We drove into the park as the sun was starting to rise. It was quite cold and we needed the blanket we had taken with us. After about half an hour we saw a few jeeps parked on the side of the track , with everyone looking into the jungle. We pulled up and our guide shouted to us to look up on the rocks above us. There walking slowly was a female tiger. She was about 100 yards away and walking behind trees and rocks, so it wasn't possible to take still photos, but I did manage to take some video which, with luck, will show the tiger. I played the footage back but on my small display it isn't possible to distinguish the tiger from the back ground. If we do not see another tiger we will be satisfied that we have seen one of the remaining 1200 tigers in the wild. The tiger then moved to much higher ground and deeper into the jungle. Unlike South African reserves, where you can follow the animals into the bush,you are not allowed to drive off the tracks, so the tiger disappeared from view.
We continued on our drive and saw numerous deer as well as packs of monkeys and then came upon this family of wild boar.
We saw many beautiful birds, including this magnificent stork.
Towards the end of the drive we saw a large number of jeeps and the guide told us that a tiger was resting in a dense thicket. In India you can only see tigers when they are away from the roads by transferring to elephants which take you to the tiger. The tigers are used to the elephants and are not disturbed by them. Several of the group went on the elephants but their view was not good as the undergrowth was so thick. Below is a shot of Terence English, his co-driver Billy and Bob & Thelma Howells heading for the undergrowth where the tiger was resting.
Our game drive came to an end and we returned to the hotel to pack and drive the 236 kms to the Kanha Tiger Reserve. On the way we came across Renger and Gerda Guliker who were stopped by the side of the road with a broken shock absorber. We stopped and lent them a hand to remove the shock absorber, so that he could continue to Kanha.
We arrived at our hotel, the Tulli Tiger Resort, at around 3 pm. There were no afternoon game drives so we could relax and get ready for the early morning drive into the park. When Renger arrived at the hotel I asked him how he had managed the drive without one of the rear shock absorbers, and he said OK. I had two spares for my Landcruiser and offered one to him. Amazingly it fitted, and now for the rest of the tour his will be the only Mercedes with a Toyota shock!
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