Tadoba, a bamboo jungle of about 625 sq km near Chandrapur in Vidarbha. There must be about 67 odd tigers in this jungle. The other variety of wild life consist of Leopard, Black Bear, Boar, Gaur, Sambar, Nilgai, Spotted Deer, Crocodile, Wild Dog, and a magnificent range of birds. However people from all over the world come here to have a glimpse of the tiger alone. Tadoba has therefore been named a Tiger Reserve Forest and the forest guards keep themselves abreast about every movement of this majestic beast. There are a few private resorts and a government one as well. Tourists are welcome for all the twelve months to this reserve forest but the major crowd comes during summer.
Soma, Prantik and I have recently been doing the rounds of forest resorts around Nagpur. We have been to Sillari and Bor together. Individually we have been to Pench and Kanha as well. We have seen a range of wild animals together but never the Tiger. After doing the rounds of Sillari a couple of times we were getting restless and then I suggested we visit Tadoba. They jumped at it and gave me the dates when they would be having holidays. I requested Sudhir Soman to book me the resort since the resort owner was his friend. He went a step ahead and paid for “two days and two nights” stay in the best room available at the resort. That was his way of saying thank you and I accepted quietly. Thank you Sir. Prantik had come with a boil at the top of his right thigh and suffered terrible discomfort throughout the trip.
Our first glimpse of the Royal Tiger Resort was way short of delight. The place looks new but there were no shade giving trees. It looked kind of barren and forsaken. Soma wanted to go elsewhere but with some reservations in mind we entered and had a look at the room. They both sort of compromised and relented since I was showing no sign of wanting to go anywhere else than inside the jungle. Though the rooms and ambience was excellent, the food was very restricted in variety and quantity. Unless one came early to the buffet table (yes food was by buffet only, no orders please!) one could miss a dish. The best part of the resort was its offer of wet towels to the tourist who came back after the four hour safari. It is refreshing after the hot, dry open to air jeep ride. The sad part of the resort was that breakfast is available only at 10.30 am after the safari returns and lunch is available right from 12.00 noon. The gap between meals is not enough, but their men keep knocking on the door cajoling the guests to have lunch on the pretext that food will get cold. The team from National Geographic, who were making a film about survival in extreme conditions and staying in the resort for over a month, was however enjoying. They used to get special supplement in their food of eggs which was never kept on the buffet table. One day the owner offered me omelet after I came back from the safari. By then Prantik and Soma had already had their breakfast. They couldn’t help ogling.
The first safari in the afternoon went of uneventful. We saw a lot many Deers, Sambars and Boars but the beast remained elusive. On one occasion we heard the Tiger growl but it did not show up. The jerks during the road safari left Prantik in a great deal of pain and he decided to skip the next one in the morning. Soma got up in time but was her usual lazy self and also dropped out. I had the entire open jeep to myself and enjoyed the early morning cool jungle. It is a very big jungle with hills and lakes. When the driver shuts the engine, the jungle is filled with sounds of the birds. The Drango, the Babbler, the Parrot, the Tree pie make loud sounds but there are numerous other chirping sounds. They create a symphony which in the morning specially sounds better than the ‘suprabatam’. Some part of the jungle is very old since the girth of the trees is huge. Most parts are dense and one can hardly see a few feet inside the trees. It is almost like a green and yellow bamboo wall. The animal inside can see us but we cannot even guess its presence. They carry on with the daily routine to search food, to feed self and children, to escape from preys, to survive. They all would have their own story to recount of escape, of surprise, of conquest and of care. The twist and turn of the tree trunk and its branches reflect a struggle of survival, to take over as much space as possible, to reach out to the sunlight. Over time the twist gets consolidated and prominent, as if it wants to tell its story of triumph to everyone who wants to listen. There are many tall trees which have shed their leaves as if in sympathy to my bald head. Their dry and thin branches extending towards the heavens seem to be a tale of either appreciation or prayer or anguish. The jungle flavor of the summer season are; Tendu tree very prominent with its green leaves, the Mahua tree very striking with its red leaves and the blood red flowers of the Palash tree is a sight to behold. The old and fallen trees are allowed to rot and serve as nutrition to the insects and reptiles. There are a few villages inside the Reserve Forest and one can see villagers moving on their feet or bicycles without a care. I suppose they do fear the Tiger and remain watchful all the time. They cultivate their land during the rains and wheat is the main crop. All life forms in the jungle go through their primary objective, to survive and procreate, to take care of self and off springs.
The second day afternoon also Prantik was in pain. At the last minute he decided to take the safari for reasons not clear to me. The forest guide who was with me in the morning called up the jeep driver saying that the pair of Tigers were sighted at the lake. The driver informed me and said that we leave as soon as possible. At last Soma and Prantik were ready. I didn’t tell them about the sighting. We could not see the Tiger the previous evening and so I did not want to create expectations. Our jeep reached the water body called Teliya and waited. The story of this tiger pair is that they were seen together since the past two weeks and were mating. Two week of mating? That was because the male Tiger was huge and the female looked a kid in front of him. This was explained as not suitable condition for mating. Whatever! The female Tiger would leave him once she decided it was enough. She would carry for about 36 to 40 weeks and then give birth upto a maximum of four cubs. She has to look after the cubs and protect them from other full grown male Tigers and the Wild Dogs. The news of the Tiger sighting in the afternoon at Teliya spread like bush fire amongst the forest guides. We were the third jeep at the lake and within a span of fifteen minutes there were more than a dozen jeeps full of people waiting with baited breath. On one side of the lake is the road where the jeeps of Tadoba some green and some white in color had positioned themselves. One amongst them was the National Geographic team. The people in the vehicles were speaking in hushed tones and were poised with cameras. There guards and jeep drivers were hoping that their tourists would return home happy so that their reputation would stand protected if the Tigers showed up. The sun was beating hard. Water bottle exchanged hands. Jokes were cracked in soft voices. Everybody was conscious that the Tiger is expected to show up anytime now and they hoped that it really did. The whole atmosphere was pregnant with expectation. On the other side of the lake were the Tigers, resting.
Then came a deep growl. Our guide said, ‘ssshhhhh....’ Then another growl. Now everybody from all the jeeps was looking at a single direction from where the sound emerged. Suddenly someone said ‘dekho, dekho’. The pair was walking one behind the other, the female was ahead and the male was following. Both were with their tails up, declaring itself to everyone around. The female was indeed smaller in size compared to the male. Both entered the water a few meters away from each other, from their hind legs. They immersed half their body and cooled themselves for a few minutes in the water. Both got up together, looked at the number of jeeps and went back into the trees.
The reddish yellow and black striped beast was magnificent indeed. They live by their own rules and nobody can dictate terms to them. They would rather die than live in fear or shame. They will kill only when hungry and never for hoarding nor pleasure. The guides say that a Tiger lives for about 20 years in the wild and 25 years in a Zoo. Only an old and aged Tiger will bother to stray near to human population and attack people attending call of nature or while picking fire wood and Mahua flower. The explosion in human population has disturbed the animal - forest balance. We venture into their space and selfishly call it ours. We kill the Tiger for sport and magical power. Maybe this is a collective human guilty conscience but to see the Tiger alive and free in the wild is a grateful and an overwhelming experience.
