A gentle rustle of a falling leaf, a shrill twitter of a bird flying overhead, a gurgle of a stream flowing by, a shiver running down the spine from the early morning cold, a shudder at the deep dark jungle looming on each side, a sudden roar a few feet away.
| TIGER, tiger, burning bright | |
| In the forests of the night, | |
| What immortal hand or eye | |
| Could frame thy fearful symmetry? |
I had been to jungle trips before, and having already experienced the thrill of spending nights on a tree house and warming my feet beside a bonfire under a star laden sky, the new thing to look forward to was the Jungle Safari. The Call Of The Wild, as they say. Despite all the advertisements, tiger sighting in an Indian reserve is a kind of an urban legend - they always tell you it's there, but you never see it.
"The Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve, situated in Chandrapur district of Maharashtra state, is arguably one of India’s most exciting and best protected Tiger Reserve, with the most visible tiger sightings." -- The Internet gives you loads of such information, but how do you figure out which ones to rely on? Thankfully we had the very helpful and knowledgeable Naturalist, Himanshu Badge, to guide us in planning this trip. Although he was unavailable at Tadoba that weekend (as he conducts tours at several other reserves too), he helped us plan our itinerary over the phone, enthusiastically answering all our badgering queries. Be sure to look him up if you are planning one soon!
So it was that on Friday night I boarded the train along with my friends, from Secunderabad enroute to Chandrapur, Maharshtra, followed by a three hour bumpy Chandrapur-to-Kolara road trip, finally arriving at the FDCM Eco Cottages, our chosen accommodation, very close to Tadoba's Kolara gate. With our core focus on the Safari, this affordable budget accommodation with clean rooms, basic amenities and a good canteen, was definitely a good choice. We booked a dorm for the eight of us, and boy did we re-live our hostel days again! Bunker beds and a common bathroom with 3 sets of loo and shower rooms - fighting to choose between the top or the bottom bunk, lining up for the loo, heating water in a bucket with an immersion heater, walking out to the canteen at a distance for our meals, all made for a complete fun experience ticking off 6-7 years of our life and transporting us back to our college days.
With just a day's stay at Tadoba, we had the option of two safaris only, one in the afternoon the day we reached, and a second one early next morning, after which we had to rush back to Chandrapur to board our train back home. With just a skimpy breakfast of idly-vada from a roadside vendor in the sleepy town of Chandrapur at 5 in the morning, we were starving by lunch time. We ordered for "Desi Kombdi" (Local Chicken) curry and the cook exceeded our expectations when he set the tender succulent spicy meal before us. Needless to say a few minutes later we found ourselves way too stuffed for the Safari at hand. Blame the fresh air and the desi murg!
The Safaris are conducted in open Gypsy cars with a driver and a ranger to guide you through the journey. With a crisp blue sky overhead and a blazing red soil lane cutting through green foliage on either side, we began our adventure from Kolara Gate (the choice of the gate between Moharli vs Kolara being another very valuable piece of advice from Himanshu).
The total area of the Reserve is 625.4 square kilometers, comprising of two forested areas of Tadoba and Andhari range. Thick forests interspersed with patches of grasses and bamboo thickets are relieved by smooth meadows and deep valleys which provide refuge for a diverse variety of flora and fauna.
At the onset of the drive through the jungle with the warm wind blowing through our hair, we were happy to meet and greet the nonchalant Sambar, the friendly leaf chomping Spotted Deers, the wily Dhole (Wild Dogs) and also a few of the rare and shutter-shy Barking Deers, not to mention an array of bright chirping colour frenzied *some names forgotten* birds.
Listening to the Rangers tidbits on the history of Tadoba, I was dreamily staring overhead at the ecstatic blue of the sky that afternoon, when our Gypsy came to a sudden halt with our Ranger up in a jiffy standing on his car seat and pointing out to our right.
Is that?... what the?...Oh my God....T I G E R!!!
Not more than 10 feet away. Sprawled out in the sun. It's length spanning the entire width of the lane. The Ranger shushed us to be quiet. Good that he did, for I was almost ready to screech out in my sheer excitement. He warned us against making any sudden movements which would attract the animal's attention but allowed us to capture it's greatness with glee.
Meet MAYA.
According to our Ranger, Mithun, the tigress Maya having feasted on her kill (a sambar) the previous day was enjoying a lazy moment basking in the afternoon sun. Apparently a sambar sustains a tiger for 15 days while a deer for 4-5 days. The high availability of deers and sambars here is the reason for the presence of nearly 60 tigers in this reserve, and given that the reserve spreads across a mere 625 square kilometers the chances of spotting one of the 60 tigers is higher here than in any other wider-spread reserves like Pench, Bandhavgarh or Ranthambore.
Mithun indulged us with these interesting facts, as Maya gratified us with her glory for nearly 15 minutes, before she strutted off into the depths of the jungle.
With our stomach still quivering from the mingled nervousness and happiness of having achieved the near impossible - encountering the majestic beast in it's natural habitat, we set off once again, still looking back over our shoulders in the hope of another glimpse of her highness. Alas, Maya had moved on, but we went on to see some interesting trees, like the Ghost Tree with its bleached white bark radiant with copper leaves creating a stark contrast to the adjacent greens.
A little further on, as we crossed other Rangers with their entourage we got the news of another Tiger sighting. This time the mighty male GABBAR cooling it off in a water hole. Our driver set off immediately, bumping and jolting us in our seats as the gypsy rolled like we had a heat-seeking missile on our rear. Blowing off red dust in it's speeding wake, we held on for our dear lives afraid that we might just pop out of the open vehicle and dive headlong into the dense forest. The news of the sighting had spread like wildfire, and on reaching we found the site already jam-packed with other Gypsys. Not to be left out we too hoisted ourselves on to our car seats and peered above all other eager heads. Once again awestruck, we watched him until Gabbar decided he was cooled off enough and probably went off in search of some scrumptious snack.
With our fill of the wonders of the incredible nature and thoroughly satisfied with the day's venture, we set off back to our hole, once more our stomachs grumbling for some snacks.
*Yet again, blame the overdose of unpolluted wild atmosphere! Not to forget the increased metabolism caused by the glimpse of the stripes*
As nightfall set in, so did the silence and the cold. Damn, it was cold! Braving the cold we set off on foot to explore the surroundings. The FDCM Eco Cottages provides its very own mini nature trail within its ground, a winding lane amidst thickets of bamboo clumps. The trail wasn't a long one, so we set off to explore the tiny town of Tadoba. Geared with torches, laden with jackets, scarves and hoodies, we strolled under the clear star-studded sky sharing funny anecdotes amongst ourselves, imagining scary things out of the darkened trees looming amidst the paddy fields which lined the road on both sides, giving ourselves goosebumps, debating on which would be scarier - the appearance of a ghost or a tiger. The tiger won hands-down ofcourse, the timidest amongst us ready to face a lady in white rather than the mighty beast!
***
We thought the evening was cold. Well, it was nothing compared to the drop in temperature early next morning when we set out for the next safari. Coming from the tropical heat of Hyderabad even in the month of January, we had but expected a mild climatic change in the coastal weather of Maharashtra. Could we have been more wrong? We were suddenly thrust out into the deadly cold of Delhi's winters. Keeping in mind that it was just a weekend trip, we were all traveling light. Ironically, this trip made us wish that we had thought of otherwise. I found myself stuffed into all the tee's that I had brought along in my meagre backpack, along with a jacket topped off with a hoodie, wrapping my head completely in a scarf like a mummy leaving only a slit open for my eyes - I was still cold to my very bones.
The open-hooded Gypsys that we were so excited about earlier didn't seem so alluring at 5:30 in the morning with our bones and teeth chattering from the cold. The sun wasn't up yet as we started off on our tryst with the wild, with the headlights as the only source of light penetrating the darkness. We felt shivers down our spine - was it fear or cold? We could hardly distinguish as we glided deeper into the forests, no one daring to make a noise, the drone of the vehicle the only sound cutting through the eerie silence.
A few minutes into the safari, our Ranger pointed out a few deers caught in the glare of the headlights. Not used to such early mornings, feeling sleep deprived and still trying to adjust to the chill and the darkness, we were only half aware of what the Ranger was so diligently pointing out to us. Driving through the twisted lanes cutting through the forest we came across an open meadow covered with knee high grass gently rustling in the breeze. The horizon beyond the meadow on our left was just beginning to tinge with red, gradually lifting the veil of night from the face of the earth. It was a sight to behold!
*Pardon the night mode hazy frames, eh!*
We were almost at the end of the meadow, when our driver slowed down and then backed up a few steps having noticed some movement amidst the grassland on our right. In the illumination cast by the headlights we noticed the movement too. Peering into the semi-darkness we were expecting more deers when we noticed a pair of bright eyes glaring back at us from between the foot tall grasses. It took just a fraction of a second for the animal to duck behind some bushes lining the edge of the forest beyond the grassland. The Ranger and the driver were still deciding on whether it was a deer or some other animal when we heard a thunderous growl boom through the darkness. No mistaking now. It was a tiger.
Male. A young one. Just a few feet away.
If we were cold a little while ago, we felt our blood freezing in our veins at the sudden roar emanating from the darkness ahead. We could just about make out the stripes behind the bushes. The tiger then moved back into the trees but continued roaring making it more than clear to us that this was his territory that we dare not breach. As if we needed that warning!
After a few minutes, silence descended once again, the animal probably having moved on to the waterhole beyond the trees, as per our Ranger. An encounter at such closed range had stunned us all beyond our wits, the thunderous roars still ringing in our ears. Boy, could this trip get anymore interesting!
As my heart started pumping blood at a more controlled pace, a sudden thought popped into my mind, although I realized it was a tad too late to be thinking about it. Nevertheless, I asked the Ranger, "Are these tigers Man-eaters?" The Ranger laughed it off saying that they were not. Phew! With this knowledge boosting us up, we felt the excitement of sighting another tiger at such close range bubbling within us just as the sun decided to break out over the horizon.
We were incredibly lucky it seems being the first gypsy out on the trail that morning, we managed to catch not only a glimpse of the majestic animal but also hear its roars. With the sun now up, we were able to easily spot pug marks of tigers along the trail. Voila! we suddenly felt ourselves transforming into trackers out to hunt the wild!
"A tiger walked down here...hmmm...how long ago could that be? Oh! look ...another one ... this one seems to be with cubs ...you see those tiny paws there? Aah...hold on...this one here reversed its tracks ...we are going the wrong way. Turn the car around..quick!"
Happily anticipating and predicting as we proceeded, we even spotted water drenched marks on the trail which cut across a tiny gurgling creek indicating that a tiger took a dip there and walked out not too long ago. Oh yeah! We were on fire! Off we went in search of our quarry.
And so we looked high, and we looked low. We looked here, we looked there, and we looked there again. Huh, we are but mere humans. And to think that we could get the better of the wild cat. There's a reason they are called the wild and we the civilized - which is just a better way of saying that we humans are so mundane and predictable while they are the sensational, elusive and unpredictable ones.
In short, we couldn't track down any tigers.
Cold, hungry and by now disillusioned with life, we resigned ourselves back to the tourist mode, being contented in catching up with the mighty Bison and its faithful friend the Crane.
Sher Khan had decided to ditch us into oblivion, but Mowgli's dear old friend Baloo - the Sloth Bear kept us company for a brief while.
As did the Wild Boars, near cousins of Pumbaa.
And why should the National bird be any less than the National animal in strutting about it's vivid colours.
At the Tadoba lake, introducing Tick-Tock in stealth mode, the crocodile who swallowed an alarm clock and is Captain Hook's biggest fear. Peter Pan, anybody?
*When in the wild, let your imagination run wild*
It was close to 10:30 in the morning and the sun was finally bestowing upon us its warmth, but we had to head back soon. With just 30 minutes of our safari clock left, the Ranger suggested that we take another stab at visiting Tadoba in the summers as that is when all the animals are sure to be found around the waterholes thereby ensuring good sightings of all kinds of animals, especially Tigers. We certainly couldn't complain of all that we had seen and experienced in this winter trip and here was a promise that summers would be even better at Tadoba.
In the 4.5 hours of our safari that morning we had covered almost all the spots and trails frequented by the wild-life, so on our way back to the Kolara gate the driver took a different route, a trail less traveled. A last hope to catch a Tiger sighting.
We were not disappointed, as we chanced upon TARA strolling with her two cubs, a male and a female, at her side. Don't be mistaken by their size, the cubs although only sixteen months old were almost as big as the mother. The tigress Tara, probably used to human attention didn't give us gaping fools a second glance, although the male cub trying to don the role of the Man-of-the-House did try to glare us down a couple of times. After a few minutes of enduring the human stalking, the cat family disappeared into the anonymity offered by the dense forest.
As the saying goes, all's well that ends well, and so did our safari end with a lush icing on the cake.
The Tadoba and Andhari Tiger Reserve truly is an authentic source of an aesthetic experience opening up before us the sublime beauty of nature in its true form. And it was all that we could talk about on the drive back to Chandrapur station to catch our return train to Hyderabad. Exhausted as we were, it was nothing compared to the joy of the new experiences we carried back with us.
Ciao!
Photographs Courtesy: Debajyoti Mitra
Shatabdi Ghosh
