Is the 3rd time a charm?

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It was pretty foggy as the sun rose over the grasslands. I kept thinking to myself how lovely it is to watch the sun rise and hear the birds greeting the morning. It's my last safari in Bandhavgarh. After yesterday's grand tiger show I was wondering if we would see more tigers or if they would lay low this morning. When we met up with our guide he said that there hadn't been any sightings as of yet, but you just never know.

We saw quite a few tiger tracks on our way to the central meeting place where the elephants were. But we did not see any tigers along the way. Once we arrived at the central meeting place the guides began exchanging information and Vi told me that no one had seen a tiger yet. Which was a little disappointing but that is how it is here, one day you will see tigers and the next you wont. Hey these are wild animals not trained kittens with stripes. We waited a bit longer and found that the elephants were not coming today. Bummer, I was looking forward to riding an elephant. I've never been on one before. Oh well that's life.

So we finished our tea and climbed back into the jeep to have a look around. Axel was still hoping to get a good shot of a tiger for the next book he's working on. But we both knew that our chances to see a tiger were very low today. We drove around for another hour or two finding tiger tracks but no tigers.

Then when were about to pack it in and give up, we rounded a corner and found that the elephants were out. Apparently, one of the guides had found a tiger while he was out on an elephant. All of a sudden the tempo changed and we quickly climbed on top of the jeep's role bar and onto the elephant. Then we were off while Vi, and our driver watched us disappear into the jungle. It was so cool being up so high, but just a bit nerve wracking when I realized that this huge elephant was climbing up the side of a steep mountain. Wow! Then we saw her, lying on a flat rock taking a nap. We all grabbed our cameras and started clicking away. Then the elephant walked closer! You could almost reach out an touch the tiger, we were that close.

It was absolutely amazing! She just laid there while we took her picture, granted if she wanted to all she had to do was take a swipe at the elephant and we would have probably been smooshed at the base of the mountain.

Oh! The reason I refer to the tiger as a female is because the territory that we were in is the territory of a female tiger. None of the other tigers would have been lazing around if they were in another tiger's territory. BTW - This is the female tiger who came to visit our hotel the night before. No wonder she was so tired! LOL

I guess our luck did hold out. 😊

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Comments

[TC]

WOW!!!!!
Those are the best pictures yet! And you even got to ride an elephant. :D Cool, wasn't it? Animals don't run away as fast when you're seeing them from the back of an elephant.

[M]

Actually I think if the tiger would have the guts to swipe at the elephant, it wouldn't have felt it. The outer skin of the elephant is very dry and very tough leaving me to believe that it would not have felt it. they are used to crashing into the bush and getting in thickets and brush.

[gypsygirl762]

i think those are my favorite pictures too...