Indian Safari in Kanha & Corbett Reserves - recent return

Hello - it's been a while since I've entered a blog. During March I was preparing to return to India, after 5 years, to venture into tiger country and take more pictures of these wonderful beasts. This time I did the trip with SAGA, which is a tour company for people over 50. I qualify, as I'm in my early 60s. I hoped the tour members would not be too elderly for me (I am not my "age" in general attitude or actions!). They were a game bunch - two people were around age, and a few slightly older. One couple was in their 70s, yet they were experienced travellers who were not fazed by anything. Our travelling conditions were quite tough - lots of early morning starts (5.30 am for safaris or to catch planes) - and pretty rough lavatory facilities in trains and hostelries.
[Above: Tiger resting from attempted 'gaur' stalk.]
[Below: same tiger in "pussycat" pose. ] These photographs show we had success in finding and tracking tigers. This was done by our jeep drivers and forest guides, in collaboration with mahouts on elephant back, who find the tigers in thick jungle. We then met the elephant men, who were "holding" the tiger in a part of the jungle so that tourists could view it. In fours, we transferred to howdahs on elephant back, and then swayed through the bamboo and tall sal trees to find our tiger. This one was stalking a large bison (gaur) when we saw him. He stealthily crept though some bamboo, then charged at the gaur, which turned his huge horned head, and saw off the tiger, which then walked off through jungle undergrowth until he rested behind a bamboo crop. This is where our elephant was able to circle round him, so that we all got a good camera angle on him. These are my 2 best shots of "Charlie" (named after my cat). He really looks like a huge pussycat, but if we had set foot on the ground (forbidden in the reserve) we could have been meat. But the tigers in Kanha are not man-eaters - there are plenty of prey animals here: chital spotted deer, sambar (large reddish deer) plus wild boar and monkeys. You are fairly safe from tigers on an elephant - tigers rarely attack them, and seem unaware that there is anyone else there apart from this large mammal which they treat with respect.

Among India's game reserves, Kanha has a good name for its protection of wildlife - poaching here is at a minimum though it has occurred here. Other national parks have had serious problems - there are said to be no tigers currently at Sariska Reserve (report earlier this year) due to poaching. Ranthambore and Panna also had problems with it. Tigers are trapped or shot for TCM (traditional Chinese medicine) and for their skins which apparently sell well to rich Tibetans and unscrupulous Westerners. Since 2004-5 it is feared that India's tigers are declining, despite the efforts of Project Tiger, founded by Indira Ghandi in 1972-3. This project has recently been wound up but was replaced by a more modest, focused government initiative. But as Ruth Padel says in her excellent book (2005, London), "Tigers in Red Weather", the policing operation is only as good as the people who operate it, especially those in charge - the directors of conservation in each reserve. Valmik Thapar and Ullas Karanth are 2 Indian wildlife experts who are campaigning on this. Recent studies show that the only scientific way to assess tigers numbers is by radio collar tracking (not counting pug marks as before), but this is still not widely done.

We had 3-4 other good tiger sighting in Kanha. I also filmed 3 tigers which came out ont he road inf ront of our jeeps. I will post a picture of these in a future blog. First the mother appeared, crossing a bridge ahead of us; then her 2 male "cubs" - both nearly adult at 2 years old - followed. We had a great shot of them on the road together, before they disappeared into a dried river bed. This was the fairly dry season, when animals come more into view - often they are seeking water, or prey which is also thirsty. It was hot and dry - temperatures were about 32 C during the day, with peaks of 37-40 C. Another time we saw a large male tiger come out onto the road - he scent-marked and scratched up against a tree, then did the flehmen response (sniffing, with open mouth) - then disappeared into a wooded bluff and came out by a lovely still pool to drink. He tried to chase a deer, which ran off. We later saw a leopard slinking through the trees (I was unable to film it, as my cameras were not working properly then due to the dust), and another tigress lying by a pool that day. Yet another day, again on elephants, we found two tigers - a male and his mother, lying on a rocky mound - their kill, a spotted deer, lay nearby. We got really close to this young male tiger - too close for comfort, as he was getting restless and annoyed.

Apart from tigers,we saw much other wildlife - the huge wild cattle (gaur), lively langur monkeys with black faces and long tails (often with babies), wild boar, various deer, peacocks (displaying their gorgeous tails at peahens) and many gorgeous birds, like the Indian roller (a blue jay), the tiny jewel-like red munia, green bee-eaters, the weird black racket-tailed drongo, plus crested serpent eagle, jungle owlet, little egrets, storks ... the list goes on. I enjoyed hearing the song of the bulbul - rather like our own blackbird. I'm not a 'birder', but I enjoyed this aspect and learned much. Out trip also include a day or two in Delhi, where we did a whistle stop tour of a few key sites - new to me was Ghandi's memorial site, the Raj Ghat - this had a calm and stillness not found in the rest of Delhi or other Indian towns or cities, which are crowded, hot, bustling, with frenetic traffic. The road north was an eye opener. Traffic hurtling along an average sized main road, where sugar cane ox-carts occasionally shed their loads. We arrived safely in Kumaon District and the Corbett Reserve, thanks to the expertise of our coach driver from Asiad Tours in Delhi. What a man - he well deserved his final tip! (Tipping was a regular feature of this trip.)

In NE India there was wonderful scenery - we were in the foothills of the great Himalaya range. The terrain and people were different - hill tribes. There was terrace cultivation on the lower slopes of the mountains. The River Ramganga ran through our resort - the waters were pure: I think it runs into the Ganges lower down. In the Corbett National Park I was the only person to see a tiger from our tour party. It's a long tale so I won't describe that now. Corbett Reserve (India's first national park) was named after the famous British hunter, photographer and early naturalist Jim Corbett, who is revered in this area. He saved many local people in the 1920s from man-eating tigers and leopards - read his engaging book, "Man Eaters of Kumaon" - the simple line illustrations are wonderful. He was the first great "Indian" conservationist. The flowers in this area are beautiful; our resort boasted large beds of phlox, delphinium, mariold, and a bougainvilleia tree beside the wild river. Men were catching big 'tiger fish' (mahseer) in the river. We could only phone out of there via a satellite! A wild boar rooted outside my bungalow one night, a weird experience. Then we had to drive 8 hours to Delhi.

I was lucky to be able to get back to India, in view of our family circumstances. Fortunately everything was OK with my son and husband while I was away. Tom has been doing well recently. He has been sober for 5 months, and is into recovery. I hope he has cracked the way to cope with his issues. But has to be still one day at at time - there are always pressures on him. I was ill when I got home (from the stress of long haul travel?) but it was all worth it. I have wonderful pictures to display -and am looking forward to my next trip, hoping to take my son Tom on safari (to Ranthambore for 1 week?) in 2-3 years'time.

I hope you found this interesting - I enjoyed it all, and would recommend such a trip. The more people care about tigers, the more they are likely to be conserved. There are only about 3,500 left in the world.

Goodbye for now - Love and peace, "Tigey" [C.W.]