On TheTiger Trail

Achal Dhruva embarks on Mission Tiger in the Kanha and Bandhavgarh tiger sanctuaries

All of a sudden there was silence, a long pregnant pause. As if on cue, the cacophony of alarm calls ceased and all creatures seemed to be waiting with bated breath. A stag, leg slightly raised, its short stump of a tail erect and twitching, body taut with tension, sniffed the air staring into the tract of elephant grass up ahead. It was as if time had stood still.

Deafening silence and charged atmosphere, the stage was set for high drama and for once we had ringside seats for the highly anticipated action sequence – enactment of the age old primal drama. A short loud bark by the stag triggered a litany of ‘Khoh’, ‘Khoh’, cough-like alarm calls from the langoors and we were sure our unseen quarry was closing in for the kill. It was a moment I had dreamt for years, a face-off with Sher Khan in his own backyard. Excitement and anticipation made my heart beat like African tom-toms gone wild as I waited to capture on camera the king of the Indian jungle pouncing on his prey. However within minutes, which had seemed like hours, the promised high drama turned into anti-climax. The star of the jungle was in no mood to grant an audience and had probably settled down for a siesta.

My stomach churned in disappointment. This was our second near-miss on the morning safari, the last of our three forays into Kanha National Park. Earlier in the morning our driver had raced to a gutter following alarm calls but we missed the majestic beast by about five minutes. There were clear wet footprints leading from the spot, cutting across the dirt track and the grass was still parted defining the path of the tiger as it melted into the forest. As I gazed long and hard at the footprints, our driver informed us that our near miss was a male of around eight years.

If you have ever dreamed of a tête-a-tête with tigers, Kanha National Park and Bandhavgarh National Park in Madhya Pradesh are your destinations. These are the two prime tiger sanctuaries, besides Ranthambore in Rajasthan, as far as tiger sightings are concerned. Kanha is billed as ‘Kipling Country’, as Rudyard Kipling was inspired to write his famous Jungle Book after visiting the forest, while Bandhavgarh is popular as white tiger country. Not only home to the rare breed of white tigers now only found in select zoos around the world, Bandhavgarh has the distinction of having the highest density of tiger population in India and ‘more often’ than ‘not’ you will get a glimpse into the life of this majestic beast.

While we (my photographer friend Sherwin and myself) were not lucky enough to get a glimpse of the star attraction of Kanha, we sighted a gallery of usual suspects. Elephant safaris are the main draw there as they make you feel part of the jungle and allow you to absorb it at a leisurely pace. We embarked on our safari in Bandhavgarh forest in the wee hours of the winter morning, fingers and toes firmly crossed. Five minutes into our safari we saw a young male sambar with two females five feet off the road. The male though alert stood his ground staring and then bolted as another jeep approached, disappearing into the mist spread over the forest like a lacy curtain. It all happened so fast that the experience seemed almost surreal.

The sambar sighting proved lucky for us as almost immediately our driver stopped the gypsy pointing to the edge of the dirt track. There were three sets (one large, two smaller) of distinct pugmarks. The guide informed us that a female and her two cubs had passed by a short while ago and in all likelihood were headed towards a large pond, a place called Gopalpur. The hunt was on. The road snaked through towering elephant grass as we entered Chakradhara, all of a sudden, the jungle came alive with the cacophony of alarm calls of birds, sign of a big cat on the prowl. Our guide stopped the vehicle bang in the middle of the patch of elephant grass to ascertain the likely direction of our quarry. I was feeling quite uneasy as I nervously scanned the elephant grass. The hunter could easily become the hunted and for all I knew there could have been not one but six tigers sitting in that grass licking their whiskers!

Stories of Charger, the legendary and most celebrated tiger of Bandhavgarh, from the previous night’s bonfire session were still fresh in my memory. The largest male at 11 feet plus, Charger, so called for his penchant of staging mock charges had reduced countless tourists to bed wetting babies. His modus operandi was fairly simple. He stood on the road and as the tourists went ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ clicking furiously, he would let out a blood curdling roar and leap at the vehicle. Perfectly calculated, he would land just short of the vehicle and slink off into the forest, smiling, satisfied having gotten his daily dose of kicks. Though Charger had made his last charge two years ago, one could never be too sure if he had passed on his obsession to some other tiger!

We raced to the watering hole in Gopalpur to the orchestra of frantic calls but to our dismay instead of Sher Khan it turned out to be a jungle cat , a hunter in its own right which elicits the same response from the birds.

Unlucky in cards and unlucky in love – I could stomach, but this run of bad luck in tiger sighting was agonising. Lady luck had refused to smile in Panna Tiger Sanctuary near Khajuraho, Kanha and Bandhavgarh were our last hopes. Even as we were consoling ourselves that at least we had seen a jungle cat our driver came to an abrupt halt behind another jeep. On our right 100 meters off the road under a tree were two tiger cubs, the ones we had been seeking for so long. Not more than year-and-half and less than six feet away, the cubs (brother and sister) nevertheless were a majestic sight.

Luckily for us mahout Kuttapan and his charge Siddharth were at hand for a Tiger Show. Tiger Show is where you are taken as close as possible to the tiger on elephant back. We got about 50 feet from the duo and for a good 20 minutes sat enthralled as they lolled in the grass, clawed the bark of the tree and played with each other. It was as if they were oblivious of our presence, lost in their own world. When another elephant with a load of chattering college kids tried to get closer, the male advanced two paces, sat erect on his haunches and let out a low growl of warning. In a flash the cute, cuddly, overgrown kitty that I had desperately wanted to hug, metamorphosised into a visage of brute power and terror. The sight of the big cats (from jeep or elephant back) as they stretch basking in the morning sun, or drinking water, or cubs gamboling under the watchful eyes of the mother or feasting on a fresh kill, or simply walking across the road a mere 10 feet away giving you a contemptuous stare, eyes directly boring into yours are images which remain etched in memory forever if you are the chosen one to be privy to them. However it’s an altogether different high, a heady adrenaline rush to witness the unfolding drama of life and death as the most wily of all hunters stalks a prey and brings it down.

It’s one hell of a jungle out there but if you are staying at Tiger Trails Resort (Bandhavgarh) and Wild Chalet (Kanha), properties of Indian Adventures Wildlife Resorts, the jungle extends up to your rear window. Both properties are located on the periphery of the Park and it’s not unusual to be serenaded by jackals and foxes in the dead of the night right below your window!

The added attraction at Wild Chalet is the Banjar River, which flows behind the property. There is nothing better than a cool dip with chilled beer after a hot safari in the jungle. If you thirst for more, the resorts have an excellent collection of books on tiger and other wildlife. If nothing else, the lavish and finger licking spread of Indian, Continental and Chinese dishes and warm hospitality will certainly make you feel like a Maharaja and leave you purring like a well-satiated tiger!

Photo Gallery
Tiger show on elephant back at Bandhavgarh	Bison at Kanha
Sambar Herd	Sheshiya, a 32 feet statue of reclining Vishnu in Bandhavgarh
Sambar	Tiger in Kanha
Tiger Trails Resort, Bandhavgarh	Pictures by Sherwin Noronha