An early morning flight from Mumbai landed well on schedule at Nagpur airport our pick-up car was waiting to take us to the home of Mougli and the Royal Bengal Tiger in the forest of Pench National Park, MP.
My twin daughters Saawari & Saloni and my only wife Susmita where an excited bunch along with my cousin Abi & his family on their maiden Tiger safari, but I was under tremendous pressure from the group for successful tiger sighting in the next two days of our stay at Pench Tribal camp. I tried telling them that they should enjoy the experience and Tiger was incidental and stuff like that but to no avail.
“What if we see the Tiger on the first safari itself. What do we do for the rest of the trip ? “ was their next question. To which I had no answer 🙂
I kept my fingers cross and we embarked on the evening safari that day. It was through the Turia gate. Two hrs into the safari and I was sure it was going to be a dry run. We did see a lot of herbivorous but the carnivorous had eluded us. On our way back to the resort I tried boosting the morale of my folks but never the less the pressure was only building on me.
Day 2 Morning safari was through the Khursapar gate, my secondary research had indicated that the Tiger sightings from this gate was less than Turia and this made me really nervous. 2 Hrs into the safari and still no trace of the Tiger, I could feel my heart sink. We decided to break for the bush breakfast at one of the forest camps deep inside the jungle. Then suddenly our driver Sada Shiv froze in rapt attention as he stood listing to the alarm call. It was time for some action we followed the call along with 6 other gypsys which lead us to one of the nearby watering hole. We parked our Gypsy at some distance and the waiting game started. 
It was not too long before we saw the first sight of the majestic Tiger emerging through the bushes, confidently walking towards the water hole oblivious to the Gypsys parked around. Watching a Tiger for the first time in the wild I literally had goose bumps. My folks, of course, were more terrified than amused and I totally can understand. The Tiger put on a good show for our drinking water and cooling off in sweltering heat. After some time it decided to move out but not before its sister was ready to take a plunge in the pool. The guide informed us that they were 1-year-old sibling of Tigress Durga. Double whammy and who is complaining.
The evening safari was even more thrilling. The news had spread that the Durga’s cubs made their presence felt in the morning and one can expect them at the same watering hole in the evening. By the time we reach the place there were 20 Gypsys scampering for space. Our driver Sada Shiv (we retained him for rest our safaris) said there was no point being part of the mad frenzy and should explore elsewhere. While on the way he had actually laid his eyes on the fresh Tiger pugmarks. We decided to trust his instincts and went to the track where he showed us the pug marks, he started following them like a pro which leads us to another watering hole but to our dismay it was empty. We decided to check ahead but nothing there as well, we had almost given up on the chance of spotting another Tiger and decided to go back and join the group of Gypsys which we had so confidently discarded.
We were driving at some speed to make up for the lost time and had almost crossed the second watering hole till somebody shouted Tiger .. Tiger and our Gypsy came to screeching halt. If the morning ones where cubs this one was their father a fully grown adult, alpha male named Handsome. Just 50 meters away from our Gypsy staring directly into our eyes and growling aggressively.
Ours was the only gypsy and this made the scene precarious, every body was like “ lets get the hell out of here we are too close for comfort”. But it was a photographers dream come true. We somehow held on to our nerves and decide to stay and we were rewarded to our hearts content.
The Tiger left on its own account and we deiced to call it a day, rather a successfully day. We celebrated back at the resort with chilled beer and Tiger stories. During the past two days we checked the following mammals apart from the coveted Tiger; Sambhar, Gaur, gang of wild dogs, chausingha, barking dear, lots of peacocks and in birds Indian roller, Indian scoops owl, orange headed thrush, tickles blue flycatcher.
The third day we decided to stay put as the last two days hectic schedule had taken its toll on the little ones in the group. I utilized that time for some birding around the resort campus. Took the overnight train from Nagpur to Mumbai to rejoin the rut of urban living but not before card full of happy memories which would last till my next sojourns in some another jungle
Tour date :14-16 April17
The Author is proprietor of Master Pics professional photography services and an avid wildlife enthusiast
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