On a warm and sunny evening, there are good chances of sightings. And when it is the Prince of the Jungle, the excitement is beyond words. On the safari today, I had an intuition that we would be on a prized visit. I conveyed the same to my guests, hearing which, they were all on tenterhooks, looking for every opportunity to spot the big cat. As we proceeded on the safari, we saw the regular sightings like spotted deer, wild pigs, monkeys and a lot of birds as well.

When we reached a place called Mastigudi, I reminded the guests about earlier tiger sightings I had, around that area. I advised the guests to use their binoculars and spot any movement in the bushes.  “Tiger, Tiger!!” voiced one of the guests standing, pointing out in the direction of the bushes. And lo! To our luck, a beautiful Tigress emerged from the bushes and sat under a bamboo cluster, looking at all directions.

Tiger (Panthera tigris)

I truly commended the guest for spotting the princess. We stopped the boat at a reasonable distance so as to give her comfortable space and freedom. The guests were truly overjoyed by the sheer chance of spotting the wild cat in its own home. As we kept our eyes fixed on her every move, she soon got up and started strolling along the river bed.

Tiger (Panthera tigris)

She was really aglow in the evening sunlight. A few minutes later, she moved closer to the water and gulped as much water as she could, all the while look at us.

Tiger (Panthera tigris)

We were all mesmerized by her looks.

Tiger (Panthera tigris)

Sensing other boats approaching, she soon took a last gulp of water into her mouth and started walking gracefully back into the jungle.

Tiger (Panthera tigris)

Our luck came calling in today’s safari; and that made our day!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 5th, 2010 at 4:29 pm and is filed under Predators. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.