Wildlife Encounters

Deepti Rawat (INDIA)

E-mail: deepti_queen@rediffmail.com

June 2004 : Ranthambhore National Park

A few of us working together decided to go to Ranthambhore National Park since we had a long weekend coming up. It was mid June and extremely hot. We were told that there are no tourists and sightings are also infrequent.

On the morning safari, it looked as if all the things I'd had heard about no tiger sightings might be true, but a local guide we met inside the park told the driver that there was a sighting of 3 cubs at Bedadha. The driver took us there and we found that the cubs had just left the water hole and seemed like they would not return till evening. We decided to still give it a chance and waited by the water hole for about 20 minutes.

Our patience paid off and suddenly we heard alarm calls of “cheetal”, spotted deer. And we couldn't believe our luck- 3 full grown tiger cubs, one female & 2 males, came out of the trees, right in front of us and one by one, walked across a small clearing in the trees towards a nice shady spot. The experience was simply unbelievable! No other vehicles around us, just the driver and me and the 3 gorgeous tigers!!!!! All three of them peacefully settled down in the shade of the trees and were completely relaxed and unaware of our presence…… We were close enough to see them clearly! As we watched, one of them turned and was peacefully rolling around on his back! We could clearly see the white underbelly and the huge paws dangling in the air- just like a kid! It was the most amazing experience- who would have thought that the most elusive of all cats, right in front of our eyes!!!!!!!