Asia expert Kate Edwards was rewarded with the ultimate tiger sighting on safari in India. She outlines some of her favourite parks and explains why travelling responsibly in India has never been more important.
“Y
ou’re very lucky. I’ve seen this only a few times in twenty years”, Yusef whispered, his eyes wide with delight. We were sat in our safari vehicle watching, open-jawed, as the tigress we’d just seen charge a chital, a spotted deer, dragged its kill off to a nearby tree. I was in Rathambore National Park, one of India’s most popular destinations for spotting tigers. Touring with Yusef was a delight even without seeing any tigers – with decades of experience, he knew the park back to front. We rumbled through the jungle in our jeep, Yusef pointing out various birds and interesting plants. There was a shriek in the distance and he stopped, ears pricked. It was a warning call from a monkey some way off. He spoke to the driver and we sped off in the direction of the cry. When we arrived, we found a female tiger relaxing in the shade of a tree. She was about two years old, Yusef explained, and fiercely independent, having separated from her mother earlier than most cubs to claim her own territory. I watched, so happy to be admiring a tiger just 100 metres from us, as she snoozed in the heat of the day, her black-tipped tail flicking erratically behind her. Out of the trees suddenly appeared a chital. As it darted past, the tigress immediately pounced, but it bounced just ahead of her powerful paws, and escaped. Defeated and without the energy to pursue, the tiger settled back down under the tree. After a while, we heard another monkey’s warning cry a little way off. Yusef predicted this was for the tigress’ brother, with whom she’s in constant competition. Sure enough, she got up to investigate, moving towards a watering hole. Her brother appeared from out of the forest and instantly she grew visibly tense. The pair started to face off, when suddenly another chital leapt out of the woods between the two tigers and, realising her error, veered off in a different direction – straight towards our jeep. The tigress took off after the chital, coming right for us. There was a brief moment when it looked certain prey and predator would crash straight into our vehicle, but the tigress was too quick and she pounced, bringing down the chital just a few metres from our jeep. She sank her teeth into the chital’s neck and the animal became still. The fight was not yet over. Behind the tigress, her brother approached cautiously as she began to drag the chital away. He was stronger and was presumably hoping to capitalise on his sister’s work, but Yusef told me in a hushed voice that she was such an unpredictable and aggressive tiger that her brother would not be so bold as he would with any other female. The tigress pulled her kill under a tree and sat on it, staring at her brother challengingly. He sat down a few metres away and again, the two siblings faced off. With the shadows growing longer, we had to leave to get back to camp. The two tigers continued to sit there, each waiting for the other to make a move. Later at Sher Bagh camp, the whole event seeming quite surreal by this point, we were told that the tigress had managed to eat some of her chital, but the brother had eventually wrestled her meal away from her.
THE EXPLORER | SUMMER 2016 | 23