‘THE COLD STARE’ - I always heard about it, read about it. Now I know it - up close

ExtremeTorque · 29th July 2010, 00:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by neoranjit

No matter how many times you spot a tiger in a forest, each time its a new experience. Nice pics extremetorque. Looking fwd to the video.

Thanks neoranjit. You are right, its just awesome!

Quote:

Originally Posted by TaureanBull

Awesome pics and good narration. You have to be lucky to spot the cat. I have not had my success yet. You are definitely a lucky man!

I hope more pics coming up soon.

Thanks TB. On a luck scale of 1-10, i would put my luck at 1000

on spotting the cat

Quote:

Originally Posted by prince_pervez

Hey how was your heartbeat like when you saw the cat. Some experience. Nice pictures. Please continue.

Prince, i could not only hear my own heart pounding when it emerged out of the bushes, i could here the heart beat of the man in the last Gypsy.

nkrishnap · 29th July 2010, 11:12

Fantastic narration there. The Tiger in wild and spotting it is a dream come true.

Do keep em coming.

ambivalent_98 · 29th July 2010, 11:47

Thanks for sharing the photos. One of your photos had the caption "burning bright". Were you referring to a poem by an English poet (whose name I forgot) but I do remember the first two lines of his poem....
Tiger Tiger burning bright,
In the forest at night,
What ..... could frame thy fearful symmetry !!!

TaureanBull · 29th July 2010, 12:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by ambivalent_98

Thanks for sharing the photos. One of your photos had the caption "burning bright". Were you referring to a poem by an English poet (whose name I forgot) but I do remember the first two lines of his poem....
Tiger Tiger burning bright,
In the forest at night,
What ..... could frame thy fearful symmetry !!!

Yes IMO he was referring to the same. Name of the poet is Sir William Blake.

fazalaliadil · 29th July 2010, 12:39

Dear Torque Active, Telia lake reminds me of this event as reported in 2009:

BRAVE SAMBAR LOSES 24-HR BATTLE OF TADOBA
Nagpur: A full-grown sambar is chased by two tigers. It tries to save its life by entering the shallow waters of a lake, where it is stalked and Sambar loses battle of Tadoba attacked by a crocodile. The sambar successfully staves off both attackers for 24 hours before, struggling from exhaustion, it falls prey to the tigers the next morning.

This stunning natural drama, like the 'Battle at Kruger' at Kruger National Park in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 2004 between a herd of Cape Buffalo, a small pride of lions, and two crocodiles, was witnessed by the 18 participants of an international course and some tourists on Friday at the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR). The international course, 'Education as a tool for species conservation', was focusing on tigers in India and has participants from Thailand, Nepal, Bangladesh and India.

The participants reached Telia lake in TATR's Moharli range during their field round at 6.45am. They first saw a full-grown sambar stag returning after quenching its thirst. A tigress was hiding in the tall grass, waiting for the sambar to come close, and started approaching it off a forest trail.

Sensing trouble, the sambar turned and saw the tigress right in front. The sambar took off to save its life with the tigress giving hot chase. Seeing no other option, the sambar chose to enter the Telia waters. The tigress had to stop the chase after the sambar entered the waters. But this was not the end of the sambar's troubles. There were two crocodiles in the lake and they approached the sambar. The tigress had by then positioned herself at the western end of the lake. The sambar kept running around in the shallow waters as it tried to dodge the crocodiles for well over half-an-hour. The sambar had raised an alarm, but unfortunately for it, another tigress in a nearby compartment heard these calls and came rushing to the lake from the southern side.

It positioned herself in the tall grass towards the south, making the situation tougher for the sambar. At around 8.30am, the sambar decided to come out of water and try to escape. It had walked barely 50 metres to reach the tall grass when the first tigress attacked from the west and the second tigress also made an attempt from the south. However, the sambar luckily escaped the attacks and returned to the waters with a little injury on its hind legs.

No sooner did the sambar enter the waters, the crocodiles started approaching it again. Both the tigresses also resumed their original positions in the wait for the sambar. The animal was by now struggling a bit due to its injury and blood loss. At 10.30am, the sambar was literally limping when it made a third attempt to escape. The participants waited with bated breath as they thought this would be the last bid by the sambar to save its life. The moment the sambar left the water and reached the grass with great pains, the first tigress again charged the animal. To the surprise of everyone present, the sambar survived the third attack too and returned to the waters.

As the tourists were running out of time, they left the park. As soon as the after round of TATR started at 2pm, everybody rushed to check out the final outcome of the battle. To their surprise, the brave sambar was still in the water! They again checked at 5.30pm before leaving the reserve and to their surprise the sambar was still in the water. The crocodiles had by then apparently given up on the sambar, however the tigresses were still waiting for the kill. Some photographers, who waited for hours to see the end of the spectacle, said that the sambar attempted to escape a few more times.

On Saturday, November 14, when the participants reached Telia lake at 6.30am, they saw the sambar had been finally grounded by the first tigress on the bank of the lake. The brave sambar seems to have lost the battle between life and death after resisting for almost 24 hours.

The actual hunt, notice the size of the sambar against the full grown tigress.

‘THE COLD STARE’ - I always heard about it, read about it. Now I know it - up close-tiger_1524445c.jpg

fazalaliadil · 29th July 2010, 13:01

Dear Torque Active,

Your sightings were very good considering the time of the year, when waterholes are full and the foliage dense after the onset of monsoons... a double whammy, when tigers need not come out of the forest for water or food and whatever chances of sighting them are marred by dense forest which curtains them.

The Indian Python is not at all a common sight, awaiting to see the video.

I will try and upload the photograph of the man mauled by a tigress with impaired sight, at Tadoba recently.

Looking forward to more from you and feel extremely happy that youngsters like you taking keen interest in wildlife, need to go beyond that in trying to save our natural heritage.

A very descriptive,well written and photographed travelogue.
Best Regards,

ramkya1 · 29th July 2010, 13:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by ExtremeTorque

After driving for 8 hours, .......

It strolls for a few seconds, giving us and the other jeep mates some good shots and moves into the opposite bushes. By now there is a complete blockade of jeeps behind us. I could count 10 of them behind us and 10-15 in front of the jeep opposite us.

...........

The second tiger cub in the bushes

Good travalogue on the tiger route and fitting pictures.

You are indeed lucky to have seen them when there's plenty of water inside the forest. And the sighting of the python is another rare sight...

We had to take 4 safaris and were very lucky in Bandhavgarh to catch B2 the big male, that was just for about 4 minutes before he disappeared into the forest, youtube linky...

YouTube - Bandhavgarh meet with Big Tiger, B2

--------

Joy · 29th July 2010, 13:45

Thanks ExtremeTorque, for a very detailed and wonderful travelogue.

Tiger sighting is indeed rare in rainy season and you are really very lucky to see it. I think luck plays a major part in tiger sighting be it any season or place.

Do post the video. Eagerly waiting for it.

Regards

ambivalent_98 · 29th July 2010, 15:01

A tribute to the Lord of the Jungle..sorry..couldn't resist after seeing those tiger pictures.

sami316 · 29th July 2010, 20:58

Hey Extremetorque,

This is one awesome TL you got here. As MX6 rightly put it, I held my breath when I saw the first pic of the tiger coming out of the bush. Waiting for the video.

ExtremeTorque · 29th July 2010, 22:40

The Tiger sighting of the earlier day worked real well. We woke up pretty early to be the first ones to enter the forest when the gates open at 6AM. It was raining continuously from the earlier day and Satish woke up with a fever. The lure of another sighting didn’t deter us. Our driver was already waiting for us and we were off to another day of the forest safari and trying our luck to spot the tigers – despite the heavy rains

After paying up for the entry, camera’s and the mandatory guide, we were zipping in the rains with the soft top of the Gypsy closed. A few minutes into the main road of the core area, we spotted a few vehicles near the same spot we saw the tiger the earlier day. They were frantically signaling us to kill the engine. Wasting no time, we reached the spot in silent mode and tried to see what the deal was.

Then it makes a grand entry from the bushes, the tiger cub we spotted the earlier day. It inspects the crowd, walks in the clear patch of road and retires into the bushes. That is when our guide points us to a particular direction of the bushes. And what do we see? Not 1, not 2 but 3 tiger cubs!

Inspection

‘THE COLD STARE’ - I always heard about it, read about it. Now I know it - up close-2.jpg

Care 2 hoots for all ya out there!

‘THE COLD STARE’ - I always heard about it, read about it. Now I know it - up close-1.jpg

Umberellas wont work here, live like a tiger

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Morning walk for the chote MAJESTY

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Now, I am not sure if this is the normal behavior of tiger cubs but these were putting up a real grand show. Playing, grooming, licking each other, marking territory, yawning, coming out of the bush from time to time.

Its a lazy, rainy morning, you see!

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Wifey says “off with the soft top, I am going out in the rain”.

I see around and notice all other gypsy occupants crouched into the soft tops of their vehicles.

Me “is it a good idea to come out in this downpour and then take out the electronic gadgets called camera’s – that too borrowed ones?”

Wifey – “Arun, for gods sake, how often in an year do we get wet in the rain? And do you need to capture everything with the camera? Cant you use your god given camera

Me – “yes, off goes the soft top and I am gonna do something about the camera. Cant miss sharing our sightings with my TBHPians

Wifey doesn’t care. She is in her own world capturing each and every move of the tiger cubs in her memory and eyes.

Before starting off for the day, I carried a plastic bag to carry all the camera’s and handcams. I try out a quick contraption of water proof, tearing out a small aperture that can fit the lens and fit the lens hood from outside.

Here are the results:

Rain? No sweat!

‘THE COLD STARE’ - I always heard about it, read about it. Now I know it - up close-1465.jpg

Me too

‘THE COLD STARE’ - I always heard about it, read about it. Now I know it - up close-1453.jpg

We two (Notice the plastic in my hand)

‘THE COLD STARE’ - I always heard about it, read about it. Now I know it - up close-8.jpg

Then came the moment of truth. One of the cubs came out of the bushes and started inspecting the crowd. This was the moment of our lives and a moment that we never thought would arrive. THE COLD STARE. A stare that could freeze a full grown man in his tracks. A stare that can send shivers down ones spine.

Though a cub of only 7-8 months, it had learned the tricks of the trade pretty well from its mother.

THE COLD STARE

‘THE COLD STARE’ - I always heard about it, read about it. Now I know it - up close-cold-stare.jpg

THE COLD STARE 2

‘THE COLD STARE’ - I always heard about it, read about it. Now I know it - up close-cold-stare2.jpg

THE COLD STARE 3

‘THE COLD STARE’ - I always heard about it, read about it. Now I know it - up close-cold-stare3.jpg

THE COLD STARE 4

‘THE COLD STARE’ - I always heard about it, read about it. Now I know it - up close-cold-stare4.jpg

THE COLD STARE 5

‘THE COLD STARE’ - I always heard about it, read about it. Now I know it - up close-cold-stare5.jpg

THE COLD STARE 6

‘THE COLD STARE’ - I always heard about it, read about it. Now I know it - up close-cold-stare6.jpg

ExtremeTorque · 29th July 2010, 23:02

The show continued for a good 20-30 mins before the cubs stood up and walked back into the thick undergrowth, probably to their ‘sambar’ breakfast!

One last pic of the pomp fare of the day

‘THE COLD STARE’ - I always heard about it, read about it. Now I know it - up close-3175.jpg

While this was on, I noticed a familiar face in one of the private gypsies. It was Abheek Ghosh – whom I recognized from Fazal’s post on Tadoba, practicing doctor and wild life photography enthusiast with his team. We quickly exchanged pleasantries and he signaled us to meet up after some time/

Dr. Abheek Ghosh

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After a few more minutes of waiting and luck running out for the day, we took our completely drenched bodies to the end of the forest where the forest guards village is located. One of their ladies served us with steaming hot ‘poha’ and some piping hot tea. By now Satish’s fever had escalated due to the cold environs. “Time for another crocin and paracetmol, buddy. You need some more tiger sightings to cure your fever, you know!”.

Jungle breakfast

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Then came Abheek and his team. We met up with his team - Varun Thakkar from Nagpur (this guy was born for the camera), Anirudh, his wife Roycee from Hyderabad. After a few minutes of chatting, we headed back into the forest. There was no tiger sighting after that but we did see some spotted deer and Sambar.

With Abheek and his team

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Mission accomplished, we headed back to our rooms. None of us except Satish felt sleepy after the events of the day and we were geared up for the evening safari, in our own car, my black beauty – ‘Vahini’, Nidhi fondly calls it!

That might cure you Satish

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At the last gate of the range

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At the entry gate of the safari

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Yaaaaaaaahooooooooooooo!!! Mission accomplished

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MX6 · 29th July 2010, 23:14

The last photo is the best. Trust me. Tiger photos were good. But the last one shows that there's wild side to humans too!
But no photos of the cubs?
Here's me hitting the 5 stars dude.

ExtremeTorque · 29th July 2010, 23:23

First of all, sorry for the delay folks! I am in a 2 day mandatory training all day, hence the delay. Thanks a ton for your appreciation!

Quote:

Originally Posted by MX6

The last photo is the best. Trust me. Tiger photos were good. But the last one shows that there's wild side to humans too!
But no photos of the cubs?
Here's me hitting the 5 stars dude.

Thanks MX6! 5* from you means a lot!

Quote:

Originally Posted by sami316

Hey Extremetorque,

This is one awesome TL you got here. As MX6 rightly put it, I held my breath when I saw the first pic of the tiger coming out of the bush. Waiting for the video.

I am glad you liked it! 3 more safari's coming up!

Quote:

Originally Posted by ambivalent_98

A tribute to the Lord of the Jungle..sorry..couldn't resist after seeing those tiger pictures.

Spot on! That was what i was looking for and lingering in my mind when i first saw the striped one!

Quote:

Originally Posted by ramkya1

Good travalogue on the tiger route and fitting pictures.

You are indeed lucky to have seen them when there's plenty of water inside the forest. And the sighting of the python is another rare sight...

We had to take 4 safaris and were very lucky in Bandhavgarh to catch B2 the big male, that was just for about 4 minutes before he disappeared into the forest, Youtube linky...

WOW! you spotted a full grown one! Thats luck too!

Quote:

Originally Posted by fazalaliadil

Dear Torque Active,

Looking forward to more from you and feel extremely happy that youngsters like you taking keen interest in wildlife, need to go beyond that in trying to save our natural heritage.

A very descriptive,well written and photographed travelogue.
Best Regards,

Thank you sirji! As you know, I was extremely helped by your post and i am glad you liked it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by fazalaliadil

Dear Torque Active, Telia lake reminds me of this event as reported in 2009:

BRAVE SAMBAR LOSES 24-HR BATTLE OF TADOBA

The actual hunt, notice the size of the sambar against the full grown tigress.
Attachment 395777

Thanks for the detailed story! And yes the sambar is huge!

Quote:

Originally Posted by ambivalent_98

Thanks for sharing the photos. One of your photos had the caption "burning bright". Were you referring to a poem by an English poet (whose name I forgot) but I do remember the first two lines of his poem....
Tiger Tiger burning bright,
In the forest at night,
What ..... could frame thy fearful symmetry !!!

Precisely! Thats what i meant. Cheers

Quote:

Originally Posted by nkrishnap

Fantastic narration there. The Tiger in wild and spotting it is a dream come true.

Do keep em coming.

Thanks much Krishna! I will keep them rolling in.

Joy · 29th July 2010, 23:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by MX6

The last photo is the best. Trust me. Tiger photos were good. But the last one shows that there's wild side to humans too!
But no photos of the cubs?
Here's me hitting the 5 stars dude.

+1 to that.

I thought tiger sighting is over. Nice surprise my friend.

You people need a standing ovation for sighting tigers for two consecutive days. God bless you all (some lucky fellow), isn't it?

29th July 2010, 11:12	#47
nkrishnap Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: May 2006 Location: Bangalore Posts: 3,983 Thanked: 7,405 Times View My Garage	Fantastic narration there. The Tiger in wild and spotting it is a dream come true. Do keep em coming.
	() Thanks

29th July 2010, 11:47	#48
ambivalent_98 BHPian Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Pune-Bangalore Posts: 807 Thanked: 203 Times	Thanks for sharing the photos. One of your photos had the caption "burning bright". Were you referring to a poem by an English poet (whose name I forgot) but I do remember the first two lines of his poem.... Tiger Tiger burning bright, In the forest at night, What ..... could frame thy fearful symmetry !!!
	() Thanks

29th July 2010, 12:39	#50
fazalaliadil Senior - BHPian Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Hyderabad Posts: 2,022 Thanked: 671 Times View My Garage	Dear Torque Active, Telia lake reminds me of this event as reported in 2009: BRAVE SAMBAR LOSES 24-HR BATTLE OF TADOBA Nagpur: A full-grown sambar is chased by two tigers. It tries to save its life by entering the shallow waters of a lake, where it is stalked and Sambar loses battle of Tadoba attacked by a crocodile. The sambar successfully staves off both attackers for 24 hours before, struggling from exhaustion, it falls prey to the tigers the next morning. This stunning natural drama, like the 'Battle at Kruger' at Kruger National Park in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 2004 between a herd of Cape Buffalo, a small pride of lions, and two crocodiles, was witnessed by the 18 participants of an international course and some tourists on Friday at the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR). The international course, 'Education as a tool for species conservation', was focusing on tigers in India and has participants from Thailand, Nepal, Bangladesh and India. The participants reached Telia lake in TATR's Moharli range during their field round at 6.45am. They first saw a full-grown sambar stag returning after quenching its thirst. A tigress was hiding in the tall grass, waiting for the sambar to come close, and started approaching it off a forest trail. Sensing trouble, the sambar turned and saw the tigress right in front. The sambar took off to save its life with the tigress giving hot chase. Seeing no other option, the sambar chose to enter the Telia waters. The tigress had to stop the chase after the sambar entered the waters. But this was not the end of the sambar's troubles. There were two crocodiles in the lake and they approached the sambar. The tigress had by then positioned herself at the western end of the lake. The sambar kept running around in the shallow waters as it tried to dodge the crocodiles for well over half-an-hour. The sambar had raised an alarm, but unfortunately for it, another tigress in a nearby compartment heard these calls and came rushing to the lake from the southern side. It positioned herself in the tall grass towards the south, making the situation tougher for the sambar. At around 8.30am, the sambar decided to come out of water and try to escape. It had walked barely 50 metres to reach the tall grass when the first tigress attacked from the west and the second tigress also made an attempt from the south. However, the sambar luckily escaped the attacks and returned to the waters with a little injury on its hind legs. No sooner did the sambar enter the waters, the crocodiles started approaching it again. Both the tigresses also resumed their original positions in the wait for the sambar. The animal was by now struggling a bit due to its injury and blood loss. At 10.30am, the sambar was literally limping when it made a third attempt to escape. The participants waited with bated breath as they thought this would be the last bid by the sambar to save its life. The moment the sambar left the water and reached the grass with great pains, the first tigress again charged the animal. To the surprise of everyone present, the sambar survived the third attack too and returned to the waters. As the tourists were running out of time, they left the park. As soon as the after round of TATR started at 2pm, everybody rushed to check out the final outcome of the battle. To their surprise, the brave sambar was still in the water! They again checked at 5.30pm before leaving the reserve and to their surprise the sambar was still in the water. The crocodiles had by then apparently given up on the sambar, however the tigresses were still waiting for the kill. Some photographers, who waited for hours to see the end of the spectacle, said that the sambar attempted to escape a few more times. On Saturday, November 14, when the participants reached Telia lake at 6.30am, they saw the sambar had been finally grounded by the first tigress on the bank of the lake. The brave sambar seems to have lost the battle between life and death after resisting for almost 24 hours. The actual hunt, notice the size of the sambar against the full grown tigress. Last edited by fazalaliadil : 29th July 2010 at 12:47.
	() Thanks

29th July 2010, 13:01	#51
fazalaliadil Senior - BHPian Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Hyderabad Posts: 2,022 Thanked: 671 Times View My Garage	Dear Torque Active, Your sightings were very good considering the time of the year, when waterholes are full and the foliage dense after the onset of monsoons... a double whammy, when tigers need not come out of the forest for water or food and whatever chances of sighting them are marred by dense forest which curtains them. The Indian Python is not at all a common sight, awaiting to see the video. I will try and upload the photograph of the man mauled by a tigress with impaired sight, at Tadoba recently. Looking forward to more from you and feel extremely happy that youngsters like you taking keen interest in wildlife, need to go beyond that in trying to save our natural heritage. A very descriptive,well written and photographed travelogue. Best Regards, Last edited by fazalaliadil : 29th July 2010 at 13:08.
	() Thanks

29th July 2010, 13:45	#53
Joy BHPian Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Kolkata Posts: 305 Thanked: 25 Times	Thanks ExtremeTorque, for a very detailed and wonderful travelogue. Tiger sighting is indeed rare in rainy season and you are really very lucky to see it. I think luck plays a major part in tiger sighting be it any season or place. Do post the video. Eagerly waiting for it. Regards
	() Thanks

29th July 2010, 15:01	#54
ambivalent_98 BHPian Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Pune-Bangalore Posts: 807 Thanked: 203 Times	A tribute to the Lord of the Jungle..sorry..couldn't resist after seeing those tiger pictures. Attached Thumbnails
	(1) Thanks

29th July 2010, 20:58	#55
sami316 BHPian Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Bangalore Posts: 484 Thanked: 45 Times View My Garage	Hey Extremetorque, This is one awesome TL you got here. As MX6 rightly put it, I held my breath when I saw the first pic of the tiger coming out of the bush. Waiting for the video.
	() Thanks

29th July 2010, 22:40	#56
ExtremeTorque BHPian Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Hyderabad Posts: 379 Thanked: 20 Times	The Tiger sighting of the earlier day worked real well. We woke up pretty early to be the first ones to enter the forest when the gates open at 6AM. It was raining continuously from the earlier day and Satish woke up with a fever. The lure of another sighting didn’t deter us. Our driver was already waiting for us and we were off to another day of the forest safari and trying our luck to spot the tigers – despite the heavy rains After paying up for the entry, camera’s and the mandatory guide, we were zipping in the rains with the soft top of the Gypsy closed. A few minutes into the main road of the core area, we spotted a few vehicles near the same spot we saw the tiger the earlier day. They were frantically signaling us to kill the engine. Wasting no time, we reached the spot in silent mode and tried to see what the deal was. Then it makes a grand entry from the bushes, the tiger cub we spotted the earlier day. It inspects the crowd, walks in the clear patch of road and retires into the bushes. That is when our guide points us to a particular direction of the bushes. And what do we see? Not 1, not 2 but 3 tiger cubs! Inspection Care 2 hoots for all ya out there! Umberellas wont work here, live like a tiger Morning walk for the chote MAJESTY Now, I am not sure if this is the normal behavior of tiger cubs but these were putting up a real grand show. Playing, grooming, licking each other, marking territory, yawning, coming out of the bush from time to time. Its a lazy, rainy morning, you see! Wifey says “off with the soft top, I am going out in the rain”. I see around and notice all other gypsy occupants crouched into the soft tops of their vehicles. Me “is it a good idea to come out in this downpour and then take out the electronic gadgets called camera’s – that too borrowed ones?” Wifey – “Arun, for gods sake, how often in an year do we get wet in the rain? And do you need to capture everything with the camera? Cant you use your god given camera Me – “yes, off goes the soft top and I am gonna do something about the camera. Cant miss sharing our sightings with my TBHPians Wifey doesn’t care. She is in her own world capturing each and every move of the tiger cubs in her memory and eyes. Before starting off for the day, I carried a plastic bag to carry all the camera’s and handcams. I try out a quick contraption of water proof, tearing out a small aperture that can fit the lens and fit the lens hood from outside. Here are the results: Rain? No sweat! Me too We two (Notice the plastic in my hand) Then came the moment of truth. One of the cubs came out of the bushes and started inspecting the crowd. This was the moment of our lives and a moment that we never thought would arrive. THE COLD STARE. A stare that could freeze a full grown man in his tracks. A stare that can send shivers down ones spine. Though a cub of only 7-8 months, it had learned the tricks of the trade pretty well from its mother. THE COLD STARE THE COLD STARE 2 THE COLD STARE 3 THE COLD STARE 4 THE COLD STARE 5 THE COLD STARE 6 Attached Thumbnails
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29th July 2010, 23:02	#57
ExtremeTorque BHPian Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Hyderabad Posts: 379 Thanked: 20 Times	The show continued for a good 20-30 mins before the cubs stood up and walked back into the thick undergrowth, probably to their ‘sambar’ breakfast! One last pic of the pomp fare of the day While this was on, I noticed a familiar face in one of the private gypsies. It was Abheek Ghosh – whom I recognized from Fazal’s post on Tadoba, practicing doctor and wild life photography enthusiast with his team. We quickly exchanged pleasantries and he signaled us to meet up after some time/ Dr. Abheek Ghosh After a few more minutes of waiting and luck running out for the day, we took our completely drenched bodies to the end of the forest where the forest guards village is located. One of their ladies served us with steaming hot ‘poha’ and some piping hot tea. By now Satish’s fever had escalated due to the cold environs. “Time for another crocin and paracetmol, buddy. You need some more tiger sightings to cure your fever, you know!”. Jungle breakfast Then came Abheek and his team. We met up with his team - Varun Thakkar from Nagpur (this guy was born for the camera), Anirudh, his wife Roycee from Hyderabad. After a few minutes of chatting, we headed back into the forest. There was no tiger sighting after that but we did see some spotted deer and Sambar. With Abheek and his team Mission accomplished, we headed back to our rooms. None of us except Satish felt sleepy after the events of the day and we were geared up for the evening safari, in our own car, my black beauty – ‘Vahini’, Nidhi fondly calls it! That might cure you Satish At the last gate of the range At the entry gate of the safari Yaaaaaaaahooooooooooooo!!! Mission accomplished
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29th July 2010, 23:14	#58
MX6 Senior - BHPian Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: City of seven islands. Posts: 2,877 Thanked: 231 Times	The last photo is the best. Trust me. Tiger photos were good. But the last one shows that there's wild side to humans too! But no photos of the cubs? Here's me hitting the 5 stars dude.
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