Tigers in India
"Tiger" I breathed as the adolescent tiger cub emerged from the bushes less than five feet from my elbow. A second cub followed rapidly and then the mother emerged. She snarled at us and was obviously warning us to keep away from her family. We were then treated to one of the most spectacular tiger sightings one could hope for as the three of them walked down the track in front of us and stopped at the river to drink. The only snag was that we were already in danger of being late out of the park (and being late out can lead to an automatic three-day suspension for both naturalist and park ranger). However, with three tigers blocking the road in front of us, we had no option but to sit and watch (to the unalloyed delight of the two of us) until the family finally moved off; our naturalist solved his difficulty by using his mobile phone to tell the gate of our predicament so we enjoyed our tiger sighting without problem.
This took place in Bandhavgarh National Park, one of three parks on our tiger spotting holiday in India in November/December 2006 organised through Wildlife Worldwide; we had four nights and eight game drives booked at each camp (we lost one at Bandhavgarh because of a protest by the park rangers - one of whom has to accompany each jeep). Tigers are becoming rare in India so tiger sightings are far from guaranteed; we shared jeeps with couples who had been on up to five drives without a single sighting. However, over the three parks we had 23 game drives and spotted tiger on no fewer than 14 of them so count ourselves as incredibly fortunate; it got even better, though, as no fewer than four of the sightings were 'once in a lifetime' sightings, each of which will stay in our memories forever.
Tiger spotting holidays are not just about tigers, nor even about the one leopard we saw (in a tree with its kill). The other wildlife is plentiful and spectacular. We saw several types of deer, wild dogs, jackals, monkeys, crocodiles, Indian bison and even a sloth bear and we brought home 1,800 photos (even if nearly half of them were of tigers - we took around 170 photos of one tiger alone!).
Our first National Park was Kanha in Madhya Pradesh in central India. We stayed at Tuli Tiger Corridor in a very luxurious 'tent' (complete with bathtub!). Our first 'once in a lifetime' tiger spotting occurred when a tigress jumped out onto the track in front of us and started walking towards the jeep. Our driver frantically reversed up the one-in-three hill as the tiger got nearer and nearer. Then - catastrophe! Our driver announced that the front wheel had locked. Fortunately, the tigress chose that moment to answer a call of nature (and we bet there aren't that many photos to match ours of a tigress 'doing a puddle'!); our driver leapt out and freed the wheel.
We must have spent 15 minutes watching this tigress and have 60 photos to prove it. This sighting was by far the most spectacular at Kanha although our two 'tiger shows' here came a close second. Mahouts take their elephants out at first light to try to spot tigers (preferably ones with a kill which might therefore stay in the same spot for a while); they then radio the Park Centre who issue tickets for a 5 to 10 minute ride on the elephant. As the tigers are unfazed by the elephants, one has the opportunity of a close up view of the tiger or tigers.
A six hour drive over mostly bad roads brought us to Camp Mewar at Bandhavgarh National Park, also in Madhya Pradesh. Again we were in a 'tent' (brick walls with a canvas roof and en-suite facilities). Our second 'once in a lifetime' sighting, described above, of the mother and two nine-months old cubs yielded 'only' 20 photos as the sighting was at dusk so the light tested the limits of our camera equipment - tigers are usually best spotted within 90 minutes of sunrise and sunset. At this park our naturalist also took us across the park to see the elephants' camp, including the baby elephants which are born and reared here for work in the park; there are no wild elephants left in central India.
After an overnight train journey to Agra - and the Taj Mahal really is as spectacular as everyone says (this was our second visit and it was just as breathtaking second time around) - we spent a night at Bharatphur Bird Sanctuary which is world famous for its wetland birds. Unfortunately the monsoons had failed in 2006 so most of the ducks and geese had flown on. However, on our two drives (by pedal rickshaw) we saw enough land birds to keep even the most ardent birdwatcher happy.
A train journey and a short drive brought us to Rhanthambore National Park in Rajasthan. We were at Sher Bagh camp, again in a tent - this time a genuine tent but still very luxurious with en-suite facilities. Rhanthambore, which is probably the best known of the three camps (being on the Rajasthan tourist route and the one which featured in the recent BBC Holiday Programme), has unfortunately suffered from poaching so has reputedly only around 15 tigers but it was here that we had the remaining two of our 'once in a lifetime' sightings - although these were the only two sightings we had here in eight drives. We spent one and a quarter hours watching a tiger devouring a kill (a cow which had wandered into the park and which had been dead for three days and, by this time, stank to high heaven - not that this deterred the tiger).
After eating its fill, the tiger wandered off for a wash, rolled over and then tried to go to sleep - made slightly difficult because it kept hearing the vehicles:
We eventually had to leave although the tiger was still there; most people in the park would probably have given their right arm for the sighting we were leaving behind (although we were, by this time, in company with another four or five vehicles - including a couple of the 20-seat Canters).
For our final sighting we were privileged to see the 14 year old tiger known as 'Lady of the Lake' (she is mentioned on hundreds of websites) together with her three four-month-old cubs.
The staff at each of our hotels outside the parks were of 'seven star' standard and nothing - absolutely nothing - was ever too much trouble. For example, when we arrived in India we completed a brief questionnaire from the ground agents, Travel Inn. I indicated that I preferred to avoid garlic. We arrived at Camp Mewar at 8.00pm and the proprietor was waiting to welcome us at the entrance with a couple of 'boys' (actually grown men) to take our luggage. He told us that dinner was ready so why did we not come straight through. In the open-air dining room, his wife took me to one side and explained that I should not have any of the options from the buffet as they all contained garlic - my meal was in the seven separate dishes which had been individually cooked without garlic. At each main meal thereafter, at least one separate dish was brought to the table for me. While Sher Bagh, at Rhanthambore, had obviously not received the garlic message, as soon as I mentioned it exactly the same procedure was followed. One of the waiters even chased across the dining room when he saw me putting dressing on my salad - the dressing contained garlic so, in the twinkling of an eye, a fresh salad appeared!
At each camp, hot water bottles were placed in the beds each evening. Rugs were provided for the game drives (and at Sher Bagh hot water bottles for the morning drives). At Sher Bagh, there were 12 tents, each usually with two people who stayed for between one and four nights. There was, therefore, a reasonable turnover of guests but we were never asked for a name or room number. All twenty staff obviously knew each of the guests by sight. The same was true at the other two camps.
This was a truly memorable trip where all the arrangements went like clockwork and, for those who would like to see tigers in the wild, in their natural environment, it is heartily recommended.
Roger & Pauline Litton - January 2007