On the Tiger trail at Tiger Trails in Tadoba ........

[madaboutcheetah]

Dear All,

 

Here's some quick information regarding Tadoba as promised.

 

This was a sort of last minute trip that I planned, thanks to great info from Kittykat23uk who had posted about Tadoba Trails a couple of times.

 

As a prelude, I must say that it has always bothered me that I had not made a good enough effort to try and photograph Tigers ....... it was always an awkward moment, when people would ask me, "what about pictures of Tigers?" .........I have only myself to blame - no excuses. The matter escalated a little bit, when I did a presentation for a group of approx 100 people as part of the local wildlife/photography club and all pictures were Africa based (ok, that was the theme of the evening anyways) and later when people walked up to me, I was always going to be asked the Tiger question ..........

 

Next I made a dash to Bandipur - again, gave up after a few drives to end up lazy on the final morning ........... I then planned Tadoba with the attempt to get some pictures. Tadoba is also easily accessed from Nagpur which has a well connected air network. Only a 2.5 hour drive!

 

Tiger Trails is not luxury by any stretch. It is more like staying in someone's home. It is owner run and operated, and Gosh! the owner Amrut really is a wealth of information ....... anything you want to know about Tigers, conservation, Tadoba etc etc., What can i say???? Food is delicious - very simple home cooking!!! They don't attempt at creating anything they cannot! Just do the simple things brilliantly ....... Lodge is comfortable, nice comfortable beds, shower that works, good views, waterholes around the property where Tigers come EVERY night to drink! Not making this up - they have cameras fixed everywhere and they are enthusiastic with their conservation. Infact, the cameras recorded a Tiger at the waterhole next to my room at approx 8:25PM - probably a few minutes after that I was walking back from dinner ........ Imagine that????? Awesome stuff ..... too bad I didn't know to look!

 

Another advantage to this lodge - they have a park entrance right outside their property - most lodges are in the Southern end of the park and it takes them a while to get here. Normally on every game drive you spend the first 45 minutes by yourself - I saw Sloth Bear, a small pack of wild dog without any other vehicle around.

 

It was burning hot! Think October in Botswana ....... that hot! maybe hotter!!!

 

The game drive was brilliant ....... Tigers all over the park at the moment. 3 Tiger families that they are seeing (total 14 Tigers amongst them) - several other Tigers too ...... I saw two of the families.

 

A once in a lifetime opportunity to see 4 Tiger cubs by myself - no one else around for 1.5 hours!!! No crowd - no noise - no disturbance. Amrut organized the Elephant to take me to spend time there.

 

Park is stunning - big, diverse - in short! GO GO GO ...... it's not massively commercialized yet like Kanha or Bandhavgarh.

 

Oh! not to forget - we were following a Tiger and went ahead of it to wait at a waterhole for it's arrival there ....... What do we find? A Leopard ..............

 

In brief, Tadoba ROCKS!!!!

 

Yes, I read about the recent poaching of 2 Tigers in the buffer zone - all the more reason why, Tourism helps ....... Park rangers really do their work here at Tadoba - sightings are regulated and guards are around the Tigers at most times. Damn them Chinese!!!! They are awful ..........

 

Any questions, please please ask.........

Edited May 8, 2012 by madaboutcheetah

[Game Warden]

Any questions, please please ask.........

Yes, please post up photos ASAP

[kittykat23uk]

PICS PICS PICS!!! Hari thanks for posting this you have really whetted my appetite further!! And If anyone wants to come with me, Feb/March 2013 please shout!!! :D We are splitting the trip into two parts (Gujurat and Tadoba) so if people just want to do Tadoba it can be arranged!

[penolva]

WOW WOWWWWWWW Now I wish we were going there as well as Bandipur!! You are so lucky to see Tigers like that. Post those pics soon please.

 

The Chinese have A LOT to answer for.

[twaffle]

Hari, I knew you were waiting for the perfect moment to capture your tigers and I am really looking forward to seeing the results.

[madaboutcheetah]

Thanks, guys....

[madaboutcheetah]

PICS PICS PICS!!! Hari thanks for posting this you have really whetted my appetite further!! And If anyone wants to come with me, Feb/March 2013 please shout!!! :D We are splitting the trip into two parts (Gujurat and Tadoba) so if people just want to do Tadoba it can be arranged!

 

I would love to, but, March 1st I am Serengeti bound .........

[Atravelynn]

That didn't take very long Hari, to get a report together. Tadoba seems to be a real winner. Now you'll have nice tiger photos to go along with your Africa shots. You can show us the tigers at your leisure.

[Sangeeta]

Wow, Hari! Any time alone with a tiger in an Indian park is a huge privilege, to get 4 cubs by yourself for that long was so worth your long wait.

 

I've always teased by brother about stretching the truth a little when it comes to his tiger sightings, but I think I've been mean to him this time - your report pretty much corroborates everything he told me about Tadoba. Really, really looking forward to seeing the pics.

[madaboutcheetah]

http://500px.com/photo/7420739

 

Thanks Sangeeta and Lynn. First pic in the link above.......

[madaboutcheetah]

Before i forget, they were doing the Tadoba Tiger census over the weekend. They put up people on the macchans all around the park (near waterholes) and other prominent Tiger areas and people sit and count Tigers during the course of the 24 hours or whatever!!! haha ......... not sure how accurate this is?

 

Hope we get some results made public soon.

[Game Warden]

Is there any way of embedding images from 500px? So what was the background on this tiger?

[madaboutcheetah]

Is there any way of embedding images from 500px? So what was the background on this tiger?

 

 

Shall try to do that - this is a two year old Tigress about to re-unite with her mother and moving across their territory to try to find her. It was nasty hot - over 40C and a female with 4 grown cubs had taken up different pools of water to cool off ........ just as the sun was about to set, this one was trying to re-unite with the rest.

Did see the rest of the family that day, but, they were all very far from the road so this sub-adult provided the best photographic opportunity ..........

[Atravelynn]

Nice yawn and whiskers.