Tracking Tigers IN BANDHAVGARH N.P.

Entering the Park

On entering the park you’re likely to experience your first taste of the ‘circus’. This is my name for the bedlam created by 20 or more jeeps, all trying to go the same way at the same time. Once they’ve squeeze through the gate, the jeeps travel through the park, dispersing along the routes. As you drive along the routes you may pass the park elephants and mahouts as they wander through the forest, tracking the tiger’s movements. While driving along your guide and driver will be looking for pug marks on the tracks.

JEEPS LINE UP AT BATHAN WAITING FOR THE TIGER SHOW

If there are none you are likely to be driven to waterholes to try and catch a tiger have a morning drink. This is a likely place to find a tiger especially if the tiger has killed and eaten during the night. They are, to an extent, creatures of habit and most will go to a local waterhole to drink after every meal. This usually happens at or before first light while it is still cool. Following this, the guide will drive from point-to-point along the route, stopping and waiting every few hundred yards. This gives them the opportunity to listen out for alarm calls along the way.

All the routes conclude at Bathan. This is now the central information and waiting zone. A park officer has radio contact with the main watchtower high up on the fort. The watchtower listens out for alarm calls and directs the mahouts to the appropriate area. The watchtowers can also inform Bathan, whom in turn inform the guides and drivers.

If there has been a tiger sighting (normally made by the elephants) then the 'sher darshan' or ‘tiger show’ ensues. The tiger show is really a tacky phrase for when tourists are taken by elephant-back to see a tiger. Tokens for the tiger show are issued in order of arrival at Bathan. Many jeep drivers used to tear through the park routes like maniacs in order to be the first at Bathan, just in case there is an early sighting. But they are now penalised if they arrive too soon. By racing through the park, they may have missed crucial evidence along their route and clearly put themselves and their passengers at risk. The tracks are often very narrow, bumpy, and winding with many blind corners. If you do not like this high-speed ride then tell the guide and demand that they slow down. You may have to be stern, but do not be afraid to express your concerns. Anyway, tigers are generally invisible in the jungle and it’s a common event for a tiger to step out just after a jeep has passed with all the passengers totally unaware of its presence.

Tiger Safari on Elephant

Climbing on to an elephant for the first time is exhilarating. They are so huge you’re just in awe of them. You soon get over the odd smells and noises as they walk along swaying you back and forth. All the elephants have wooden platforms strapped to their backs. It’s on these that you sit, rather uncomfortably, as you are dragged through bamboo to find a tiger. It never fails to get my heart pumping. The anticipation of seeing a tiger makes your mouth dry and your muscles shake. There really is nothing quite like breaking into a clearing and finding a tiger lying on the ground in front of you. I’m sorry, but neither I nor MS Word have the vocabulary to describe it… you’ll just have to see it for yourself.

TIGER WATCHING ON ELEPHANT BACK

One word of caution, please refrain from using flash photography (which is banned in the presence of tigers). Its best to turn the flash off anyway as a tiger's eyes are so responsive to light you will get a horrible green or white reflection from them. If the guide spots you with an external flashgun they will tell you so before you get on the elephant. One flash is ok, you’d think, but if everyone was allowed one flash then it would be like a strobe light for the tiger. The mahout will do his best to get you a good view of the tiger, but don’t be tempted to waggle your foot or leg around to get the tiger’s attention. A photograph is not worth losing your leg over! Please do not hassle the mahout and ask him to usher a tiger out from the bamboo, or indeed bribe them to keep you there. They will not respect you for it and will more than likely take you straight back to the jeep. Unfortunately, twigs and leaves often obscure a tiger’s face, but this really is they way of things. The mahout will not make its elephant pull things foliage away from the face of tiger for you or anyone, or anything.

Depending on how many people are waiting, your view of the tiger may last a few seconds or a few minutes. If you are lucky then the tiger will walk and you will be on elephant back to follow it. This is truly remarkable. You have a ringside seat watching the most powerful land predator on earth move through its domain. I dare you not to be speechless!

Gohri Gate

The forest department has attempted to alleviate congestion at the main gate in Tala by opening up a second entrance gate on the western edge of the park. The Gohri gate is still very quiet judging by the morning traffic of only 4 jeeps! This compares starkly with Tala gate that may have as many as 30-50 during the peak holiday season. There are pros and cons to consider before using the Gohri gate:

The advantages are the speed at which you can reach Bathan. If your guide is sure that there will be a tiger show then this is the gate to take. You can reach Bathan a full 20mins before anyone else. The other benefit is that you are now close to the most beautiful areas of the park – namely Rajbehra meadows, Sehra meadow, and Sukhi Patia, the southernmost regions of the tourism zone.

The drawbacks of Gohri gate can be summarised as distance and guide quality. Gohri gate is over 17km away from Tala. This means that during the winter time (November to January) you have to be prepared to travel for 30-40mins, rattling along in the freezing cold and you’ll have to get up earlier too! I can only say that its something you should brave as the beauty of the 'southern side' should not be missed. It should also be noted that (depending on where you stay in Tala) you may have to really persuade your driver to take you. Very few drivers go to Gohri gate as it severely limits the profit they can make. The chances of seeing a tiger are also reduced and it increases their mileage considerably from an average of 30km a day to over 100km!

The other drawback is guide quality. Some of the guides at the Tala gate have worked in the park for 15 years or more and are keen naturalists. They know the direction of nallahs (dried riverbeds that tiger and other wildlife use as pathways through the jungle), the quickest way to get to different areas, and many of the hidden water holes which all help deduce the direction a tiger may take. As the Gohri gate has only been open to the public since the beginning of the 2003/2004 season, the guides are still rather ‘wet behind the ears’. Their knowledge is limited and they have usually only had minimal training from existing guides during the previous off-season. On several occasions I paid double to take a guide from the Tala gate as well as the mandatory guide from Gohri.

Tipping

If a guide has sat in the back, acted like baggage and merely pointed to spotted deer then feel free to refuse to tip… I do! I am limited for space and if a guide is going to fall asleep or contribute nothing then to tip him is to pay for ignorance and a passenger you do not need.

• A guide that has pointed out useful wildlife, geological or historical features = INR50-100
• A guide that has discussed pathways through the jungle and has instructed the driver where to go and has been interactive and made a significant effort and contribution = INR100-200
• I normally tip the driver INR100 per day, 200 if the driver has excelled and ensured that I have the best view possible in the given circumstances.
• For the Mahouts (elephant driver) I generally tip between INR200-500, normally closer to INR500.

Some people think this is excessive but the Mahout's job is highly dangerous. They steer elephants (that are lethal in their own right) through thick bamboo and straight into the lions den! For this they should be rewarded and commended. If you have had awe-inspiring sighting of a tiger in its natural environment then the least you can do is to thank the mahout and tip him for his effort. After all, INR500 is only about £6 - a couple of pints or a cinema ticket! I cringe when I see western tourists happily hop off the elephant and turn their back on the one person whom has really made their experience possible.

Responsibility, safety, and respect

Please do not be taken in by the fencing and gates that surround these parks. This is a wild habitat not a reserve or sanctuary. These tigers are not rehabilitated from zoos or a circus and have never been domesticated or reared by humans. They are wild and are deadly predators. A defensive mother with cubs will not hesitate to defend them and will severely maul or kill a human if you leave the safety of the jeep and approach them.

For some reason, most wild animals, with the exception of monkeys, cannot discern between a jeep and the passengers within it. If you make sudden movements or stand up and break the outline of the jeep you will then attract a wild animal’s attention. It’s probably best not to attract the attention of a tiger, no matter how the guides try (by imitating alarm calls). Most wild animals will flee. Most tigers will simply keep walking, completely indifferent to your presence. However, I have heard 1st hand accounts from passengers that have encountered younger, more inquisitive tigers... tigers that want to know what a passenger smells like and have leant right into a jeep to sniff them. I’ll leave it to your imagination as to what the tiger could probably smell!

A TIGRESS WARNING OFF AN ELEPHANT THAT HAS STEPPED TOO CLOSE TO HER CUBS

I feel the need to lay a few myths to rest. In the 30+ years of tiger safaris, there have only ever been a couple of accounts where a tiger has attacked the occupants of a jeep. In each case, this was due to the driver acting irresponsibly, pressurising a tiger and/or blocking the tiger’s only path of escape - a very stupid and dangerous thing to do! The most recent documented case involved the tigress, Mohini, one of Sita’s daughters. Reports suggest that Mohini was struck by a vehicle during the early hours as she crossed the main highway that borders the park. Apparently, after having had her cheekbone, jaw and teeth smashed she returned across the road to her cubs waiting for her within the tourist zone.

In the morning she was spotted by a group of jeeps which then blocked her path. Two French photographers, situated directly in her path, insisted on photographing her even though they could see she was stressed and injured. What followed has been subject to great exaggeration and embellishment, but reliable witness accounts state that in defence and under great pressure she leapt into the French photographer’s jeep and lashed out at them with her claws. The wounds they received were superficial as she had few teeth left and a broken jaw.

After this incident Mohini was never seen again. Many people think that she eventually climbed high onto the rocky ridges to die. In spite of this, I am happy to say that her cubs survived the ordeal. The male cub made many kills for his two sisters who now live in the non-tourist zone. They never enter the tourism zone and are rarely seen.