On our last day in India, we finally found a tiger. And what a sighting! We tracked the female tiger pictured above for about and hour and a half and saw her at four different sites.
The jungle seemed especially wild that morning. After driving about for a while, we settled on our chosen sweet spot. From there, we listened to the cries of the spotted deer and langur monkeys. After an hour the calls failed to subside, merely moving around us. As we stood tall in our still vehicle, we closed our eyes and listened intently for the movement of the alarm calls through the dense jungle. We sat tense, careful to quell the sound of our breathing. Suddenly Sarath motioned for Akash to pull forward. The alarm calls had stopped and the jungle was silent, save for a faint rustling coming from the dried reeds at the bend in the road. Suddenly Akash started up the motor and we were on the chase.
Olaf and I were looking frantically in the bushes, but Sarath pointed ahead and we heard Akash whisper loudly "Tiger! Tiger on the road!"
The tiger emerged onto the path as I tried to steady the camera against the jumping of our vehicle. It was awesome. After 50 hours, we finally had our tiger. The biggest cat, rare in the wild, a solo hunter who could easily kill with one clamp down on the jugular. Absolutely beautiful to watch.
Olaf and I hope that India continues to protect the wild Bengal tiger. Preservation efforts are fairly recent, as the parks used to be sites for tiger hunting. If India continues with this great conservation effort, more tourists, like Olaf and I, will come to India to "see the tiger." It was absolutely incredible to see this great creature in her natural habitat, where she is queen, where she can hunt, care for her cubs and roam wild and free.
