Day 10 - Tiger, Tiger

12:45
My alarm at 04:30 is not the most welcome thing in the world. Still - I dutifully jump out of bed. It’s pretty chilly in the room, and I don my safari clothes as quickly as I can. It’s still properly dark outside, and it’ll be a few hours before the sun starts to bring warmth. I leave my room just before 05:00, and head for the central restaurant area at the lodge, which is deserted. There’s no activity at all. I suspect treachery. Someone turns up a little after 05:00, and offers me a cup of chai, which is much needed. Raji turns up around 05:30, and clarifies that my jeep will be here around 06:00, not the advertised 05:00. It’s just as well Vicks isn’t with me, as she’d be FEWMIN at the lost hour in bed.

My driver ultimately rocks up at 06:15. Checking with him, that’s because the park gates don’t open until 06:30, and we’re only a few minutes drive away from them. I’ll know better tomorrow.

As we arrive at Turia gate, the dawn is slowly beginning to break. There are hints of light at the horizon. It’s still fresh, and most of the other folks are wearing big, warm coats. I’m quite enjoying the temperature, I’m wearing a micro-fibre fleece type thing, but also shorts.

As we head off into the park, we immediately start seeing wildlife. Initially some spotted deer, the most common large mammal in the ecosystem. A little later, a sambar, the largest mammal in the park. There are countless monkeys in the trees, peacocks here and there. We’re here for cats though.

Safaris in India are a more forensic process than Africa, where I’ve spent the majority of my time in the bush. In Africa, ecosystems like the Masai Mara and Serengeti are littered with mammal wildlife. Every turn of the head brings a view of animals doing animal things.

In India, the game needs searching out more. We spend most of the morning tracking - looking at pug marks (tracks) on the sandy road. We spot some tiger droppings on the road, and my guide for the morning, Rohan, jumps out of the jeep to inspect them more closely. He declares them fresh, and points to some pug marks that are heading in the opposite direction. We turn around, and head to the other side of a copse of trees. We spend 10 minutes parked up with the engine off listening for monkey alarm calls, and trying to work out where the tiger might have gone. The search is ultimately fruitless, but I enjoy talking to Rohan about the different sounds of the forest, the varying calls that the monkeys and deer make.

We stop for breakfast a little before 10:00. There’s a sudden rush of excitement as a tiger is spotted not far away. My driver, Mitan, puts the hammer down. We’ve been serenely making our way through the park at maybe 20khm, but he’s now hitting 50-60 clicks, and doing his best Colin McRae impression. The paths through the park are not smooth, and I’m seated at the back of the truck over the rear axle. Bumpy doesn’t come close.

We’re quickly around to the other side of the lake, and catch an all too fleeting view of Lakshmi, a 5 year old mother of 3 x 4 month old cubs. She’s on her own at the moment though, likely out hunting for her family. Even at 100m, she’s majestic, and so graceful. There’s a lithe fluidity to the movement of tigers that I think is only rivalled by the leopards I’ve seen. Several times as she walks through the forest, I lose sight of her, so brilliantly does her fur camouflage her. Orange and black stripes don’t necessarily suggest themselves as the best camo, but trust me - they work. They make her look slimmer too…

She’s moving through the park, and we head a little further around to try and keep up with her. Other jeeps have joined us now, and there’s quite the little convoy building. Whether she’s sensed this, and decided to steer clear, or has just headed in a different direction, I don’t know, but we don’t see her again. It’s pushing on past 11:00 now, and the park closes at 11:30 until the afternoon safaris, so we head for the exit. We’ve been out for nearly 5 hours, which is long enough.

I’m looking forward to a bit of rest and chill time before the afternoon’s adventure…

20:20
Bit less rest time than I’d have liked. It turns out my afternoon safari pick-up time is 13:30, so I’ve really only got 90 minutes between excursions. I’d hoped for, well - maybe 3? I skip lunch as only had breakfast at 10:00, and use the down time to chill in my room.

I’ve a different driver this afternoon and a different guide. I’m more used to safari experiences where these are consistent across the lifetime of the safari, allowing you to build a bond and an understanding with them. I’m not suggesting this is to the detriment of the experience, but it’s different, and I find myself wondering how it’ll work out. I’m also going in through a different gate this afternoon - Khursapar, which is 20km South West of Tiger in Woods. Now, the roads out here aren’t the best, but they are at least paved. The route to Khursapar gate quickly leaves the tarmac, and hits the country back-roads. More of those bumps I talked about earlier… It’s a good 25 minutes to reach the gate, by which time my balls are starting to bruise.

For some unknown reason (and I did ask, but the security dude didn’t know), my phone is taken off me at the gate. Use or carry of a mobile phone is verboten in this part of the park. it seems very strange to me that different parts of the park would have such different regulations applied to them. Thankfully, I’ve got my SLR with me, so I’m not worried about using my phone for photos, but surely that won’t be the case for many/most?

We head into the park at 14:00. I’ve always understood safaris at this time to be limited in scope as the predators that are the highlight for many are sleeping off whatever kill they made earlier in the day. And this proves to be the case today. We spend a good 2.5 hours variously driving around on the off-chance, meeting lots of other fauna - particularly birding, and sitting stationary with the engine turned off listening out for alarm calls. It’s not the very most exciting of experiences, but I enjoy spotting some bird species I’ve not seen before.

Around 17:00, the sun starts to droop toward the horizon, and dusk settles in. We hear our first alarm call, maybe 2 clicks to the North of us. My driver (nameless. I did ask, but he didn’t understand me…) sets off at quite the pace in that direction. More bouncing, more discomfort. My guide, Rupesh (he has a name tag) explains in his broken English (which is WAY better than my basically non-existent Hindi) that there’s a large male that wanders this part of the park, and has been spotted on quite a few consecutive days. We arrive to the source of the alarm calls, and there are already 3-4 jeeps parked at the side of the track. The alarm calls are being made by grey langurs, a subspecies of the monkey family. Typically, you’ll hear one alarm call at a time. When we pitch up, there are several echoing over each other. They’re clearly het up about whoever is on the hunt.

For an hour, we track the tiger - using monkeys calls, pug marks, and just watching movement in the bush. We even see the telltale swish of moving grass on a few occasions, but that’s the extent of it. In this kind of dense woodland, if a tiger wants to remain invisible, it will. Even 20m from the track, it’s all but impossible to keep sight of them. This one is hunting, so in ultra stealth mode - we never stood a chance.

We spend a touch longer than anticipated tracking the tiger, and as a result, have around 10 minutes to make a typically 30 minute journey back to the gate. They close at 18:00, and there are steep fines for being late. I’m unsure if I would have to pay, as the ‘guest’ of the park, or the driver/guide would have to pay. I strongly suspect the former. Mr Driver (for I have so labelled him) is clearly on my side, and wants me to avoid a fine. It’s a calamitous and hair-raising ride. If it’s not the bouncy-bouncy ball ache, it’s the slamming on of brakes causing my knees to smash into the steel frame of the seat in front of me. Still - we make the gate with about 30 seconds to spare…

Back at Tiger in Woods, determine that a week is long enough to go without beer while I’m travelling, and treat myself to a Kingfish. This quickly becomes 2…

22:00
Dinner was another banging Thali. They’re such a great way of eating Indian food. A great dhal, an incredible vegetable curry that I ask the name of on three separate occasions, and I’m still not convinced I actually know, and a mutton curry. I think I actually said no to the non-veg option, but communication is not always the clearest here.

I briefly consider a third and final beer, but decide against. Whilst my alarm call isn’t *quite* as ridiculously (and erroneously) early tomorrow, it’s still earlier than is absolutely ideal. Bed time for Tim…Leggi altro