It was 27th day of February 2008 and I was traveling to Mysore ( a city about 140 Kms from Bangalore ) when my friend and a wildlifer - Avinash.K.J called me up to check my schedule for the next day. When I told him about my vacation plans he asked me to join him to a day's trip to the jungles of Bandipur. Without a second thought I said - "Yes, I can come along with you." We started off from Bangalore at 4:30 AM the following day and after some initial glitches, traveling along the Hunsur, we were few miles away from the gates of the jungles of Nagarahole just as when we spotted a magnificent raptor swoop through the valley. It had white and black wing patterns and I vouched for Black shouldered kite. It was an awesome flight of this raptor and we waited for couple of minutes until it vanished into the horizons..

After the raptor sighting it was not much of activity in Nagarahole. We could get some decent shots of Indian rollers , Indian giant squirrels and hoopoes and that was it for the morning. We could see the forests drying up with the fast approaching subcontinent summer. We headed back towards Mysore as we decided to go to Bandipur. Just as we crossed the gates of Nagarahole, I spotted a big raptor that came swooping down and flew away. As I looked through my lens I realized that it was white rumped vulture and I was extremely happy to see it for the very first time.

As we approached Bandipur, I could see smoke emanating from the hills and we soon realized that they were forest fires. Its saddening to know that most of the forest fires happen due to 'blunders' by we humans than it being called a natural phenomena! We had a chat with the people of JLR for about 30 minutes and I saw few small clips of tiger walking down one of the water holes and the clips were made using a mobile phone camera. I always wished see it in the wild some day. I wanted to see the South Indian tigers first before I would want to visit the jungles in the Northern India. I wasn't desperate but it was a dream to see the tiger in the down south and cherishing its beauty for life..

ShrikeWe entered the jungles and logged the entry in the ranger's office and entered the gates of Bandipur at sharp 4:15. We were welcomed by Langurs, Chitals ( Spotted deers ), jungle fowl and jungle pea fowls. While driving from Mysore to Bandipur it was extremely sultry and unbearable for my eyes. The sun was scorching as if he is extremely angry at us, throwing all the tantrum only at us. One of the drivers at Bandipur had suggested us to spend some time at the water holes as we might get lucky with some big cats if they had come down to cool themselves down considering the sultry weather conditions.

For about first 45 minutes it was the usual sightings of Langurs and Chitals. Just as when we were negotiating a curve, we saw a small water body. We waited here to see if we could spot any thing interesting but there were nothing except for some sightings of sambar deers again. It was poor interms of sightings even at water hole 2 and 3 as we drove on. Moving a little further, we realized that we were the only 3 people in the jungle and it was extremely silent considering that it was a weekday. We hit a T junction and I saw a plaque board that read "Aane Katte". I had heard about this range in the Bandipur jungles and I had never been there. This was my very first visit to the jungles of Bandipur and it was completely dry! We took a left turn and proceeded further as I stared at one of the langurs that was resting on the bark of a dry and dead tree. It was completely back lit and I enjoyed the scene not thinking of stopping the jeep and making few images.

We came across another waterhole to my right and my view of the water hole was obstructed by 2 giant trees and I could barely see the water at a distance and as the jeep moved a little further I saw a tinge of water. I couldn't see anything and turned to my left and almost immediately the driver of our jeep - Kiran, shouted "Sir, Tiger! Tiger! ". I was shocked, surprised, astonished and nervous. I started to tremble but I couldn't get the sight of the magnificent carnivore. My friend and the driver stood up and got a glimpse of the tiger. By the time I could manage to stand up like them the tiger was gone. I cursed my slow instincts for not responding to the situation faster. I couldn't believe myself for such a lethargic approach towards the moment. But, the very moment was tense for me and I couldn't believe that I was to witness a tiger sighting down south, which was my dream!

The sadness didn't last for long. Kiran was immaculate in his instincts and tracked the tiger beautifully. He said that the tiger has just got out of the water hole and its definite approach is to cross the jeep track ahead of us and hence we should wait a little further. He switched on the jeep and we raced for 50-60 meters and turned the jeep off and positioned ourselves in the shadow region of a tree so that there won't be much noise that might undermine our tiger sighting luck. For next 90 seconds the silence prevailed in the jungle. There were no alarm calls and no shouts by the Langurs. We waited to the tiger to cross the jeep track and I was the most desperate person in the group as I had missed the glimpse a little while ago..

It was total silence and only sound that I could hear was my nail biting. And finally, I saw the eyes gleaming with the side lighting. I started to shiver. What a magnificent, wild, yet beautiful face it was. For couple of seconds I just couldn't take my eyes of the side lit eyes of our national animal. It was a adult female. I aimed the lens shot couple of frames. I couldn't control my emotions and I was trembling so much that I decided to see the tiger through my own eyes rather than seeing it through the lens. It crossed the track with utmost majesty! When I looked at the face the words that came to my mind were - silence, pride, elegance, pulchritude.....and went blank after that. What a beautiful being it is - simply inexplicable! The very sight of it in the wild, I fell in love with it.

The moment was indescribable. It was like an orgasmic ecstasy which I never wanted to miss and it happened on my first visit to the jungles Bandipur! The power and beauty of such an adorable being had engulfed me so much that I couldn't sleep the entire night and coming out of that "hang over" took me more than a week. The desire to see the tiger in the wild has only doubled with this luckiest encounter.

I always used to wonder as to what is it that is so captivating about the Tiger that makes people go mad looking for it in the wild. And now, I realize what it is and how it feels being in the wild with a tiger. Even spending a couple of seconds with it, is, in itself a great moment in the life of a nature lover and wildlifer.

S A V E T I G E R