Some married and with their wives , some married and without their wives and some still looking out for brides hurdled into my Safari on a late Saturday morning . Some of them were nature enthusiasts or thought so , some of them were confused as to why would one want to waste two days and that too a weekend looking out for animals when nearly all (almost ) are easily viewable in the zoo's !!
So we had these two different school of thoughts which never could agree with each others view point . So why the heck were all of them together ? I'll leave it to you to prod over it .
Loud music and pleasant air greeted us and soon the whole group agreed that getting out of ones house is a good idea – most of the times .
“Where would we stay ? “ - if you start hearing this often then it is time to zero down on a hotel /motel and so the whole group tried making fanatic telephone calls to the hotels we knew about and after spending almost three hours on it we finally managed to grab a farm house very close to Kabini – we couldn't have asked for more.
The first night was spent ogling at some weird tribal dance and one could easily make out that tribal in India do not dress the way these cartoons were dressed . Good food and a very clear sky helped us getting over the dance .
If you are tired and have a bed in front of you – you get it right – you crash in/on it . “Next day excitement “ never allows me to have an eight hours sleep – I always get up a few hours early and so I was up by 3 am and made sure I kicked everybody out of their beds before 4:30 . By 6 am we were probably the first to reach the wildlife park gates .
Which is the most enigmatic of all the cats – the tiger !! ( no cookies for getting it right) and wonder how you feel if that is the first thing you see as soon as you enter a park . So we all came very very close to sighting a tiger and here is all what transpired .
Even before we could enter the park gates one of the occupants in the front seat jumped with joy and proclaimed that he saw a tiger and since in our country news spreads fast all the occupants in the car including the driver (that was me) were eager to grab this opportunity of siting a real wild tiger .
Some suggested to keep the windows up since the tiger might be hungry in the morning and one of us or may be two could be devoured up within minutes . And then an anonymous hand gestured to keep quiet since the tiger was lying down and that making noise would spoil the party .
After a whole lot of twenty minutes were spent in assuring ourself that the creature which was lying down was a tiger we decided to move on and before I could crank up the engine again we some few more cars behind us all trying their luck with the tiger .
Majority of us did not see anything and since a few of the travelers inside the car were very positive we all were trying to convince ourselves with the fact that we did see something – and then the news broke out that the tiger was fake .
What do you do now – laugh and try pulling legs .
“Who saw the tail – nobody , who spotted the face – no replies , who spotted the ears – atleast I did not “ , a minute before almost everybody saw some part of the tiger – views change fast when it comes to humans .
Not a bad way to start the trip – a fake tiger !! The next in line were deer , yes real deer , we all made sure we saw a deer and that it was nothing but a deer and then when everybody swore that it was a indeed a dear we all could rest in peace .
Wild peafowl , peahen (why are hens never as attractive as their male counterparts ?) , wild boar , Indian Bison , barking deer , tusker and a variety of birds greeted us as we went around .
The giant Malabar Squirrel is something which caught our fancy for reasons I'm gonna jot down now .One it is only found in and around the Wester Ghats in this Universe , two it is a beautiful animal and three it is a highly endangered species hunted down for its flesh and fur .
We shot many of them – only in our cameras and wished them a long life and a bright future ahead. They really need all your wishes to survive in their ever dwindling forest cover .
And then it was the tiger , not again !! Indeed three of them and since a tiger generally is a solitary creature we guessed that we saw a tigress and two of her cubs. This was the first time I forgot(and I swear the last time) taking out my camera – I was awestruck. A tiger is a charming animal , it is majestic and if you see one in the wild then feel lucky since only a few hundred remain now .
Six individuals , five cameras and three tigers – not a single shot and I am sure you can try understanding the gravity of the situation we were in .
Until you see a “real “ tiger yourself in the wild keep humming these lines from William Blake's poem :
Tiger, Tiger, burning bright
In the forest of the night,
What immortal hand ....
5 comments:
Quite interesting! .. I always wanted to spend some time in woods, with wild animals, lets c ... some day :)
once when we went to safari, we saw a lion, who was so pale n sick i guess, who was lying on the grass, felt bad then. seems like these safaris are just a bigger zoo. with you in a cage, still not real woods n real wild. so no wonder if you had doubt if it was real tiger.
on ur peahen comment - rare occasions when the male is more attractive that the female!!! don't comment on that again else nazar lag jayegi!!!
Read somewhere that the Kenya safari is also a fake one... the animals are captive and placed in places ppl to view.. the guides fake up stories to generate interest.. so on so forth..
- Jyo
Well written article.
Read your blogs for the first time. After reading one, couldn't budge from my seat untill i read all. Amazing writing skills!!!
The blogs written are phenomenal. U really have great experiences with Wildlife. And the philosophical articles are indeed amazing!! One cannot stop reading the articles once started.. Wish to read more.. Keep writing!! :)
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