Into the Wilderness - The 7th Safari at TATR

Day 5 5th May 2012 – 5.30 am


This was the last safari for us so obviously we were a bit sad. I was excited from the previous night. I captured the full moon without the tripod:

We started our journey at sharp 5.30 am. This time instead of Roshan, Ravi himself was driving. Our quest began with a sighting of a couple of roadside Sambar:

Some jungle fruit was abundant. Bantu actually quickly got down and picked up a few ripe ones – sweet as honey they were. Amazing!

An Indian Gaur with a familiar pose:

A wild boar could be seen from a close distance, crossing the road:

A family of spotted deer:

We didn’t really expect that we would see a tiger today, but we did. We saw one female strolling besides the road leisurely:

It was a female. She saw the cars are queued up at both sides so she decided to sit and look around, perhaps waiting for the cars to leave:

But no one was in a mood to leave her alone, so she decided to give a damn and started to cross the road and leave. The car ahead of us did not start as its ignition didn’t work. Since there was no place to overtake, we actually see her crossing the road unfortunately, which could have been a tremendous capture.

Below she was trying to cross the road:

And here, she has already crossed the road:

From a long distance one spotted deer was also watchfully staring at the Tigress, without making any movement:

His full family surrounded the male:

Another watch tower close by:

Dancing Peacocks, this time we saw them from the front:

Leaving the memory behind:

Landscape:

A group of spotted deer, they were really abundant in the jungle:

A skull:

We shall miss Tadoba:

Returning back we noticed a curious incident. A group of Indian Wild Dogs were resting nearby a waterhole. A sloth bear was peeping from the jungle and it was coming to waterhole. We were ready with the cameras, but the dogs suddenly attacked the bear and it ran away. We could not capture the shots of the bear. This happened for a couple of more time. The Wild Dogs made a statement to us that the waterhole was now ruled by them and they would not tolerate any intrusion from anyone. How true this is for every animal in the jungle – they are the rulers there and we are just intruders.

See his eyes:

Green Bee Eater:

Returning back, the big boss was inside the water with his head popping out:

So we finished off with a tiger sighting. We bade farewell to this amazing place and promised to come back again, but not only to see its inhabitants, but also to enjoy the sheer beauty of the jungle itself. 

Day 5 (5th May 2012) and Day 6 (6th may 2012)

We checked out from MTDC, had our lunch. Our car was waiting outside, arranged by Ravi. We headed off to Nagpur.

We boarded our train on time from Nagpur (Nagpur – Pune Express). It reached Pune at its scheduled time as well. So we were moving from one jungle to another, the concrete one.

Reaching home, it felt like that we have woken up from a dream. One really cannot imagine the experiences we had sitting at his couch at home. One has to be there and feel it by himself.

We certainly want to feel it again and again.

Into the Wilderness - The 6th Safari at TATR

Day 4 4th May 2012 – 2.30 pm

Within 10 minutes of entering the jungle and just within around a couple of kilometres of the Moharli gate, we saw the ‘Big Boss’ of Tadoba – a full grown male. As per our guide, when he was younger, he used to chase the gypsies, but now he has stopped doing those petty activities. He was going into one of the waterholes after a heavy meal.

He sat in the water for a long time, with only head out and he was watching the cars that were queued up, curiously but evidently he didn’t care.

After around 45 minutes or so, he planned to leave and disappear into the jungle.

As he vanished, we also moved on. A Sambar was really in a curious mood.

Another family were in a deep thought whether to cross the road or not.

But this family decided to cross the road.

Inspired perhaps by the deers, the sambars also crossed the road.

And once they did, they were still curiously staring at us, as if they are watching some strange animal, while they are on the safari!

Moving on, we came to the place where we got the glimpse – a long glimpse – of the tigers in the morning and the place again did not disappoint us. One tiger was sitting beneath a tree.

He was watching the group of spotter deer, sambar who came to drink some water from the lake, just besides him.

There were too many of them.

We hoped to see a chase, but in vain. The big cat was still sitting but he was not bothered by so many food items.

Almost for half an hour we waited, but no movement from him, so we checked out from that place and went to a nearby waterhole, where another tiger was on a playful chase to a couple of spotted deers.

But he returned in vain and we were more disappointed than him perhaps.

After so much diligence, he planned to take a bath and dipped himself into the water.

Bathing and drinking as well.

After some time he also planned to leave.

This safari made us really ecstatic. Even Bantu and Roshan, for whom the tiger sightings are considered almost a daily ritual, were in a jolly mood – anyway they are always smiling faces.

On our way back we watched a curious thing. A skull of a sambar was hanging from a tree.

The day was not over yet, returning back we saw the ‘Big Boss’ again leaving into the jungle from his waterhole – he spends most of his time here only.

We planned to take a round of Teliya lake, but couldn’t see anything but a spotted deer to start with.

The sky looked amazingly clear.

So was the surrounding under the setting sun.

The lonely watch tower, once again:

End of the day, the birds were returning to their nests just like us.

Grazing deers:

Amazing reflection of sun light:

A dancing peacock, who showed us its back only:

The sun was setting fast now at the horizon:

We returned to MTDC, literally speechless – today was indeed the day of tigers.

Next - The Seventh Safari