Tiger and Cubs
I had promised Gowtham a trip to BR hills for getting my lens. So we decided to make a quick sunday monday trip and get back along with Philip. I was hoping to shoot lot of birds with the new lens. However, Murphy strikes and we did not get any birds. However, we did manage a once in a life experience with a mother tiger and her cubs.
I have not seen a tiger in the wild in few months now and I virtually gave up on seeing any carnivores this monsoon season. But luck was on our side. Mandanna, the naturalist from BR hills now has become an excellent tracker and being a weekday, he had time to come out with us. On the first day, we got to see a pack of wild dogs near the main road. We got to spend a while with them and I managed to get decent photographs (which I did not have till date).
The next morning, we are on the safari and after having a dull ride, we decided to head back to the camp. On the way back I suddenly see yellow and black stripes in the bushes. I screamed “tiger tiger” to Mandanna (who was driving the jeep at that time) and he came to a screeching halt. The tiger luckily did not run away and was very curious to see us. I took out my new lens and clicked away non-stop for few seconds.
Our first sighting of the mother
Then the tiger slowly walked into the bushes. We saw some more stripes a min later, but then we realised, this was not the same tiger, but a small cub which was with this tiger. I could not manage a shot as it was real quick between the thick undergrowth.
A jeep full of people came by and they were very excited and upset that they missed the tiger. They infact were so desperate, they recorded a video of the photo preview of the tiger from gowthams camera. We decided to go back on the road and try our luck down the hill. We drove for 10 min and decided to head back.
On the way back, almost near the same spot where we originally spotted the tiger, we saw a tiger cub walking on the road. It saw us and ran to the left of the road which was sloped. We caught up and this cub as it was climbing up to its mother which was sitting less then 10m away from us. We clicked away as the cub went and joined the mother. I could not get any shots of the cub as it was again moving though the undergrowth. The mother was very curious about us (and maybe my new lens 😉 and was just staring at us without any aggression.
The curious and non-aggressive mother
Eventually she lost interest in us and sat down. The cub played around the mother for a bit. The mother got up and tried to pick up the cub in its mouth, but let it go as the cub was not in a mood to be picked up. The she just looked around for a bit and slowly started walking into the bushes. Soon she and her cub disappeared into the thick undergrowth. A few min later, the mother started calling. We were sure it was calling for the cub, but were puzzled as the cub was already with its mother. More than the photographs, I really wish I had recorded that call. Its not the roar, but a special call which we could tell was to call the cub.
Then suddenly we see a cub right next to the game road. It was on the other side of the road and was replying to the tiger’s calls by its own small call. It looked at us very curiously and at this point I was on foot, hiding behind the jeep from the mother.. but this cub was right next to us and could see me in full view standing. It snarled as soon as I clicked few shots and then ran up the slope to catch up with its mother.
The tiger cub on the road
However the cub never made it to the mother. It just went up slightly and it was lost. It just sat there and was calling for the mother and at this point there was no sign of the mother. For a good 15 min, it just walked around restlessly searching for its mother. Then we suddenly see the mother sleeping in the nearby tree just few meters away from this cub. We had not seen it at all and shows how camouflaged tigers can be. The mother eventually got up from there and as she walked up the slope, both the cubs caught up with her and then they disappeared to the other side of the ridge.
This is one of my best tiger sightings and that with the lovely and cute cubs and most of all, I got to hear the mother and cubs communicating. Life is good, but now back to work.
Brilliant way to start a Friday morning. Thanks for the post and pics.
I started my monday morning seeing these live. *Sigh* I already miss BR hills.
Lovely!!
Kalyan,
I am one of those who was drawn to your site thru others. You have a great gift for wildlife photography along with some great equipment. I’d like to give the BR Hills area a try sometime. I’m thinking of doing a weekend trip. Whats the best way to go about this? (transport, accomodation, guides,etc). Your suggestions here are much appreciated.
Thanks!
Re: Lovely!!
The trick is not to go on a weekend. Weekend is when the forest is crowded with people and all the animals and birds would have gone into hiding to avoid all the noise. Going on weekday is your best option really.
There is jungle lodges resort there, which has very good stay/safari for a decent price. You will have to get yourself to BR hills though. There are buses from bangalore thrice a day.
damn! why can’t i see photos?!
WoW! so beautiful that you saw them in the wild. how lovely!
your photos are gorgeous. i just looked at your site and added you to my friends list. i hope to see india one day. nice to meet you.
-shannon
Can you access kalyanvarma.net ?
Lucky bum
You keep sighting dholes, elephants and tigers when u wanna shoot birds and I keep seeing birds when i want to shoot mammals 🙁
Someday even i’ll see a tiger in the wild… someday.
How is BRT of late ? Too much rains out there ?
Re: Lucky bum
WHAT! another one like me who hasn’t seen a tiger (well at least I got over my jinx in Corbett…but still waiting for my first sight of a south Indian tiger!)
Today Amogh and Sanath are in BR Hills…one of them calls at 10.30pm yesterday and asks if I want to come along…huh! Sanath saw a tiger this morning!
I am torn between happiness that you guys had such a wonderful sighting (esp when you had your camera, for a change) and sadness that I wasn’t!
It all depends on how often you travel. I’ve been to BR hills almost 8 times in the last 3 months. But still managed to see a tiger after almost 8 months.
Maybe you should consider working as a naturalist 😉
Now since your season with tigers kicked off , high time you head to nagerhole and explore the real man eating tiger which is scaring all people in and around Nagerhole.Lookin forward for such kinda pics as you know that unlike animals humans expectations keep going up & up 🙂
WOW!!!
Peace
don’t think I haven’t considered it…the surest way to learn from Nature is to be near her….but my household and my music are also important and they pull me in different directions…sigh.
Haha.. the man-eating tiger will look exactly the same 😉 It’s just that people create this big image around it.
I know somehow who is using camera traps to get a shot of that tiger.
Yep.. that’s true
Great! the lense is really worth it – what was the distance? EXIF?
BTW Swati has a recording of a tigeress-cubs talk on her video from sometime last year, you can almost feel the love she has for her cubs 🙂
Show us more!
something must have been wrong in the morning, all looks great now!
However, Murphy strikes and we did not get any birds. However, we did manage a once in a life experience with a mother tiger and her cubs.
ONLY would use the word Murphy when describing this phenomenal sighting (for more than an hour!!) of a tigress and her cubs..I wish *I* could have this kind of Murphy’s Law operating for me!
OK, now I know how to do it…go to B R Hills firmly thinking, “IwanttoseeonlybirdsIwanttoseeonlybirds” etc….
Incredible photos. How fortunate to see them in the wild.
Thanks for sharing this exciting experience.
The mother’s eyes are …just amazing!
Lucky you!!! I so envy you dude. Vidhya and I wanted to come over to BR hills this very weekend, but there are no rooms available for this week and the next. I so badly wanted to come there. Damn….
That cub looks oh so cute… must’ve been really great to see them both. What more can I say than “Congrats… Wish I’d been there.”
That is a wow Kalyan. Really lucky for you to get those shots, (and use that new lens) and really lucky for us to view it here. Thanks! Thanks!
BTW can you e-mail hi-rez image of these photos? I want to take prints for my personal home use only. If ok my e-mail id is my lj id @gmail.com
Send you 2 of the pics in mail.
tiger
hey how do you get to BR hills? nad what is the best time to go?
anj_thomas@yahoo.com
good pics. nice looking tigress!! lucky yu
hello! loved your tiger pix! its amazing to see them in the wild…i just posted a couple of photos i took of some tiger cubs that live in a zoo near where i live on my journal, but it completely pales in comparison to your photos of them in their natural habitat! i’ve added you as a friend 🙂
Thats so cool.. and pics are amazing… and that cub Pic is damn neat.
I came across your journal through
premkudva
I added you because your photography is just amazing!
Quite deadly pictures.
Paavani
http://www.paavani.in/blog
Nice pics..
Kalyan,
Thanks for sharing the pics & info.. I will be in Bangalore soon. I was planning on a weekend getaway to BR Hills but now I guess I will change my plans for a weekday getaway.
Thanks again,
~PPuthran
Great!
I was at K. Gudi last weekend; met Sanath and Amogh there. I’ve been following your blog for quite some time now, but couldn’t get through to you via email (your domain was down, maybe?).
And we too managed to get a sight of a tiger. Our group of 26 people, in our Swaraj Mazda were heading towards the JL resorts at 6 in the morning (soon after they opened the gate) and we were all very sleepy. A few lucky ones in the front seats got to see a tiger cross the road in front of us. It then went on the slope to the left and just stood there, watching us go by. I managed to get a glimpse of the cat, but just for a bit. We were all almost shouting, pleading the driver to stop, but I guess he was petrified of stopping anywhere near the animal… I’m still cursing him.
Re: Great!
Great stuff. I’m yet to see a tiger on that road. Most of my tiger sightings have been between Kgudi and BR hills road. I can imagine how these drivers can get scared 🙂
Btw if you were there at 6am, so you left bangalore at like 2am or something ?
Re: Great!
Oh, and we thought the safari was the best way to see tigers! Will have to focus on the roads instead.
We actually left Bangalore at 11 in the night; we reached the checkpost at 5 in the morning. One hour was spent waking up all the animals — we were quite a noisy group; maybe the tiger sighting was because of all the noise we made 🙂
Blessed
Man! You are blessed
Hi Kalyan
Though I am a great admirier of nature and photography I always wanted to do some wild life photography. I have been a frequent visitor to your site.
BR hills is my native but its only once I had seena tiger when i was a kid. Please advise as to when and whom to apporoach for similar sightings.
Krishna
Re: Hi Kalyan
Hi Krishna,
Great to hear that you are from BR hills. Did you actually grow up there ? leave me your email, so I can get in touch with you directly.
lucky guy!saw a tiger in south India!i was yapping i saw a tiger in bhandavgarh and he snubbed me by saying Bhandavgarh regular tigers are too docile in front of these tigers.May be he knows it better!but i felt like a fool!
So rare to see such a wonderful thing as this!
I’ve been to Br hills and never been lucky enough to see a tiger..and u ppl get to see not only tiger but cubs as well!
So wonderful it must have felt…
Now there’z absolutely no need. The man eater atlast found it’s way to peace.felt really bad after readin the news in TOI.
GR8
WOW!!! its super cool….awesome….
Hatsoff…. BRAVO.!!!
Awesome.. You are doing great job.. Best of luck for future..
Re: Awesome
what is a ltm?
That is an amazing story and terrific pictures!
Tiger Stare
I have loved tigers since I was a boy. I’m so glad to hear that people can still see them roaming wild in India.
Your “Tiger Stare” photo is one of the most beautiful pictures of a wild tiger I have seen. The photo of the Tahr from 2 feet also seems amazing to me. I have never seen country like this in the U.S.
Thanks,
Barrie
” “My. . . . . . . Day. . . . . . . . . Off, umm Monday, why. I always go see my best friend Lumina in the valley.
They gonna keep you here forever, you know. I’ll come and visit you between assassinations, and you’ll write the book, and Sheriff Jim keep it safe till I retire.
Off, umm Monday, why. I always go see my best friend Lumina in the valley. ” Mary shuffled some of the other papers on her desk.
Re: Tiger Stare
Amazing photos. Luck and opportunism!
(I acessed your journal from your portfolio, but the links from the two first photos of this tiger are wrong).
Re: Tiger Stare
Wow.. Wonderful… Enjoyed most of your Photos..
hai my name is gautham and i am 15.can you tell me actually how to get started with wildlife photography i love it.