“Tyger Tyger, burning bright,In the forests of the night;What immortal hand or eye,Could frame thy fearful symmetry?”– The Tyger, William Blake
It was high time I saw a tiger for real. Being an avid wildlife enthusiast and having traveled across many forests in India, I was yet to sight a tiger in its natural habitat. While tiger populations are quite good across Karnataka, the terrain makes it tough to successfully sight one. So there I was taking the trip to Kanha in the hopes of sighting my very first tiger.
It was a long journey to Kanha, my family and I took the Rajdhani from Bangalore to Nagpur. From there we hired a cab to take us to Kanha. We were all set to explore the forests of Madhya Pradesh in Kanha, Pench and Bandhavgarh, but this story is about my first tiger, about Kanha.
Kanha is a beautiful forest, completely different from the thick southern hill forests; this vast expansive forest was quite a sight. We were there at the end of June, when the monsoon was just settling in and the new grass shoots had taken root all over the forest. The forest cover was turning from the dry golds to lush greens and the jungle felt alive with the anticipation of the monsoon. It was also the end of the tourist season which meant relatively less crowds; in fact we got the whole resort almost to ourselves.
We reached Kanha in the afternoon and immediately set off for an evening safari. We couldn’t afford to miss any chances at sighting the tiger. We stayed at the Pugdundee Safari’s Kanha Earth Lodge and they had booked the safari rides and the entire logistics for us. Booking for safaris is a task and you can’t just land up at the National Park hoping to catch a safari. The safaris are booked out almost three months in advance and you really need to plan ahead.
As the afternoon heat was beating upon us our safari started. The dust kicking up ahead of our safari jeeps we were keenly looking out at the shrubbery and the open sal forests. What were the chances of sighting one tiger out of the 60 plus tigers in about 1,949 sq km? Slim one might say!
Our group was spread over two safari jeeps but we vowed to be together. If one jeep sighted a tiger, the other one would too! It was all going to be a fair game, well fate had other plans! Our jeeps got separated on the trail and we went off in another direction.The afternoon sun dwindled down the forest and turned to dusk yet we saw no tiger. When we met the other jeep I was surprised to find them ecstatic, they had sighted a tiger!! It was so disappointing, I gave my driver an earful. Alas, we returned back to the resort with renewed hope for the next day.
The nights at Kanha are spectacular, the calm and serene environment of the resort also happened. The nights got chilly and the sense that just out there a few kilometers away or even less was a mighty tiger was a crazy thought! I ended the night with dreams of a sighting the next day.
We woke up at the crack of dawn to get ahead of the safari rides. We reached the gate at 5:30 AM, the safari rides start at 6:00 AM. As the previous day the group was split into two groups. Our safari driver was in quite a foul mood, considering the scolding I had given him the previous evening. I was not too happy with the coordination and the speed of his follow up of the tiger. He was really keen on making sure that he show us the tiger that day and was literally speeding along the jungle tracks.
Safari drivers coordinate with other drivers and the jungle guards on the whereabouts of tigers. They seem to read the signs like tiger scat (poo), tiger markings and fresh kills. Somehow along the way at a junction we lost the other safari jeep but we continued going on because our driver was hot on the scent of a tiger.
Just as we crossed other open cross roads in the forest, we saw a pack of wild dogs chasing a deer near a waterhole. It was an exhilarating sight, the frenzy of the hunt was ringing in the air and I wanted to stop and capture the moment. But the driver wouldn’t have any of it, he kept going on, he said he knew he could make it to the tiger. I wasn’t so sure! After the previous night’s debacle it seemed like sighting the tiger was still a far off thought.
The driver was testing my patience again and before I could burst in another rant, our jeep swung over a small hill and our driver braked suddenly.
‘Dekh lo’
The driver turned back to me even as I was reeling from the sudden brake of the keep. He urged to me look ahead and there it was, finally, the tiger. You imagine the first time you see a tiger you will be awed, you will want to take photographs, you will probably be ecstatic. But I was simply stunned.
It stood right in front of me, with its piercing eyes looking up to the jeep, almost as if staring down at me. I was at a loss for words and I felt totally at the mercy of the beast. If it wanted to, it could just spring on top of us, we were that close to the tiger!
“Photo nikalo! Jaldi!”
The driver was urging me to click photographs of the tiger. He stood vindicated, he had finally accomplished in showing me a tiger! The tiger stood there, knowing it was the king of its territory. We were the only jeep on this track and it was a surreal moment. The beast against the flimsy jeep and us, the mortal human beings.
The tiger was nonchalant, it went about its own business and that’s when I took my first shot of the tiger. By now the driver had reversed back on the track for about more than a kilometer keeping distance between the tiger and us. It was all I had dreamed of, the Royal Bengal Tiger, just as regal and royal as promised!
The driver told us the tiger was named Munna. He had a unique marking that literally spelt ‘CAT’ on his forehead. He was named Munna after a forest guard of the same name. The forest guard apparently suffered from a limp and so did the tiger, tying up their destinies and names together. We were the guests in Munna’s territory and boy he knew it! He loitered for a little longer while I clicked a few more photographs and allowed myself to remember the picture.
Soon Munna just walked off the tracks and into the shrubbery. It almost seemed like a dream, there now and lost again. I have seen many tigers later but Munna will always be treasured.
We went on to four safaris on our Kanha trip but we managed to only sight Munna on one safari, no other tigers decided to grace us with a visit. Apart from the tiger we sighted a leopard as well, but it was a miss and go, couldn’t shoot any photographs. We saw other animals like the spotted deer and the Barasingha. Kanha is also a heaven for bird watchers, there are just so many wonderful species of birds.
The chance of sighting a tiger in Kanha is pretty high, especially in the summer seasons of April and May, however the cooler climates of June and the setting of monsoon made this an incredibly memorable trip.
Tips for traveling to Kanha National Park
-
Planning travel – If you wish to do Kanha, Pench and Bandhavgarh the best way to do it is – Nagpur – Pench – Kanha – Bandhavgarh – Jabalpur/Nagpur. This is the best route to save on travel time.
-
Stay – There are a range of accommodation available in Kanha, from budget to luxury. The Pugdundee Safaris Kanha Earth Lodge is a premium property and excellent.
-
Safari- Make sure you book a stay where they can organize your safari for you. There is an online portal where you can book a safari slot on your own – https://forest.mponline.gov.in/. Only 28 vehicles are allowed in the morning and 17 vehicles in the evening safari, so make sure you book ahead and go!
-
Safari Timings – Morning safaris last from 6:00 AM to 11:00 AM and the evening safaris are from 3:00 PM to sunset. There are no better timings to sight a tiger; tigers have been sighted both in the mornings and evenings.
-
Best time to travel – April to June is the best time to sight tigers. The park is also closed for the monsoons.
This post is the travel experience of Abishek Vaidyanathan. You can follow his photography here – @abishekvaidyanathan.
Let us know if you have any queries about Kanha National Park. And do get in touch with us if you wish to share any of your travel stories with us. You can email us at trektourtravel@gmail.com.
Trek.Tour.Travel. 