When the bride of the hills attempts a hunt

Amongst the wildlife sanctuaries of southern India, Nagarahole has some of the most memorable landscapes. When we enter this reserve from the Coorg district, the large swatches of undisturbed forests just steal our hearts. On a Monsoon evening, we were enjoying one such ride, having spent much of the safari without much look.

But late in the evening, we were cruising along on a rode when in the distant I saw an orange dot in the midst of greens. For a moment our hearts froze, when we realized it was a tiger! One of the more memorable views, where a lone tiger was sitting on top a small hill covered by a huge forest patch. But then the tiger moved, and we followed the safari path parallel to the tiger’s direction. Soon it became apparant that the tiger had spied a herd of spotted deers from her vantage point, and was now trying to go for a hunt.

We quickly positioned our jeep a bit ahead, where we could see the herd of deers, and waited for the big cat to make an appearance. This was a classic jungle wait, the kind of moments immortalised by the likes of Kenneth Anderson and Jim Corbett - anticipation was high, but visibility of the big cat was low! After about ten minutes, suddenly there was a disturbance, and the deers scattered in all directions, maybe shouting Hail Mary in their own language! But still no sign of the cat itself!!

After a couple of minutes one of us in the jeep spied the tiger - it was quietly hiding in a bush, pretty closeby. I guess it had approached the heard in stealth mode, and almost succeeded in catching a prey - but alas, at the last minute its plan was spoiled by the alertness of the deer herd. Slowly the tiger also started its retreat, and took a long walk along a ridge, finally disappearing into the glorious green ocean from where it had emerged.