The afternoon was a bit more leisurely as we drove around the park looking at birds like Grey Hornbill, Jungle Babbler, Scarlet Minivet, flamebacked woodpeckers, Black and white-bellied Drongos, 3 species of parrakeet as well as spotted deer, swamp deer and Gaur. Towards the evening our guide and driver suddenly got excited and we were rushed round a bend to where some gypsies were standing. As we approached the guide kept saying tiger, tiger ... and there
The next morning we set off with high hopes and just missed a tiger crossing the tracks so we drove around checking tracks in the dust and slowing the guide down by stopping for birds at regular intervals. We stopped to watch a Rufous woodpecker but our guides were a bit restless and encouraged us to move on. What they didn't tell us was they could hear something that implied tiger to them - so we rounded the turn to be met with at least 5 gypsies abreast of the road and 2 more opposite with a female, radio-collared tiger walking nonchalantly down the road. Our guide urged our driver to move and some very nifty cross country manoeuvres brought us out in front of the group!
Breathtaking!!!
We also decided to take another tiger show ride on an elephant. This time the tiger had settled in a very dense patch of grasses, showing exactly how well the camouflage worked, but allowing us to get within 5 feet of it.
In the afternoon we cruised round being shown how to tell age and freshness of pug marks, and seeing tiger scratch posts that show territory markings. We saw another jungle cat in the grasses and as we headed up one of the forest tracks, there was another jungle cat playing in the edge.
This one was definitly not going to be moved and stayed at the edge of the road, even sitting down and then giving us some very old-fashioned looks. As the number of gypsies built up we had to move on and the cat strolled across the road and then bounded past us down a storm gulley.
We were driving back along a track when we met another gypsy coming towards us, the guide very excited, a tiger had just crossed the road and was heading up a valley. We made the quickest 3 point turn and headed back along the road, turned left and headed slowly along a track that parrelled the valley, all eyes searching.
lying on it's back just enjoying the evening sunshine was a male tiger. His tail kept flicking and he lifted his huge paws once or twice but otherwise just relaxed. As we were watching, there was a muted shout of 'jungle cat' and sitting on the edge of the road was a jungle cat, about the size of a domestic cat and very unconcerned about the fuss going on. As the sun set we watched a peacock 'lek' and then returned to the lodge very happy with our luck.
The next morning we set off with high hopes and just missed a tiger crossing the tracks so we drove around checking tracks in the dust and slowing the guide down by stopping for birds at regular intervals. We stopped to watch a Rufous woodpecker but our guides were a bit restless and encouraged us to move on. What they didn't tell us was they could hear something that implied tiger to them - so we rounded the turn to be met with at least 5 gypsies abreast of the road and 2 more opposite with a female, radio-collared tiger walking nonchalantly down the road. Our guide urged our driver to move and some very nifty cross country manoeuvres brought us out in front of the group!
Breathtaking!!!We also decided to take another tiger show ride on an elephant. This time the tiger had settled in a very dense patch of grasses, showing exactly how well the camouflage worked, but allowing us to get within 5 feet of it.
In the afternoon we cruised round being shown how to tell age and freshness of pug marks, and seeing tiger scratch posts that show territory markings. We saw another jungle cat in the grasses and as we headed up one of the forest tracks, there was another jungle cat playing in the edge.
This one was definitly not going to be moved and stayed at the edge of the road, even sitting down and then giving us some very old-fashioned looks. As the number of gypsies built up we had to move on and the cat strolled across the road and then bounded past us down a storm gulley.
We were driving back along a track when we met another gypsy coming towards us, the guide very excited, a tiger had just crossed the road and was heading up a valley. We made the quickest 3 point turn and headed back along the road, turned left and headed slowly along a track that parrelled the valley, all eyes searching.
We stopped and slowly the tiger emerged from the grasses at the edge of the valley about 200 yards away and walked slowly along the stream with us moving forward to keep pace. We had some brilliant views of a tiger going about it's natual activities. She walked up to the head of the valley and had a drink from a pool. The hope was that she would carry on and cross the road but she turned round and walked back along the valley, turning to go up the hill and out of sight. An amazing 5 tigers and 3 jungle cats in 2 days. Magic!
No comments:
Post a Comment