Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve Chadrapur district Word of splendid tighter viewing in Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR), Chandrapur district has spread fast. The day before we touched the forests last week, some 200 vehicles had moved in a day into the Park to watch the tigers.
Two tigresses with three cubs each are roaming the area around Gosecanal and Dauna, while a second pair of tigresses with two cubs each has been located at Vasant Bhandara and Panderpauni.
We (Paul, Kishor Rithe, Giri Venkatesan and this writer) were blessed to spend about 30 minutes watching the three Dauna cubs late in the afternoon from an open Gypsy.
On the more than three-hour night run from
"We may not see any tigers," warned Kishor as with the descent of the monsoon over the teak forests of TATR, tigers and most animals withdraw from waterholes located on the edge of core forest areas.
"It is like this. During the trying hot months with little greenery, prey and predators crowd around water holes with the prey (mainly herbivores like sambhar and chital) aware of the lurking danger. Sometimes, the herbivores pull back from the water holes in fear. In the process, they thin out physically and wait for the rains to go back to their old ways of living. With rains, they pull deep into the parks and scatter widely, making sighting difficult," explained Kishor Rithe.
That sounded like the lama in the book Kim, written by Rudyard Kipling where the lama exclaims, "We are all on the Wheel of Things." Sometimes on top, sometimes below.
On the morning trip, we saw nothing and kept to ourselves. We started the noon trip with a prayer and at around 4.15 p.m. we spotted the three Dauna cubs at the Panderpani water hole though there were no signs of the mother (usually, the mother is with her cubs for 18 to 24 months by which time, the cubs learn the tricks of living).
The three one-year-old cubs lay spread out in an arc behind some thin vegetation with one close to the water hole.
For a minute, the air crackled with the alarm calls of a sambhar but that did not make any difference. For about 30 minutes, the three cubs lolled around before a loud tourist vehicle drove them away from the spot.
The forest track we were on starts at Pandherpauni to touch Kala Amba and then proceeds to Bhanuskhindi. The Dauna waterhole lies on this stretch and to our good luck the three cubs had shifted to Panderpani.
From 4.15 p.m. to 4.45 p.m. we gazed at the one-year-old cub nearest to the waterhole, some 20 ft. away from our open Gypsy. It yawned twice, stared at us while tapping the ground and swishing its black-tipped tail.
The Panthera tigris was oozing grace while one turned reverential. It was Sameer, who spotted the three cubs and beckoned us. Sameer started as a guide and now owns a Gypsy to take tourists on rides in the Park. We left the place as the three cubs moved away only to enjoy the spectacle of a full-grown male tiger making its way towards us. It did not care for our presence as it turned off into wilder part of the jungle.
On the second morning, from the watchtower at Panderpauni, we had a glimpse of two chitals, calling in alarm, staring into a thick cluster of dry grass. They called for quite some time but no tiger emerged.
Credit for the strong and healthy population of tigers needs to go to the forest officials led by the Field Director of TATR, S.H. Patil.
He has been taking particular care to cut off some of the tourist paths to reduce the disturbance to the roaming tigers. "Now, the question will be to prevent any poaching in the coming years and that is going to be a tough job," remarked Kishor Rithe.
For this writer, TATR is hugely special. Over the last few years, the tiger population has remained steady at around 34 (males and females put together with cubs excluded).
The twin sanctuaries of Tadoba and Andhari form the TATR. The
The Andhari Wildlfire sanctuary was declared a sanctuary in 1986 along with the
From TATR we drove to the twin protected areas on the banks of the Pench river on the M.P.- Maharashtra border with a total area of 758 sq. km.
In the two Parks, our streak of luck held being able to spot four jackals with one jackal (Canis aureus) striding ahead of us in Pench (M.P.) to join up with another, while the common langurs called furiously from tree tops.
S.H. Prater in his Indian Book of Animals puts it aptly: "In their pursuit there is no undue hurry, no violent outburst of speed. Dogs move with a lobbing tireless canter which in the end brings them to their exhausted prey. ... . The feet are adapted to one purpose, the pursuit of prey over hard ground." Wolves, jackals and foxes, dogs domestic and wild, together compose the Canidae family. Driving out of the Pench (M.P.) park, Paul pointed to an Indian fox (Vulpes bengalensis), on an easy gallop. It moved along side our vehicle (keeping a safe distance of about 40 ft) before merging into the cluster of villages.
Prater opines climatic conditions "have done little to prevent the family from invading and settling in new countries. The wolf, the red fox, the jackal and the wild dog are immigrants into
"Here as elsewhere they have adapted themselves to life under contrasting conditions of heat and cold, of dryness and humidity. In this, the jackal has been perhaps, the most successful. It has spread over the whole of
1 comment:
beautiful place... on Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve
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