Sorry for the absence folks - it has been a while, and I was busy with work and other pressing matters.
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5th and last safari, Kolara
We were one of the first folks to enter the forest gate. This time we had the best guide in Kolara - Vinod. A big difference from the other ones. As we drove, he gave a narration of what has been happening here, the struggle to convince villagers to move, the regular attacks on livestock, 4 deaths in the forest from Kolara village alone, tigers straying outside the forest during rainy season.
Things that we hadn't heard in the resort or from the other guides who were careful to give neutral answers.
We were going on a narrow road when we saw the usual jam of Gypsys. Tigers ahoy! Unfurtunately this was a 10 feet wide road, with no way to pass. And there were too many vehicles ahead of us to get a sight of the two tigers who were sitting beside a waterhole. After 5 mins the tigers got up and went inside the brush - the word was passed back to us. We could see glipmpses of the tigers as they passed through undergrowth. Meanwhile, 3 Gaurs came and went into the same brush. We waited apprehensively. Soon, there was a loud snort - the Gaurs had smelt the tigers! We knew that there would be no fight given the numbers and the age of the cubs, but the situation was somewhat tense. We could hear the giant herbivores moving forward. These were the Panderpauni cubs, one of whom I had photographed the same morning. The 3 Gaurs felt that they were enough to handle 2 not fully grown tigers. And so they decided to shoo away the tigers. We felt that the tigers would come out further back and cross the road. I told the driver to start reversing. But he hesitated for some reason. And the 4 more vehicles came behind us and jammed the road. Stupidly all these guys were waiting near the waterhole as if the tigers will come back after seeing 10 vehicles parked.
I was desperately trying to see if we could reverse. No way. Too many Gypsys and private vehicles had come up behind and were blocking the road. I gestured to the rear-most vehicle and asked him to reverse...but he just stupidly waited there.
As expected, one tiger emereged behind the last vehicle. It pee'd, walked on the road for a while, looked at the commotion, smiled (or so I thought), crossed the road, waited for a while for its sibling to join. But that one didn't come out - it moved parallel to the road - we could see it through the brush - but decided to keep on walking without showing itself clearly. When the first tiger saw that the other one wasn't coming out, it too went into the undergrowth on the other side.
I was too far away, and had no clear shot in spite of gymnastics. Pity - the last vehicle would have had fantastic sightings of the tiger. The photos you see were take at full zoom and then cropped.
We moved ahead. After 1 km, we saw a couple of vehicles parked beside another waterhole. There was a tiger sleeping in the bamboo.
After looking closely, I could see the tail and part of a hind leg. It showed no sign of coming out, so we decided to move ahead. This was probably the mother of the Panderpauni cubs, as per the guide. 3 tigers in the first 30 mins. Someone joked that at this rate we will end up with a record total. Hmmm...
We went to Tadoba lake and did a chakkar. Saw the same old Honey Buzzard, a couple of Grey Ibises, and the same croc at the same place.
Coming back from the lake, we went past a small bridge where we had seen the Paradise Flycatcher during preious safaris. Good decision - there were a Changeable Hawk Eagle and a Serpent Eagle sitting there! Got some shots of the CHE, though it was a little too far away for great shots given my 70-300mm reach.
Next stop was to be the #2 tanka. While we were on the metalled road leading to the tank, I told my co-passenger that I wish I get a photo of a Gaur crossing the road. 2 minutes later, my wish was fulfilled.
Someone joked that I was being prescient this day. Before thet safari started, I was saying that it was a pity that the best guide of Kolara never accompanied us - and how I wish we would get him at least once. That wish got fulfilled. Now the Gaur road crossing happened. What next? Sometimes greed is good. I replied that 'it would be great if we again see those cubs'. And what do we see after a few kms? A few Gypsys parked on the road - like in the previous afternoon - and one flashing its lights at us asking us to stop.
So we stopped. Too far away for my liking - even factoring for the 20m distance one needs to maintain. We were like 75ms away from the likely crossing zone. I requested the driver to move ahead for 10m and then stop, but this guy was too slow to react - meanwhile another vehicle came and took that place. I was one of the first guys to see the movement in the undergrowth on the left side, so was ready for what happened next.
The tigress emerged, walked onto the road and gave us a nasty stare. Then she started walking towards us, but stopped after 10 metres as her cubs started coming onto the road. One cub came right upto her and gave her a kiss (well, a nuzzle). My camera was ready, and I caught those precious moments of affection between cub and mother.
Each cub that came onto the road gave us a glowering look full of attitude ("dare you come close to us!"). The Gypsys parked on the other side of the tiger family could only see their backs because these cats kept facing us as the family of 5 crossed the road and disappeared into the jungle.
How luck plays a part! If we hadn't stopped for 5 mins to shoot the Eagles, and then for 1 minute to shoot the Bisons, we would have missed all the action - or would have caught the fag end of the action.
Since the tiger family had crossed the road, we didn't go to the water tank but went offroad to go to Wagdow area. Apparently the Wagdow male (Vicky Donor) had decided to spend a few days with his Wagdow family after having spent the last 3 days with his Telia family. He should be arrested for maintaining two wives! Anyway, it is very unusual to find a large male tiger tolerating cubs from two different families.
We crossed a couple of vehicles, and they said that the tigers were near the waterhole. By then, we - at least I - didn't have any expectations left.
There were too many vehicles near the waterhole to get a clear shot of the tigers. But we did see them from time to time as we inched forward in the narrow lane. With great difficulty (half hanging out from the vehicle and bending down to get a view through an opening in the bamboo clump, climbing on and then holding onto the roof of the Gypsy) I got a few shots.
Some of the initial opportunities were wasted. Somehow in the last 10 minutes I had managed to inadvertently knock the selector to manual mode, and the manual settings dialed in were not at all appropriate for daytime (I had been shooting in M mode the previous evening, and shutter speed etc. were configured for dim light). Luckily I noticed what was happening and corrected course before all shots were wasted.
We saw the huge male, the tigress and two cubs. The cubs came into the water after the male had left. Before going away, a cub gave us a nasty snarl (or maybe he was sniffing the air for other tigers i.e. his dad as someone explained - was it Sach Sri??).
12 tigers in one safari was one of the highest scores in Tadoba. It took time for the fact to sink in. I keep going to the Southern forests, and have 2 tiger sightings till now. And not a single tiger photo from the Nilgiris.
As we started on our way back towards the forest gate, the sky darkened and a few drops of rain started falling. We put away our cameras and just enjoyed the cool breeze. All were quiet as we thought about what had happened in the last few hours. Luckily, even in reflection mode, while in the jungle I keep my reflexes sharp. That is how I saw one black ball in the middle of the road. This was about 0.5 kms from the exit gate, so I wasn't expecting any sightings. But when that black ball moved, we realized that it was a sloth bear. I grabbed for my camera case and started taking out the camera while telling the driver not to go very close. Then 1 ball became 3 - one big one, and two small ones. A mother with two cubs! Luckily I forced the driver to stop far away, and was able to get a couple of snaps of the family before they vanished. Three villagers were walking on the road, and the moment the bears became aware that there were humans in front and humans behind, they just scooted into the bush. We gunned the engine and moved forward, but could see no sign of them. If we had moved forward instead of stopping, we wouldn't have been able to take any pictures.
Tadoba is the only place I have seen that allows resident villagers to move around like this inside core area.In fact, the villagers stay inside the core area.
After crossing the forest gate and just before entering the resort, we saw this small raptor swoop down, catch something and fly off to sit on the wires. The dark sky and the stiff breeze were a welcome change from the usual heat and dust of the golden Tadoba sunsets.
That evening I was up till late, chatting with other guests and my fellow safari passengers. Since I went to sleep at 2am, I decided to miss the morning safari - I desperately needed to rest before my drive. Besides, I wanted to end the safaris on a high note - things were likely to get anticlimatic on a morning safari after night rain.
Went to sleep thinking of the magical day I had experienced, and the upcoming 1000+ kms drive.