Tiger at night

[Rajan Kanagasabai]

After the tiger spotting in the morning at Bandipur (near the JLR gates), we were driving to my friends farm at Masinagudi around 7:45 PM the same night. On the stretch between Mavanallah village and Vazhaithottam, the roads are normally narrow and we were driving slowly, actually looking out for Rivlado, who frequents this stretch. Suddenly there was a rustle and movement of the bushes. I turned on my spotlight and there, was this majestic beast staring at us. It looked like the same guy we saw the morning at Bandipur (the stripe pattern looks alike), but almost 25 KMS away the same day!!! Can Tigers traverse such distances in the space of 12 hours (though the distance through the jungles can be a lot less, when compared to the road route)

He stood there frozen for quite a bit of time and i had time to hand the spotlight to my friend and try various setting with my camera.

5D MIII, f4, 1/400 sec, ISO 12800, Bean bag supported on car window - EF 500mm f/4 L IS

regards
Rajan

[Roopak Gangadharan]

Wow thats amazing...the distance is nothing, if it comes thru mangala outskirts and crosses the moyar ditch and via avarahalla it wudn't be more than 10-12 Kms. The road is pretty circuitous. But the coincidence is too much.... sometimes one wonders how and why? One more thing to note is the fact that it is lurking close to human habitation.

TFS
Roopak

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Agree with Roopak. They can walk long distances. I feel they walk faster and longer when there is a purpose, for example moving in search of mate. I have seen them walking 10-12 kms in a short time in the night.

The image is a bit reddish as well as higher in saturation. A bit more brightness will be fine. Thanks for sharing.
Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Mrudul Godbole]

Its amazing that you could sight the same tiger in two different places. Good you got one eye in the clear. Thanks for sharing. Look forward to more.

[Abhirup Dutta Gupta]

FANTASTIC image this is............

[Debasis Bose]

Not coincidence, he wanted his photograph to be shot, he walked down and was waiting.......

It is a dream come true to sight tiger at night in the wild. You are lucky and moment nicely captured. TFS

[Rajan Kanagasabai]

Not coincidence, he wanted his photograph to be shot, he walked down and was waiting.......

It is a dream come true to sight tiger at night in the wild. You are lucky and moment nicely captured. TFS

Thanks. This was surely a dream come true, for though i have seen Tigers and Leapords at night, they never stood around for more than a few seconds and never gave me a chance to even aim my camera. This one as you said actually posed around and i had time to try various settings. If you see the ISO, it is at an insane 12800. Thanks to the powerful spotlight, the picture was actually possible.

regards
Rajan

[Saktipada Panigrahi]

Sighting of a Tiger in night is the Nature's gift to you. Nice image. It will remain as a ' Memory's toy'. My first three visits during early 1970's were evening safaris in Sariska, Haraibagh and Palamau, but I did not see any tiger.
I have only once seen a Tiger in night lurking from inside the mangrove for a minute or so at about 11 p.m on 17.02.2006 using searchlight from a small high deck launch (in those days normally foreigners used it) berthed near a creek in between Jharkhali and Netidhopani during our one week tour of the Sundarbans in February, 2006; for such stay we obtained permission. Now all launches are required to return to Sajnekhali by the evening.
Thanks for sharing. SaktiWild

[Shyamala Kumar]

Great sighting and beautifully captured.The image captures the secretive and enigmatic nature of the top predator of the Indian wilderness. Thanks for sharing.