Last night while having dinner, we suddenly heard a loud cry of an animal, followed by an elephant thrumpet and then whole forest around us just came alive. All the monkeys in the camp start screaming out, the pet dogs were getting restless and deers were giving alarm calls from all around. I could even hear langur at a distance. All this was coming from just 200m from the camp.
I tried talking to the guests, and none of them seemed interested. So I just took my torch and jumped out of the camp trying to find out what happened. I could not go beyond 50m as the forest got too dense and it was pitch dark to see anything. I searched around for a while and came back to the camp and all the noises eventually died out after 15 min.
I was pretty sure a big cat ( tiger or leopard ) had killed something nearby.
Today after the morning trek, I took the local tribal and went into the forest in search for the carcass. Since there were no routes into that area and since we did not have a knife to hack our way through, we just crawled through all the thorny bushes, jumped rocks to reach places and even rolled on the ground to slip under some brances. After more then a hour of searching, zillion scratches on my body and after tearing my T-shirt, we finally found the dead body of a HUGE male sambar deer. Most of the body was intact and the tiger had eaten only back of the animal. I took some snap’s, but can only upload them later as I’m running low on disk space.
We decided not to tell anyone. If the local tribes get know about it, they will come down with knifes, chop the animal down and feast on it for weeks. Even if we tell the Forest Dept, they will cut the horns off and sell them off to make some quick buck. Besides I’m pretty sure the tiger will come back to have a second snack on the animal, so I plan to visit this carcass everyday for the next couple of days to see what happens to it.
Life’s really really exciting here. More later…
Awesome dude, i think you shud camp on a tree near the carcass with a camera. =)
I envy you!
You really have the best job in the world man!
A machan on a tree in and around the carcass! Be careful.
with a camera.
) Just savour the moment of being in the forest all alone and seeing the Maharaja of the Jungle have a feast.
NO! Not with a camera! That would put Kalyan in danger, because of the flash. (Without a flash, I doubt whether any photography will be possible in that kind of darkness.
This post reminds me of Kenneth Anderson’s books!
myJobSucks.com
envy is probably a soft word., but i would say., ur job profile is out of the world !
PS: are there any more openings in your camp?
Actually, there’s not too much danger if he is sufficiently high up on the tree. That’s because unlike leopards, tigers do not climb trees and only juvenile tigers upto 18 months will climb trees.
Differrence being that KA shot with a .302 and shoots with a d70.
KA shot with a .405, or was that Jim Corbett? *confused*
So I just took my torch and jumped out…forest got too dense and it was pitch dark to see anything
Hey, you have to be careful.
Dude trust me, nobody uses flash in the wild. You dont want animals charging towards you.
And to take wild-life photography you dont use auto focus aim and shoot camera.
Dude, then how would you shoot in pitch-darkness without flash?
I dont think he will be camping in the night.
Usually, big cats feed during dawn or dusk.
And dude nobody uses flash in the wild.
Uncle Rocky?
Re: myJobSucks.com
I second that. Kallu.. dude.. u got an awesome job there man !
Dude trust me, nobody uses flash in the wild.
Using flash is very important in the jungles since there is so little light. It’s too expesive for ordinary photographers though, since most of these flashes are “custom made”
If you don’t believe me have a look at:
http://michaelnicknichols.com/article/jungles/
That’s the website of Michael “Nick” Nichols, considered one of the world’s top wildlife photographers.
Still believe no one uses flash?
Yes, the top wildlife photographers do use flash!
I dont know about top photographers, but *Kallu* doesn’t use a flash. Period. He hates flashes.
They make remote triggers for these situations. Usually triggered by IR or proximity sensors. good info. on the topic -> http://www.nwf.org/internationalwildlife/camtrap.html
Ok I accept, people do use flash in the wild, but not the normal ones. ;/
Usually, big cats feed during dawn or dusk.
That’s the big ‘cats’ in the zoo. :p From what all the Corbetts and Andersons I’ve read, tigers can feed anytime *after* it gets dark.
Feeding during dawn? Eh? Early-to-bed-early-to-eat tigers?
if(!($kalluUseFlash) ){
echo “How would he get a picture of the tiger!”;
}
Living in the wild
Wow. You’re now gonna do portfolios of tigers or what?!
Have fun and be safe!
- Swaroop
http://www.swaroopch.info
In case you are not telling anyone – shouldn’t this post be atleast Friends Only?
Its nice that you decided not to tell anyone but isn’t it obvious to the officials that something of this sort might have happened?
Guess it won’t be a problem for you in case they find out later.
And take care dude, Life’s really really exciting here, hope you understand that ANYTHING is possible there.
Leave it to Kallu – he will manage. There are many ways to skin a cat.
love to hear u’r experiences dude … true adventure .. those dumb guests have no idea what they are missing ..
I agree.. those guests dont know what they are missing… have fun!! It is so exciting just to read your blogs
WOW ! You sure are having fun… Waiting for the pics ! Get well soon.
Nive
Kick Ass!
That sounds like fun.
If you need space for pics on-line, lemme know. I’ve got room for ya.
Interesting! Alarm calls of deers, mountain goats, monkeys surely indicate a tiger/leopard.
You can take it too. Lot of open positions around here.
Re: Kick Ass!
Its the space on the local machine that’s running out
I hate to delete any of the pics. Anyway have to sit and burn them out in CD’s one of these days.
Thanks for the dedicated post on your blog. COuld not comment there coz of some MT screwup. Will try to live up to it
I don’t want the local guys to know. And I don’t think they will ever get online
I so wish I had this. I know some animal will pick it up and I would have had an amazing shot if I had a camera with IR pointing towards it
Re: myJobSucks.com
There are tons of openings. Why don’t you join as well ?
They do suspect me.. coz I keep going back there and they are wondering what’s happening. The body has started to rot, so no one will touch it now anyway
I’ll be there Dude, soon…..
wow!!
hardly can get over the fact that i actually know someone working in the jungles!!! awesome, really!!
doubt i know anyone as daring as u…hats off dude!
Its good fun I tell you. Everyone should do this atleast once in their lifetime
how safe would u think this job is for a girl?
Totally safe. Infact we had a girl , who is doing her forest management study in europe here for 2 months. She did her internship here and had one gala time.
that’s very reassuring to hear.
hmm…now u’ve got me thinking…
will follow ur lj even more closely now!;)
What kind of toilet facilities do you have there?