This is a story of a tiger who was determine to hunt and make a kill for himself. Read this photo story with the series of images and behold your eyes for once in a lifetime experience of rare moments in wildlife photography. After about 22 safaris in Ranthambore in last 3 years at last I was fortunate enough to witness & record the rare moments of how a determined young male tiger went on a hunt managed to kill a deer and dragged and dropped the carcass inside a nalla , his favorite place. I was privilege to witness all this at an incredible distance of only 8 to 10feet.This was one of my most successful wildlife sojourns in last eight years of experience in wilderness and perhaps could be my only one in my life time......
The Yawn that started a storm :-
14th June 2016 , 6 am
at RTR Zone3 the climax was in the offing. 30mins into the safari we
spotted Male tiger named T85 (Pacman) inside a thick shrub growth but
was unable to see him properly and could only feel his movements by the
movement of leaves and dry tall grass , after a wait of about half an
hour a big yawn was clearly visible inside the thickets , the silence
was broken......
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| The Yawn that started a storm.... |
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| after the yawn finally he was out on a morning mission to kill. |
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| Right from the time he entered the road, he saw that he was surrounded by the jeeps, his mind was focused and initially only he knew what his task ahead was, we all were just following his path. |
Moving
hurriedly forward we also followed him as we were in front of him we
had to keep a sufficient distance for safety and security of the animal
as well as us. Stop, pause, move briskly ahead was his modus operandi
that morning. When the tiger is on the move the Jeep also has to move
ahead or backwards constantly , consequently your position keeps moving,
the target is also moving, you have to
avoid camera shakes more so if you are hand holding it, at the same time
adjust the focal length to catch the subject in a perfect frame,
sometimes quickly adjust the exposure parameters photography becomes a
challenging task then . All eyes were now on Pacman as he paused and
looked at us…..Zoom – frame – click.
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The agony and ecstasy of Wildlife Photography.:
Moving ahead on the main road of Zone 3, Pacman was the focus of
attraction of at least 30 to 40 tourist who had lined up on either side
of him, but it appeared that his focus was on something else. If I may
recollect , this guy ‘Pacman’ had a tiff with his father T28 aka ‘Star’ ,
when star had refused to share his Sambar kill to
his son and drove him away , which was witnessed by us on 12th morning
safari just 2 days back. So justifiably Pacman (T85) was desperately
looking for a hunt ? It is said that when the tiger is looking for a
prey he roams absolutely noiseless and particularly if he has not eaten
for a long time he will look for the food somewhere close by and that
too a relatively easy catch. By that logic I thought something will
happen close by… Huh…!! but It seemed all hopes of us were dashed when
he disappeared in the thicket ……
but as when we were losing our hopes of
the guy returning back Hurrah…….. !! to our astonishment he was back on
the stage. That’s agony and ecstasy of wildlife tourism !!
The
Magical Zone of RTR :
Before I move on to the next image clip,here is
something about RTR’s Zone -3 , the most sought after Zone . Mesmerizing
beauty of this zone can be clearly seen as it has to its credit one of
the largest water bodies of RTR the iconic Rajbaag , the deep blue
waters and the green foliage of surrounding trees and a carpet of grassy
meadows interspersed with green/ rufous brown
shore land becomes the favorite watering hole for many animals such as
chital, deer, sambhar, neel gai, and so many more... and thus in return
becomes the happy hunting ground for a Tiger. & when you see a
tiger with a background of lake and forest it is an icing on the cake.
About
16 mins passed by since that awesome 'yawn at dawn' this guy was
trailing for his prey when he decided to stop for a while against the
dry undergrowth on the road side in a classical cat pose with a licking
tongue.Tc hah…ugh !! ”now where can I find my food”?? Was the
articulated expression on his face. He paused only for five seconds bang
in front of us and it was again a Zoom…..frame….click moment.
He
left the road and diverted to the open meadows on the banks of the lake
and … Psst!! started his silent gait at times looking distressed and
frantically giving a glance all around looking out for prey, By this
time it was fairly palpable that this guy was desperate for a hunt &
killing a prey for his staple diet. The favourite lake front spot for
many animals who come for quenching
their thirst was also totally desolate , probably they all must have
sensed his arrival , dejected he was returning back and……Whee!! the
background…the lake…the open meadows and in the middle of the frame the
tiger…. Again a dream COME TRUE photography moment……Zoom – frame –
click!!! That was my action. But now the most important question in my
mind was….will the ‘Pacman’ manage to hunt and kill a prey this
morning??
Dejected
as he was when he could not find anyone near the lake front , the bones
and horn remains of the earlier kills were making him more exasperated ,
it was now nearly 30mins since his eventful morning yawn , the silence
in the air was visible everywhere , only the chirping sounds of the
birds were herd , even the 40 odd tourist who had gathered to witness
the drama were in deathly silence mode.
The time was running out for ‘PACMAN’ , normally a hungry tiger cannot
afford to stalk for a longer time as it will drain his energy more &
more , it was more so when he was driven out at his father’s sambar
kill just 2 days back he had to desperately search for a kill for his
own survival. What did he do next?.
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Leaving
the lake front dejectedly, he now adopted a disguise strategy , he
crossed the road and went to the opposite side of the lake a hilly area
which was on a gradient a dry grassy meadows land , now we all thought
that he has gone in search of different pastures and will not return ,
but here the experience of the duo the guide and driver really counted
the driver quickly took the position of
the jeep in such a way that the next possible action was the climax of
this story …… Why he went towards the hill side and what was his
disguise strategy? Watch this space for further final onslaught!!
Meanwhile
here at the lake front and nearby surroundings after the departure of
Pacman (T85) the ambience was all solitude and silent and the herd of
spotted deer thinking it was safe gathered at a spot which was right
near our position of the jeep. The clock touched 7.25am, the sun was now
well above the horizon on a summer morning and a glance towards
the hill side where Pacman was seen vanishing just a few minutes ago
was astonishingly beholden with a majestic sight of Pacman with his eyes
totally focused on the herd. His strategy of disguise seemed to be
paying dividends. The gradient slope of the hill gave him a ringside
view of the herd which were on the other side of the road where the
jeeps full of tourists were waiting with anxious moments for that final
assault. The backdrop of tall dry deciduous trees, the historic
dilapidated brick structure of part of fort and the gradient grassy land
with the tiger as a focal point was again a dream come true photo
opportunity ….. Zoom – frame – click!!! That was my action again.
It
was in true sense a silent storm brewing inside the tigers mind as well
as ours.The past 30 minutes he had kept 40 odd tourist constantly guessing & on tenterhooks as he now slowly moved closer
towards the final assault, the nature has bestowed him the virtue of
being an excellent hunter, his body & mind started synchronizing to
perceive him in a magnificent display of tandem gait. Watching closely
from my camera view finder I saw his sharp eyes at once transformed into
violent lustre. There was not a dash of sound even with his enormous
body weight of 150/200kgs. It showed how his paws were excellently
padded and his footfalls were heavily cushioned as he moved stealthily
forward. Suddenly I noticed he swiftly changed his position and put
himself behind a tall tree, with some dry grass in front. This clearly
gave him an advantage of the startling effect which is the hallmark of
tigers. At this time I was unable to focus towards the herd due to the
peculiar situation which can be explained thus……we were stationed on the
main road of Zone 3 on the left side of us was Pacman in his final
stages of assault, on the right side just 8 feet away from us was the
herd of spotted deer may be around a group of 10 to 12 a mix of young
and old. One of them could be the victim of this predator, who will it
be was the question in my mind? It may be assumed that Pacman must have
targeted his prey, but the herd was completely unaware. It was a life
and death factor for all.
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| His sharp eyes at once transformed into violent lustre. |
Taking
the eye off the view finder, I quickly looked at the herd and whispered
in my mind…..”will you all runaway from here your Devil (Yama) is
staring in front of you and how can you all be so oblivious of this
fact” !!! Hurriedly gluing my eye again to the view finder , I focused
at the Pacman once again , now the tiger stood straight
, eyes focused on the target, keeping absolute silence his stripes
blending so well with the forest and the ambience , he crept few steps
ahead and Poof in one…two…three big leaps, before I could turn my camera
and focus on to him again , Pacman had grasped the nape of a young male
spotted deer , the action happened inside the thick tall dry grass that
we could not photograph the actual action but was able to see him
clearly grabbing the victims neck , the deer stumbled and tried to
escape but his grip with the powerful canines was so strong that the
animal gave up in few seconds. At last after a marathon trail of nearly
half an hour since that ‘Yawn at dawn’ Pacman was successful in his hunt
and kill, for the sake of safety of all the tourist who had gathered to
see this imperious display of masterly act of predation. In some way I
felt that the tourist jeeps lined up along the road acted as a screen
& proved to be a boon for Pacman and bane for the victim .To sum it
all, Pacman had to be successful in his endeavor or else he would have
jumped & pounced on to any one of the 10 odd jeeps stationed on the
road, in desperation
There
is a most fascinating EPILOGUE to this story, after successfully
managing a kill with not much of an efforts Pacman thought of going in
for a second kill , so he dropped the lifeless deer inside the shrubs
and went on a second hunt on the banks of the lake but quickly returned
back after a futile attempt at that and again took control of the
carcass, which emphatically demonstrated his zeal and hunger that morning.
Now
the main task ahead for him was to drag the carcass to his safe &
favorite hideout to enjoy the fruits of his labor for next couple of
days, which he successfully accomplished it but not before a 30mins
& half a km. grueling efforts after that magnificent exhibition of
wild kill, it was now 46mins since that ‘Yawn at Dawn’…
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| ‘Killer Looks’ image of close up of T85-PACMAN |
After 22 safaris in 3 successive Years in RTR, on
14th June 2016 all 4 P’s viz “Patience, Perseverance, Providence and
Prudence” played significant roles when he was on a mission to Hunt and Kill on
that eventful morning of 14th June & we followed his trail all the
way to the killer point and later up to his favorite hide out place for eating.
All images and story write-up is the copyright of
