A rollercoaster ride

The title of a rollercoaster ride is not the ride in the jeep with Nasir but an emotional one that one goes through when on a safari in the jungle tracking tigers.

All trips to Dikhala have wonderful memories attached to them. This trip in Jan 2017 was a sort of fairy tale.In those days one could stay longer in Dikhala as the the 3 night restriction was not there. My friend Amitabh was going to join me for the trip. He was initially reluctant to do a long trip and eventually decided to do the full trip. Looking back, I am sure he would be happy that he did so. The trip did not start on an auspicious note. There was a big train derailment and our train to Ramnagar was cancelled at the last minute. For the first time in all my years of visiting Corbett I travelled by road. I generally don’t like road travel and was petrified this time as we were doing a night drive to Ramnagar, to add to my woes the car that picked us up from the airport broke down on the outskirts of Delhi. We were stuck on a highway for nearly 2 hours waiting for the replacement car to arrive in the biting cold of Jan. We reached Ramnagar in the early hours of the next day and left for Dikhala at 6Am after catching up with a couple of hours of shuteye. We were tired because of the night drive but as usual excited to be going to Dikhala

The trip is worth remembering for both the hits and misses that it had. The Hits were massive and the misses were also big. The skill displayed by my Driver Nasir and Guide Shoan was remarkable and finally the trip once again reiterated my belief that for a successful safari one needs loads of luck to go along with a good driver and guide.

The safaris started on a good note. we were to be driven by Rashid for the first day and we saw a new tigress at Parr and also a glimpse of  the mating pair. Our dry run started after that.

 Day two was  spent in just hearing about the good sightings others had.All we got to see were beautiful images of tigers on the screens of cameras of people who were fortunate to have been there.

On the third day it got even worse. We were at Ram Singh and every living thing around us was screaming BIG CAT. The langurs had gone crazy, the monkeys were screeching their heads off and the Barking deer as usual was at his barking best. To add to the cacophony the Jungle fowl also joined in. we were in the midst of all this noise and suddenly Nasir got a call from one of the friendly drivers who knew we had missed all the sightings in the past two days. He said the male and a female mating pair were out in the open at the other side of the river known as Parr. Normally Nasir would never leave a spot when there is so much of alarm call but the desperation to see a tiger made him do otherwise. We left for parr and as we were crossing the bridge over the river met the vehicles returning and each one of them added insult to injury by passing on their commiseration, there was a lot of hidden glee in it as they loved rubbing it in, the star had underperformed. In three days, I had clicked more landscapes of Dikhala then in many of my trips put together

We turned back resigned that we were again going to stare at the screens of people’s cameras who would want to show us what a great sighting they had. And then to add to our frustration we got to know that the alarm calls at Ram Singh was for a leopard on the tree.

Just before going to the rooms Nasir announced that all of us needed to have a shower and change of clothes to change our luck.Nasir also water washed his Jeep to wash away the bad luck but then all that we saw that afternoon were a few smooth coated otters feeding in the Ramganga.

The fourth morning Jeep 1008 had 4 glum people heading towards parr. We drove all round parr hoping to get a glimpse of the orange and black but again there was no luck. We gave up and as a last resort went up the hill at Khanda and we waited in that beautiful place hoping against hope to get a tiger.

Suddenly Nasir said elephant at a distance it was a Makhana (A tusk less male).

looking at the elephant he said the holiday for our cameras are over. This guy will give us some great photography moments. The next 20 minutes he gave us the most amazing elephant photographs all credit to Nasir who skillfully manoeuvred the jeep to get good angels.

Even though the Orange and black had eluded us We returned to the Dikhala campus believing that our luck had turned.

We were to be disappointed that afternoon too. As we got nothing but a Blue whistling thrush to click. Only solace was we did not have to see tiger images on camera screens as no one had sightings that afternoon.

Day five started with hope but again we were disappointed in the morning drive. we just saw a Pallas’s fish eagle

In the afternoon we started off with no expectations and we were blessed with the rare sighting of a Male tiger on the Main road. We waited for nearly an hour before he decided to cross the road. This sighting too had some drama as the jeep in front of us who had also waited for the same time as us never realized that the tiger passed behind them as they were busy playing games on their phones. then to add to the Male tiger we had another sighting.

our Tiger luck was back in full strength, After the male sighting we were going to sambar road and as soon as we turned into the grassland leading to sambar road a sambar jumped across the path and within seconds a streak of orange flashed across us. It took us a few seconds to even realize that we had just seen a tiger leap across. We went back a little and found the tigress sitting next to the road. After sometime she crossed the road again.

Day 6 showcased the tracking skills of Nasir and the alertness of Sohan. We went to high bank and found a few jeeps waiting there on asking they said that they had heard alarm calls at a distance across the river and were waiting in the hope that a tiger might cross it. We also decided to wait. Suddenly Sohan called out that the tiger had appeared out of the jungle and was swimming across the river.

While we were busy clicking photos, Nasir was trying to see if he could identify the tiger. After the tiger went in the jungle and everyone had left, he told us that we would be waiting. He said I have identified the tiger and I know his habits. He is a very shy male and in about 15 minutes we will go to the place where I feel he will cross the road. We went to the spot on the road where Nasir expected the tiger to cross and waited another 15 minutes.

Then Nasir said sir I can hear the rustle of the leaves be ready the tiger will come out. As indicated by Nasir the tiger peeped out and stood looking at us for a few minutes.

from the angle we were parked only I could see the tiger so as to enable my friend to see it we decided to move the jeep and for that Nasir shifted a little and the tiger bolted.The male Tigers of Corbett are very shy . Tracking them is a real skill and getting to photograph them is a rarity.we were lucky to have seen two males in two days.

After that we went to the main grassland called the Chaur. We found a lot of jeeps waiting in a place and when we enquired got to know that there was a tiger sitting inside the grass and people were waiting for it to make an appearance. Nasir as usual said” beed hai chalo”. So, we decided to head to sambar road.

We were all talking of how the trip had changed from a disastrous one to a good one in the matter of three safaris. We had no idea what the jungle had in store for us.Just as we crossed the watch tower on sambar road and the Ramganga came into view Sohan said “Tiger “and we were looking for it in front and could not find it then he said sir “humare peeche.” This was a multiple tiger photographer dream rolled into one. A tiger head-on , you are the only vehicle and to top it all the setting of sambar road. We had some amazing shots and after a while we decided to call a few friendly drivers . That was one memorable sighting.

Nasir had to leave as he had some family commitment. So, Rashid took over again for the rest of the trip. We were happy with what we had got . We decided that we will photograph as many birds as we can in the last 2 drives. This trip was a prime example as to how unpredictable wildlife travel is.