Yesterday, along with two of my friends, I had been to BR hills. We left in the morning, reached BR hills by lunch time, finished some work and went to K-gudi (the tourism zone of BR hills) and decided to go on the evening safari. Two weeks ago, a mother tiger with 4 cubs were sighted near a water hole and we decided to drive straight to the place and wait there.

As soon as we landed up, a barking deer which was drinking water, walked into the understory and then started giving out alarm calls. Since half the time they give out false alarms, we waited hoping something would turn up. Then someone screamed “Tiger Tiger”. A cub came out of the bushes and slowly walked to the edge of the water. One more came behind it, followed by two more tiger cubs. We could not believe it. Four tiger cubs in front of you in a south Indian jungle. They came to the water, drank a lot, played in the slush for a bit and, one by one, just as they had appeared, disappeared into the bushes.

They were out for a good 10 min, but the mother never came out. We waited for an hour more, but there was no sign of the mother and it was time for us to leave. Personally I am so happy to see tiger in south India after more than a year and that too in my favorite place, BR hills.

BR hills has been one of those quite little gems hidden away because of which there is less tourism pressure and less corruption. It surely is one big bank for tiger populations and I hope it stays that way. A lot of people have been wanting this place to be declared a Tiger Reserve (at this moment its a Wildlife Sanctuary) but that will only ruin the place as a lot of money will be spent to ‘develop’ the reserve.

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.

Anyway was a lovely sighting and something that I will remember for a long time to come. Also got to see the tiger after almost 2 months.