Tiger Trace

Tiger Pug-mark

It has been only 14 days at my new home. KAAV Kabini is literally at the edge of the nagarahole national park. Unlike my previous posts I do not need to give any introduction to this post. It was around 3 pm there were forest officers wondering at my fence.

I got to know there has been a fresh kill and they were waiting for gunman to come first before anybody go to check out the scene because of ambush. I requested the forest ranger if I may come along, fortunately he was pleased with my humble request and allowed me to come along.


From that moment onwards for next 4 hours nobody's has been able to control my excitement. I walked out of the gate, crossed the forest fence and immediately we saw tiger droppings. There was few inches bone pieces in the fresh dump.

Tiger Dump - notice bones

Sambar killed by Tiger

I followed the gunmen and officers and found pug marks, I by that time was in a state of illusion not aware of my surroundings. We followed the tiger trial - the pug marks, dump and he had dragged his kill all along and trace of blood and bones. As we got closer the pungent odour was too strong. I almost puked so I took this snap holding my mouth in one hand and ran away from the spot. Dr. Shivkumar (CC warden) was kind enough to explain me the surroundings and showed me the picture of massive tiger which he had photographed couple of days before.

Tiger pug mark

The officers continued following the trial but my journey ended after looking at tiger's den. There was other animal left over and he has left me with excitement to spot him now which I can do from my balcony. The deer was not completely eaten, there were flies everywhere and by evening I could get the stink upto my home.

So close to wilderness my room has 15 feet French windows (without grills) and 10 feet from the tiger terrine. This whole experience has  made me feel super special every second of my life.

On my way notice elephant dump and beautiful peacocks which is quiet common in Kabini (Rajiv Ghandi national park) also called Nagarhole national park.

An evening with staff

I have been moving slowly, one day at a time. I don''t have any worry as such. The first 5 days has been slowly unlocking every bit of my new life, one thing at a time. Have gone to nearby villages, resorts and towns, all has been basically smooth exploration, giving me a lot of confidence learning my surroundings.

Just couple of hours ago, there was elephant loud trumpet which has left fear in my mind. The closest house is tribal thatched roof huts who are shouting and beating up vessels to chase away the elephant. My fellow staff left me alone at night 30 feet from the park border, confirming to me; its nothing for an elephant to knock down the fence and crash down the pillar and enter my house.

That's not it, while we(my fellow colleague Chida and me) were returning back in dark night from our usual walk, the local stray dog "pinto" which guards our home jumped from no where scaring us to death. When we closely observed, the dog right eye was bleeding. My first thought was it could be by wild animal like a leopard, tiger, wild dogs etc. We just rushed through with our walk and hit straight to bed.

A lot of things has been happening newly and I truly relish the absolute sacred feeling. Life is beautiful and praise the lord.

Cheers
SH