T 19 or "unnees" as the locals call her had given birth to three cubs last year in the Naal Ghati area under Zone 3. But as her sister T 17 (sundari or Sattrah) used to patrol the entire park area, feeling unsafe for her cubs T 19 moved to Lahpur area of the forest and made her new home. This area is out of bounds for the tourists.
Occasionally she was seen in the Mandoop area. The Forest Department started filling this water hole (
known as Kachha Chatta) in the summer and since then this family has been regularly found here.
And this is where Mohan Singh took us. Out of the three cubs of T 19, two are males and one is a female. One male & female cub stay with the mother while the other bolder male cub is apparently very independent and can be seen alone at times and the guides here tell me that he also goes with his father, T28, as he patrols his territory.
We reached Kachha Chatta and parked near the waterhole. The water tanker had filled it in the morning and fresh pug-marks of the cubs & the mother were to be seen coming till the water hole and returning back. This meant they had come to drink water and might return again.
Mohan Singh asked us if we were ready to wait and we all replied in affirmative. There was a lot of avian activity going on. Jungle blabbers, Treepies, Black drongos, Robins etc., were swooping down, drinking water and bathing in it.
No sign of any predator. That place was also devoid of any deer or Langurs. So even if the predator was nearby, no alarm calls would come.
Then I saw this female Grey Francolin (teeter) with her brood of chicks near the waterhole. Adorable three little chicks.
Grey Francolin with chicks There are two chicks here - spot them Spot the three chicks Mama teeter turns around to see if the other two brats are following or not
Almost an hour & fifteen minutes had passed waiting at this waterhole. A few jeeps came our way, saw the pug-marks, waited for a short while and then left. We were all alone. The jeep was parked on a side of the trail and we were facing the waterhole. There was a rustle in the bushes from the back. We all turned our head to see and there was this lone adult female Sambhar treading very cautiously. Apparently wanted to come for a drink. Our jeep was right in the middle of her approach.
Mohan Singh moved the jeep away and parked so that she could now go to the waterhole.
Here I learnt a lesson in survival in the jungle. The Sambhar was very cautious. She was smelling the air and generally looking at a direction. Mohan Singh said - "Isko Tiger ki smell aa rahi hai. Tiger ke jaane ke baad bhi do-teen ghante tak uski smell hoti hai (She is getting the scent of the Tiger. The scent of the Tiger remains for 2-3 hours even after the Tiger is gone)".
Waiting, waiting & waiting. Even though we had moved out of the Sambhar's way, it was not approaching the water. This was intriguing. Our one eye was on the Sambhar and the other in the thick growth ahead. I saw the Sambhar changing track and from behind the jeep came to an open patch on to our left and started sniffing and looking at one direction. When we followed her gaze we couldn't see anything even with our big lenses. What was she seeing or sensing?
Then she lifted her tail and stomped on the ground. Stomping is a warning sign to the herd to be ready to flee. Only here there was no herd. The Sambhar stomped again. Something was wrong. I lifted my 300mm lens, manually focussed generally in the area where she was staring and found nothing. Mohan Singh said - "dar jaane se bhi aise karte hain (they behave like this if scared)".
The Sambhar stomped again and this time let out a loud "ponk". This was an alarm call. It is said that the Sambhar will call only if it has a sighting. Then an another alarm call followed by one more.
Mohan Singh & Rajender simultaneously said - "Unnees ka male cub (19's male cub)". And true to the last word we saw this 15 month old cub in the thicket ahead. A decent picture couldn't be taken as it was quite dense. This photograph is only a record shot. The clock showed 18:47. We had waited for almost two hours on Mohan Singh's bidding. How right he & his instinct was.
T 19's male cub
In fifteen minutes we had to be out of the forest to avoid penalisation. The male cub did not show any inclination to come to the waterhole.
We left and just made it to the gate in time. It was a very fulfilling day. Returned to room, generously tipped Mohan Singh & Rajender, noted down their contact numbers and retired for the day.
What would the next day have in store for us? Tomorrow was to be our last day. We were scheduled to leave on 27th after doing the the 6th safari in the morning. I phoned Guddu and told him to extend my stay by a day. This meant I would do two more safaris. In total 8 safaris.
The score till now - 4 out of 5.
80% to be continued.../-