Tigers of Central India

[kingrifter]

Been lurking here for a long time and have enjoyed reading your updates. Very helpful for anyone planning a visit to these parks. Apologies if this isn’t the right place for this post.

I had a chance to visit Tadoba in July and went to the Mohurli buffers, which have surprisingly been very active this monsoon. I spent an hour with Taru in Devada-Adegaon zone near the Irai backwaters. He is an excellent tourist tiger, but doesn’t look as bulky as the pictures of Bajrang I have seen in this thread. Impressive that he sent him packing.

Shambhu is still around in Agarzari and Paras in Junona but haven’t been as easy to spot. Same case for the new “Pachis-Baavan” (25-52) male that was briefly seen in the area in the summer.

Guides were joking that Agarzari is dead and every Junona jeep landed up in Devada during the days I was there to search for Choti Madhu and Taru. Choti Madhu has just brought out her cubs — I believe they are Taru’s?

Anyway, I am no photographer but here is Taru in the reeds by the Irai backwater.

*This image is copyright of its original author

I also had a chance to visit Bandhavgarh, which has been my family’s jungle of choice for the last 10+ years. I saw Dotty’s sub-adult in Magdhi, but it rained throughout and I just missed Chakradhara female and her 3 cubs as well as Bajrang in Tala. In any case, several females (Dotty, Dabadhol) etc have young cubs that they have not brought out yet so the upcoming season is very promising. I also went to Dhamokhar buffer where the sub-adult male was being seen a lot this season, but missed him. Bandhavgarh buffers are not on par with Tadoba’s for imo. Anyway, thought I’d share a blog post from Mr. Satyendra Tiwari, a long time Bandhavgarh resident and photographer, about a wonderful sighting I had of the Old Banbehi Female (Wakeeta) with him in 2013.

Wakeeta Sighting 2013 Reply