Tiger Safari in India

By Mariellen Ward

Seeing a wild tiger is on many bucket lists and, with 50 tiger reserves and 60 per cent of the world’s wild tigers, there is no better place than India.

We are drinking steaming hot chai in Tala Zone of Bandhavgarh National Park when we hear it. The unmistakable growl of a tiger, a sound that creeps under your skin and makes your heart boom. “Chelo,” the guide says, Hindi for “let’s go,” so we jump into the open jeep.

Our guide, a local naturalist, races the jeep as fast as possible down the road and stops abruptly. “Tiger, tiger,” he whispers emphatically, and points to a clearing in the forest. There, walking directly toward us, is a magnificent, beautiful, sub-adult male tiger.

JEEP IN KANHA TIGER RESERVE

As I struggle to contain my euphoria, the tiger walks nonchalantly toward our jeep, and then around to the road in front of us, pausing briefly to give us a look of extreme indifference. He then continues to a meadow on the other side of the road, where a herd of spotted deer stands with their eyes pointed fixedly toward him. For what seems like an eternity, he circles the outer perimeter of the meadow, never making a move toward the deer, who eventually turn tail and flee.

GROUP OF TIGERS IN BANDHAVGARH NATIONAL PARK

If you haven’t experienced it, it’s hard to explain what it’s like to see a tiger in the wild. Simply put, the tiger electrifies the forest. Everyone feels it, the deer and monkeys, the locals and tourists, and even the guides and naturalists, who see tigers on a regular basis.

You might also be surprised to know that people live in villages on the periphery of tiger reserves, and that forest guards walk through them every day, armed only with sticks. Most of the time, tigers are not dangerous to humans – unless there is some kind of human-animal conflict. Since I started going on safaris, I have seen 23 tigers, many of them up close, literally within a few feet. I never felt afraid.

BONNET MACAQUE, ENDEMIC TO SOUTHERN INDIA

I saw my first tiger in Bandhavgarh National Park and Tiger Reserve, one of the best places to see tigers in India due to the terrain and the density – there are up to 70 adult tigers in the park. Nearby, about a five-hour drive away, is Kanha Tiger Reserve, also one of the top places to spot a tiger. Both are in Madhya Pradesh, which is home to six tiger reserves altogether, arguably the ultimate destination in India for tiger safaris. The state is blessed with thick jungles and abundant wildlife and still has about 40 per cent forest cover, which is very high for India.

While some tiger reserves may offer a better chance than others for tiger sightings, luck and timing do play a major part as guides and forest staff are prohibited from using walkie-talkies, collars, and other devices. They must use their skill and knowledge of the tigers in their natural habitats to successfully track them, and even then, they often prove elusive.

BANDHAVGARH MOUNTAIN

It’s uncanny to watch a skilled tiger tracker work. Their primary methods are following pugmarks (tiger footprints) on the sandy roads and listening for alarm calls. Unfortunately for the tigers, their movements are carefully tracked throughout the jungle by a network of monkeys in the trees and deer on the ground, who work together to keep tabs on tigers whenever they move. They make distinctive and loud alarm calls, which guides are trained to detect.

LANGURS IN BANDHAVGARH NATIONAL PARK

The tigers in India’s national parks are also carefully monitored by the Forest Department. There are now approximately 3,900 wild tigers in the world, and approximately 60 per cent are in India. This is an increase from 1,411 tigers in India in 2006, but while their numbers are up, they are still classified as endangered.

Tigers are precious treasures as well as magnificent creatures. If you ever get the chance to see one, grab it. You will never forget it.