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My Encounter With a Tiger in Nagarhole

“Tiger Sikkita” — means have you seen any tigers in Kannada? My travails about tracking tigers in the forests of Nagarhole, India.

Nagarhole is one of the best-preserved jungle reserves in India where we can spot the tiger with a much higher probability. Instagram feeds are filled with stories, reels, and photos of tigers from enthusiasts visiting Nagarhole. It doesn’t mean that everything is hunky-dory and you just step into the forest and the tiger will be there waiting for you to be photographed. The truth is far from it. In my recent jaunt to Nagarhole, I spent close to 20 hours doing safari over 3 days and I could spot the tiger only once and barely for 40 seconds. And there were a lot of fellow adventurists who couldn’t do it even after spending more than 20 hours. So spotting the tiger is mostly a matter of luck and a little bit of planning and awareness of how things pan out in the jungle.

First mover advantage

There is always a certain advantage, if you can plan in such a way that your jeep enters the forest first, even a 30 seconds head start can make a lot of difference. This means waking up a bit early than others and getting into the jeep before others come in for a morning safari. Once the sounds of jeeps start reverberating through the forests, there are chances that the tiger may step inside the thickets and choose not to come out.

The early bird catches the worm

Being the first entrant, there is a chance that you may spring a surprise and catch the tiger unaware and you get to see the marauder of the Indian jungle. Again I am not saying only the first entrants have a sure-shot chance, but there could be a slight advantage being the first mover. Luck has favored me twice with tiger sightings just because we were the first entrants into the reserve on that given day.

On my current trip to Nagarhole, during my 3rd safari, we were the first to enter the forest. As soon as we entered the forest, a big male tiger was seen relaxing nearby the road. He stared at us nonchalantly and slowly got up and walked away crossing our jeep. This tiger was named “Tiger Tank Male” — he is the biggest male cat seen in Nagarhole now, with a sturdy build and a long tail.

It’s not always about luck

I have been doing jungle safaris in India for the past 20 years now. Every year me and my family might have spent 20–25 hours inside the precincts of the jungle making it close to 500+ hours on safari. Of these 500 hours, we would have seen the tiger for hardly 10 minutes. Yes, those 10 minutes of glory and fame had 30,000 minutes of back-breaking safari, subjecting our bodies through those bumpy tracks, inclement weather, depriving ourselves of comfortable sleep in cold winter mornings, and subjecting ourselves to the tormenting sun in hot Indian afternoons. There were a lot of trips where we returned as weary-eyed intrepid travelers with no sound or sight of the tiger. But we never got bored and we persisted in our effort year after year and now we can see that luck is favoring us a tad bit more in the last few trips. Is it just plain luck or the fruits of our persistence and tenacity? I believe it is a heady mix of both.

I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it — Thomas Jefferson

The journey is the process

On safaris, I have seen a lot of people so desperate to see the tiger that they put undue pressure on the guide to take them to where the tiger is, alas! it doesn’t work that way. It is so much fun to track the tiger as spotting one is. Nature gives very subtle clues when the tiger is in the vicinity. The first signals are given by barking deer or the langur monkey. They make calls alerting other animals of the predator on the prowl. The innocuous spotted deer who happily graze all the time suddenly becomes alert and keep gazing in one direction. And if the tiger is close by we may even hear a growl. When the king is walking, there is commotion all around. It is so thrilling to experience this phenomenon. And 9 out of 10 times after all this drama and suspense, the elusive cat may choose not to come out and evade our eyes. We patiently wait in that spot without making any sound, preening our eyes through the foliage in search of the camouflaged black stripes sometimes for an hour or more.

We have been privy to this disappointment of not seeing the tiger despite being so close umpteen times, but the magic of the events unfolding is so engrossing and surreal that it makes it worthy to be just there and enjoy the process. Seeing the tiger is like icing on the cake, but for me, the cake itself is so delicious that I don’t want to miss savoring it in the frenzy of looking for the icing.

The only way to survive eternity is to be able to appreciate each moment — Lauren Kate

Relentless

From the 125 odd safaris, 5 safaris were fruitful till now in spotting the tiger. A success ratio of 4%. Would you bet your odds on a 4% success? Well, it is not a question of success or disappointment for me. Those suspenseful waits, those eerie silences punctuated by the alarm calls, and those menacing growls make it all a worthy passion for me to pursue and track the tiger year after year in the jungles of India relentlessly. Will the tiger choose to reveal in front of my eyes today? I leave it to the forces of nature, but I am happy being relentless in my pursuit of these endangered, elusive felines.

A tiger is a tiger; he has his dignity to preserve even though he isn’t aware of it! — Ruskin Bond