeling of not seeing other species or making images of the same. I was part of a large group of Wild life enthusisats (30 plus). The trip was a success primary because of this mature Group.

Majority of the people heading to Wilderness in India wish to see the tiger on every safari and more so make their image and post it on social media to garner all the likes and pseudo fame. They even start thinking of behaving like a naturalist who understands tiger behaviour after their first sighting. On one of my last trips to Bandhavgarh the trip left a bad taste only due to such so called self declared Wildlifers who wish to see tigers on every safari. I shall talk about it more in my blog on Bandhavgarh trip. So this trip was an eye opener for me as the way this group handled the disappointment of not sighting the tiger so well.

We had done 5 safaris around the Mohrali region with zero tiger sightings. This was for 90 % of the group. Couple of jeeps sighted Sonam and her cub the previous day. One jeep sighted P2 (Maya s sister) around the Navegaon Gate. This was unheard for me personally at Tadoba.

But on the 6 th safari which was on a Monday morning... the driver and the guide decided to check Pandherpauni as Maya was not seen for a week now. Well she did not disappoint me again as she introduced her son and gave us a ramp walk too.

Her son looks like is going to rule Pandherpauni as he looked really bold and carried the same attitude as his mother.