Tiger Trails

Seeing a Tiger in the wild was a dream that Amol had for a long time. “There is just something about seeing a tiger in the wild” he said or maybe it had something to do with his mum's maiden surname being 'Wagh' - Tiger in marathi which made him think he had some ancestral connection ;-)

I had read and heard countless experiences from many people but never paid much attention to it. Guess, I thought what's the big deal I had seen a Tiger in the zoo. But little did I know that one trip to Kanha and I would join the bandwagon.

Let me take you into a flashback, earlier this year when we decided to go Mumbai to see our family, Amol managed to convince me to do a detour and go on a Tiger Safari.

So after doing a bit of research we planned our visit to Kanha National Park - one of the biggest parks in Madhya Pradesh, India.

We took a flight from London to Mumbai and after few days with the family we flew to Jabalpur. Once in Jabalpur we had to further drive for approximate 5 hours to reach our destination - Kanha. We stayed in a lovely resort called Tuli.

Had a lovely relaxing evening, but the thrills of going on a Tiger Safari early hours of the morning were enough to keep Amol and I awake.

As we got to the gate, we couldn't stop our excitement. Our driver got the permit stamped and here we were ready to enter the gates. Goosebums all over......

Driving through the forest I could not help noticing why Kanha has been the epitome of "The Jungle Book" famous novel by Rudyard Kipling. Kanha has such a resemblence to the wilderness of the African veldt. Sun rays that cut through the sal forests creating a myriad of streams of lights and the rolling meadows are a sight not to be missed and photographed.

And though you are here to spot the tiger, wildlife is unimagnable - animals such as various types of deers, bisons, langurs are to be found throughout the forest. Kanha is home to one of the world's most endangered deer - the barasingha. We also got a rare sighting of a barking deer.

Kanha is also a birdwatchers dream come true. Dabchicks, Egrets, Whitenecked Storks and Black Ibis are among the more common species to be seen near waterbodies or streams.

We saw wide range of animals that morning but the tiger remained elusive to us. And so we decided to call it a day and to head back and as our driver took an about turn - we had our moment of truth - A young male tiger just decided to cross the road in front of us. He just appeared from nowhere through the meadows. We were gobsmacked. Our heartbeat and cameras going frantic. I am not a believer of love at first sight but this was truly love at first sight. I just couldn't believe my eyes. Though we just caught his sight for less than a minute I managed to take atleast 50 shots.

And now we couldn't wait for our next game drive - adrenaline was pumping and one sighting was definitely not enough.

To count our lucky stars we saw a female tiger the next morning. We were on a roll! But we decided to play it low when back at the resort as many of the other guests who had been for almost three game drives and still had not managed to get a sighting.

As Tigers are elusive creatures and though a jeep safari is a great and practical way to go around covering big zonal areas of Kanha, we were told there is nothing more evocative than looking for tigers on a elephant back.

So here we were on a Elephant back on our third early morning safari. Spotting the tiger for two consecutive days in a row we were a bit relaxed and said to ourselves - it would be alright if we didn't get a sighting today as we have been quite lucky and just decided to enjoy our elephant ride.

But God had something else in store for us, clearly we had not had enough - as our mahout was following his radio and tracking the sounds of deer and monkey alarms, crossing through the meadows we came across a water hole and we spotted a beautiful young male tiger just relaxing next to it. We were literally just 10 feet away from the tiger. He was not bothered about our presence. He was in his own world stretching, swaying his tail, being playful. We almost watched him for 20 minutes and our camera on sports mode capturing his every little move. The best part was when he got up to have a drink of water. Would never forget that sight. I could have kept staring and clicking away for hours, but the tiger finally had enough of us and decided to walk off.

What a finale to a great start!

Though India is home to this beautiful, elusive animal - there have been major concerns due to deforestation projects, hunting and illegal poaching activities been carried out. Government and Forest department have been trying their best through various project's to save the tiger from being extinct. Kanha is justifiably held out as one of Project Tiger's star success stories.

Virtually everyone who visits Kanha comes back raving and moved by its diversity. We were no different. We very much hope to visit again and also cover other National Parks in India.

Best time to visit: October to May ( but April-May are best as hotter it gets more chances of seeing the elusive tiger venture out towards the water holes)