Tigress from Kolsa

Visited Tadoba a couple of weeks back with Gajanan Bhai. This time around the trip was different as we moved away from sure shot sightings of tigresses like Maya and Sonam to more elusive tigers and their newly littered cubs. Kolsa is an area in Tadoba which is dense and chances of sightings are very low. However there is a decent density of tigers there too. For the first time in my many visits to Tadoba a tiger was seen only by our jeep and for hours to follow there wasnt another jeep to even ask if we sighted a tiger. There were no alarm calls, no jungle 'folks' warning us the presence of a tiger, yet we found this tigress engrossed in her own morning chores. She didnt expect humans as much as we didnt expect a sighting, yet we both were curious and for a good 20 mins we tried to visually discover each other. Lovely morning it was indeed.

Nikon D7k, f/5.3,SS 1/320,ISO 2000,195mm.

Looks so lovely. Staring to see who these fellows are. Good to know that you had a nice and long sighting. These days such sightings without other vehicles crowding around is very rare. You can also post a bigger image. Look forward to more images.

Some years back, we had stayed at the Kolsa FRH. On behalf of Nokia, I was donating phones to the forest department for their use. At that time some of the villagers were relocated and grasses planted in those lands to create meadows. The ones who didn't want to relocate were antagonistic to the forest department. However the forest department was proactive under Dr. Patil's stewardship. Hope I will be able to find time to go there sometime soon.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

nice to see this one murugan...its got that alert suspicious look instead of the bored indiffrent one ......:D.

I agree that the quality of the experience in most jungle safaris these days is poor. There is another vehicle around every corner. Lately in places where treking is not allowed I try to stay in an FRH in good locations and wait for nightfall and early morning to hear the jungle come alive and see what little is visible from there...it seemed a much better thing to do than go around and around in a noisy vehicle. That's a personal opinion of course.

TFS
Roopak

Its always better to have a nice peaceful experience than with 4-5 gypsy's and people moving around nosily. If it is a crop, some more space all around would be nice to show the greenery around. Good to know you went with Gajanan Bhai. We have not seen him online for sometime. Hope he is doing well. Do let him know we would like to see some posts from him too :). Thanks for sharing.

Very healthy, lovely coat. Nice capture.
I always like to stay in FRH. Fortunately, there was no Jungle Lodge, Resort or Eco-tourism when I started my journey in 1970 only FRHs.
Thanks for sharing. SaktiWild