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I saw many traces of tigers before I saw my first. We usually drove around in an open car with room for 4 tourists plus a driver and a guide. In the morning when we drove on forest roads, we could often see traces of the tiger in the loose sand. At night, the tiger runs regularly on the road where it is faster to get through, but during the day they stay away from the road because there are many tourist cars. You can see a tiger track on one of the pictures. A tiger usually has a hunting territory, a place it thinks is his hunting ground. All other tigers and leopards have to stay away from this area. If they move into this territory, they are attacked. To mark his territory some tigers can scratch stripes on the bark of a tree. That means: Stay away. Here, I rule. You can see such a mark on one of the photos. First time I saw a tiger, it was quite impossible to take a picture. We did stop on a road, and we only got a brief glimpse of him between the trees before he disappeared again. There were about 10 cars on the road, so my car could neither go forward nor back. Another time I saw a leopard, but it was so far away that I could not take photographs. I could see the spots of the leopard, so I was sure that it was not a tiger. If one wants a better chance of seeing a tiger, it is wise to hire an elephant. On the back of an elephant, one is safe and one can move into the jungle away from roads. In this way, I finally saw and photographed a large male tiger. He had eaten a Gaur calf and was resting. I made an audio recording, of his fart, and I took many pictures. |
