The Dominator…

At the time, it has been over eighteen months since we had seen them last. Tiny balls of fur that they were then - over the months, they had grown to exemplify themselves as progeny of T30, also known as Sonam or S-Mark Female or the Teliya Female, one of the dominant tigresses in Moharli range of Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve.

They truly personify their parents, given how slippery they are; normally never allowing more than a crossing, hence a good long sighting of this family is always a reward. Particularly, because of the two males in the family who are very shy & reticent - one of whom acquired the monicker “Rocket”, sometime after this happened - due to his habit of jumping across the road the moment he saw any vehicle, at a far distance.

Even before our third game drive, we had all the regularly seen tigers at Tadoba range in our frames. After having drunk a magic potion from the vessel called luck, we had trained our eyes on this family, wanting to see them, not knowing this would turn out to be tricky. We had spent the afternoon at the Yenbodi waterhole, only to drive off to Teliya after a wait for over an hour, where we saw their father, T49 or Bajrang. That day was not for these sub-adults, it was an exclusive day of male tigers walking the red dirt tracks of the reserve. Only when we returned from the drive we heard that sometime after we left Yenbodi, the family chose to come down to the waters for a drink and some play. Alas! None seem to have been present to capture it in a frame.

Though we missed them, the signs were good and we found ourselves at Yenbodi in the very next drive, not wanting to miss a chance of sighting this family. After waiting at the waterhole for a brief while, we chose to park ourselves, just outside on the dirt track, instead of the banks. This family was notorious to cross roads when vehicles stop plying and wait it out near waterholes, until the vehicles leave, hence our decision to wait it out.

After a gruelling wait, when slowly the vehicles left, we were not so far away from our wits end, however had edged on to wait a little longer when the female cub recorded as Dot-E in our Tadoba diaries, due to an E shaped mark on her cheek, stepped out right before us. A little far she was and wanted to rest it out in the open and so we inched forward, so that we don’t alarm her until she was comfortable enough in our vicinity. What followed was an hour with this lady.

After a while, when one of her brothers, later called “Rocket” had jumped across the road, she turned around and laid low like she was crouching to stalk something in the bushes. Initially, we had assumed that she had probably laid her sight on some prey moment in the thick forest, and were half-expecting her to run in into the thick jungle anytime. But her constant shifting seemed subservient a behaviour, that is generally displayed in the presence of a threat that they generally can’t handle.

Behold! It was her dominant brother on the move - burly & well fed clearly not happy with her in the presence of a vehicle, he stepped out. He stepped with a snarl directed at us, knowing his dislike for human disturbance, warning us from any act of disobedience towards his siblings or him. And he passed, etched in our minds – what we thought was not to be, now framed in our art and our hearts…

7 Dec 2018, Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve, Chandrapur, Maharashtra