Wildlife Encounters

Parul Inamdar (UK)

E-mai: pearls_p@yahoo.com

March 2004 : Bandhavgarh National Park

My friends convinced me to take some time off from work and go with them to one of the Wild life sanctuaries around Delhi. Coming from UK, where the only wildlife I had seen was in Zoo, I could not resist the offer.

My friends were regular visitors to this place and seemed to know most of the drivers and guides in the park. This I realized was a huge advantage. I was already equipped with some amazing stories about tiger sightings inside the park. Of course, I had my own doubts whether those stories were really true or not!

As we reached the park entrance, the forest guard on duty informed us that a tiger had just crossed that spot 5 minutes back! Our driver instantly got into action and we sped to the spot where the tiger was likely to be. As my luck would have it, the tiger had crossed over and disappeared into the jungle.

Further into the park, the driver and the guide suddenly became very serious and were constantly watching the path on which we were driving. When I asked, the guide told me that there were pug marks on the ground and they were fresh! How on earth can someone spot pug marks from a jeep which is traveling at the speed of 20 kmph? I didn't have the courage to question them so I tried spotting the pug marks myself…… couldn't do it….

A few minutes of following the pugmarks, we crossed an area which had a small water hole. We could see a kingfisher perched on a branch…. But no tiger! We paused there for a few minutes, but nothing. Just as we started off, a forest guard, on a cycle came by and told us that the tiger was right there, by the water hole. We had just been there we didn't see anything! The driver reversed the vehicle and we reached the spot again. And to my utter astonishment, we saw the tiger! It was sitting in the tall grass across the water hole! So, now we were between the water hole and the tiger! And the magnificent beast was no more than 6 feet away from our vehicle. It looked upset! The guide said the tiger was probably sitting next to the water hole waiting for a deer! No wonder the tiger looked upset, we had probably ruined its chances of a kill that morning!

The one thing that really struck me was how well camouflaged this animal was. We drove right past it and didn't even notice it !

This is probably the best experience of my life and I'm definitely going back there- at the earliest possible opportunity!!!!!!!