Shyamala Kumar
13-03-2020, 12:38 PM
Within seconds she came up close on level with our vehicle just a couple of feet away .She first checked the co driver on the left ,then moved behind to where I was standing .I was too scared to sit as that seemed to bring me closer to her .The clicking sound of my camera caused the expression on her face to change from wariness to surprise . Then she moved around to the back of the vehicle and came up full circle to the right in parallel with the driver and opened her mouth in a threatening snarl . By this time our driver had ducked his head below the steering asking the naturalist in a shaking voice as to what he should do . Fortunately Twinkle seemed to have assessed the threat to her territory and come to a decision. After the blood chilling snarl she made her way back down the ravine to the river bed where she lay down for her morning siesta . Her stomach seemed to be full . According to the naturalist her unexpected aggression must have been be triggered by the fact that we had left the track and had intruded into her territory .The naturalist admitted that he had often tracked Twinkle and her sister when they were cubs and on one occasion she had had chased him .Even he said that this particular encounter could easily have gone the other way .It was a chilling reminder that one can never take wild animals for granted . Nikon D750+70-200 ,ISO 500 ,F/3.5 FL70mm ,1/500s . early morning Tipeshwar .