Tiger, tiger burning bright…Nagarhole revisited

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When: October 2024 Weather: Cool 22C

Nikon P900, Lecia M11/35mm summilux

Day afternoon safari to Zone B …we were hopeful of seeing a tiger but the guide had warned us that is was highly unlikely……

Our 3pm afternoon safari started off innocuously enough…..here a sambar deer welcomed us to zone B this time…
the safari was going along much as usual, with spotted deer aplenty and birds….here a white browed wagtail
and a cute little scops owl…nestled in a tree trunk
A common cuckoo
white cheeked barbet from afar
plum headed parakeets male and female
colourful woodpecker
the streak throated woodpecker
and then we saw a distant mongoose crossing the track…and one of our group commented that it was a lucky thing…

It was already nearly 6pm and we were heading back resigned to having had a decent afternoon’s birding without big cat sightings…..when we rounded a corner in the road …..and our driver yelled..tiger tiger! Seated in the middle row of the jeep, I stood up and looked down the road….

about 50m away at a bend in the road, the unmistakeable outline of the magnificent feline, the Indian Tiger!
we stopped and watched as he walked towards us
crossing the road from the left to the right
then walking along the right grass verge..this is a male known as CutLip
and heading back to the right…with the light fading fast, my camera struggled to get a clear sharp image
his gaze never left us….
my friend in the front seat felt a bit nervous as the tiger got closer and closer…our driver felt it was safer to reverse away slowly….
we were quite close…probably about 30 feet or 10m away….this shot was taken by the Leica M11 and 35mm lens…you normally would not expect to get close enough to shoot a tiger with a rangefinder camera…this was when he had had about enough of us and left the track…

We were so lucky to be the first vehicle to spot the tiger so we spent a good 5 to10 min without another vehicle or soul in sight….by the time the other vehicles converged on our location, the tiger was ambling into the forest..a la William Blake

Tiger Tiger burning bright….

In the forests of the night….

So although we had been to Kabini/Nagarhole barely 9 months ago, nature reserves are always worth a second visit…you can always get a better sighting, a better photograph!

Highly recommended

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