India Tiger Photo Safaris
Trip Two Report

Read our Complete Trip Journals,
day-to-day accounts for
India Tiger Photo Safri, Trip One
Trip Two Summary (short version)
Read our Brochure for 2012

Check out our Tiger book on Blurb

India Tiger Photo Safari Trip 2 Daily Journal

The following is my day-by-day journal, highlighting the photo tours highlight and sprinkled with natural history observations and facts. While perhaps most useful for those who did this Photo Tour and did not keep a journal, this account will also give prospective Tiger Photo Safari participants a great idea of how a tour functions. While the text is long, there are images sprinkled throughout, so a quick scan through will tell the story as well.

Day 1, Delhi. Officially the second tour started with a city tour of Delhi, with a visit to the mosque, once the largest in Asia, and a bicycle rickshaw ride through the crowded, but very interesting, streets and alleys of Old Delhi. At the War Monument, celebrating the lives of 40,000 soldiers lost in WWI and the Afghan campaign, a snake charmer had an Indian Cobra in a small basket. This display is now illegal in India, and is rarely seen on the Delhi streets. We photographed the snake charmer as he desultorily played a silent flute in front of the deaf snake, all the while looking about to make sure he wasn’t busted. Several police or guards passed nearby but they either did not look his way or didn’t care, as he moved on without incident.
On the last trip we had lunch at the Thieves, or Thugs, or whatever, an Indian restaurant that was excellent but served the same dishes as we had that evening at our hotel. As incongruous as it might seem we had lunch at an Italian restaurant, the top floor of a multi-service dining area where, downstairs, they served sushi, advertised with a banner that looked like a hold-up man’s mask. The meal was excellent, and although the meat sauce for spaghetti was lamb it tasted like beef. The ice cream dessert was as flavorful as anything we’d get in the states – excellent.
We had a pre-trip briefing in our hotel room  where we covered the convoluted logistics of the park system and gave a brief run down on the wildlife most likely to be seen at each park. Dinner was at the hotel, an Indian meal that was very good.
Day 2. Departure for Park One.
Our outfitter arranged for a Jet Air representative to check us in as a group and our departure went flawlessly, despite the probably over-weight luggage most of us had. We arrived at Khajuraho and did a brief visit to the Kama Sutra temples, where our guide did a great job in the time we allotted him. We left the temples by 3:15, nearly an hour earlier than last trip, but we still didn’t arrive at our lodge until after 8:15, an easy 5 hour commute.
Leaving earlier, however, we avoided some of the dusty roads in the dark, when visibility was near zero, but despite this, after dark I found myself braking constantly as we swept by on-coming buses or trucks, or swerved or braked to avoid bicyclists or pedestrians. Carolyn saw a Jungle Cat on the way into the park, and we had to stop for a herd of Spotted Deer and some Sambar when we entered the forest that would become a part of the park.
Dinner was late and waiting, and afterwards we met with the company’s owner for a briefing on what’s been happening in this park and our other destinations. By the time we returned to our room and unpacked and prepared gear it was quite late, and, as I write this, we’re both sore and tired, although we’re anxious and excited to return and start our latest tiger quest.
Day 3. Park One
The trip has started out propitiously, with two tiger sightings, including one excellent one that involved the one-eyed tigress, now known as ‘Killer’ because she killed a rival tigress in an adjacent territory. Her approach was heralded by many alarm calls before she stepped into the open and walked towards Carolyn’s vehicle. John and Sherry were close behind and the tiger walked next to their vehicle.
Killers aggressive behavior is unusual, and the park authorities are now worried that the tigress will hunt down and kill the other tigress’s surviving two 20 month old cubs. More typical, orphaned cubs are sometimes adopted by a sister or cousin or at least tolerated, but this tigress, they fear, is intent on killing.
Mary’s vehicle saw a sloth bear which flushed another tiger, but the encounter was too brief for images. Our other three vehicles missed a tiger, but Pat and Kathy’s vehicle had a male langur monkey charge and hurl itself at their vehicle, the first time, their guide said, he’s ever been attacked by an animal in the park.
My vehicle, with Cheryl, did well with birds, starting with a very close Crested Serpent Eagle that was hunting for frogs close to the trail and an Indian Roller that perched on small weed stems close to the road. We had another, very close, but an obnoxious group of Swedish photographers roared in, and the bird flushed off.
PM. We had the same route this afternoon, but we did do an alternate route on D which went through great cover with several small streams, perfect for a watering tiger. None were present, nor did anyone see a tiger on a game drive this afternoon.
We had a good Crested Serpent Eagle at the beginning of the game drive, and passed on some mediocre spotted deer and sambar. The game drive ended well, however, with a Savannah Nightjar, a cryptic nocturnal bird belonging to the world-wide family that our whip-poor-will also represents, that was perched in the open on a rock close to the road. So close, in fact, that I had to use my tripod and back up to the end of my space in the jeep to get enough distance between the bird and I. Mary had seen several on the last trip but either my guides didn’t know of the bird’s roost, or we were on the wrong tracks, as I never saw one during that entire trip.
Day 4. Park One
The group had four tigers today, and Carolyn saw three of these. She spotted one first, and the best, the big male that still owns much of this territory, her guide suggested they pass on breakfast and instead search the area for tigers. He said the male often moves during the breakfast break, and he was right.
The big male came out of the forest and walked for several hundred yards down the forest track, scent marking trees as he did so. Kathy shot hundreds of frames, and both Carolyn and Kathy were estatic. Cheryl and Tom’s vehicle were present at one of the other tigers but their guide suggested they move on, and, as Kathy reported, three minutes later the cat got up, stretched, yawned, and walked away. It could just as easily have walked to them, which reinforces the lesson – if you have a tiger, stay with it, just as we advise when we’re doing jaguars in the Pantanal.

Sherry and I had a tiger as well. Our tiger was hidden behind a clump of bamboo but eventually it got up and started walking along the base of a rocky outcrop. We tried heading it off, but so did several other vehicles, racing along and screeching to a stop. The cat did an about-face and doubled back, crossing the road where we originally were. That was unexpected, and unavoidable, so I didn’t feel bad about guessing wrong – there was no clue.
After breakfast we had an Indian Porcupine, a very rarely sighted animal during the day, that was hiding behind a large boulder but moved out, into the open, for a few shots before disappearing behind the bamboo. Near a water hole we had a Ruddy Mongoose that foraged along, in the open, but further off than we’d like for a really good shot.
Mary had one of her most unproductive and unsatisfying drives, and with one of the lodge’s naturalists/drivers, and she felt that all she did was drove, and fast. The frustrating aspect of Park One is the long drives required between the entrance and the breakfast area (which is also in prime tiger spots), and leaving late from the breakfast point requires a long, fast, and bumpy ride back. As Mary said, she’d rather go slow and not get all the way than to just drive and see nothing. However, that is the modus operandi of this park, and drivers and guides have a mindset that one must see a tiger – although most do not.
Our brunch was bitter-sweet, with the two women happy but not gloating, while one or two others were visibly subdued, disappointed with their luck. This is just day 2 in tiger country, and the group has 6 tigers seen, and with 12 days or so to go, there’s still a lot of good luck ahead of us.
PM. No tigers this afternoon, but for some, like me, it was a good afternoon. Pat and Bill’s vehicle had nothing to report for the day, which may have been because of the guide’s desire to get to tiger spots, and to stay at them, as long as possible. Mary had a slow day, but as she said, it will make those who did appreciate a good day when they have it.
I had one, with my best Rhesus Macaque Monkey, standing alertly in the shade; my best Brown Fish Owl, which we were able to position against a leafy background; a displaying Peacock; and my first chance, and a good one, at photographing a Barking Deer, a reclusive small brown deer that we’ve usually seen drifting off into the woods or rocketing across a forest track.
Day 5, Park One
The group had an incredible SEVEN tigers today. This included the big male, the tigress with three cubs, and the one-eyed tigress and a new male, called ‘the new male,’at the end of the morning. Eric and Lana took the bet and did the elephant trek, and first went out of the park looking for the two full-grown cubs, but were unsuccessful. They then headed back into the park where they encountered the mating couple, and filmed them every way possible – tigers on the rocks above them, mating, soaking in a water hole, walking – incredible, and Eric said he shot around 50gb of images.
Most of the rest of the group were on B and C, while Carolyn and I were on C and D. Mary, on B, was there when the group had at least four of the five tigers, and later, near the end of the route, she had the mating couple as well.
Carolyn and I were on D where there had been no fresh tiger tracks, although we heard alarm calls and waited without luck. We were headed to breakfast when our driver learned that a tiger had been spotted, so we headed off but by the time that we arrived the tiger had moved on.
We had, however, a good morning, with a spotted deer pair fighting, my best Wild Hogs yet, and what was probably an orphaned Langur Monkey that sat near the track, falling over, attempting to scramble up a tree, and all the while screaming piteously. Finally, to our relief, another adult charged in, hissed and barred its teeth at us, and grabbed the baby. Unfortunately, the adult did not appear to be a nursing female and aside from providing comfort may be of little help. With the baby’s constant cries when abandoned, a jackal, leopard, or tiger will soon end its misery.
We arrived near the starting point to find many vehicles parked, with everyone a bit frustrated because on C – where we started – the tigers were mating. We could hear the roars, but with only 10 minutes remaining before we had to leave the park I didn’t hold out any hope. Three of our vehicles passed, with Cheryl and Sherry gleefully telling us they’d seen four tigers, and Tom, more sedately, holding up four fingers as he drove by. Our dying langur didn’t seem so special!
Still, our guides waited, and miraculously the male tiger stepped into view, walking close enough for some fairly decent images. Mary’s vehicle, with Kathy, was still there and in a better position, on C, but both Carolyn and I were a bit heartened to not be the only ones left out on a truly incredible tiger day. At lunch everyone was bubbling, although a few were a bit quiet, and whether that was nature or their shots I couldn’t tell. Lana and Eric joined us before we finished and showed me some of his shots – he was ecstatic and deservedly so. As I said to Eric, he could go home now – his trip has been a success!
With these seven tigers, are group total for sightings is now thirteen (13) in three days afield.
PM. OK, this is getting ridiculous. The group saw a total seven (7) tigers this afternoon! Pat, who really had no good sighting before today, saw 8 tigers. Mary had 9 tigers (or sightings, since the afternoon included tigers we saw in the morning) for the entire day.. Our sightings are not a population count, but an encounter record, but for a photographer, not a census taker, that’s what matters.
I wasn’t so lucky, and Carolyn and I only had 3 sightings this afternoon. The first of these occurred on B route after going over the last mountain (or huge hill) pass, and as we descended the switchbacks, where two vehicles were stopped, our guide pointed out the tigress. It took me a moment to see the cat, lying along the edge of the cliff but visible only as a strip of striped orange fur. Eventually the tigress got up and walked parallel to the face, offering some quick images, but when we backtracked we were unsuccessful, and we suspect she simply laid back down.
Our second tiger was one of the full-grown cubs that most everyone had this morning – Bill saw all five together. Tom and Bill’s vehicle, tonight, photographed the big male as his two cubs ran to him to butt him below the chin in greeting. Since these cubs look full-grown, this does illustrate how social tigers can be. Tigers are thought to be solitary, or were, but their solitary life-style may be more a facet of their smaller prey base, sambar or smaller, than lions which often attack and kill animals two or three times their size and weight. Thus, pride behavior may have developed as a cooperative means to subdue large prey.
Our third tiger was the female of the mating pair, and Mary and others, on the start of their game drive, saw the male in the late afternoon. She was lying down and aside from brief glimpses of her black ears and a swishing tail, little was offered.
The afternoon was excellent for several other subjects as well. At the big meadow we had several cow Sambar in the small stream, reminding me of cow moose as they dipped their heads into the stream to feed, water cascading off their chins and necks as they raised their heads. At the caves I shot several images of the roosting bats, thanks to Bill’s gift, a 200 lumen SureFire flashlight, for focusing, and flash. We had an excellent Indian Roller at the perch where, two days earlier, we missed a nice shot, but now we had evening, direct lighting on the full-frame bird.
We missed shooting a great Sambar bull feeding in the golden light of evening, as we mistakenly interpreted our guide’s directions, and we thought we were trying to race to the male tiger. As  it was, we reached the tigress with just minutes to spare before we had to rush to the gate, so the pacing was probably correct. A pair of Golden Jackals preceded the tigress, and provided some portraits, although we stopped too late for a front-on view that attracted me. Our park supplied guide practically shouted Jackal when we stopped, totally unnecessary since I’d had our driver stop, but fortunately the jackals held.
With the 7 tigers this afternoon our group sighting count is now 20, after just three days in Park One. With three more days of game drives, and two more good parks for tigers, we’re hoping to further our luck. Tomorrow, Bill and I do an elephant trek, and we’re hoping to even come close to the luck Eric and Lana had today.
Day Six, Park One
The group had another 4 tigers today, bringing our tiger sighting count to 24! Pat and Carolyn encountered the same group of three tigers twice, once before the breakfast break and again afterwards, when they were the only vehicle present as the tigers, one by one, leap-frogged down the lane and passed too close for frame-filling shots with the 100-400, at 100, that Pat was using.
Eric had another tiger, a male, at another waterhole and this tiger approached and walked so close that it too more than filled the frame.
Bill and I did the elephant trek, hoping to repeat Eric and Lana’s luck of yesterday. It was not to be, as the elephants all patrolled the area outside of the park looking for the two orphaned cubs. We found tracks in some of the nalas, the dry washes, and we criss-crossed these in hopes of encountering the cats. By 10 we were headed back to the vehicles, almost lulled to sleep by the swaying motion of the elephant.
Within thirty yards of the fence that separates the park’s employee compound from the park we found a fresh spotted deer carcass. Two jungle crows (long-billed crows) were feeding at the kill, which was swarming with flies and, although almost completely devoured, looked only hours old. Several park employees were standing on their rooftops, apparently watching the tiger, and they gestured to a spot where the cat must have traveled.
We headed into a swamp, thick with a tangle of low undergrowth that made spotting a cat almost impossible. I was peering into a thicket, trying to catch a glimpse of color, when, with a crash, a tiger exploded from the undergrowth, almost beneath the feet of our elephant. Bill said it was like watching a quail burst from cover. I swiveled quickly enough to see the tiger bounding through the shallow waters and streak up a sand bank where it paused and roared its annoyance. Every thing was roaring, our elephant, a distant elephant in the mahout’s compound, langur monkeys, and spotted deer. The tiger bounded off, and with a few more squeals of annoyance our elephant quieted. Langurs coughed their harsh three-note alarm bark, khaa-kah-kah, marking the tigers passage, but within a minute the silence was total.
Our mahout circled about, returning to the kill and to the swamp where, for a few minutes, they trampled about, perhaps hoping to flush the mate of the tiger. Considering that we couldn’t see this tiger before it crashed into the open, I thought we were pushing our luck, and certainly our vulnerability, should we come close to stepping on another tiger. A YouTube video from Kazaranga in Assam depicts just that, as a tiger in the elephant grass rushes towards an elephant and leaps at the riders above. The mahout lost his finger through that encounter, and I could just imagine the damage a tiger could do to our legs if it scrambled upwards along one of our sides.
We didn’t find a second tiger, and learned afterwards that the mating pair had apparently split up, with some of our vehicles seeing the big male and no one seeing the female. Since it was within a quarter mile of the kill I’ll assume that was her, dangerously close to the area where we were patrolling for the cubs.
Two days ago, when I learned that an elephant trek was possible, I went to those who had expressed an interest and outlined the odds, and in doing so painted a rather bleak picture of the chances of seeing a tiger from the elephant. Eric and Lana’s great luck yesterday contradicted this advice, and I suspect some of those who declined had second thoughts. Today, however, the reality of looking for a needle in a haystack, a tiger in the bamboo jungle, was aptly illustrated, and the point driven further home by the fact that two of our vehicles had three great tiger viewings.

PM, Eric got another tiger this evening, on the hillside where a bit later we passed without seeing a cat. That brings us to 25, tying last trip – four days into this tour!
Because we did the elephant trek today my vehicle had a free pass to travel any road and had an early departure. Our guide was intent on finding tigers, and we raced to all of the best locations, hoping to find cats before the crowds gathered. We saw none, and may have passed on some shots as we drove, but the risk was probably worth it and no image stood out, compelling us to stop.
For me, this was the slowest day I’ve had in two trips since the morning’s elephant ride was a bust and this afternoon, with a tiger-intent guide, we drove too fast for ‘digesting’ other potential opportunities. My only shots were of the woodsmen leaf rakers, backlighted in the late light.
Day Seven, Park One
John and Bill got two more tigers this morning, bringing our total of 27 tiger sightings, and this was a great one.

Running baby gaur; running barking deer

We had entered at a different gate that is less crowded, less wildlife rich, and where routes are not assigned. Soon after entering the park we saw tiger tracks, and after climbing a high mountain in a rather gentle incline, in contrast to the switchbacks of the other entrance, we discovered fresh tiger tracks in the most unlikely location, almost at the crest of the mountain. Nothing appeared to be happening and we moved on.
John and Bill’s vehicle had the wrong paperwork for entering the park and had to double back, and thus they were the last to enter the park. They were also the last to climb the mountain where, when they reached the crest, another vehicle had stopped for a hidden tiger. They waited, and after a few minutes a tiger walked out of the forest and lay down on the road, soon followed by another tiger that repeated the action. Bill said it was frame-filling with his zoom lens, so the images, as yet unseen, must be spectacular.
The other vehicles had no tigers, but a fairly diverse morning of birds and monkeys, but the morning ended poorly. Three of our vehicles congregated in the forest and after a few minutes of guide chatter one of the naturalists asked me if we should head back to the gate. Everyone needs to be out of the park by 10:15, but it was 9:50 and so I asked him how long it would take to reach the gate. 10 minutes, I was told. I then said let’s go until 10:15 as we’ll see nothing at the lodge and something might happen.
Ten minutes later, at 10 sharp, we were at the gate, and since the last few miles are uninteresting it was silly to prove a point and double back so we continued out of the park. With the exception of one vehicle, perhaps, all the jeeps were in early, and Mary’s reached the gate at 9:30 where she was told that everyone else had already left. She was lied to, and when she discovered the truth she was livid.
After breakfast I had a talk with the lodge’s two head naturalists, who also drive the vehicles. The problem with this park is it is almost too tiger rich, and the forest department/park supplied guide – who may be very good or completely worthless, and the driver of the jeep are almost totally focused on finding tigers. As one naturalist explained, they ask each other why are these tourists shooting birds? They can do that in Keoladeo! What’s wrong with them!
I told our naturalists to impress upon the drivers that our photography groups are interested in everything, and a bird has value as does a leopard or tiger. It is extremely frustrating to have a driver roar past a good bird shot, like today’s Black Drongo on a nearby perch, without slowing down. By the time we stopped, in this case, we were a hundred feet passed, and when we backed up the bird flew off. In Africa, which is our standard, drivers know and recognize the value of all subjects, and slow down and point out shooting opportunities. Here, with contracted drivers and park guides of varying skill or energy, that awareness is lost.

Hopefully our naturalists will be able to drill this into our drivers for the last two game drives. If not, there’s little we can do and it is the way it is in Park One, and the tigers are terrific, so one may simply have to accept the fact that other than tigers the time spent here might be less productive than the other parks.
PM. We returned to section two, and after the fiasco of this morning the guides and drivers behaved quite differently. Our driver drove slowly and asked if we wanted to stop, which we did for several subjects, including macaque monkeys, peacocks, bee-eaters, and, at the end of the day, an unexpected bonus, Indian Gazelles, a rare species for this park. Several Gaur had been introduced into the park and within minutes of arriving inside two passed by, running past and given me an opportunity for a slow shutter speed pan.
We ended up at the top of the mountain where, apparently, everyone heard about the tigers and a dozen vehicles were congregated. It seemed hopeless; we were on the crest of a mountain and after this morning’s passing it seemed unlikely that a tiger would climb the hill and return. Still, we waited, and after a 20 minute wait a tiger was spotted! It did not travel to the road but instead walked in the opposite direction, offering no shots. Still, it was our 28th tiger sighting for the trip!
Mary had good luck with a Crested Serpent Eagle, and she saw another Jungle Cat – an animal I’ve yet to see. Eric had a great opportunity with another rare ungulate, the Barking Deer, to round out the afternoon.
Kathy and I were still peeved from this morning and made it clear to our guide that we wanted to return to the gate at 6:15, not earlier, and, not knowing this route, we did not know that we were far from the gate that we entered. Our guide, in his broken English, tried to explain that we would exit from another gate, closer to us, but, as it turned out, almost 20 minutes by dirt track and road, from our original entrance. Consequently, we didn’t arrive back into the lodge until 7:05.
Tonight the lodge had an outdoor barbeque and invited the village dancers for another performance. For the last dance, we again were invited to participate, and Mary, Lana, Kathy, Sherry, Cheryl, Eric, and I joined in, and once more I confirmed that some white guys have absolutely no rhythm.
Day Eight, Park One
Our last morning game drive in Park One, and we returned to the traditional routes we had driven on most of the days. As usual, we headed to the far end of the park at speed, hoping to find the tigers that were, at this time, frequenting the area. Mary had B and C route, and her vehicle sped across the park to reach the B-D section in time for any activity. The two male tiger cubs were together lying in the bamboo close to a tiny waterhole right next to the track, and through a tiny window in the vegetation, and infrequent gaps as other tourists drove in front, Mary got her dream shot of the trip to date, a beautiful portrait of a tiger lying contentedly, near ground level and looking her way.
We were stopped short, on D, as we found the big male. When we arrived several vehicles were parked along side a large meadow where, hidden in the tall grass, the male had disappeared. While we waited another jeep passed, informing us that the tiger cubs – now nearly full grown – were in the open. We decided to abandon the male and drove on, and had almost driven out of sight when the male stood up and started walking towards the road.
Our park guide, perhaps the same guide that did a very poor job a few days early and for which he wasn’t tipped, was a different guy today, asking us, at the start of the drive what we were interested in seeing, and if that was only tigers. He went bonkers, the best term I can use, when he saw the tiger, screaming for the driver to back up quickly and get us back into position. He was excited! We arrived as the male reached a large shade tree where he lay down and began to groom, but after several minutes he flopped onto his side and appeared to go asleep.
We were reluctant to leave, knowing that a tiger in hand is better than one in the bush, but our guide suggested we could return and so we left, and, after a few kilometers we reached the next tiger jam. There was a tiny window where we attempted a shot, but another tourist/photographer not shooting at the time made a comment about cutting her off (I think) so we moved off. There is so much rudeness and ruthlessness that I didn’t want to contribute to a behavior I hate seeing here. We drove on to the waterhole where we met Mary and Lana, and Mary showed me her LCD display of the tiger portrait. I was thrilled.
We were hoping for the tigers to return to water and, from our position, we could see one of the cats through a half-open break in the bamboo. One tiger woke up, then stood, but instead of going for water it headed towards the road, where we got shots then and as it paralleled the road, pausing once to reach up a tree for scent marking and clawing. Eric and I blasted our motor drives, just shooting and checking exposure in the fray, as the cats moved deeper into the forest and disappeared, with only the alarm calls of the spotted deer to mark their progress.
Later, after their breakfast break, John and Kathy followed the same route and encountered the tigers again. They were moving through the forest and along the road right to them, ‘right down the barrel,’ as John said. Time was running out and John and Kathy had to leave just as the tigers grew intent, appearing to start a stalk on some langur monkeys. Their guide was apologetic but time constrains are immutable here.
Eric and I returned to the big male, who was still sleeping where we had left him. We hadn’t waited long when the tiger woke up, stretched, and walked a bit closer to the track where it paused to drink. This male has dominated much of the park for several years and now his age is showing. A younger, new male now covers much of the old male’s former territory and, as I watched him, I was certain that he would not be seeing him again next year.
The male moved slow and gingerly, and although he was said to have a recent limp or foot wound, nothing was visible. After a few minutes the tiger got up again and started moving towards a stand of small trees close to the road, and we fired as he moved along, finally disappearing behind a screen of green. We shot forward in our jeep, hoping to encounter the tiger again if he continued moving towards the road and the deeper forest. The tiger cleared the brush just as we passed by, and our park guide, and Eric and I, started jabbering for him to stop. He screeched to a halt in a cloud of dust, backed up a few feet, and cut the engine.
The male rounded the shrubs and moved towards us, straight towards us. I had a 70-200 ready and flipped to vertical as the cat walked closer, and closer, until, ten feet from the jeep he turned, presenting a side view that more than filled the frame. He rounded our jeep, and, mid-road, paused, as another jeep raced by, slamming to a noisy halt beside us, and prompting a snarl from the tiger. The cat trotted across the remaining stretch of open road and resumed his walk into the forest. Eric kept aim, hoping the cat would look back a final time, but I just watched, I had the shot I was hoping for, and got it on the last game drive in this park.
In total, we had four tigers today, the two big male cubs, the old male, and another tiger that Pat and Tom had for a brief moment from a distance. That brings our total for Park One to Thirty-One tigers (31)!
After brunch we packed and loaded the four SUVs for the 5 hour drive to the next Park. As usual, India’s roads are a bit treacherous with pedestrians, trucks, buses, bicyclists, and motor bikes. We were about three hours into our trip when, rounding a curve, the SUV with John, Kathy, and Cheryl hit a motor bike.
John saw it happen, with two drunken riders blasting down the middle of the road, then swerving, but in doing so almost driving off the steep embankment. They turned back into the road, hitting the left front of their SUV. I was looking up when it happened (I was writing this journal – preceding paragraphs!), perhaps because of our screeching brakes, and I saw a body flying through the air. I got out of our vehicle, intending to pick up pieces, but the most shaken up guy appeared unhurt, and his riding companion was already standing. They were drunk, and after a few minutes of argument with our drivers the bike operator ran off, presumably to escape jail for intoxication.
It took forty minutes or so for us to transfer luggage onto the roof racks, moved a fourth person into the spare seat, and for me to tie up the luggage with the short lengths of rope each vehicle carried. No one was hurt, and except for the inconvenience and, I’m sure, new nervousness, all was well. We continued on to Park Two.
Day Nine, Park Two
We headed into the central area of the park, climbing a long incline to reach the central plateau where much of the park’s vastness was visible. In scattered grasslands the rare Four-horned Antelope, or Chagra, grazes and our guide spotted a female far off in the grass. Eric had one as well, a male that was a bit closer and in the open, and managed a few good shots.
Descending into the central valley we had our first good Barasinga, or Swamp Deer, males, six large antlered deer that occasionally raised their heads from nearly constant feeding. We moved on to the central location where we registered for a Tiger Show and soon we were aboard an elephant. A short distance from the road two one-year old cubs lay in the undergrowth, and we followed both for a while until the more photogenic of the two settled in a partially open perch beside a rock ledge. Later, Eric and Lana had the same cat which, now annoyed by the elephants, got up and provided very clear views of the cat before it loped off. They’d seen another tiger on the drive, as well, making our total tiger count 34.
After the tiger show we headed slowly home, stopping for a frisky Langur Monkey that played on the branches of a fig tree, and another chance at the Barasinga deer. We were fairly close to the main gate when our driver, passing a firebreak, suddenly stopped, saying he saw something – maybe a jackal. As we backed up a Leopard, hidden behind a termite mound, stood and slunk off into the nearby brush. A few minutes later we spotted it again, perched on a tree limb at eye-level about 50 yards away. We took some shots, but they were little more than record images.
Still, our total is now 3 jungle cats, 34 tigers, and a leopard.
Mary felt very sick and stayed in for the morning, as did Pat. Carolyn had a quick bout of illness on the game drive, but all seems well now.
PM. The group had another tiger this afternoon, our 35th.  Eric’s vehicle was first on the scene, with two other jeeps present, and had the tiger lying up to its shoulder in a pond not far from the road. It got up and left the pond after a few minutes, and Eric and Lana drove off. Not long afterwards, Bill and Kathy, and Cheryl and Sherry came into the same area and had the tiger as it returned to the road, coming into and out of the forest repeatedly, and quite close to C and S’s vehicle.
My vehicle came upon the leopard tracks not far from where we’d seen it in the late morning, and we followed the tracks for a short while before they disappeared. That route, however, took us on a different route and we missed the tiger. We continued to the best waterhole in the park where we waited for a short while, but our guide said no tigers had been seen in this area for a while and that we were wasting our time. We left, and arrived with our other vehicles who excitedly told us about the tiger they had had.
Our game drive was still productive, with very good Gaur, or Indian bison, close to the road, where we did head shots with our zoom lens. A large group of Wild Hogs ran across the track in front of us, and then reentered a clearing, one at a time, for more shots, giving me the best opportunity I’ve had for hog shots.
Our last shots of the day were of a pair of Spotted Deer bucks that circled each other, necks arched in a threatening posture. They crashed together for a moment, antlers locking, before breaking off where the smaller of the two continued his posturing, thrashing brush and adorning his antlers with vegetation. The larger of the two, and the winner of the skirmish was quite casual, and his posture relayed the message, I won, I’m not worried, leave me alone or I’ll kick your butt. They circled each other a bit, with the smaller buck doing most of the action, and with his head tilted and eyes rolled back, head cocked to the side. Nothing came of it and eventually their circling led them deeper into the forest and out of sight.
I returned to my room to find Mary flat out on her back in the bathroom, covered by a sheet and shivering almost uncontrollably. For the last hour this was her home, and she was really sick. Obviously, she missed dinner, but was a bit perkier by late evening, although still quite sick. Pat, too, missed dinner and John reported that if he had a gun, Pat would have used it on himself. He was not feeling too well. Carolyn was feeling a bit better, and attended dinner, where she ate lightly, but she suspected she would miss the next morning’s game drive.
We do not have a cause for this spate of illnesses, as we all ate the same food. Tom, who was sick towards the end of the last trip, wondered if it was the water containers from our lodge, but Mary and I used the same containers and had no problems for days afterwards. In fact, Mary got sick 9 days after Tom, but about the same time as Pat fell ill.
At any rate, most of the group is fine and we are now up to 35 tigers for the trip, including 4 for today!
Day 10. Park Two
We stayed local, remaining in the lower section of the park and for once no one saw a tiger! People staying at our lodge saw a mother with two full-grown cubs, and another vehicle had a Dhole, or Indian Wild Dog, but no one in our group. John and I did see, almost at the end of the game drive, a Jungle Cat as it crossed another track, and while we backed up, and then tried getting close enough for  a photo, it moved off into the brush.
We had a very good morning, however, with two relatively good Shikras, the small accipiter than resembles a North American sharp-shinned hawk, and a very cooperative Little Green Bee-eater that we shot both perched and also as it flew in to the perch, which it did repeatedly.
We had our best Barasinga, or Swamp Deer, yet, with six males that grazed close to the road, periodically lifting their heads high to inspect the area. Two Common Mynah birds landed on one bull, and climbed about its face, adding to the shot.
As we left the park, towards closing time, we encountered a mother Langur with a 10 day old baby that was quite frisky, and, with the mother sitting in the open shade, providing some nice, animated images. Earlier, by a small bridge overlooking a tiny stream we shot almost directly down upon langurs that were drinking at the pools, and a young langur that leaped across a log. I’d started with a nearly full card, not having down-loaded yesterday, and finished that card and another full 16 gb card this morning, so it was a productive morning.
When I returned to the lodge and my room Mary was up and reading, and recovered enough that she’ll be doing the afternoon game drive. Pat is also feeling better, but Carolyn has the chills Mary had yesterday, and she’ll be sitting out the rest of the day.
PM. We stayed in the lower section of the park, intending on visiting, and staying at, the good waterhole to see what might come in. Our journey to the pool, nearly 45 minutes long, was rather uneventful and when we arrived at the waterhole a lone Sambar was standing hock-deep. Two weeks ago at this location another Sambar was standing when a tiger leaped over the bank and captured the deer in the water. So … anything can happen.
While we waited though, a park forester arrived by bicycle with a bamboo pole to measure the length of the pond, and as he proceeded to walk the pond the Sambar ran off and the lone peacock flew off. We decided it would be fruitless to wait and so continued. Our route intersected with that of some of our other vehicles that were waiting on a Jungle Cat that had appeared and disappeared before any shots.
Our only shooting of note was a group of Langur Monkeys late in the day that were bounding through the tall grass. Some stood up on their hind legs periodically, and several did so when they, and me, heard a distant alarm bark of other langurs.
Mary and Bill had some good Peacocks perched in a tree and on the ground, and Sherry and Cheryl had 5 Dhole, or Indian Wild Dogs, that blasted out of the forest quite close before disappearing into the forest again. They drove and intersected them again, but both were not too positive about the shots they had.
Day 11, Park Two
We headed back into the central section of the park where we hoped there’d be another tiger show. There was, and Tom and Carolyn and Kathy and Cheryl got one of the shots I’ve been lusting for. There were two tigers on a hillside, with one lying peacefully in full view in the open. Bill and I were the first at the tiger show but the lower, less photogenic tiger was the one the mahouts were working. A park VIP was at this tiger, hogging the only vantage point for a decent photo. Eventually – and we’re talking two minutes or so, not multiple minutes! – that tiger got up and walked across the hillside and out of sight.
The VIPs followed, and our mahout said we had to go. To add salt to our gaping wound, he pointed out the tiger on the rock! Cheryl and Kathy’s elephant was just starting out and now the only tiger available was the exposed one, and as I got off my elephant I could see them on top of the hill, aimed and firing. Tom and Carolyn were next, and I saw Tom’s shots – incredible, and exactly what I’ve been hoping to get. Wonderful shooting for those four photographers! The cat must have moved, because the next two elephants with our group had a different view, a head shot with the tiger lying partially exposed on a ledge. You can see some of Tom’s incredible shots on our Portfolio page of Tom’s work. Left: Tom Wester.
My vehicle headed back to where, earlier in the morning, a tiger had been sighted traveling towards the road. We had stopped to shoot some Green Bee-eaters, which we had feeding on bees and dragonflies, when deer started their alarm barks. A vehicle pulled up behind us and excited relayed the message, a tiger was behind us! We raced back, but by the time we arrived the tiger had passed and was now visible, a hundred yards away across a distant meadow.
We circled the meadow and forest, and arrived on the opposite side of the trees where we waited for a few minutes. Incredibly, the tiger appeared and as we sat the tiger started walking across the open meadow, directly towards our vehicle. The tiger came almost to our vehicle before turning into a small nullah or ravine, and reappeared in front of our car. We were the lead vehicle in a line, and those ahead of us crowded in a bit, narrowing the gap and probably preventing the tiger from crossing the track. It moved down a few vehicles and crossed, where it then walked down a bank and circled a large pond, providing multiple opportunities for the walking tiger. We were ecstatic, and our spirits were lifted after the frustration of the tiger show.
Still, this story illustrates how, on a tiger show, you just never know, and how success or failure is simply a matter of luck. Two of the six elephants did extraordinarily well, and it was only a matter of minutes between the first elephant and the last.
We headed back to the lodge, pausing at a bridge where on one side a bull Sambar waded at a pond to drink and, on the other side, a small herd of Spotted Deer were walking up the feeder stream. The deer walked up the stream a short distance, turned, and one-by-one leaped across the stream and jogged off into the thicket. I shot every one.
PM. We had intended to head directly to the good waterhole where we planned on waiting, hoping for a tiger. En route we stopped repeatedly to listen for alarm calls and to check other watering spots, and we didn’t arrive at the pool until 70 minutes later. Nothing was there, and our driver sped on, checking other roads for recent tiger tracks. If tracks were present, it’d be an indication a tiger was in the area, and if not, that none were in the vicinity. No tracks were seen, and we drove on.
We raced along forest trails, and three times I had to stop our driver and have him back up so that we could photograph something that we had zoomed by. Later, back at camp, I asked him about this, explaining that at this point in time our group was interested in photographing everything, and not simply wasting time driving trails seeking tigers. Everyone is a bit frustrated by this as it is the mindset that tourists are here to see tigers. Even experienced, English-speaking guides can’t get around this concept and almost daily someone, often Mary or I, have been frustrated by this.
Tonight, at dinner, I surveyed our group and asked everyone’s feelings on the subject, and all are, at this point, content to let nature take its course and, if they happen upon a tiger, fine, but otherwise all wish to have a good photo game drive and not a speed way experience through the park.
Despite this, most of the vehicles had a good afternoon. My highlight was my first truly photographable Red Jungle Fowl, also known as the jungle cock, and the ancestor of the domestic chicken. The male is quite colorful, with a red comb and beard, yellow-orange rump, and a vertically fanned black tail, and almost all are shy, retreating into the forest as soon as a vehicle slows down. We passed one that didn’t seem fazed and so we stopped, and by backing up a short distance, just enough for the rooster to lose confidence and run a few feet into the jungle, we kept from spooking the bird. After a minute or so the bird would return to the open forest edge and proceed to feed, moving further away. We’d back up again, repeating the process, and we did this several times before the bird moved off and wandered deeper into the brush.
Kathy and Cheryl and John and Sherry also had great Dholes, or Indian Wild Dogs. They were quite close to the road, filling the frame, but John’s Canon 7D malfunctioned and, although all the electronics lit up, the autofocus would not. Only after taking out the battery and clearing the computer memory did the camera and lens work properly.
Tonight, before dinner, the owner of the lodge and of the company we are using for the trip gave an informative, powerful, and depressing presentation on the status of tigers in India and worldwide. Latest figures suggest that there are less than 4,000 tigers worldwide, and less than 1,600 in India. Poaching, mainly for China and Tibet, accounts for most of this decimation. Two wildlife busts resulted in staggering numbers of animals killed. In one, over 30 tigers, and over 700 leopard and over 700 otter skins were discovered. In Tibet, leopard and tiger pelts are used for clothing trimmings in ceremonial robes, or as furniture coverings or wall hangings for the wealthy. In China, besides the home décor’ tiger parts are used for a variety of medicines of no value other than that of placebos. As I write this, I was told that the president of Taiwan recently proclaimed that he was cured of cancer, from taking rhino horn. In one of the films we saw, rhino horn is mixed with Viagra as a more potent drug, or so it is believed. Rhino horn is, in the orient, 5X more valuable than gold of the same weight.
Our speaker had no solutions. He pointed out, as I have elsewhere, that over 50% of any park’s tiger population is found in just 10% of the parks’ protected areas, and that is in the tourist zones where tourists, their drivers, and the park-supplied guides effectively act as guards. Budgets, and perhaps priorities, are so compromised or limited that the non-tourist areas receive little protection. Whether through corruption or simply the lack of manpower and resources for policing and protecting these areas, they are vulnerable and it is here, and in the surrounding areas, where tiger poaching occurs.
While the parks are crowded, and in both this trip report and the one for our first trip I comment and complain about these crowds, the rudeness, and the system, for tigers tourism, in all its ugly facets, appears to be the most direct link to tiger conservation that the average world citizen can participate in. As our guide said, and I’ve done so repeatedly as well, in Africa the saying is, ‘If it pays, it stays.’ With population growth and development there is little room for altruistic conservation in underdeveloped areas or countries, and without a viable economic incentive, the local population, or the local governments and higher, have little reason to support a feel good cause.
As our speaker continued, I could only think that Mary and my latest venture, attempting to develop a greater American and World-wide Photography Tour support system for tigers, is well worth the time and effort we’re applying. The picture looks bleak, but there is no animal as charismatic and riveting as the tiger. If the world would lose this incredible icon of the wild, we’ve done a holocaust. Truly, in this educated age and world economy it seems inconceivable that our kids or grandchildren might ask the question, ‘why are tigers gone? Why didn’t anyone want to save them? Couldn’t anything have been done? Couldn’t you, Mom or Dad, done anything? Dire predictions suggest that tigers may be extinct in the wild by 2030, although today, in the US alone, there are at least three times the number of captive tigers than of their wild Asian cousins.

Day 12. We stayed in the lower section of the park today and did quite well, with the group getting another four tigers, bringing our total to 42!
Our morning started with a glossy-hide bull Gaur that lumbered across the road and, from behind a tree, bellowed. It stepped back into the open and proceeded to walk down a misty field, its white leggings glowing in the early, predawn light.
We arrived at the central meeting area to register for a Tiger Show but a gathering of vehicles pulled us away, to two Dhole, or Indian Wild Dogs, lying quite close to the road. They didn’t do much, other than raising their heads to look about, but it was just a matter of time before something good would happen. It didn’t, because a crew of the forest street cleaners walked up, and despite the obvious intent of a dozen vehicles, that scared off the dogs.
In Kenya we have had Maasai do similar actions with cheetahs and other predators, but at least the Maasai were herdsmen that had no association with the park and, when I complained, something was done. These road/street cleaners are employed within the park, and should have some clue, but there is none, and wildlife is flushed away.
We did not stay with the dogs who later did return to the opening, and repeatedly crossed the road, chasing or playing with the Langur Monkeys. Eric and Lana stayed and got some nice shots.
There was a Tiger Show today, and Tom and Carolyn watched what to them looked like a tiger chase, with the mahouts trying to catch up with the tiger and, perhaps, corner it. Eric’s elephant was the first to do a Tiger Show and the cat looked overheated and stressed. Not long afterwards, Mary and Sherry did ‘the show’ and watched, with great disgust, as the mahouts had their elephants tear down intervening vegetation. Everyone in our group felt that the cat was bothered and stressed, and Mary was quite upset.

This is the first Tiger Show that we saw that was patently wrong. The other shows involved tigers that were lying in the shade or at a kill and that seemed unbothered by the elephants. These shows generate income for the parks, and the tigers, no doubt, are accustomed to the elephants and, I presume, to some harassment, but this experience was unpleasant, regardless of the good our money might be doing.
My vehicle, with Pat, found fresh tiger tracks, and in the wave of Hindi I couldn’t be sure if the vehicle we encountered had seen the tiger or only saw the tracks. We raced ahead to where we hoped the tiger would pass, arriving at the large lake. There was one alarm call, and a Lapwing that flew about, dive-bombing the tall grasses, and suddenly three Tigers materialized out of the brush. All three walked to the shoreline and, tight as they could be, proceeded to drink. Afterwards, the cats returned into the forest.
We drove on to another spot that might be on their route and, after a long drive and a short wait, we heard more alarm calls. We were set up above a nullah, a ravine that was the perfect tiger highway, but another series of calls pulled us 100 yards away. Our driver directed another vehicle to drive to where we’d just been and, less than two minutes later, their guide whistled – the tigers were there. We drove in reverse as quickly as we could, and in the confusion I think our park guide had our driver stop short, which gave us side-view shots but had he not stopped us we’d have had all three tigers walking directly to us. As it was, it was a good shoot, but not perfect, and at this point in the game I’m really trying for the mind’s eye image I have.
The cats disappeared in the forest and we continued to the waterhole where a trio of Wild Hogs trotted down to drink. After the hogs left our driver said we should go, so that we could still have a late breakfast before leaving the park. Pat doesn’t eat breakfast, so he didn’t care, and neither did I, and, as it turned out, the park guide ate little or nothing, so it simply appeared as if we wasted 10-15 minutes at the breakfast stop that could have been spent, probably futilely, at the waterhole waiting for game.
It was a great morning, with great wild dogs for some, great tigers for Pat and I, but tainted by the Tiger Show and the tiger harassment.
Later, I spoke with some others that were at the Tiger show and they didn’t have the same impression about the tiger harassment. Some branches or trees were pulled down, and the tiger had been pushed by the elephants earlier, but the verdict previously given may have been a bit harsh.
PM. We stayed in the lower section, and Carolyn and I bet everything and headed to the good waterhole where we hoped a tiger would visit. None did, although a cobra moved through the undergrowth nearby, and climbed a stand of bamboo, and a Jungle Cat slunk passed, quite close to the cobra. Over the last several days we’ve driven more than we’ve sat, and it was a real treat to sit, whispering at best, and wait, watching the waterhole for game. Several Sambar cautiously stepped into the clearing and waded into the pond, and three different groups of Wild Hog visited, with one bringing along a half-grown young. Our driver, despite previous prepping about getting to the pond as quickly as possible, still took 50 minutes (going fast, and direct, that time could be halved) and, worse, took a different route than he was instructed.
Mary and Tom had planned on doing a vigil at the pond, too, but they turned right when we went straight, and soon found a tiger that was approaching the stream where several large pools dotted the bed. Their driver spotted the tiger from a distance, but the cat moved in, stopping to scent mark a small stand of bamboo, where its wavering reflection registered in a pool, before continuing to a small embankment where it sat along the water’s edge. Mary’s vehicle had to move to make way for a researcher’s vehicle, and before they could back up to their original location another car snuck in, costing her a front-on approach shot she was after. Still, when I saw her images – at the waterhole, where she eventually joined us – I knew she had one of the shots of the trip for her. Both, cited above, were great.
Several in our group were there, and two of those moved on to another firebreak where the same tigress walked right to the cameras and vehicles. This was the same tiger from the Tiger Show this morning, and she was fine and unfazed from that experience. When I saw Pat later, he happily, and smugly, told me he got the shot I had envisioned!
John and Bill missed the tigers, but they had tremendous luck with the Dhole, the Indian Wild Dog. The pair we had this morning performed brilliantly, quite close and in the open, and John was quite pleased with the shots.
On the way back to camp Kathy and Cheryl had another tiger cross the road in front of them, just behind and in the dust of another jeep that never saw the cat, and Carolyn and I, John and Bill, and Pat and Sherry had, in the last minutes of light, a Leopard, the second for the trip.
It was too dark to shoot, but still fun to see. When we pulled up to the vehicles, with tourists craning and pointing into the brush, I followed their aim and saw, in the dimness, a darker outline among the leaves. It was the leopard, that, when it moved, clearly became a cat, and easily seen. But that first glimpse, with dark leaves hanging from the brush, and the carpet of fallen leaves scattered thickly through the forest, was so telling – the leopard was there, and yet, without experience or a search image, it was not there, completely invisible until it moved. A wonderful, ethereal visual.
With the two Tigers this evening, our tiger count is now 44, 2 Leopards, and  2 Wild Dogs seen three times.
Day 13. Two more tigers were sighted today, with one sighting in the morning and another in the evening. Cheryl and Kathy may be had a second in the evening that could not be confirmed.  We also had a Leopard at the very beginning of the AM drive, and Pat and Sherry had one at the very end of the PM drive.
Our total count is now 46 tiger sightings, and 4 Leopards, and several Jungle Cats.
We headed to the center park of the park again today, with most of us hoping for a final Tiger Show where, in this area, the shows have been stress free. Eric and Lana stayed in the lower section of the park hoping to work on rounding out Eric’s portfolio, as the drive to the central section eats up almost 50 minutes of travel.
Our morning drive started roughly, as the park officials were giving our guides a hard time because of some confusion, with vehicles, at yesterday’s Tiger Show. My usual driver was substituted with the same guy I had last night, who, by not following instructions, cost Carolyn and I a good tiger. Today, he proved useless, as was demonstrated when Tom and I tried directing him into backing up, and off the road, for a bee-eater we were shooting. Other frustrating examples followed, and suffice it to say that when our AM game drive ended 15 minutes early we were happy it had. Immediately upon returning to camp we made arrangements to have a new driver (our usual one) replace him.
As we approached the central area where everyone registers for the Tiger Shows we found a line of 20 or more cars along the road, watching the four or five elephants that were near the tigers. There were, we were told, three cubs and their mother, and despite the crowds, and the wait, it looked worthwhile. We drove to the registration point to find the Indian equivalent of Yellowstone on July 4th – it was packed. Our number was 38, which hinted at the unlikelihood of doing the show, but while we lingered to have breakfast we were told the VIPs were taking over the elephants.
What was new there? Shortly afterwards, we learned that the tigers had moved off and the shows were cancelled, so we continued on, returning to the Green Bee-eaters we’d photographed on other occasions. The birds cooperated well, catching a couple of dragonflies and a blue butterfly, that Mary’s vehicle and our vehicle had sessions with, and I had my taxing exercise with our driver.
By 9:25 the driver and guide were bugging us to leave and exit this central area so we set off, and drove uneventfully back home. En route I asked our driver if we could spend some time at one of the waterholes that lie along the way, and the look of blank, dull incomprehension was memorable. It was a long morning.
PM. Sadly, a rather anticlimactic conclusion to Park Two, as no one had anything truly outstanding. Late in the day Mary did make a wonderful portrait of a mother Langur Monkey and baby, and Bill spotted a Jungle Cat but the tigers and wild dogs eluded us.
The only shooting for me of any note was a bull Gaur that was courting a female. Like an African Oryx, the courting pair continually circled one another while, somewhere in the brush, another bull bellowed. We stopped at the good waterhole and spent a few minutes but our guide felt it unpromising and, recalling how well the group did yesterday elsewhere, we willingly agreed. Sambar and Spotted Deer gave alarm barks in the forest a few times in various areas, but nothing was spotted. Python tracks, some quite thick, marked a few tracks.
Day 14. We had an early cooked breakfast at our lodge at Park Two, joined by the owner of the outfitting company we’re using, and headed out for Park Three. The drive went uneventfully, and Mary and I, having miserable sleep the night before, slept or dozed most of the way.
PM. Our first game drive in Park Three, which has the most open understory of all the parks, with a canopy of teak trees and an abundance of herbivores. On our last trip here the group had one brief tiger sighting, but there are several females with cubs and the potential for a great shot is there, if not likely.
Our drive started with some confusion as the paperwork we forwarded with our vehicle rotations was not followed, so Mary and I rode together for the first time, and all roommates rode together. That experience was pleasant for Mary and I, but it provides rather redundant photo coverage as we’re essentially shooting the same subject. Hopefully, that confusion is corrected and our normal rotation will commence tomorrow.
Nothing extraordinary occurred until we reached a Golden Jackal den where six 8 week old (max) jackal pups played in a partial opening. While we watched both adults returned to the den and the six cubs mobbed the mother, forcing her to regurgitate food before crowding around her to nurse. She was partially turned away, but very much in the open, and the shots were the best canine nursing behavior we’ve ever had – better than any African jackal, or American fox, or bat-eared fox, or whatever. The action lasted about three minutes and the light was fair – making a great shoot.
Day 14, Park Three
We had another Tiger today, the radio collared female that has 5 cubs. Pat had her early, walking down the main road for about 2 kilometers, scent-marking virtually every tree. Later, there was a tiger show and most of the rest of the group had a chance at her from elephant back. Our elephant was crammed, with Cheryl, Sherry, Carolyn, and I, and the mahout never got the elephant in position for Carolyn. John refused the ride with more than 2, and as it turned out the headman relented and allowed John to ride solo. It was a bit humorous, as we were moving out to see John coming in, alone, while we struggled!
The tigress had moved from her original position, and when Kathy and Mary went to the show a good portion of their ride was simply chasing the elephant, although they had some nice shots when it reached the main road. By the time the mahouts found her again she had come to rest in the shade of a rock outcrop in a nullah, so the light was even and the setting pretty – the closest I’ve come to one of my desired shots, getting a tiger on the rocks. Tom, Kathy, and Cheryl all did get that shot at Park Two!
Otherwise, the morning game drive for Carolyn and I was fairly uneventful, with some Langur Monkey photos and a Peacock that perched on a dead tree, and, with its long bridal train of feathers, it looked like a Christmas tree set out in a field. Tom and Bill sat out the drive, as both were tired and Tom was a bit achy in the joints, and Mary and Kathy both didn’t feel 100%. In April, the parks have a whacky rule that on Wednesday afternoons all parks are closed, and so today we’ll have our first rest day, without a game drive or a long drive in commute. I think everyone will appreciate the rest!
Day 15, Park Three
Most everyone was tired last night and, in fact, Mary missed dinner, getting a much needed early rest. This morning a light overcast muted the light until almost 8:30 and in some parts of the sky the cloud cover looked heavy enough for rain.
I had a good guide, an oddity at Park Three, and a bit of a dandy, with earrings, shades, and a straw cowboy hat and zipper, ankle-high boots. But he stood up from the start and it was evident that he fancied himself a tiger man, for he was always looking and I actually had a lot of confidence in his competence. We circled the areas we were assigned without success, but eventually came upon a pair of Dhole, or Indian Wild Dogs, that were fairly casual about the vehicles. We were getting some nice behavior when they settled down, and another vehicle coasted in for a closer view. We tried doing so as well, but the road gripped our tires and our guide had to start the engine. We started moving, and whether it was the motor sound, or the approach of three vehicles, the Dhole ran into the woods. They paralleled the forest for some close body shots but the truly open shots were lost.
Mary got those, with one dog walking quite close to her vehicle and the pair playing several times, rising upon their hind legs. Eric and Lana also had the dogs, but much earlier and at a much higher ISO.
We were told there was a Tiger Show so we drove in to register and left almost immediately, to reach the collared Tigress and her five cubs, all of which were feeding upon, or had been, on a Spotted Deer carcass in the nullah. The elephant ride was unproductive photographically, but most of us managed to see all five cubs, and the sleeping mother, but the brush, and their position, was too thick for shooting.
Afterwards, we returned to the central area for a late breakfast before continuing our drive. A pair of Peacock sparred in the distance, with one male sporting a huge feather train, while the other, more aggressive one, was almost tailless. They leaped into the air several times, but a busy rock background and the distance made the shots mediocre.
Our tiger count is now  53, with the 6 today and I yesterday.
PM. Add another tigress this afternoon, for a total of 54.
The dry season starts at the end of October and continues until June, but today, after a light overcast in the AM, we had gradually building clouds creating a canopy that we couldn’t be sure was moisture clouds or smoke. As the early afternoon progressed the silver orb of the sun gradually faded away and by the time of the game drive the landscape was beneath a heavy overcast and, to the west, a leaded sky.  As we started our drive a light sprinkle had started, followed by a heavy enough rain that most vehicles covered themselves in tarps.
The jeeps are not set up for foul weather, and those who used the tarps were, for the passengers, literally driving blind, with the vehicles looking like silver or yellow turtles rolling down the tracks. Bill and I decided the tarp was too much trouble and weathered the rain, which eventually stopped and, after an hour of driving our body heat and the wind dried our clothes.
Mary, Carolyn, Kathy, and Cheryl had the tigress, which crossed the road behind them in very dull light. Still, Mary’s images on her camera’s LCD monitor looked good.  We had one of the best guides I’ve had in Park Three, and at 6:30, when we’re normally driving through the gate, he asked if we could check another waterhole. He really wanted us to see a cat! We didn’t, and arrived back at our lodge at 6:55.

Our quest this afternoon took Bill and I through parts of the park I hadn’t seen in any of the other visits, going along the lakeshore, across sandy creek beds, and through innumerable rocky outcrops that looked perfect for a resting tiger or leopard. It was too dark to shoot, but it’d still have been fun to see another tiger, or a leopard, or sloth bear, but we didn’t. I asked about the Dholes, the Indian Wild Dogs, and was told there are only three in the park right now, a pair and a lone individual. Dogs moving into the park’s buffer zone meet domestic dogs from the 99 villages that surround the park, catch their diseases, and die.
Tonight was our final meal with the entire group as some fly home while 9 of us continue on to our extension at Park Four. Everyone was satisfied with their luck, but as Bill said, it is impossible to get everything in a single trip.
Day 16. Park Four, extension.
Bill, Kathy, and Cheryl left at 5:15AM for the airport, while the rest of us had a cooked breakfast before departing for Park Four. On our last journey, this commute was dangerous and we complained, and our drivers this time drove more slowly and carefully, and we arrived at our lodge an hour before lunch. The outside temperature, according to our vehicle, read 37 degrees Celsius, almost 98 degrees but with the dry heat it was not oppressive.
We left at 3:30 for our game drive, and by 4:03 we were within the park, so the bureaucracy here is much less of a headache than some of the other parks, like Park Two. It was hot, and nothing was moving and we explored some new tracks, but by 5:15 or so a huge herd of Gaur, including the endemic blond color morph found here, trotted down a jungle trail and entered the meadow before us. Gaur are huge, and grazing in the meadow they looked so much like lightly furred bison one could easily imagine oneself in Yellowstone.
While we photographed the nearby gaur a flock of Black Ibis foraged close by and I had frame-filling shots of the birds as they worked the nearby grasses. Later, as we started our drive out of the park we encountered another pair of gaur that cooperated nicely. River Lapwings, Painted and Open-billed Storks, and a Brown Pigmy Woodpecker were nice bird highlights for the group as well.
Day 17, Park Four
Finally, a Sloth Bear.
The sky had a slight overcast and when the sun rose, at 6:15AM, it was a dull red orb, but as the morning wore on the gently muted light grew harsh as the light cloud cover burned away. Last evening, thunderheads loomed in the distance during our game drive and later, at dinner, one of the lodge guides, David, who is a specialist on dragonflies and frogs, pointed out two large Indian Bullfrogs in their ornamental pond. He said this frog will be the first one to go extinct in India. Why?
He blamed the imminent extinction upon global warming, and certainly the climate change nearly everywhere on this planet is experiencing is to blame. The Indian Bullfrog breeds en masse after the first heavy downpours of the monsoon season, but now, freak, sporadic thunderstorms occur long before the monsoon’s long and constant rains begin. The bullfrogs, triggered by the first rains, gather in pools created by the rains and the males call, attracting other frogs from a kilometer away. More congregate, and breed, and normally as more rain continued to replenish these pools the eggs would hatch and the tadpoles would have time to metamorphose. Now the frogs are sucker-punched, laying eggs, and perhaps having the eggs hatch, but in waters that will dry up before the tadpoles can successfully complete their life-cycle. By the time the true monsoon rains arrive the next generation is dead.
The adult frogs will survive, retreating back into their estivating state, but with time, without few, if any, progeny to replace the adults as predators, drought, and old age whittles their numbers down, the bullfrog will die out. Globally, if the Anurans, the frogs, treefrogs, and toads, are an environmental canary, then the environment is in serious trouble. Amphibians around the world are dying off in a massive, rapid extinction where at least 1/6th of the species known to exist no longer do so.
Our morning search was concentrated upon finding a Sloth Bear, India’s subcontinent bear found throughout the forests of central and lower India. Three other species inhabit India but the others are mountain or heavily jungled bears to the north. A few species of trees were fruiting now, and bears had been sighted feeding, so our intentions were to continue driving the roads in the most likely areas until it grew too hot.
Our vehicle spotted the bear, a big black lump in an understory of yellow grasses. We moved a bit closer and the bear looked up, then rose, revealing its broad, almost cobra-like fur flange that lines its head and neck, and the distinctive white V that marks its chest. The bear held the pose for four shots and ran off, crossing the track and paralleling a ridge. We had two more brief encounters, with one having the bear stand again, but a tree blocked most of my shot.
We followed the bear as it moved through the brush and forest, where it eventually came out into the park-like shoreline of the now-receded reservoir. The bear galloped down the hillside, crossed the stream, and ran up the other side, all in clear sight until it disappeared in the forest on the opposite side.
Later we had luck with one of the other species we hoped to see here, the Malabar Giant Squirrel, the largest squirrel in the world. One was hanging upside down, its hind feet grasping a slender treetrunk while its forefeet held a large, yellow-green nut that it was busy gnawing. The squirrel was preoccupied and didn’t mind my vehicle moving about to get an angle from the branches. Eventually the squirrel finished that nut and went for another, and after trying to dislodge several off their tenacious stems it succeeded, hoping down the branches with a nut larger than its head secure in its mouth. It just started feeding when it dropped the nut, and abandoned it, which made me suspect that despite the effort involved in getting a nut it was safer to snatch another than to risk going to the ground, where a python or a leopard may snatch the squirrel!

At Park Three, when we had our freak thunderstorm and rain two days ago, I observed Peacocks going to roost as the wind kicked up. It was dark, and I wondered for a moment whether or not they were not simply roosting early, but after the winds died down, and in very dull, late light, the Peacocks were again on the ground and moving. I suspect that the heavy wind potentially masks the sound or movements of leopards, and it is safer for a slow flying Peacock to be in a tree, and watchful, than on the ground where an ambush is most likely.
We stopped for a Red-wattled Lapwing and while shooting, our driver spotted three Dhole, or Indian Wild Dogs, across the meadow. While we watched the dogs started walking, passing through the forest and into open areas where, had we been on that side, we’d have had incredible open shots. In all, there were 14 dogs in view, and we suspect they had left a kill. The dogs had been missing for over 10 days and had only returned yesterday, so hopefully this bodes well for our luck for a future encounter.
PM. A fairly uneventful game-drive, although we had the pack of Dhole, or Indian Wild Dogs, again. On the AM game drive, some vehicles had seen a dead Sambar deer in a small lagoon,  and this evening the pack was feeding upon the carcass. We assume that a Mugger Crocodile had made the kill and that one or more dogs had dragged it to shore. Pat’s vehicle, with David the naturalist on board, was the first at the location and the dogs were fairly close to the vehicle. My vehicle, with Carolyn, was next and the dogs had moved off a short distance, and soon the other vehicles arrived. A dog walked down to the carcass and fed, but the distance was too great for any quality photography.
That said, it was still a highlight to see one of the most endangered canines, and we had a few semi-close shooting opportunities and great views.
Day 18. Park Four
The best day we’ve had in Park Four, with 6 Sloth Bears, 2 Leopards, and the pack of Dhole or Indian Wild Dogs.
It is Sunday and our guides worried that the park might be crowded so we left our lodge at 5:30AM and we were loaded and in the field at 5:55, 20 minutes before sunrise. We saw little but Wild Hogs and Sambar to start, which was fine in the low predawn light. Our route took us to one of the large meadows, a fairly barren landscape which is completely under water during the monsoons, where our vehicle, Carolyn and I, met Mary’s with Sherry. We spoke for a few minutes and they headed out, and seconds later we heard a beckoning whistle – Sloth Bear! John’s vehicle, riding solo, was behind and saw the bear as well which was galloping across the far meadow. We screeched to a halt and I managed a couple of probably out-of-focus shots of the running bear, but sharp enough that we could discern 2 cubs riding her back.
Sloth bears are unique in that their babies will hitch a ride upon their mother’s back, and these cubs were latched on tight as the running mother must have been doing 15 foot strides. She covered the ground fast and disappeared behind a hillock.
We drove on towards the sambar kill where, in the distance, I spotted the whole pack as they charged up the bank, running from a vehicle that had arrived. The young disappeared but several of the adults stayed in the area and eventually, by following them along the edge of the woods, we got some OK shots. Eventually they moved off, and when we tried following them we met John who told us of a leopard sighting.
When we arrived the leopard was gone and after waiting a few minutes our guide told us it was hopeless, the cat had left. A few seconds later Langur Monkeys began barking, and continued to do so without stop. One monkey was on the ground, looking over the waterhole, so I glassed there, hoping to at least spot the Black-Capped Kingfisher that is residing here. While glassing I saw spots, or thought I did, and as I announced that I had the leopard I had second thoughts. Was it spots, or simply out of focus ghost tree bark? The leopard moved, and I saw its head.
The guides still couldn’t see it so I got out my lens, put the camera on Live View, and zoomed up the live display to 10X so they could see the leopard. This feature of the new cameras is wonderful as it transforms a 500mm telephoto into a 5000mm spotting scope, and through this lens the guides clearly saw the leopard and where to look. The cat moved off and we backed down the trail, hoping to encounter the leopard if it crossed the track.
We waited and the leopard appeared, sitting down upon a rock about 60 yards away. Although distant, I had a semi-clear shot and while watching, through the ‘scope,’ I could see a second leopard, presumably her cub. They didn’t come closer but suddenly we heard crashing on our side of the track, and another Sloth Bear was running down the hill towards us. It paused behind a screen of bamboo before moving down the ravine away from us. We followed, and got some fair shots as it approached the road and ran across it.
We returned to the leopards to find them gone, and we continued on to the Elephant Camp where we had breakfast, where I showed my magic egg-blowing trick, and where the mahouts showed me a snake in a hole beneath a boulder. I suspect a cobra. Later one of the mahouts took Carolyn and me on an impromptu elephant ride, back to the snake which remained hidden in its hole.
Meanwhile, Mary was heading back to HQ and along the way, in mid-morning light, she and Sherry encountered another Sloth Bear, with a cub riding her back. The bear walked fast but did not run and both Sherry and Mary got some great shots of the cub looking their way as their mother walked along.
PM. Thunderheads loomed to the East, but any storm dissipated or moved off before our afternoon session. The group split, three ways, with Mary, Tom, and Carolyn relaxing or packing for the trip home, and Lana, John and I did a boat trip for birds. Sherry, Pat, and Eric did a jeep game drive, hoping to encounter an afternoon sloth bear or the leopard from this morning.
The boat ride was our first at this park, and although we expected birds to be closer along the shoreline, based on our briefing, we nonetheless had some great shooting, of flying River Terns, Little Terns,  Pied Kingfishers, and  perched Open-billed Storks on a large, dead tree. A Great Egret stalked the shallows close to the tern colony and Little and River Terns dove at the predator repeatedly. I may have captured a few of the swoops. There will be a lot of throw-aways but I shot 32gb this evening, and the shooting never stopped. Great fun.
Day 19. Park Four.
For Mary and me, this would be our last game drive as the screw-up with the Indian Embassy had our visas expired one day before we were supposed to leave. Accordingly, today after lunch we’ll head out to the city to catch a flight back to Delhi, where we’ll stay overnight before flying on to do a scouting trip to Nepal and Bhutan. Last night, we finally heard that those trips were actually confirmed and a go!
The morning in Park Four was slow, although I did see 2 Leopards – just the tail of the one, and 16 Dhole (Indian Wild Dogs). Eric managed some shots of the dogs when they were in the stream meadow, but by the time we found them – and I spotted them, the driver and guide were, as usual, just looking down the road – the dogs were in the woods. Mary’s guide spotted a rare owl, a Eurasian Eagle Owl, perched on a rocky ledge fairly close to the road. I’d seen the same species last trip outside the park at a canal, but this was the first inside the park. By 10:30 the temperature was 100 degrees, and with the slow morning everyone was ready to return to camp.
In the afternoon, our remaining participants will either go on the boat ride I did yesterday, do a final jeep game drive, or rest and pack.
Our total cats, for the trip was 54 tigers, 6 Leopards, several Jungle Cats, and Wild Dogs in three of the four Parks, totaling about 30 different dogs.

I’m writing this in the backseat of an SUV heading to the airport for our flight to Delhi. We've waited a half hour for a high-speed train to pass, and then negoiated a free-for-all traffic jam where cars, buses, and trucks all vied for the two lanes (one per direction) with nothing but nerve determining who moved and who did not. This is India, and despite the chaos, there is a real charm here, and the tiger, the ultimate big cat.

For more images, see our trip reports, Trip One or Trip Two Summary.