Thursday, November 9, 2017

Post Monsoon Safaris A Wild Goose Chase?

Well not exactly but searching for tigers during the period whence monsoon has just ended is an exhausting  exercise. Tigers are scarce while sightings mostly are of short duration and safaris often are not fruitful. But let me add this happens usually if it rains or drizzles or is intensely cloudy. The likely hood of this kind of the weather is much more whence the park begins in the month of October.  

Good weather in tiger reserves means good sightings post monsoon, winters or summers. Bad weather any time and you  are likely to miss the boat.

Tiger is an elusive beast and a wanderer especially the males. The males guard their territory avidly and post monsoon the water availability and presence of prey everywhere makes territorial patrolling easy and less trouble some.  Hence whence you are searching for tiger in the tourism zone he is well outside of it.

Females too wander extensively but usually those with cubs do not stray far for hunting. They are well ensconced in the dense canopy and do not come out needlessly. But knowing their movements helps in tracking them down.   The biggest joy is to find them with cubs which needs a lot of skill and understanding of their movements and of course a long wait. 

This period also requires extensive safaris because tigers can be found anywhere even in the buffer where most of the accommodations are located. So keep your senses on alert. Areas where extensive human movement has not taken place can yield surprises post monsoon.   

Tigers new to tourism zone are often seen at places unexpectedly this is the greatest fun. Regular movements of the big cats can also change put stress on you to redo your mathematics.     

Albeit safaris should be holistic which we make it but there could be instance whence the guest is only interested in the tiger. Well this is not surprising as we all wish to see one but an all-round interest in nature is rewarding, And this is the right approach as tigers are sometimes not seen during a trip making most of the amazing wilderness, birds and magnificent animals leads to a successful trip. 

 Photo Credits Anshuman Singh.