Najar Best

My first tiger after a post surgery rehab of 10 months. I resumed active duty in Tadoba Andhari TigerReserve(TATR) and was yearning for the sight of the great cat. Very early next morning When I was driving in my Gypsy, I picked up a fresh trail of an unknown tigress and started following the her on foot at close quarters. It took me far from the safety of the vehicle as always. the pug mark Trail ended abruptly on a sand bed and I found myself alone in the middle of a very thick canopy with nothing but bamboo around. The tigress had disappeared without a sound or trail.

I had an eerie feeling of being watched. There was no doubt about who was watching me. I could feel her eyes on me but couldn't see her. I saw something flutter from the corner of my left eye. I quickly turned my head towards it. Initially, all I saw was a small white patch in the dark of dawn . As my eyes set in, I saw the white was attached to something lager of a familiar form and color 12-15 away from me, behind a tree trunk. It took me some time to realize what I was looking at. Without breaking eye contact I raised the camera to my eye level and clicked once then instinctively looked down to see what I had captured. Next instant realizing my mistake of taking my eyes off her, I quickly I looked up , the tigress had vanished again without a sound.

Later, after carefully going through older pictures I realized that this was the tigress I knew as a cub. Now she had all grown up and had recently started moving independently.


This was the kind of thrilling life I had been missing for the past 10 months. I had missed the jungle and it was almost the jungle's way to welcome me back in the wild.

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