It’s always exciting to see celebrities and especially when the celebrity is royalty and the royalty of the Indian jungles is the magnificent tiger.
To see and be able to photograph five tigers in a single frame, is a rare opportunity, one that requires a lot of patience and perseverance.
During quite a few of our trips to Tadoba National Park, we had been persistently trying to photograph a particular tigress with her four sub adult cubs.
But, the royalty of the jungle eluded us on every occasion almost driving us to a point of insanity. It was either, that we were too late or we had missed them by just a few minutes. Our obsession to see this tiger family, made us extend our stay and change our flight tickets several times.
We’re not one to give up hope so easily. On one of our trips to the park, we decided to make another desperate attempt to track this tiger family.
As we began our drive into the jungle, we came across a forest guide who signalled enthusiastically for our vehicle to stop. He told us, animatedly, that the tiger family had made a “Gaur” kill and that they would surely be hanging around the area as there was a waterhole close to the kill.
We readied our cameras as we were driving to the spot, hoping to see at least one of the family tigers. When we reached the waterhole, there he was, a sub adult cub of this gorgeous tigress, cooling off in the water. It seemed as if he was just there, waiting for us to arrive. We were sure his siblings and mother were nearby.
We waited patiently at the waterhole, as one by one his siblings and mother appeared to take a dip in the cool water.
We truly felt, that we were in the presence of royalty, as the sweet sounds of the jungle were suddenly drowned by the incessant clicking of the many professional and mobile phone cameras. Our inner paparazzi awoke as we positioned our cameras in every angle trying to get the best shots and as many photos as the memory cards could hold.
The sun set rapidly, reminding us that our time was up and we that we would have to leave the royal beauties behind. Even though we drove away from them with a heavy heart, we felt immensely gratified.
Although, the jungle has tested our patience on several occasions, it never fails to surprise us with the most memorable sightings.
