Three roars to the Royal Bengal Tiger!!
Next time
before you venture out on a wildlife safari to spot some scarce species, don’t forget
to bribe "Luck". It doesn’t matter whether you go off-season or on-season, if "Luck" does not favour you; you will most likely end up on the wrong path. This is a key take-away from the trips that I took to the Ranthambore
and the Sundarbans.
In the
declining winters of March 2013, I visited the Ranthambore Tiger Reserve through
an office offsite. We were excited and eager that we would spot a few tigers,
assuming they would be sauntering around freely across the forest. We took two
canter rides through different zones, in the morning and at noon, but the luck
cupid didn’t strike us with its ‘Good luck arrow’. We did not even spot the pug marks of the Tiger. Disappointment and dejection
momentarily resided in my heart for the few days following my trip, every time that
I kept re-iterating my experience to others.
This year in
September another chance to spot the wild cat came knocking at my door. What
was special this time? I was visiting the kingdom of the Royal Bengal Tiger,
and unlike normal safaris this was not on land but four continuous days on the
boat.
I set out for
this much-awaited escapade with diminished hopes of spotting a tiger as I was
warned by friends that I was going in the Off – season. Off-season! No concrete land! I wondered what
were my odds to get a glimpse of the endangered beast. I silently said my
prayers and re-iterated affirmative statements to shift the odds in my favour.
I wanted to be lucky this time.
In life’s
larger picture, time and luck are partners; the more time you invest in doing something
the luckier or more successful you get. We invested our next four days on the
boat wading through narrow channels and vast expanse of waters, in our quest
for the wild. Once amidst nature time doesn’t run, it crawls, and it was
matching up with the slow pace of our boat. Infact, you have no option but to be more patient,
calm, observant, alert, focused and acceptable, there is no short-cut to
success unlike in the city. Hence, we waited patiently, embraced solitude,
immersed in the serenity and became one with nature.
After two days
of hard luck, third day the conditions seemed conducive to catch some activity
in the jungle. It was appropriate for the animals to venture out of their
abodes. The climate was pleasant, the
sun played hide and seek, making the heat tolerable. The rains had also decided
to stay away. We sailed through narrower channels unlike on the previous two
days. We had set our cameras, binoculars and eyes on high alert vigilantly
scanning through both the sides. Nature did bestow us with some visual and
auditory pleasures like the elongated water monitors in action, tiny mud
skippers’ fight, variety of birds and their melodious chirrups, colorful crabs
and variety of trees.
One sight that caught our attention was the fresh pug
marks of a tiger at the edge of one of the islands. We hovered around the small
island like detectives trying to catch a hidden criminal. On realizing there
was no hope, leaving the narrow channels we reached the vast segment of the
river. It was a rare spot to find the tiger in this area, hence we decided to rest our
focused minds and feed our hungry selves.
Suddenly while we were
preparing for lunch, our attentive local guide spotted a buoy like object
floating in the water. He quickly saw through his binoculars, and lo and
behold, it was the ‘Royal Bengal tiger’. Excitement oozed out of our patient
heart as it finally saw victory after long hours of waiting. Our joy knew no bounds, spotting the ferocious
cat unaware and in the wild was an experience of a life time. The pictures speak a thousand words:
First the head in the water |
Head of the tiger swimming in the water |
Fright on the face of the fright-inducing creature, on seeing our boat rush towards his side |
Swimming as fast as possible |
Reached the land in a jiffy |
Splish splash |
|
Leaping on to land |
Darting to the bushes |
Making its way to safety |
Even today reminiscing
this trip fills my heart with ecstatic joy. It is these simple pleasures that are
moments to treasure for life.