ADVENTURE & WILDLIFE
Tiger cub burning bright
Location: Ranthambore Tiger Reserve, Rajasthan Date: 19 / 04 / 2015, 7:44:00 AM Camera Info: Nikon D610, Nikkor 300MM F4 with 1.4x TC Metadata: Focal length- 420mm, Aperture- F / 5.6, Shutter Speed- 1 / 1600 sec, ISO – 1000, Exposure(-0.33) A very famous quote by Matshona Dhliwayo,“ The tigers cannot afford to care about what sheep think”. flashes in my mind very vividly whenever someone mentions Ranthambore It was in the month of April, 2015, I had backpacked to one of the astonishing tiger reserves in the land of India,“ The Ranthambore”. That butterflies in the stomach feeling you get, due to the excitement, the thrill that you are on a safari that most people just dream of... If you ask any serious wildlife photographer, his dream would be to photograph or witness a tiger making a kill... so is mine, as I am no different than the others. Finally, the safari began and we were given an information that the cubs of the famous Tigress, Krishna’ s( T-19) cubs were on the hunt...
So, we proceeded towards the area they were spotted in, but too late, they had made their first kill in the Sacred
92 jungles of Ranthambore and we had missed their first kill by a margin of just 10 scant minutes...
The cubs had made a kill and had eaten a small fawn in the early morning hours and were very active, walking all over the area near the kill.
By then, one of the other cubs had been stalking a wild boar which happened to be on the other side of the tall grass. And as it was not confident enough, it restrained itself and just sat under the small tree and was waiting patiently for its siblings to join in the hunt. At this moment, I had noticed the unique pose of the adolescent tiger sitting and waiting for its siblings, communicating with them through its eyes and I had to get that shot.
After re-grouping, the cubs slowly began stalking the boar from the cover of the tall grass, but sensing the presence of the tigers, the boar turned tail and ran in the other direction. Then, the cubs came towards a nearby pond and began their playful frolicking in the shade. Such an amazing experience this happened to be and it did enthrall our nerves in such a playful hunting mood. This was one such moment to cherish for everyone, from the land of Ranthambore.
Vol 1 | Issue 5-6 | Nov 16- Jan 17