Paro- The story of the Lost and Found tigress

A decade back tiger sightings were so rare in Dikhala that one used to be happy just to have a glimpse. All this changed with the arrival of a tigress on the par side of the Dikhala range in 2014. No one ever thought that this beautiful tigress would go on to become a legend and the darling of the tourists visiting Dikhala. For the sake of identity, she was called Paarwalli. But soon some people started calling her Paro after the famous movie character who was capable of breaking hearts.This is the Story of Paro the lost and found tigress from Dikhala .

My first sighting of Paro -April 2015

She slowly expanded her territory to cover the whole of par area and also the entire Sambhar road.

Paro at Par

This territory expansion of hers happened with lots of run-ins with existing tigresses. some of these conflicts were witnessed by tourists and have been captured on cameras for posterity. She had her fight with a tigress at par to take over the Kanda area.

The Tigress from whom Paro wrested control of the Kanda Area

Sambhar road used to be frequented by three tigresses apart from Paro

Grassland Female

Chuapani Female

Langdi

She was able to establish her authority over sambhar road after a big fight with Chuapani female. The other tigresses used to use only some parts of this road and thus avoided any fights with the tenacious Paro.

The New Queen overseeing her territory (Sambhar road)

Paro used to love the waters of Ramganga

Paro crossing the Ramganga

By 2016 Paarwalli had become so bold and predictable that tourists could be sure that they would be able to see her at least once a day during their visits. She had an established routine of arriving at a given time both in the mornings and evenings at a pool which came to be called Paro’s private swimming pool.

Paro at her pool

As she was a bold tigress the photographers who for all these years wanted to see Tiger cubs in Dikhala were waiting for her to give birth . their prayers were answered in Jan 2016 when she was spotted with little cubs. But the joy was short-lived as unfortunately She lost her cubs to the vagaries of the Monsoon.

Jan 2017 she was seen mating again with Samba the dominant male tiger

Sambha

Again there was high expectations of seeing her cubs. 2 cubs were seen in June 2017.The whole of Ramnagar was waiting for the season opener after the monsoon shutdown to hear about the cubs as they all knew that big business awaited them if Paro’s cubs managed to survive the monsoons. Monsoons are the time when tiger cubs are most vulnerable.

The new season opened and probably for the first time the whole world waited for the par bridge to be constructed and opened . The par bridge is a temporary bridge that is built across the Ramganga and opens for crossing over to the par side in end Dec or early Jan depending on the water level.

The Par Bridge

Once the bridge was built it got confirmed that only one cub had managed to survive the monsoons. This male cub soon became the darling of the tourists as he had inherited the boldness of his mother. Despite making multiple trips between Jan 2018 & march 2018 I was not lucky to see him. I had my first sighting of the cub on my second trip of March 2018 . I again saw him in April 2018 and for the last time in May 2018. The cub who was fondly called the Prince was killed by another tiger. His death was mourned by the whole of Ramnagar as if a son had been lost.

My first sighting of Prince- March 2018

My second sighting April-2018

My final sighting – May 2018

The new year of 2019 got cheers to Dikhala as Paro was seen with three cubs. I saw her cubs in march 2019. The next 3 years was the most delightful time for both photographers and tourists as both Parwalli and Grassland female( that story is for another time) had cubs and both were bold.

Paro & her cubs from the third litter.

March -2109

April-2019

May-2019

June 2019

The season ended and we all left Dikhala on the 15th of June 2019 with a prayer on our lips and hopes in our hearts that Paro’s cubs would survive the monsoons. The parks opened in Nov-2019 and every Paro fan wanted to see her and her cubs safe. All the combined prayers seemed to have worked as all three cubs were healthy. Even though the bridge was not open Paro obliged all her well wishers by bringing her cubs to Sambhar road. I saw them in Nov 2019 and her cubs had grown!!!. this season turned out to be a short one because of Covid. The parks had to be shutdown in the second half of March 2020.

Nov 2019

Jan 2020

March 2020

By the time the parks opened in Nov 2020 the cubs were nearly adults and two of them had become independent and Paro was seen very infrequently and it became apparent that Paro might be pushed out as she was getting old and might not have the will to establish her supremacy over her cubs. 2019/2020 was a truncated season i saw her only a few times. once in Jan and another time in March 2021. the march 2021 sighting turned out be my last one of Paro in Dikhala.

Jan 2021

My Last sighting of Paro in Dikhala- March 2021

This was my last click of Paro and at that point i did not attach any significance to this pose but thinking afterwards probably she was bidding farewell to her most loved cub who used to be always seen with her.

April 2021 the parks again shut down due to covid and when they reopened in Nov 2021 there was no sign of Paro. All of us assumed she had either not survived the monsoons or had moved out to a new territory giving away her territory to her three cubs.

Her three cubs had split her territory amongst themselves.

Parwalli – she took over the Par area

Parwalli

Gathia rau walli – she took over the pool and the area behind

Gathia Rau Walli

Pedwalli – she took over the Sambhar road area and was the only one to aggressively expand her territory to include Kamarpatta and Ramsingh areas.

Pedwalli

The whole of Dikhala and Paro fans had given up on seeing her ever again. All of us felt that the Paro story had ended abruptly because of Covid. Then to all of our surprise and delight she was seen again in Jan 2023 in Durgadevi zone of Corbett. Paro being Paro she soon made this seldom visited zone of Dikhala famous and suddenly there was demand for visiting this zone and the guides of this zone were getting regular clients and the Hotels and restaurants of the area had a business boom. Paro again brought prosperity and happiness to wherever she went. I first visited Durgadevi in April beginning but was not lucky enough to see her. I made another visit in April end and saw her .Beautiful Paro has become old and frail but she is still the darling of the tourists.

Durgadevi Zone April 2023

Was feeling nostalgic even while writing this blog. I am sure words would never convey the true joy felt by me and others who visited this park in the last 10 years. But i have tried to do my best by adding photos to give a visual angle to my journey with Paro from 2015-2023