A beauty queen and an angry Tusker

A principal character of the woods of Kabini is often called the beauty queen of Kabini - one of the more beautiful tigers of these forests. Affectionately called the TT female, she is a super slim tigress, with a perfectly round face and an elegant walk. Add a bold attitude to add to the natural grace, and she is indeed a photographer’s dream.

A few times I saw her was usually in the lush greens of winter, often relaxing next to the safari track. But once we had a summer encounter that took our breath away.

On a hot March evening, we were in zone-A of the woods of Kabini, when we were alerted about some movement of the big cats. We were not sure where it was, and had to anticipate where it might appear. Our naturalist took an educated guess and positioned our jeep in an open area, hoping the tiger would come out. And indeed - after a few minutes of waiting, arguably the most beautiful striped face of these woods walked out.

The bold tigress walked across the open path, comfortably ignoring the two jeeps of photographers. Soon she entered a thick vegetation, where the real surprise was waiting - within a few seconds we heard an elephant trumpet in anger! Probably the elephant was surprised by the sudden appearance of the big cat, and displayed its displeasure.

With our nerves shaken up, we waited to see if any unexpected action happens. Fortunately the two giants separated in cordial terms, and went in their own ways as the jeeps returned in summer dust with a few memorable frames.