As we waited for the tigress, a male scarlet minivet bird landed on a tree near me and gave a nice photo. After few minutes, the tigress emerged near the curve about 300 meters away from us. It was walking towards us so I could have some good face shots.
After staying at Dhikala for two nights with Ajit Singh, Alok Kumar and group, I dropped them at Hotel and proceeded to Bijrani, where I was to join Sunil Sharma, Umesh Agarwal, Manoj Garg and two of their friends. When I reached Bijrani, I found that Sunil Sharma’s son Daksh, who is an avid and very knowledgeable photographer and wildlife Enthusiast also accompanied them. He knows the lineage of almost all Tigers in Jim Corbett and also about places where a particular tiger can be seen.
As I entered Aamdanda Gate to proceed to Bijrani FRH in CTR, I was alone in my Gypsy being driven by Majid Ali, as the other five friends had taken one gypsy. As we crossed FRH and proceeded to go in the Jungle, we left the Jar Pahar road and turned left to look for my friends and also take a chance on any sighting. As I proceeded on the road between 6-7 sectors, as we negotiated a curve near Haldu Tree I saw a glimpse of a Tiger walking towards us, who immediately turned to its left and went into the Jungle. Within seconds, I saw that two Gypsy vehicles were following it very close and it was the reason of it entering the jungle. We went up to the place where it had entered the forest and could see it amongst the shrubs behind heavy foliage. I tried to click so pictures but it was so covered in foliage that I could only get a part of its back in frame. Then we proceeded back about 300 meters and waited near the curve, partially hidden from the sight of this tigress. It was the same tigress who had produced a litter of four healthy cubs. These cubs are the main attraction of tourists this season as they are usually found near waterhole no. 4. I tried to inform my friends by mobile, but the network was not there and had to content waiting there.
For some time the tigress was not seen and we turned and circled the forest in zone 6 to try and see, if the tigress had crossed it to come out on the other side. We could not see it and decided to take a final round of the same track, where we had seen it earlier and see if we can sight it, before proceeding to find the group of my friends.When we crossed the tiraha of Haldu tree and proceeded to the same track. I first saw a glimpse of the same tigress walking slowly on the same track near the next curve, I told Majid about it and asked him to drive slowly so as not to disturb it. As we slowly proceeded and passed the curve, we could see it walking regally in front of us, with it tail towards us. I felt the same thrill, which always runs through my body whenever I saw a Tiger. We followed it for about 150 meter, when it turned right and entered the shrubs on the side and decided to sit there, we slowly went up to that point and clicked some pictures of it sitting in the grass. Then we went ahead and waited at the next turn for it. It was near a grass trail, where the tigress usually entered the forest to pass through a very small ravine to reach the other side of the road. As we were waiting, Majid told me that this Tigress was the best opportunity for nice pictures as the cubs, despite being a major attraction, were still very shy and did not venture out in the open. So the chances of taking good pictures were not very high.
As we waited for the tigress, a male scarlet minivet bird landed on a tree near me and gave a nice photo. After few minutes, the tigress emerged near the curve about 300 meters away from us. It was walking towards us so I could have some good face shots. There was no other soul or vehicle in vicinity and I was alone clicking this beauty happily. As it looked straight into my eyes with its mouth slightly open, I clicked this picture.
Clicked with Nikon D7100, Nikon AF-S Nikkor 200-400 mm f/4 G VR-II lens at 220 mm, ISO 400, 1/4000 seconds, f/4.0, spot metering, Exp compensation -0.67.
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