The Hindu Business Line : Eye for the tiger

It was close to six in the evening and we were slowly on our way out of the park, having lost all hopes of sighting a tiger. Just then the driver of another Maruti Gypsy, the favoured vehicle for safaris in the tiger reserves of Kanha and Bandhavgarh in Madhya Pradesh, informed our driver that a male tiger had been sighted somewhere, underneath a culvert.

We egged our driver and guide to take us to the spot for a glimpse of the tiger. And, just as we reached there, the tiger — with a radio collar round its neck — emerged out into the open, sniffed at a low-hanging branch and casually walked across the mud track before lying down in the middle of the road. It lay there, occasionally flicking its tail, and looked over its back at the several Gypsies parked behind it. Our guide told us it was a four-year-old.

We managed just a few minutes of sighting, as we had to leave the park before 6.30 p.m. Otherwise, the guide and the driver stood the risk of losing their licences, we were told.

But even those few minutes were enough to make our day, and all the weariness of sitting cramped in the vehicle for more than three hours vanished in a trice.

At Bandhavgarh, two tiger cubs were playing with each other among the tall grass, their mother somewhere nearby, keeping a close watch on them. One of the cubs even did a mock stalking of a peacock. All for fun now, but in a year, when it leaves its mother, its life will depend on how well it has learnt and mastered the art of stalking and hunting. During one of our morning safaris into Bandhavgarh, the mother decided to move away from the grass into the wooded section of the park. She crossed the road, looking neither left nor right, with one cub following faithfully and not even turning its head to look at the scores of Gypsies parked on the road. The second cub appeared more adventuresome as it squatted bang in the middle of the road — a terrific sight. Even at a year old, the cub looked fearsome. It sat there for a full 10 minutes as cameras clicked furiously; finally the young one decided it had had enough of the humans and majestically strode away to join its mother and sibling.

More than tigers…

At both Kanha and Bandhavgarh, the forest department organises tiger shows — department staff on elephant back will locate a tiger and, for Rs 100 for an adult and Rs 50 for a child, you can get a really close glimpse of the tiger about 4-5 ft from the elephant. Opinions may differ on whether this kind of a tiger show should at all be organised, but for those who missed sighting a tiger in the wild, this is most welcome. More importantly, the tiger show gives an idea of how big a tiger really is.

For the hundreds of wildlife enthusiasts and tourists who visit the tiger reserves every day, sighting a tiger is probably the only thing they would want. Of course, sighting a tiger, for however brief a moment, is worth all the time and money spent on making the trip. However, both Kanha and Bandhavgarh, as also other tiger and wildlife reserves in the country, offer much more — a wealth of animal and bird life, not to mention the vegetation itself.

Take for instance a spectacle that unfolded in front of us at the Kanha tiger reserve. Our Gypsy rounded a curve and climbed an incline on the bumpy track when suddenly we came upon a peacock dancing on the track with a few spotted deer grazing next to it. Before our driver could bring the vehicle to a halt or the digital cameras could be brought out, the spotted deer scampered away to the tree cover. The peacock continued dancing gracefully for a while before strutting away.

Or, take the case of the nightjar — a bird that we would have easily missed sighting were it not for the alert guide. Roosting by the side of the track in Kanha, it could easily have been mistaken for the bark of a tree. Salim Ali’s Book of Indian Birds mentions that the nightjar is indistinguishable from the ground litter during daytime. How true! It was yet another alert guide, Sukh Nandan Gupta, who pointed out a stone curlew for us at Bandhavgarh. Like the nightjar, this one too was squatting by the side of the track. The only difference was that its eyes were open and quite alert. Says Salim Ali of the stone curlew, “When suspicious or alarmed, squats with body pressed to ground and neck extended, when its coloration affects perfect camouflage.”

The right wild mix

Peacock, Indian Roller, Shikra (a smallish raptor), crested serpent eagle and other kinds of eagles, Grey Hornbill and Malabar Pied Hornbill, jungle fowl, red-wattled lapwing, Treepie, spotted dove, vulture and scores of other birds that we saw gracefully flying overhead, animals such as the Gaur, a hare that darted across and nearly banged into our parked vehicle before getting its direction right and disappearing into the jungle, monitor lizard, spotted deer, sambar, nilgai, wild boar — the bird and animal sightings proved rich and varied.

If you are lucky, you can spot a tiger every time you visit the park. If not, there is lot else to look forward to — the tall sal trees in Kanha, the thick vines and different types of vegetation at Bandhavgarh. And yes, much depends on the guides too, as also the vehicle’s driver. Some are genuinely interested, knowledgeable and good at pointing out the animals and birds; a few others are indifferent and some plain loquacious.

Different kinds of accommodation to suit all budgets are available.

You could stay at the facilities run by the Madhya Pradesh State Tourism Development Corporation or the numerous private resorts, some of them really top-end, or even try bookings at the Forest Department rest-houses.