TIGER KILL BANDHAVGARH
The day started with a quick cup of black tea and it was off to the park office to pick up the permits. The permit yard was full of gypsys , drivers, guides and general hubbub of Indian village life. Permits in-hand we headed for this mornings gate. Luckily we were first there and at the front of the queue. Permits were checked yet again, India is a social country and several people are often employed to do the same task. We were now ready for the usual ‘Le Mans’ start. It’s important to get into the zone first in order to see the tigers tracks in the undisturbed sand.
The barrier went up and we were off, hang onto everything as the driver heads off at break neck speed. We found ourselves well ahead of the pack and veered off to the left hoping others wouldn’t follow.
After about 10 minutes we slowed down and sat listening to the monkeys and deer for any alarm calls. It was quiet and we dozed in the vehicle waiting for some sign or a sighting.
Prakash , the driver, alerted us to some activity on the right next to the zone boundary wall. A tiger popped its head above the wall and after checking, leaped over the wall. The large female was then followed by three sub-adult cubs, we estimated they were about 18 months old. They then took to the track and walked ahead of us. The forest became very vocal with the monkeys and deer warning everything that tigers were about.
The forest quietened down as the tigers vanished into the sal forest. It all went strangely quiet and we didn’t know where the tigers were. It’s strange how such a brightly coloured animal can vanish.
Suddenly a wild boar ran across the track in front of us followed closely by one of the cubs. It didn’t take long for the cub to capture the wild boar and the tiger lay looking at us as if to say ‘What about that then’. A tiger kill is a rare event so to our astonishment the whole thing happened again with the a second cub. Out came another wild boar hotly pursued by the cub and again the boar was captured. Two kills in a space of a few minutes, we were very lucky. Suddenly there was another commotion behind us and the third cub walked out with a spotted deer hanging from its jaws.
We could hardly believe what had just happened, three kills in the space of an hour, most people have never seen one tiger kill let along three.
Time to head for the gate, at break neck speed, to make sure we get there in time and don’t get fined. We made it, just in time, now for lunch and to check what we had captured, on our cameras, of this unusual event.
