The Tala Tale (Murder,revenge,suspense and tragedy)

Bandhavgarh the tiger haven has always been the stage for some fascinating  dramas enacted on the meadows of chakradhara and Raj Behra. There have been many takeover bids in these meadows some have become history and have been narrated by different people through different mediums. Some of these legendary stories are

Charger vs B2

B2 vs Bamera

Battle for Sidh baba-Kankati vs Langadi

In the next 2 months probably the most intriguing and fascinating drama will be enacted in the Tala range. Bamera the reigning king of Tala has been successfully challenged and has been relegated to a very small area of his original kingdom.

Bamera the fallen king

The intrigue is that no one is sure of the identity of  the successful challenger .The stories floating around makes a great script for a Bollywood movie.The story so far is that a month back Bamera was challenged by this male and was driven out from most of his territory he now resides in the fringe area of his old kingdom.His movement is restricted to the Banbehi -Ghora demon-kinarwa areas of the park. He is injured and is reduced to cattle lifting and  sharing the  kills of the Banbehi family.This year was supposed to be the year of the cubs at tala.But the arrival of the new male has changed everything. The new male is a great threat to all the cubs especially the male ones as he will not tolerate  Bamera’s male offsprings as he perceives them to be a threat.

There has been one casualty already. kankati has  lost one of her female cubs. in an  effort to save her cubs she has shifted them to the fort area and she herself is roaming the sidh baba  area so as to distract the new male.now for some theories floating around regarding the identity of the new male.

theory one is that the  male challenger is Bogada

theory two is that he  is the son of Langadi

in either of the above cases there is great drama and suspense involved.

case-1

If the new male is Bogada then it is a  story of  maternal uncle Vs nephews. Bagoda is the brother of both Kankati and Raj behra female from the first litter of Jhorjhora female who was killed in an unfortunate accident inside the park when she was hit by a speeding jeep.these two tigress have a litter of 3 and 4 cubs respectively.

Raj behra Female sister of Bogada and Kankati

Kankati sister of Bogada

another reason to suspect that the new  male is  Bogada becoz  he was  shy and used to avoid vehicles just as the new male is doing.

case-2

If the new male is Langadi’s son then it is the story of son returning to avenge his mother’s killing . His mother Langadi was killed by kankati in the famous battle for Sidhbaba where she killed Langadi and eat her.In that fierce battle  she lost an eye and half of her ear.

we all hope that the new male settles down and peace returns to Tala and the cubs are left in peace to grow.As of now that looks doubtful and the future of these 13 cubs are bleak.

you can find more photos from my summer trip to Bandhavgarh in the below link https://picasaweb.google.com/110157136104457911875/SummerSpecialBandhavgarhMay2013?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCPWOh-CygZviZQ&feat=direct link