[nilanjanray]

Originally Posted by bilalsyed

Whats better on a saturday afternoon than such wonderful pictures ?? nothing. Seriously ! The pics have again made be to start planning a visit

Thanks, mate. Though I am not sure where you are based out of if it is Saturday afternoon for you now

If you go, be there before June 30th or after the monsoon ends for the best sightings. While some cubs would have grown up and moved out, there will be the smaller ones e.g. the Katezari cubs who will still hang around together and provide great group sightings.

Btw@ Sach.Sri: I remember now that an area was closed because of a wild boar kill. So that kill must be the kill you witnessed. They stopped unlucky folks like us going there because the tigers were hanging around very close in that area. They also closed the Katezari region, so we couldn't see the small cubs .

Sighhhh.....I missed the chance of making a thread on "18 Tigers and a Bison"! (Greedy hat on).

[nkrishnap]

Lovely travelogue again. A 5* rating for your travelogue has become a default.

Fantastic photos.

The more you see the striped cat in the pics, the more the urge to spot one in the wild.

[nilanjanray]

Originally Posted by nkrishnap

Lovely travelogue again. A 5* rating for your travelogue has become a default.

Fantastic photos.

The more you see the striped cat in the pics, the more the urge to spot one in the wild.

Thanks. I think I am satiated with tigers for the time being. Want some good sightings of leopards now :-)

[mayankjha1806]

Today morning and evening safaris had no Tiger spotting, folks came back disappointed. Hoping i will get to see some tomorrow morning and afternoon.

Looking at this scene, 14 tigers shot has got to be a landmark in itself.

[nilanjanray]

Originally Posted by mayankjha1806

Today morning and evening safaris had no Tiger spotting, folks came back disappointed. Hoping i will get to see some tomorrow morning and afternoon.

Looking at this scene, 14 tigers shot has got to be a landmark in itself.

So you have reached Svasara? How was the drive?

What happened to the cats? Rain has made water available within the forest so they need not hang out around waterholes?

Say hi to Ranjit for me...

[bilalsyed]

Originally Posted by nilanjanray

I am not sure where you are based out of if it is Saturday afternoon for you now

Its called office craziness or too eager to enjoy the weekend :P But great pics. A treat to see even the second time !!

[mayankjha1806]

Awesome is the word, sorry to hijack your thread @Nilanjan. Morning safari was sad, no tiger sightings (Only Leopard and Bear). The expectations from evening safari were low and it did surpass the expectations. Five different tigers sighted, still the elusive male never made an appearance.

One of the tigress came ~6 feet away from me, loads of pictures to process (All shot in RAW). Will start a thread soon. Till then please bear with this one from my point and shoot

[nilanjanray]

Originally Posted by mayankjha1806

Awesome is the word, sorry to hijack your thread @Nilanjan. Morning safari was sad, no tiger sightings (Only Leopard and Bear). The expectations from evening safari were low and it did surpass the expectations. Five different tigers sighted, still the elusive male never made an appearance.

Good to know that the stopover was worth it. You were lucky to see a tiger from so close, and also see a leopard! Will wait for the photos...

[nilanjanray]

Ok, so I had uploaded some of the photos to Picasaonline and then downloaded to my Android phone (SGS2) using synch.

Somehow the photos look far better when I look at them on my mobile - and it is not just a question of small size. The colour, contrast etc. look far better even when I zoom the photos.

SGS2 Super-Amoled screen ka kamal?

[MaverikMahesh]

Hi Nilanjan,

If you can imagine Jealousy, appreciation and admiration all co existing in a person at the same time, it would paint a picture of me! The most elusive animals of the forest and they are being sighted like dogs on the Bangalore roads, amazing. I have to plan for a trip to Tigeroba aka Tadoba next summer. Thanks for sharing your pictures. Simply Awesome.

[nilanjanray]

4th safari, 5.45 - 9.45 am

We were the 3rd vehicle in line when we reached the gate. It had rained a bit previous night, so was a lot cooler. Less dust too. Our first stop was the Jamuwadi waterhole. Now this waterhole is open from all sides, and provides great opportunities for photos. If there is something worth photographing that is. Last 3 times we had passed this waterhole, we hadn't see any of the cubs. But today was gonna be different...

200 metres away from the junction we saw a couple of vehicles standing. So we went through the 'rifles ready' routine, making sure everything was fine - shooting mode, ISO, white balance, aperture and shutter speed etc. After nosing ahead of the other two vehicles, we saw that there was this gorgeous beauty sitting beside the artificial waterhole.



She posed for a while, and I got quite a few snaps of her. Though we had to move around to accommodate the other vehicles pouring in, the 70-300mm zoom helped in staying close to her. After a while we were forced to move out (so that the vehicles behind can get a turn) by the forest guard - do a chakkar (of a few kms) and then come back again. We missed the shots of her getting up and walking on the road - we would have got a fantastic front view if we had stayed.







I was pushing the driver to come back from another direction as fast as possible. Still, when we again arrived at that waterhole after 15-20 mins, there was a long line of vehicles ahead of us, slowly moving. This tigress (cub) was walking parallel to the road, just a few feet away from the Gypsys in front. Sadly we were too far away, but I did manage to get a shot of her after some gymnastics.



But then, it appeared that she was thinking of crossing the road. So we urged our driver to make sure that we got got a clear view if and when she crossed the road. Well, cross she did, but I didn't have a clear line of sight - except for a split second -that is when I got the eye contact shot posted on the first post of this thread. I followed her through my camera as she went inside the brush. We figured that she would come out again - she seemed thirsty. So leaving the other vehicles behind - who were still waiting at the same spot, we went ahead near the waterhole and waited.





She came out far away, and moved towards the water. Unfortunately by this time more vehicles had come, so we couldn't go as close as we liked without blocking the road. So had to be content to zoom and shoot. Not for me those 5-10 feet distance shots which some people have had the fortune to take.









She went inside the water and relaxed for a while. And then moved into the brush behind the waterhole. The guide said that she has temporarily quenched her thirst, and will not come out for sometime.





We did a round of the lake and then went towards the #2 Tanka. Waited there for a while, because the tanker had just filled up the tank. Apparently the tigers had started associating the water tanker racket with a filled up pool, and visit immediately after the tanker leaves. Tadoba's cats have become like Pavlov's dogs...

We were waiting some 40-50 feet behind, when we saw the folks ahead (with direct line of sight to the pool) getting excited. Managed to squeeze in, and get some shots of the tigress (the Telia tigress, who can be seen crossing the road with her cubs in some of the previous photos). She moved off, but a coupe of cubs came in. Again, we had to wait our turn, so could only see some heads peeping out. Clicked this from a distance when I saw him/her looking towards us.







And while waiting, I saw this nice looking bird hopping around. Some type of Thrush?







Went back happy. The Panderpauni cub had given me some very nice shots. I just loved her brilliant coat - lighter than the other tigers we had seen on this trip. Had a very nice creamy colour.

I have a feeling that the tigress killing the boar (see Sachin's thread) is the same as this one. Is there any tiger stripes expert on this thread?

By the way, on the 5th and last safari, we saw 12 unique tigers and 3 bears...in a span of 4 hours. A decent record for Tadoba, I believe :-)

[Avid trekker]

@nilanjanray: Amazing, Awesome. Rated 5 stars.
12 unique tigers and 3 bears in one safari drive - a record to beat in itself. Many of the lesser mortals like me are unable to see so many unique tigers in an entire season.

The lighter coat on the panderpauni cubs - Is this due to any specific reason? I remember seeing pics of such a lighter coat in tigers from Thailand.

[sach.sri]

Originally Posted by nilanjanray

If you go, be there before June 30th or after the monsoon ends for the best sightings.

Btw@ Sach.Sri: I remember now that an area was closed because of a wild boar kill. So that kill must be the kill you witnessed. They stopped unlucky folks like us going there because the tigers were hanging around very close in that area. They also closed the Katezari region, so we couldn't see the small cubs .

Well dont think sightings are going to be like this again even after monsoons - as there are already reports of people coming back without sightings in whole Safaris (which was unimaginable only 15 days ago...)

Ambepat area was indeed closed 2 days after the kill. The kill was on Thursday around 6 pm and the area was open till Saturday, they finally closed it on Saturday.

Even we could not see Katezari cubs because of some maniacal gypsy driver. We saw the tigress on the road and she then wanted to get her cub to cross - but some gypsy driver went too close near the location and they went back into the bushes

Originally Posted by nilanjanray

4th safari, 5.45 - 9.45 am


Went back happy. The Panderpauni cub had given me some very nice shots. I just loved her brilliant coat - lighter than the other tigers we had seen on this trip. Had a very nice creamy colour.

I have a feeling that the tigress killing the boar (see Sachin's thread) is the same as this one. Is there any tiger stripes expert on this thread?

I thought that you were the expert... heh heh. Jokes apart - i think that the nice creamy color (she looks like a blonde in these pics...rt?) is because of the sorroundings, i have often felt that the tigers' coat adapts its color to the sorrounding.

[nilanjanray]

Originally Posted by sach.sri

I thought that you were the expert... heh heh. Jokes apart - i think that the nice creamy color (she looks like a blonde in these pics...rt?) is because of the sorroundings, i have often felt that the tigers' coat adapts its color to the sorrounding.

Well, I was planning to copy paste your photo and my photo (appropriate ones, e.g. the stalking back shots of both - I also have a stalking shot that I haven't posted here) side by side, zoom and do a comparison. Haven't had the time to do that. So wanted to take a short cut and see if someone could provide an opinion at one glance

Regarding chameleon effect: no, this tigress had a different colour. And I loved the way she looked in the morning light. Almost all the Tadoba tigers have a deeper colour - including the Telia cubs that are younger than this one.

[nilanjanray]

Sorry for the delay in posting folks, was caught up with other stuff. I went for one more safari in Tadoba. Decided to skip the Sunday morning safari before the drive back to get some rest. Had an overdose of tigers the previous safari (12 unique tigers), and knew that the Sunday morning safari would be anti-climatic. Besides, it is difficult to drive 1000+ kms throughout the afternoon and night after waking up at 4.30am in the morning for a safari.

Coming up - the 5th and final safari. Till then, enjoy a photo capturing affection between mother and cub.

The nuzzling of the cub is surprisingly human. When I saw the cubs frolicking, they reminded me of puppies. Do tigers have feelings apart from natural instincts?