It’s been exactly 16 years since I had clear and close sightings of tigers in the wild. And what an animated treat they had in store for me. At the Ranthambhore National Park in Rajasthan in India.
I spotted a male tiger sitting by a water hole and a recently hunted langoor monkey lying in state barely three feet away. I was not more than ten feet away myself. The tiger was waiting patiently, either for a guest or for the dinner bell to sound, when something in the water disturbed him. He slowly turned his head, looked for a few moments through the surface and then it was pow-wow in a flash.
A poor turtle had floated in, and was probably the starter (or was it dessert) that the big cat was waiting for. For the next many seconds, all one could see was frantic splashing as the turtle put up a brave fight. Before long, it was tranquil again. The big cat had expectedly won, but it would be a while before he could carve the flesh out from under the hard shell.
The following day, I spotted the same tiger enjoying a siesta by the same pool. My camera kept clicking away to record a rare hunt in the wild!
