So there are destinations and destinations, each offering their
distinct USPs. Hot attractions that draw tourists seeking an
‘experience’ to carry home – a trophy to substantiate a battery
of travel yarns. But in this craze for acquiring the best
seller, our jetsetter often overlooks the finer details –
colours that give a place meaning and significance. After all
isn’t the great thing about travel, the joy of savouring an
authentic experience in its entirety… like the succulent slice
of a fruit, stones, rind and all?
The tiger is undoubtedly India’s most charismatic export and the
twenty seven odd tiger reserves dotting the country cope with a
steady file of tourists descending with the single-minded
determination of encountering the big cat – an encounter
resourcefully ‘arranged’ by guides and rangers with persistence
to match.
Make no mistake. To a wildlife freak - and I belong to the
species - a tiger sighting is the climax of the safari, the
delectable icing on the cake. Often however the obsessed tiger
chaser, fanatically pursuing his quarry, remains obdurately
blind to the countless other wonders that make up the typical
Indian jungle experience, a realization that sank its teeth in
during our first trip to the Kanha Tiger Reserve in Madhya
Pradesh.
Kanha is beautiful; a glimpse of its ancient forest giving way
to open meadows and again erupting into thick sal or bamboo,
suffices to counter any residual hangover of braving the hazards
of Indian state transport travel. And queuing for entry to the
safari, even the jeeps seem to purr in suppressed expectation.
Kanha has often been described as the best place in the world to
see a tiger; alas during our visit it did not turn up even an
apology of a pugmark, let alone a whisker. And we were not
alone. “Seen any?” “No, you?” None” was the common refrain
between jeeps. “It seems to be one of those days when for some
unexplainable reason no tigers are spotted any where in the
park,” consoled the guide. It was true. During the three days we
were there not a single self-respecting tiger chose to disclose
itself, not even as far as the Mukki range on the other side of
the park.
A wasted trip then? Sure, if you discount the sambar, herds of
gaur, and hundreds of chital and langurs and peafowl. Any rare
sightings? Not unless you include the barasinghas (Kanha is the
only place in the world where you find the hard ground variety
of this species). At the very beginning we impressed upon our
guide that besides the top cat, we were also interested in the
other lesser creatures that constituted the food chain. Luckily
he took our request to heart so that we were amply rewarded: a
black necked stork wading in a stream, a collared scops owl
simulating a dry tree stump, a crested serpent eagle surveying
the terrain, nothing missed his trained eye. Suddenly he would
motion the driver to stop and point. Only after following his
frantic gestures and urgent whispers would we see it. A barking
deer, outline barely discernable, crouching in a bush. A monitor
lizard clumsily scampering over a rocky slope. Or a woodpecker
excavating its larder.
Today, many wild excursions later, nostalgia relives golden
memories of that first trip. Like the herd of gaur, calves and
all, which grazed on unconcernedly letting us approach close.
The glory of the evening light on their backs as they ambled
away followed by a flock of cattle egrets. The unexpected
sighting of a lone old bull foraging down at a waterhole,
magnificent even in the past of his prime.
On our last evening in Kanha we waited by a stream, praying for
the tiger our guide suspected was around, to appear. After a
certain point it did not matter any longer and we simply
surrendered to the electrifying atmosphere, jungle silence
broken only by the repeated calling of a jungle fowl, as
darkness quickly descended and our driver rushed to get back
before the gates closed. The next morning Kanha saw an
unexpected drizzle of rain. The temperature dropped sharply and
an uncanny hush pervaded in the jungle. Few animals were about
and on this last safari we saw a different side of the forest,
eerie almost forbidding.
Later at the gate we met with the question again, “Any tigers?”
“No, tough luck”, I said, “But what the hell!”
For those interested, www.traveljini.com extensively covers
destinations in India including wildlife.
Roozbeh Gazdar
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