Tiger Land- Kanha

Chotta Munna

Many a tale have been told of tigers and more about man eating tigers, hunted by famous Shikari's like Jim Corbett or Kenneth Anderson in a time that is beyond our imagination specially as city dwellers. Yet we naturalists are bitten by a bug to re-enter that realm time and time again.These small remnants of Jungles, chaurs (grasslands) now officially protected. Armed only with a binocular or a camera within the relative safety of our open jeeps that to me are more like time machines taking me back to a bygone era.

I find myself drawn by these forest with only one regret, wish i could walk here. But this is tiger country and to do so is perilous. One such place is Kanha situated in central India. Its one of India's finest Tiger sanctuaries to experience the magic of the central Indian jungle.

It was the summer of 2016 when we found ourselves making this pilgrimage again.

Our hosts Jehan and Katie run a beautiful tented camp at Mukki, Shergarh. (http://www.shergarh.com)

Watch and listen to the jungle from your tent.

Once a Eucalyptus plantation now transformed into twenty acres of regenerated natural forest, grassland and water-bodies with only six luxuriant tents designed to dissolve in the continuum of the landscape.

Kudos to their energy and commitment. I would fail if I did not mention their extremely courteous and efficient staff that comes mostly from the neighboring village.

My story today is about one of the many exciting Safaris into the sanctuary.

Driving down towards Mukki gate early in the morning we pass the Banjar river and patches of forest intermixed with small agricultural fields.A multitude of shades add vibrance to the green forest, from yellow to red of fresh Mahua leaves vying with the bright red Bombax flowers and the dark florescent red leaves of Kusum, stands of silvery white bark of ghost trees break up this riot of color. It was cool and misty, I was keeping a lookout for we are in the buffer zone of the sanctuary.

Formalities for entry have to be complied with which was being handled by our in-house naturalist. As we awaited permission, guides from the forest department exchanged notes on the previous evenings sightings, especially Tiger sightings as that is what most tourists are besotted with. My attention is drawn to the raucous calls of Black hooded Orioles along with Rose ringed parakeets and commotion of Mynahs in a large spreading Vad. Across the road Ashy drongoes are sallying to catch an early meal and chasing away any potential competitors.

We entered the gates, jeeps move in convoy before dispersing in different directions according to the information and intuitions of the guides. We made our way towards Soundar camp under the cover of tall Sal trees scanning the undergrowth for any signs of movement. The forests open out into meadows on either side where shrikes, bee-eaters ,drongoes are going about their business. En route are a few water bodies where we catch the ever present Barasingha amongst painted, black storks, Egrets and and Grey Herons. On a few bare trees I pick out a Changeable Hawk Eagle shinning in the morning light and a Indian Roller fluffed to the cool wind.At one point we check out a cavity in a Sal by the side of the road for signs of a Scops owl, we find him, still, camouflaged to the outside world.

The highlight across Sounder camp under the spreading limbs of a huge Mahua tree that has seen serious damage due to lightning we come across two Eurasian Thick-knees. Their camouflage makes it difficult for us to pick them out from the scraggy dry grass amidst a stony landscape. They sit there patiently as we move on.

We wind our way into a wooded area overlooking a meadow just beyond the stand of trees, cresting a knoll we are stopped in our tracks. A few meters in front is a tiger walking the road in leisurely gait. The forest is quiet, no alarm calls only the background chirping of birds punctuating the still morning air. With each footfall of his huge paws a little puff of dust arises along with a muffled thumping of the dusty path. He is immediately identified by our Guide as Chotta Munna, being the son of an iconic gentlemanly tiger Munna. This is a young male who is vying with two others to establish territory here, incidentally the smallest amongst them, and until then we were told it had been a strange tale of respect and coexistence between them ( It would not last too long is what I found out later and Chotta Munna reigns the terrain now.).

The first few minutes fly, I fiddle with my camera settings while trying to absorb as much of the scene as possible. Damn the light is low, I don't want to go too high on the ISO! I hope my hands are not trembling too much, this lens has no VR. As he walks the path another situation! The shadows from the trees are changing the light drastically in contrasting stripes. Please stay with us a little longer. Most tiger sightings are fleeting but Chotta Munna is in no hurry. He sits down a few times taking in the scene before walking again.

He then walks into the trees on the left smelling the bark for tell tale signs of rivals, rubs his cheeks on the rough bark and turns around to spray again, leaving his own signature for the world.

I am nervous, is he going to disappear across the meadow. I catch him at times suddenly getting attentive to sounds or glancing up into the trees. He returns to the path and continues to walk in front of us crossing to the right as he moves into the brush again. By now we are joined by a few more tourists.

He skirts back and sits at the edge of a big clearing, light here is extremely poor. He sits there yawning, a sign of some nervousness as he surveys the scene with all the jeeps around that have increased exponentially as word that Chotta Munna has been sighted has spread. The attention being bestowed on him seems not to bother him into retreat though.

At long last he gets up facing us, my daughter who is sitting on the near side shifts uncomfortably in her seat, she is nervous,quietly we exchange places. I move into her spot and kneel to the floor of the vehicle resting my lens at seat level. After a few minutes he walks towards us with a sense of purpose.For a fleeting second I am staring into those intense brown eyes, he breaks away to look into the trees I dive back behind my lens.

My hands are sweating and all my senses are piqued I focus on keeping my camera steady. Ears flattened but showing no other signs of annoyance he walks at even pace, I notice the rippling taut muscles under his beautiful coat There is a hint of a healed scar running down from the upper right down the length of his nose towards the lower left nostril. Handsome, uniquely marked as with all tigers, the size of his face shows that he is still very young, dont get me wrong he is still huge. Except the nose he bears no other scars yet, signs of battles fought to rule territory. The stiff bristles of his straggly mustache seem amiss, a bit of a whitish beard is caught in the backlight. His fluid movements have me in a bind as he passes by just beyond an arms length.

Crossing the opening to a tree that he spends the next few minutes smelling, inspecting, walking around with acute attention. He then turns to a patch of mud and bends down smelling the open ground for a long time.

Standing over the patch in comical fashion wrinkling his nose in a lopsided twist, tongue hanging out – he is flehming!

For the first time in the entire episode we hear an alarm call, Chitals from the neighboring meadow seem to have become aware of his presence, he looks in their direction momentarily but then dismisses them delving back into his own pursuit. He moves ahead and disappears into the brush. We move up the path and wait. A pair of jackals trot by urgently as an Indian roller waits patiently in a nearby tree. We catch him moving around in the shrubbery and after what seems like eternity he emerges again. Winding his way between tall straggly grasses at the edge of a meadow he moves towards us, crosses the road, walks the full length of a meadow on our left before disappearing into the forest finally.

I realize we had been privileged to have spent nearly a full hour in the company of this tiger. Memories such as these are etched into ones mind, fresh as it happened just yesterday