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-   -   Crouching Tiger, Unaware prey - Hunt and Kill: TATR - Awesome, Incredible, Amazing!! (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travelogues/122286-crouching-tiger-unaware-prey-hunt-kill-tatr-awesome-incredible-amazing-2.html)

Sure Fazal bhai - i am posting the pics and i hope i will be able to do justice to the expectations. The initial attack is on video - that is something which i will upload later, uploading the pics at the moment.

Thanks Fauji. Indeed - lucky we were and i hope that i will be able to share the excitment and the drama that we saw through my pics and videos. Hopefully will be able to live up to the expectations.

I do have some snippets on video and will also post them.

Thanks for liking and voting!

Thanks Girish. Feels good when people like the picture and appreciate the hardwork and sweat that went into making them. Am working on the pics and will be posting them.

Oh My God!! There's a huge precipitation of Tigers at the Tadoba this season! Lady luck has been all smiles and mother nature has shown her true colors for the people who have visited Tadoba this season.
The pictures that you have posted till now are Awe-inspiring :thumbs up I am glued to this thread to see the kill in pictures sequentially(like a flicker book!!).

Enough said, I am making a trip to Tadoba within another 20 days. The only damn thing is that I just have a 18-55 kit and a 70-300 lens :Frustrati

All was going well - and everyone was having a field day clicking pictures

Looks at the huge paws - later i learnt that the paws work almost like a human hand when gripping the prey.












Everything was quiet when suddenly she saw the boar and look at the change in demeanour - suddenly she is now focussing on the boar and starting to crouch. In the video - you will see that she is twitching to lunge but waiting for it to get within range :)

Fantastic luck and pictures, Sach!! Rated 5 stars. Tadoba has been rocking this year.

Waiting for the hunt sequence pictures.

I think I have seen this cub. Will compare the stripes in some of my photos.

When did you make the visit?

70-300mm is good enough for tigers in Tadoba, IMHO :-)

I agree it is good, but it's not an L-Series lens and neither does it have IS. The pictures come out too sober for my taste. Given the light conditions, at slow shutter speed, and at 300mm you have to be a pro (which I am definitely not) to take a good shot.

Thanks mate. If you are planning to goto Tadoba, or any jungle for that matter - you need to go before July 1st as most of the jungles close at that time and even if they dont close - driving in a open gypsy in rain with the kind of camera equipment we carry is not something that is a comfortable thought

Thanks Nilanjan for liking and voting :). I would like to learn how to compare the stripes, maybe we can discuss this offline. I was in Tadoba - 31st May to June 02nd.


The lack of IS is definitely going to hurt - but still going to a jungle and watching the wildlife is in itself a high

Hmmm, ok, different preferences I guess. I was using a Nikkor 70-300mm VR lens and got some pretty good shots during my visit. In fact all my wildlife shots are taken with the 70-300mm. The VR certainly makes a difference.

@ Sach: was this near Panderpauni?

Continuing the TL...

So, as she saw the boar, she immdiately changed from relaxed to the apex predator that she is and all around there was a buzz as people realized what is going to happen. The boar was non-chalantly walking towards the waterhole not aware of the danger - it did not pick up her scent and did not see her - she was almost level with the rim of the waterhole after crouching.

Note how she goes from simple crouching to getting to the level of the rim of the waterhole...







Ambling across






Tried to get both in one frame - but this is the best i could do, because of not having wide angle


Wy wife's camera did the trick





All around people were getting ready to capture the moment for pesterity and my wife suggested to shoot it in video - which i thankfully did.

But not being a videographer - i was not comfortable and switched back to still after a little while (i was afraid that i will ruin the video and will be left with nothing from this sepctacle :D)

And then it happened - she charged and tried to grip the boar on its neck in her death grip, but the boar had good strength and fought her and at a point in time we were thinking if she will back off or get hurt - such was the resistance from the boar.







to be contd...

So, as she saw the boar, she immdiately changed from relaxed to the apex predator that she is and all around there was a buzz as people realized what is going to happen.

This is just wonderful and you are 'da lucky maan'.People spend time and money in Jungle and come back without seeing even a rabbit sometimes.
You got a feast for your eyes!

Your narration is excellent,Photos are great and the experience which you have given to us is just awesome.

Waiting for some more.Rated 5* for the thread!!:thumbs up

Yes - this is a waterhole called Ambepat and i believe that this is near to Panderpauni.

Thanks Siddharth for liking and voting. Definitely lucky :)

Continuing the TL...

The boar was fighting for its life - and our young predator was not able to make a clean kill, she was struggling to hold on and deliver the final blow. The boar was pushing and trying to throw her off...

Look at the sharp teeth and tusk of the boar - can inflict max. damage


Turning and twisting and struggling - this point I was afraid that the boar can inflict injury to the tigress with its tusk




Pushing the tigress, trying to throw her off - the boar pushed her into the thicket...




But our heroine recovered and here she has now a good grip on the boar's body and the outcome was now clear
Look how she is gripping the boar - and her paws are very much like humans - with even a thumb! Amazing!

This is slowly unfolding like a movie. As requested by Fazal Saab, I am waiting for the video too, when the tiger leaps onto the wild boar. Amazing pics and love the shots a lot.

Just enjoying the show. At the right time at the right place. It also shows the immaturity of this female Tigress - attacking a male boar from the front is dangerous as the pictures below show. The boar had only to buck up its head violently and the tusks would have gored her.

But yes, the fact that she managed to hold on and pin him down would be a good lesson to this Cat that shall stand in good stead in the jungle. A 16 month old cub makes a kill and that too of an adult male boar - awesome.

Yes, looking at the attack angle, the similarity of size, and the small but still vicious tusks + teeth of the boar, I am relieved that the tigress escaped without trouble. Wild boars are very tough to kill, and vicious fighters.

The boar seemed pretty desperate due to thirst and naive about dangers,. Perhaps it was a juvenile like the tigress?

The tigress didn't seem to have the right angle of attack. I don't know much about animal attack angles apart from what I have read, but since I was a martial artist and still follow mixed martial arts fights regularly, it seems clear that the boar - if he could have raised his head in spite of the tigress's weight - could have ripped open her stomach. She was lucky to get away with such a frontal attack.

Having said that, I think that I saw the same tigress, shot her portfolio and fell in love with her (I am hoping she is more than 18 as per Panthera Tigris age). So am cheering for her....please post the next pictures fast :-)

Thank you sir. Immaturity or not - i just love the spunk! and after all the Boar did dare venture near her, a tigress :)

Even this boar gave her a good fight - and she was not able to finish the kill till our time to leave came. So we did not see the end of it and had to leave. But it was a feast time for all the brothers and sisters and also for the tourists as for the next 2 days these guys did not leave the waterhole.

And i agree - very beautiful tigress :thumbs up. But then - to my eyes, all of them are...