One score years and fifteen

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It was bitterly cold last night - even with the heater on full blast and 2 blankets on my bed, I was by no means comfortable. Added another chapter to the chronicle of my never-ending struggle with hot water - I assumed that there was no hot water, as none would come out of the sink tap, but I later figured out that only the shower has hot water, not the sink. I wore everything I had for the safari - T-shirt, long-sleeved shirt, long-sleeved T-shirt, fleece, and down vest - and was still shivering.

The entrance to the park itself is only 5 minutes from the hotel, and we had to fill in some documentation at the gate, and were randomly allocated our guide. The gates opened at 6:30AM, and a line of Jeeps slowly entered the park in the dawn half-light. I was actually glad to have the Jeep to myself, as there isn't much legroom between the two parallel benches and my knees were touching the opposite one. There was frost on the ground, if I needed any further evidence that it was damn chilly.

At Bandhavgarh, you have probably the best chance of seeing a tiger of all the national parks in India. There are currently about 25 tigers in the tourist zone, of which about half are cubs. The hotel manager had said there was a 90% chance of seeing tigers in the morning safari, and maybe only 50% in the afternoon one.

The guides attempt to locate the tigers by inspecting tracks on the road, or listening out for the alarm calls raised by other creatures when a tiger is around. If fresh tracks are seen, then the Jeep suddenly accelerates from a comfortable 20-30 kph to something approaching warp speed, until the tiger is spotted and the vehicle comes to a screeching halt in a cloud of dust. If an alarm call is heard, the acceleration phase is omitted and only the screeching halt implemented. This makes for an exciting ride, especially as you'll be lucky to have more than a couple of tiger sightings per safari.

It was clearly my lucky day as, within an hour and a half, the first tiger had been spotted. It was a female, crouched in the grass at the side of the road and growling softly. The driver, an excitable soul, opined with scientific precision that she had just been engaged in "hoochy coochy", but the guide had the correct story. This female was currently raising 2 cubs, one male one female, and knew that any adult male tiger would kill the male cub given half a chance, as it would be viewed as a potential competitor. This would happen even (as in this case) if it was the offspring of the adult male. So the female was actually trying to scare an adult male off her territory. Moments later, the male appeared from out of a patch of nearby long grass, and disappeared off into the forest. By this point, there were 5 other Jeeps all clustered around, and the guide said that this male was wary of them, hence his departure.

Seeing the tigers was a real thrill, especially as a sighting was by no means guaranteed, and the anticipation had really built up during the tracking phase. The coats are extremely beautiful, the sharp black/orange/white colours so distinctive that you wonder how they can blend so successfully into the environment.

We subsequently encountered the female 3 more times during the safari as she patrolled her territory, twice walking along the road and once crossing it. The Jeeps never got that close, so I was forced to use maximum zoom on my camera, and the photos suffered a little as a result.

Apart from the tigers, there were umpteen spotted deer all over the park, plus sambar deer, monkeys, wild boar, wild chickens, assorted other birds (e.g. maribou storks, eagles, adjutant birds), and muntjac.

The safari finished at 10AM, and I suddenly realised I was ravenous. I also realised that I was completely covered in dust - my black vest was now a shade of grey, and my camera was completely coated.

Due to the low temperatures and consequent lack of need for AC, I moved to a non-AC room that's a little closer to the river. Apparently in the summer tigers will come to the river to drink, but in winter there are plenty of more convenient water sources for them.

The afternoon safari was a complete damp squib by comparison. We started off by stopping at a Shiva shrine so that the driver could leave some coconut as a gift for granting us the tiger sightings this morning. The driver also decided to invite his wife and daughter along, obviously at my expense, which I could hardly complain about but fortunately it didn't really affect my comfort. The safari was shorter in duration by about an hour, and the guide this time was useless. He said virtually nothing the entire trip, and often appeared to be staring in completely the opposite direction to the other guides - which either indicated genius or incompetence, and I know which one I'm choosing given that we didn't find anything. There were a couple of incidents where monkeys were going crazy giving the alarm call, but no tigers were spotted.

Since it was my birthday, I wanted to talk to the folks at home, but there was no phone available in the hotel to do that so I wandered into the village to a stupidly expensive booth. The family sang their usual harmonised version of "Happy Birthday" and I was made to feel proud of my advancing years. Unfortunately the hotel menu was lacking in fare suitable for a birthday celebration, with even the icecream not being available, so a couple of Kingfishers was my only extravagance.

And early to bed, befitting someone who has reached their Biblical half-life.

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Photos

Careering along the muddy trail
Note elephant in background