It was an uneventful evening with the herd of spotted deer numbering around 50 and the 4 female Gaurs grazing peacefully in the grassland in front of the cottages. All that was about to change as the Sun slowly moved West and eventually dipped behind the mighty Brahmagiri mountain ranges, casting a deep long shadow across the field. It was almost 7 pm and just before it became pitch dark, there was the twilight phase when the carnivores are most active, and that is when we heard the bellowing alarm call of the Sambar deer coming from the North – the teak forest. Sambar gives excellent alarm calls signifying the movement of the carnivores and at 7 pm, the wild dogs would be safely back inside their dens, which meant what spooked the Sambar deer was either the Leopard or the Tiger.
We all went to the balcony, switched off all the lights and sat there listening to the alarm calls coming from the teak forest. We usually switch all the lights off and we also don’t use the torch when alarm calls are going on as bright light might spook the predator and it may decide to wander off into the forest. As we waited patiently straining our ears to pick up the sounds coming from the grasslands and the jungle, all of a sudden we heard the snorting sound made by the Gaur! The herd did not have calves and there were 4 full grown female Gaurs in the grassland. The only natural threat the Gaur has is the Tiger and so it was clear that the Tiger.. or the Tigress was afoot and close!
The Gaurs kept snorting and the anticipation slowly built, we didn’t know if the Tiger was looking to hunt or just coming down to the waterhole for a drink! Just as I was about to go inside and get my thermal imager, we heard a thunderous growl followed by the unmistakable “WOOF WOOF” sound which the Tiger makes when darting towards the prey especially when hunting large prey! Though we were a good 200 meters away in our balcony, the deafening sound paralyzed us as we stood rooted to the spot, and I can only imagine what it’d have done to the Gaur as the Tiger rushed towards its quarry in the dark night! Usually, there is pin drop silence once the Tiger is on the prey as the Tiger breaks the neck of the quarry and the kill is a very quick and silent one. But not this time! There were a lot of swishing and grunting sounds, interrupted by blood curdling roars! It felt as though the whole building shook when the Tiger growled! It went on for a good 30 seconds or so… and then… silence!
Just as quickly as it had started, it stopped all of a sudden and there was nothing but silence! All of us stood riveted to the spot we were on and as we slowly gathered our senses back, I ran inside to get the thermal imager. These thermal imagers are fascinating instruments, It’d pick out any warm-blooded animal even in pitch darkness, and looking through it, all I could see was a red spot signifying that there was something in the grassland a good 180 meters away, that too right in the middle of the grassland! There was no movement nor was there any sound coming from anywhere, just the occasional Peafowls giving their calls which were soon taken up by the other Peafowls in the area!
It was almost 8:00 pm and I decided to go to the watch tower and take a closer look, as some of you know, the watch tower is close to the Southern boundary of our Retreat and it overlooks the waterhole. As per my calculation, the ‘Tiger and the Gaur’ incident happened at the Northern end of the farm and it was a good 50 meters away from the watch tower. I had the thermal imager switched ON and I set out towards the watch tower taking cautious steps trying not to make any noise what so ever.
It took me a good 10 minutes to reach the watch tower and since it was overcast, it was pitch dark all around. No light from the moon, none from the cottages – just darkness all around. I climbed the 15 steps of the watch tower and I sat down in one of the chairs, and looked to my right through the thermal to see if I could pick up any movement from up there. There was none. All I could see was the same red blob near the northern end of the farm, it was still there and it hadn’t moved in the last 30 minutes! What could it be? Was it the Gaur laying there or was it the Tiger? Looking at the size of the animal, it was clear that it was certainly not an elephant nor was it a spotted deer – the size was somewhere in between. I sat there with my eyes closed, trying to listen to any sounds that may come my way. After a good 10 minutes, I thought I heard a small twig break from my left hand side – and those who have stayed with us, you’d know that on the left hand side of the watch tower, the land goes up and on the right hand side we have the grasslands completely flat for a good 200 meters or so. I dismissed the sound I heard from the left, it felt like a small animal had moved, maybe a hare or a mouse deer. I waited patiently, continued to listen and again, after 5 minutes or so, I thought I heard a sound as though someone or something had exhaled loudly! I opened my eyes and slowly turned my head to the left, it was pitch dark, and so I switched ON the Thermal imager and looked though it! There was something right there, maybe 20 feet away from me, something long and elongated and it was almost at eye level with mine! As I had mentioned, the land slopes up on the left hand side and there was a large animal which was surprisingly short but very elongated and very large! I looked at it through the thermal for a good minute and I had no idea what I was looking at! I was looking at an animal which was perhaps one and a half feet tall and 6 feet long! A female Gaur is 5 feet tall and maybe 6 feet long and a Tiger is a good 3 feet tall and 5 or so feet long! So which was this animal that was so close, so large but so short? I decided to take a quick photo using the flash on my phone and I was sure that at this range I’d be able to see which this animal was even with the flashlight from my phone.
I got up from my chair, moved to the left side of the watch tower, took one final look through the Thermal imager and yes, the animal was still there and there it was again… I thought I heard a deep sigh coming from that direction and that is when I decided to switch ON the phone’s flashlight and take a quick photo. If it is in the night, I usually take a quick photo illuminated by the flash light and then I look at the photo in detail to see what is out there. This helps in reducing the amount of time I have to keep the torchlight ON to scour the area, and the longer I keep the light ON, the easier it is for the animals to notice my presence. The diffused light from the phone fell right on something that was lying there 20 feet away from me, and though there was absolutely no movement when the flashlight fell on it, I could distinctly see something black and white in color! I sat down in the chair and looked at the photo I had taken using the phone and all I could see was this black and white thing that lay stretched on the forest floor! I sat there with trembling hands as I realized what I was looking at! I was looking at the resident female Tigress – “Snow white” as she lay on her back exposing the white fur in her belly intersected with black lines!
It was exciting and very, very scary as well – that is what the Tiger does to you. It evokes the primal fear man has for wild animals, especially ones that can kill him with one swipe of her paw! I took a good minute to regain my composure and tried to plot my escape route. It was all about getting back to the house and I knew that I had a good 100 meters to walk back in the dark with my phone’s light to show me the way, with the Tigress just a few feet away! I couldn’t call anyone to come and get me, nor did I want to make any loud noise to drive the Tigress away into the jungle. All I could do was to try and gently climb down the stairs and tip toe back to the house without disturbing the Tigress in anyway. I also knew that the Tigress already knew exactly where I was and I tried telling myself that if she was indeed irritated by my presence, she would have given a growl when I was coming towards the watch tower itself, which she didn’t. I was hoping that she’d let me walk back to the house without feeling threatened or irritated. I also knew that this Tigress has seen me so many times and except on one occasion, she has allowed me to carry on undisturbed. Yes, it is true that on that one specific instance, she almost killed me – almost! I tried consoling myself by reiterating that a Tigress would only kill if she was with her cubs, or if she was defending her kill, or if she was surprised by your presence or if she was courting and mating with a male Tiger. She knew I was there, so I won’t be surprising her by climbing down the steps and walking back, and no, she was not courting but she still had her 3 full grown cubs with her, and yes – she had just made a kill! All of a sudden my thoughts went to her cubs – 3 of them around 16 months old by now – all full grown tigers! They must have heard the commotion and the question was, where were they now? I took out the thermal imager once again and looked around, she was right there in the same pose and she was alone! I knew that the sooner I left from there the safer it would be and it’s just a matter of time before the 3 cubs would join her, and then it’d get very tricky trying to climb down from the watch tower in the middle of the night making the long walk back! Since she knew that I was there and still hadn’t moved, I decided to brave it and as silently as I could, I tip toed down the steps, there were 15 steps or so and when I had taken 2 steps down, I thought I heard a faint rustling sound from where the Tigress was. I remember lifting my phone up and taking a quick photo, and this is what I saw 10 feet away from me…
