As we left the lodge at 5:45 am on the 4rd morning of my 4 day trip and last safari I was hopeful that the hard work, patience and lack of sleep in the last few days would pay off today at Navegaon Ramdeghi Buffer about an 200 miter long drive from #Jharanajunglelodge. We had spent about 5 hours the first day searching and reading signs of the Jungle and about 15 and a half on the second day, we missed the Tigers many times by a few minutes and listened to alarm calls of the deer, very strong ones from just 10-20 meters in the thick bushes, for hours and even heard a Tigress continuously call for her cubs last evening for about 20 minutes. We got many signs, fresh pug marks, scat, sprays, scratch, roars, alarm calls and even movement in the thick bushes but could not get a sighting. There are 10 Tigers (Narsimha male tiger, Ginaji male tiger, P3 sister of Maya, Jharani a big tigres of Tadoba national park. Rana a big male tiger son of Jaharani, Rani, and 4 cubs,) in the vicinity, within a very small area yet they can escape us so easily.
On the second day we found very fresh pug marks of two tigers just 500 meters from the gate, possibly from the night and so rushed in pursuit, my senses were alert and both the guide and I were standing and frantically searching…… all 5 of us started feeling that today will be the day and that too a day with immense possibilities….. but this is wildlife….. and it is very uncertain. The pug marks went in and out of the Tracks, occasionally we saw some marks of the Tigers sitting on the road and even playing. We kept on following and much to my surprise and even that of my guide we continued even after 10 kms…… and on the 12th kilometer mark we reached the end of Buffer zone adjoining the core zone Navegaon meadow …… The tigers were gone….. no more a chance of sighting these two once they crossed over to the restricted core area unless they plan to return today itself which is highly unlikely. We were shocked and flustered, it is very unusual for the Tigers to travel so much within such a short time. Why did they walk so much? And why could they not just sit there for a little while and laze around like Tigers do? The sheer mysteriousness, a sense of helplessness and hopelessness, made us very irritated, how is it that the Tiger can be so mysterious; just disappear from within our grasps?
All 5 of us were a little disappointed. But more than that we felt weak, helpless and tiny in front of this being……. We searched all day for a full 15 and a half hours, in the bone chilling cold of the morning and blistering heat and humidity of the afternoon, and pouring heavens of late evening, all with no luck.
But my patience was still intact, hanging by a thread, solely because of the immense beauty of the Buffer after the monsoon with its streams and ponds filled up to the brim and trees lush green and clean as if they just took a nice bath, the rich insect life, the sweet smell of earth and the ever present and melodious sing of the Birds,
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So on the way to the buffer on the 3rd morning, I was still optimistic, we had been in pursuit for a very long time and I felt like we deserved a glimpse at least. While the optimism gave me happiness and comfort, lack of sleep, I could hardly keep eyes open on the way to the Buffer, but my cough and congestion did not let me sleep either. Throughout the day we did what we had been doing…… searching and stopping to study the forest and to take some photographs of the common subjects.
At around 2 pm, we halted at a watch tower for an hour or so to study the forest once again, maybe hear some calls. Gudda and I were just refreshing old memories from Bandhavgarh when it struck me…… it is a common custom in Buffer to break a coconut at a very old Jogamoga temple inside buffer gate, it is believed that it fulfills your wishes, when handwork and luck do not combine to give you what you are looking for, it is believed that God will, so I told my guide that “Arey ithe nariyal nahi phodale mhanun waagh nahi disat ahe” and he replied saying “Arey haaan, So after the safari without thinking twice we got inside the car, went to a nearby village and bought a coconut, drove to the temple frantically and completed the ritual.
As we got into the Buffer again around 5:45am a last safari, the optimism seemed to be flaring real high and soon enough we saw pug mark of Jharani at jamnicha nala, we follow the pug mark, from Jamnicha nala to Samadhicha paat it 3 km and pug on the word all the way, but no tiger, I am a little disappointed. After samadhicha paat no pug mark, its 6.30am than I told my guide chal murmachi khadhan pahu, lets go to the murmachi khadan, Hence just like we had done before, we rushed to the area murmachi khadan, 2km away from samdhicha paat, we reach there and I saw pug mark, I told guide now its last chance to find a tiger so be alert, we follow the pug mark and after 1km I saw the tiger cub on the road oh God, I shouted like a child, ” As if a the world was about to end and all heaven and hell about to burst, I sprang up from my sleep caught hold of my camera, My world started spinning partly due to the immediate break of my deep slumber and partly due to the immense beauty of the feline posing in front of me…. and I struggled to get the beanbag onto the jeep. I took a few shots and checked for all my settings.
Now I wondering Jharani will be nearby the cub so we move towards cub and we saw jharani ho God what a tigress she is like a Queen, big in size. My guide told me that we will follow her from her back be I want head-on photograph of Jharani no one get it till date because she chase the jeep so no one get her photograph but I want it, so we move ahead from her, now she is head-on walking toward us, and suddenly she running toward our jeep oh god it’s like life race, we star our jeep and run little away from her, I took some photographs, it s horrible feeling when tiger chase you your comes in your mouth. Its dream sighting Jharani with 2 cub, that day she follow us almost 40 minutes, we took good photographs, its sitting like a spectacle from my dreams.
Within a minute all my troubles seemed to disappear, I felt as if I could run a hundred miles…. faster than a tiger, all that waiting seemed like a few minutes and all that hard work seemed like childs play. There was a big 50 watt smile on all 5 of our faces. The shutter did not stop…… “Bagheshwar” (Tiger-God) was in front of me and it was pure bliss.
We spent a full 40 minutes with her, got some great shots as she got up and moved around marking her territory. Everything paid off and not only was this one of the best Tiger sightings of my life and would go as one of the best travel experiences in my book but also got one of my best tiger images ever. She was the most beautiful Tiger I have ever seen, even surpassed the blue eyed tigress (Spotty) that I saw in December 2016. This Tigress named Jharani is a famous of Navrgaon Ramdeghi Buffer..
It had always been a dream to see a Tiger in the greens, and what better place for it to happen than Buffer of Tadoba….. where it all began. I don’t know what it was….. luck, jogamoga god, patience, hard work, blessing….. a mix of all? I don’t know. All I knew was the feeling of sheer joy and compassion.
Thanking God. Also thanking Jharana Team, there are many tadoba resorts but I wwould recommend jharana jungle lodge as a best tadoba national park resorts. It was a successful not only cause of the sighting but because I was able to learn so much and able to do a little research.
Jharana Jungle lodge, Tadoba 