“Whenever we encounter wild animals in nature, we must only ever show kindness and compassion.” ― Paul Oxton
I vividly remember the day when I saw a tiger for the very first time in the wild. There’s a lot of difference between watching a tiger in a zoo and sighting a tiger in the wild. This majestic animal fascinates one and all, without any doubt. It’s beauty and aura is inexplicable.
It was Pench, in the winters of 2017. I count that day as one of the most important days of my life. On the same day, we sighted two different tigers, one in the morning and one in the afternoon safari. We entered through the Sillari gate. The gypsy drivers race to enter in the core of the forest as early as they can. The reason being, the quieter the forest the more are the chances of good wild life sighting, especially tigers.
Pench is a beautiful forest of Central India that has also found its place in the famous writer, Rudyard Kipling’s work, The Jungle Book. It’s a dry deciduous forest and gets its name from the Pench River that divides the forest into two equal halves, western and eastern.
In the morning, as we moved into the forest, the guides started tracing the Sambar deer and Langur calls and contacting each other to know who has sighted a tiger. Probably, they were taking us to the place where a tiger was last sighted or to a place where the tiger sighting was frequent. There were 2-3 gypsies ahead and also behind us. Being bird watchers and nature lovers, we were anyway enjoying the forest and it was all good until the guides got the news of a tiger being sighted somewhere else. And then it was a little chaos as each gypsy wanted to reach the spot first so their passengers get to see a tiger. When we reached the spot, there were already around eight gypsies and the tiger stood on a green patch of hill. Meanwhile, in order to get a clear view of the tiger, another gypsy driver reversed his vehicle very harshly. Undoubtedly it startled the animal and it walked inside, deep into the forest.
All of us in my gypsy were as quiet as we could be so that we can peacefully enjoy mother nature. Just the sight of it was mesmerizing but sadly it lasted only for few seconds. My eyes didn’t move until it went inside and was completely out of sight. This is when a man got off from his gypsy to click pictures and the guides and drivers started shouting at him to get back into the vehicle. It’s very dangerous to get out of your gypsy during a safari in the jungle. Later, we did bird watching and visited the water body, famously called as ‘Jannat Point’ by our guide.
This is another incident from the evening safari, on the same day. It was all quiet and peaceful as we set out for the safari. We were as usual looking for birds and within just an hour remaining to return back to the gate, we got to know that Ambakhori Male Tiger was sighted. When we reached the spot, the tiger was asleep near a small stream, covered by a canopy. The stream was flowing between us and the tiger. To see sun rays fall on its face as it yawned and moved steadily brushing its back on the ground, was just beautiful. At this point of time, there were not many gypsies. But by the time, it was awake; already 10-15 gypsies had arrived. He woke up and started walking slowly towards its right. In order the give way for gypsies behind, the gypsies that were ahead started moving further along with the tiger. At one point of time, our gypsy stood right in front of the tiger, hardly few feet away, while it posed for the photographers.
Within no time, it was a traffic jam! All the gypsies were stuck in two lanes on that narrow road while the tourists clicked selfie with the tiger, took videos and some even had their camera flash switched on. It was a horrible sight for me, quite literally. The tiger was already limping because of a leg injury; it was clearly observed getting disturbed by the surroundings. I and my friends also advised few tourists not to click pictures with their camera and mobile flash on for it may irritate that wild animal. But hardly anybody paid heed to us. Only after the tiger went inside the forest, the vehicles started to move towards the gate, clearing our way.
Though it was my first tiger sighting in the wild, it left me disappointed. But the trip was a wonderful learning experience for sure. We sighted Indian Jackal and a pack of Indian Dhole (Wild dogs) eating their kill in the morning safari. We also sighted a very good bird life- Crested Serpent Eagle, Short-toed Snake Eagle, Indian Scops Owl, Greater Racket-tailed Drongo, and many more.
29th December 2017, will surely be one of the most memorable and important days of my life. That day, I realized the value of responsible wildlife tourism and the lack of awareness among people regarding it. This experience has taught me the need for wildlife conservation and awareness, in its true sense. And the impetus is on us to conserve these beautiful habitats.
For me, wildlife tourism is less about sightings and more about mindful and responsible tourism, taking into account the social and environmental aspects of the forest and its dwellers. As tourists, we should behave responsibly anywhere and not just in the wild. But people behave in the Forest like they behave at any other tourist spot. They want to sight a tiger but most of them don’t have the patience to wait for it. Some wish to sight a tiger within the first few minutes of the safari itself. There is nothing wrong with being curious to sight the wild but it has to be done responsibly with a perfect blend of caution and care, without causing disturbance and damage to the Forest and its inhabitants.
Remember, it’s their HOME!
Purvashree's Lifebook 