Quote Originally Posted by Gowri S View Post
Also it is so disturbing to know that the govt allows such intense human activity so close to the park and when accidents happen, with tigers accidentally killing humans, the tigers have to face the brunt!
Gowri,
I have seen tourists scolding the jeep drivers and asking him to move ahead in search of other tigers, as they want to see all the tigers in the Park. They feel they have paid for seeing all the tigers.

The question is who will teach or tame the unruly tourists. They way our tourism industry is run in India I don't find much hope.

I was waiting for the same tigress and cubs to appear in the afternoon, hoping against hope as some tourists had already occupied the hut/watchtower. The driver of Kings Lodge opened a multi-coloured beach umbrella to protect its precious foreign clients from the sun.

Mahouts tell the tourists that they can take the elephant much closer to the tiger. In the past I have been told not to fear as the elephant can go much closure. I had refused. If the purpose of tiger show is to sight a tiger, then the elephant can be kept at a respectable distance. The Park authorities ensure that tiger show is conducted as they earn money. It is unfortunate.

Accidents do happen. People have fallen from the elephants, but the tigers have been restrained.

Last year there was a tragic incident. A few persons had illegally entered the Park and came face to face with the the grown up male cub of the Sidhababa tigress. They fled but one woman was caught by the inquisitive cub and was killed. The cub then eat a bit of flesh from the woman's body. The Park Authorities wanted to declare this cub as a maneater. However, they huge protests from the drivers, guards, hotel owners and tourists prevented the Park Authorities. After about six months of this incident, a person was killed by a tiger in the buffer zone, about 30 kilometers from this area. It seems a tiger had killed a cow and the man tried to prevent the tiger by beating him up with a stick. Obviously, such stupidity meant instant death. The Park Authorities promptly declared that the cub of Sidhababa tigress was the culprit, declared him to be a maneater and sent him to Bhopal Zoo. Nobody realises that if this tiger is actually a maneater, then many more persons would have been killed.