B2 and Other Great Tiger Pics from India

[Sully]

Shivaji – The Boss
March 2, 2015Wild EncountersTadoba, Tiger

A full moon rose as the drone of cicadas filled the air, it was an unusually quiet night. I was experiencing my first ever ‘Solo travel’, a term that I was introduced to recently.

“Was this a bad call?” I asked myself in complete disbelief.

Shalik, an eco-tourism maestro at Tadoba had hosted me in his office for a 6 night stay. Yes, you read that right. Since I was travelling on a shoe-string budget, staying in his office space located at the fringe of the tiger reserve was my best bet.

Just a few minutes before my game drive the next morning, I was told by one of my rather intelligent friends that I should visit Kolsa range instead of the most-famous Telia. It made complete sense to go-for-it as I had an entire jeep for myself that day. Without having to share it with anyone else, I could make my decision of choosing my route. Besides, I had the next five days to explore Telia in any case! My driver Nitesh and naturalist Nilkanth were in complete disagreement, they prophesized a higher probability of ‘seeing’ tigers at Telia. But, I was adamant.

True to all the ‘warnings’ that I had received, Kolsa was less touristy, in fact it was over 30 minutes into the park and I had seen no other tourists at all! It was just me, the driver and our naturalist in the jeep. Quite honestly, it was the most boring game drives ever –the forest was dry, with absolutely no animal moment. The drive was so boring that I fell asleep in the jeep until I was woken up by the sound made by rustling of leaves.  The first thing I saw when I opened my eye was a huge leap made by a male spotted deer. Slowly but surely my eyes were shutting off again, as I kept wondering what made this deer leap.

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The next thing I remember is Nilkanth’s hushed voice calling out “Tiger!Tiger!Tiger!”. For a moment, I thought he was pulling my leg as he had seen me dozing off in the safari jeep! But soon Nitesh started backing up the jeep, that’s when I realized that they were not teasing me. I rubbed my sleepy eyes and tried to see in the same direction as was Nilkanth.

There it was – the majestic master of orange and black sitting amidst the bamboo tickets, in slush – a typical tiger habitat that you would read in the books. Without even thinking about the angle or settings on my camera, I made a couple of burst shots, a typical behavior seen in most amateur photographers. Of course it is logical as one would fear that the tiger would melt into the jungle soon.

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Out of pure curiosity, I stopped shooting and glanced at Nilkanth, wondering what goes through a naturalist’s mind after spotting the game. He seemed more excited than I was. At that point, I decided to ask him what was on his mind.

Nilkanth had recognized this tiger as Shivaji. “Shivaji is the biggest tiger in Kolsa zone ma’am, no one has seen him in a very long time. I had feared the worst for him. But today, I am extremely happy to see my Tiger in good shape” he said. Just these three sentences, made me acknowledge the fact that not only was Nilkanth passionate, but also factual, observant and connected to individual tigers in a way you and I cannot imagine!

Shivaji sat there for over 30 minutes, altering his actions between cleaning his paw, yawning and staring at Nilkanth – it seemed like they shared a deep connection.

But soon my fear displaced this pleasant feeling as Shivaji suddenly rose from the dark slush making his gigantic physique apparent. As if that was not enough, he gave a deafening growl which almost punctured my ear drum! To get a better view, I was standing on the last seat of our three compartment jeep. I turned around to tell my driver to back-off the jeep as I saw Shivaji’s walking with a deliberate slow gait towards our jeep.

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But to get a “better” picture of Shivaji from his mobile camera, my jeep driver had left his seat and moved to the same seat as I was!

Sure, I have seen tigers before. But this day was different; imagine just 3 of us in a jeep with no driver in his seat, and this huge guy staring at us from just about 15 feet. All he had to do was one big leap and he would be with us in the jeep. No way we could have made it that day, had Shivaji decided to attack us.  There is only little that you can do in such situations, and I resorted to “Hanuman Chalis” that day.

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“Take good pictures madam” I heard a voice, I wanted to beat up whoever said that. I could barely hold my camera. I was trembling with fear, the battle of nerves had begun.I clearly remember at that point I was clinching Nitesh’s shirt and begging him to leave. Now that I am alive and writing this, you all can probably guess that he did not jump into our jeep instead he chose to walk away from us elegantly.

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I looked at Nitesh and Nilkanth with a sigh; I still don’t understand why they were laughing at me. I managed to calm myself as I saw Nitesh go to his assigned seat.  Before, I could speak he started backing the jeep with a quest to follow it – How brave are these people I thought to myself. Instead of showing my appreciation for their brave act I decided to resent the idea of following it. Although at that point, I quoted “Let’s not disturb Shivaji” as the reason, I am convinced that it was mainly because of my underlining fear.I am sure, although the boys didn’t express they must have thought of me as a “Fool” to let go of such an opportunity of tracking Shivaji. But honestly, I had had enough!

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As we moved forward we saw a jeep coming from the opposite end, it was the only other jeep I had seen in my safari that day. It also was carrying a single guest , but I deemed he was a regular guest. Nitesh and Nilkanth greeted him. What surprised me was these first few words from him “I am looking for Shivaji”. It was then that I realized about Shivaji’s fame. Nitesh briefed about the direction in which Shivaji moved and how scared and non-cooperative I was to follow him. I sincerely hoped that this guest got a glimpse of the mighty Shivaji too. If not like what I experienced, something better!

As I returned to my “office-stay”, I called my friend wondering if I had to thank him or yell at him for suggesting Kolsa. But, it sure was an experience that I had to share!

– Sampada Rao Reply