A pair of lionesses maraud on a vehicle track late one evening in search of prey.
Tag: Big Cats
Space
A spaced-in conversation.
The Orange Ghost Miracle
Nothing out of the ordinary: just one of those days when a miracle occurs and a ghost is seen!
Arrowhead
Meet a guided missile with premium-apparel branding.
How does it feel to see a wild tiger?
So how does it feel to see a wild tiger? I could tell you that waiting for a tiger to emerge feels like watching raindrops trickle off a roofline while awaiting your beloved – a wistful longing fanned by sweet anticipation. But that wouldn’t let you know what it’s like to melt in your own…
Morning Blessing
The bounty of some days makes up for the drought of others, and on this day, another page of the Kinarwah chronicles was to be turned over for our reading pleasure. Just as we saw the Banbehi female off on the Banbehi Nallah Road, Vikas turned back to drive to Mirchani and then complete our…
Survivors at Sunrise
It was the last safari of the trip, an intentionally truncated affair, since we had a date to keep with an annoyingly punctual flight at the end of an 11-hour drive. 25 safaris, including 19 from the previous trip, had passed that year without a glimpse of Kankati’s cubs. Back in May, the first-time mother…
Mirth
My perch in the tree-house creaked. I sat heavily on my feeble rump, feeling in every breath the pangs of a bereaved man. “Old Hag knows the cause of your melancholy,” said Old Hag, who, turning around I noticed, was seated legs folded, roughly two feet off the floor in thin ether. “But let me…
The Prima Donna
Thus stood the prima donna, enlightening the soul. I had heard a lot about her from Old Hag. But it was the instant the prima donna broke into reality from the dreamworld of the thicket with quicksilver dazzle, like an exquisite flower had dropped from a mystical tree, that I fell in love with her….
Wise as a Tiger
My eleventh visit to Bandhavgarh began on an ominous note. At the tail end of the first safari, we arrived at Gopalpur Meadow to find an extremely genial English gentleman, whom I was to later identify as John Aitchison, a wildlife cameraman who’d won an Emmy for my then favourite documentary, Frozen Planet. He…
The Last Hurrah
The afternoon of 14 May 2010 remains one of the red-letter days in my diaries, not only because of the utterly spellbinding time we had with Auntie and her cubs, but also because we were beneficiaries of one of the greatest humanitarian acts that must ever have taken place in a tiger forest. We were…
‘Lingua Amore’
The play was intense but the tot couldn’t stay away for long. She waded through the brownish with a splash and ended up by her mother in a flash, who, welcoming her hearty child warmly, licked her nape with her long, pink tongue. The cub kissed her guardian angel on the chin and then nuzzled…
Laissez-faire
Miss Mirchani Female Cub – an ardent ambassador of laissez-faire She saw, she came and she sat. Doesn’t exactly sound like a world-domineering conqueror’s magic trio of words, but that is exactly what makes cats, the equitable monarchs, so very special; they conquer the heart by merely being. After this Mirchani female cub’s initial enthusiasm…
Less Equal than Others?
This Republic Day, I wish that we can offer our magnificent felines, the symbol of our natural treasure, the same liberty and protection that we, the simian citizens of this country, enjoy, so that, amongst other things, they can cross roads without the fear of being mowed down by mindless juggernauts. Happy Republic Day!
TIGGA TALES 