Last weekend I had the honor of going to Tadoba National Tiger Reserve.  It was an amazing weekend, with many lifetime memories created.  My friends Zeeshan, Tom, Lynn and I had been trying to go there during one of the three-day weekends, but the safaris were always booked as they only allow a limited number of jeeps per day.  As a result, we found a weekend with open tours and off we went, flying out Friday night-landing in Nagpur at 10pm and starting the 3-hour drive to the reserve.  Getting to bed at 2 am and waking up at 5am for the first safari was tough, but naps during the day and adrenaline kept me going.

We stayed at a lovely ‘home stay’ called the Spotted Owlet, which was peaceful, well decorated and served excellent food.  I highly recommend both the park and this location should you have a hankering for a tiger safari in India!

After 3 hours of sleep, we were off!

Driving to the safari park I got excited seeing this family of Indian Bison, also known as Indian Gaur. Little did I know this excitement would only grow!

safari #1 – Buffer Zone

Our first four-hour safari was to the buffer zone, entering through the Dewada-Adegaon Safari Gate.  The buffer zone is the place to start your visit because you are excited to see all the other animals and while we were able to see a tiger, this is not the norm.  We also saw wild dogs which is unusual.

The first animal I saw was a wild chicken, officially known as a Grey Jungle Fowl!

Then the excitement began as we saw a Spotted Owlet.

The drive continued, with us enjoying a stunning sunrise and being surrounded by nature while we waited for the next animal sighting.

Up next, the first of many Langur family groups. With each group, different aspects of their body and behavior caught my eye. If my research is correct, this breed is the Northern Plains Gray Langur.

Below is my favorite photo of a Red Wattled Redwing:

As we saw our first wild warthog, memories of Lion King came to all our minds!

Some more Langurs!

This is a boundary marker, which one sees all around the park. Near here we stopped at a little bridge with two water tubes under them. The guide was trying to see what was sleeping there, as it was a black bundle curled up. As no one is allowed to get off the jeep we couldn’t confirm what it was. He assumed it was a sloth bear, and since we never saw one again, I have decided that it was definitely there! Other animals I saw but wasn’t able to photograph were a porcupine, stunning birds who showed their bright blue wings while flying, squirrels (not the boring grey ones like in NY), and an Indian Pitta (a green and yellow bird).

As the light got better, the colors of the forest changed.

Throughout the park, there were groups of Gaur – otherwise known as Indian Bison. It was fun to see how at certain angles they looked like cows and at other times, not. One of highlights was seeing a baby drinking milk from its mother, and watching the group cross the road – some sauntering, some running – with their symbiotic Cattle Egrets trailing along. The morning light made these views even more impressive.

One of the benefits of a zoom lens is being able to watch animals up close. This guy enjoyed looking at me (while eating) as much I enjoyed looking at him (not eating).

Langur sighting number three had me enjoying how these guys hang out on trees. The mother with the baby was sweet as well.

From Babu I learned that a forest with termite mounds is a healthy forest. Whatever the termite height of the hill is, it’s the same depth underground and of course, there are lots of rooms inside. India has over 200 species of termites. Termites build their mounds either in a tree, somewhere around leaves or on the ground. The last bit of termite trivia is that termites can’t hear so they use saliva to feel vibrations as they exit their mounds.

Then we saw what we initially thought was a fox, but turned out to be a wild dog – an animal we learned was hard to spot but we saw them 5 times. It’s official name is a Dhole. Funnily, every time we saw some wild dogs, we saw a tiger shortly thereafter!

Throughout the park, there was much evidence that the rainy season ended a long time ago: dry bamboo, bare trees and empty watering holes like the one below. As a matter of fact, the core zone of the park is closed during monsoon season because it is so muddy, but mainly to allow insects to mate undisturbed.

Then it happened – a passing jeep informed our guide there was a tiger sighting, so off we went and waited for our turn!

Shambhu is a newly spotted tiger, first spotted during the monsoon season of 2022.  Scientists are assuming he grew up in non-tourist areas.  He tried to enter territories ‘owned’ by other tigers several times but was chased away.  In January 2023 he was sighted in the buffer area mating with another tigress.  Since then, he is often seen here, being the young, confident male that he is.    FYI: all the information on specific tigers is from a book you can buy, Tigers Of Tadoba – a Field Guide by Jignesh Patel.

Spotted deer, elegant and peaceful, were the final animal we saw during the first safari.

With safari number one finished, I am ending this part of the blog with a few random photos.

These were taken during the ride back to the hotel.

safari #2 – The Core Zone

After a delicious breakfast and several power naps, we returned to the park and drove up to the entrance of the core zone (Moharli Entry Gate) and met our naturalist guide for next two safaris: Babu. Our four hour afternoon safari meant lots of hot sun (the temperature was over 40C), so Tom and Lynn wrapped themselves up while I didn’t care…however I felt obliged to cover up for the photo.

Babu, a phenomenal naturalist and our guide for the two core safaris, started by sharing the park was officially opened on April 9th in 1955. The park is also designated as an Important Bird Area. The buffer zone has more entrances and therefore more cars are allowed inside, while the core has less entrances. The core is called that because of the number of tigers plus in the core there is no human activity. There are about 115 tigers in the entire park, with around 86 living in the core. Each female has a territory about 12 km² and the male shares all that territory with them: one male for three or four females. The cubs stay with the mom till around two years of age then they go off on their happy, solitary lives. The cubs might even fight the mother for territory.

The park has been a transit zone for centuries and in the 16th century a local king erected markers showing the road from Changpur to Nagpur, with the the arches on the top indicating which direction to go. They also acted as emergency beacons to communicate.

Today, the animal extravaganza began with Sambar Deer.

Then my first decent photo of a peacock and some wild woodapples.

This bison was HUGE, I don’t know if the photos convey that. By the way, the bison is known as the bulldozer of the forest jungle because they’re so big they make a path that’s easy for deer to walk through.

Then we saw some wild dogs in the woods…you know what that means…

Yes, we saw Roma! Roma was born in 2020 and her sibling (a male) disappeared at 8 months. Roma is a bold, young female who has claimed her territory near the tar road we were on. She had a litter of 2 cubs in 2022, which was young for a tigress to give birth, but the babies were healthy. She has taken a chunk of her mother’s territory who is old and rarely seen nowadays.

Most of the time you see maybe one or two jeeps while you explore. You always know there is a tiger nearby because the jeeps converge and wait.

At first, we saw Roma resting in the woods behind a log. Like before, it was hard for me to find her but when I finally did, the joy pulsed through my body. A joy that paled in comparison to what I felt as she started walking in the woods and then by and through the jeeps that converged in the area. As we watched Roma to walk around, we heard the warning cries of the Sambar deer – a loud bark!

Some unique photos: me not holding a camera and still being happy!

We watched majestic Roma as she sauntered around us and then disappeared into the woods. Then it was off to see more animals and search for another tiger.

If you look at these two Sambar deer, you will see the antlers are different sizes. This has nothing to do with age but rather, the deer shed their antlers yearly and then grow them back. The antlers come out fuzzy due to blood flow, so the Sambar rubs the antlers against trees to make them hard.

When looking at this pair of spotted deer, I noticed how they have a stripe of spots along their back. I also was amazed at the size the antlers of the far-away male. I believe these were the largest antlers I saw.

Some more warthogs enchanted me as well.

As we moved on, the landscape changed.

We arrived at a watering hole and saw many animals – some new, some repeats – but no tiger so we moved on. I did, however, enjoy seeing the Sambar Deer drinking water. There is something very special about seeing animals living their lives in freedom.

Next we stopped at the Tadoba Lake where we were able to see some birds and a lazy alligator up close.

And then at our next location, Roma graced us with her presence again. The evening light gave her coat a glow and aside from just enjoying this majestic animal walk, I was able to focus on some interesting angles as she walked by and around us.

On our way to the next possible tiger-sighting location the evening light gave me some opportunities to get some lovely shots.

This area had a somewhat more green appearance because recently there was a little rain, however, trees having or not having leaves is more due to the seasons.

As we arrived at another lake, Babu saw a ripple in the water.  He watched the area to see what animal is was when we saw Collarwali, our next tiger.  She was coming out of the water wet with water and mud.  She started walking along the bank as we heard the warning cries of nearby animals: barks and cries that told us which animals were sounding the alarm. 

Collarwali was born in 2018 and has taken over her mother’s territory.  There was no evidence of a battle for the land, so it is assumed the mother voluntarily gave up the acres.  Her first litter has just reached adulthood.

Interesting, nearby was a bison with a cattle egret perched on her back.  Collarwali was slowly walking towards them, using looping routes and a casual gait. As tigresses take 30 minutes to hunt (going slow as to give the impression she is not interested in eating you), we were worried she was going for the bison but that was not to be.  She went off without an attack.

Below she is taking a rest from the exhaustion of a stroll along the bank. But for real, she is cleaning herself.

Normally I use my phone to take videos but since phones are not allowed during the safaris, Babu figured out how to take videos with my camera.   While I still must learn and remember to steady the camera when on zoom, these videos are fun because you can hear how we chatted about what might be happening.

Being a lake, there were some beautiful and unique birds here as well. This first magnificent creature is a Painted Stork.

Before we knew it, the sun was setting and our four-hour safari was over. We went home, had cocktails, a delicious dinner and went to bed exhausted but excited. Our wake up was 5 am again for our final safari.

safari #3

The day was off to an auspicious start with this stunning view of a peacock perched on a tree.

During this safari I also had one of those silly ‘aha’ moments when I made the connection to the name peahen for a female, and the words ‘hen’/’cock’. However, this location on the safari also gave me the opportunity to shoot a peacock after it had shed its feathers and was growing new ones.

I will comment here on what you probably have already surmised. The sunsets and sunrises were stunning, with the golden orb rising and falling for our pleasure.

The morning also gave me an opportunity to get a better (but not great) photo of a parakeet.

Then the fun began as we saw another pack of wild dogs.  This time we got to see how the alpha male marks the territory: on his front paws!  Amazing.  After he finished, he rolled around in the grass – probably to shake off some insects.  Yet again, it was a pleasure watching animals doing their thing in their own environment.

We came upon some Spotted Deer at a watering hole and some Sambar deer eating grass.  Here we saw one deer with a broken antler, probably getting ready to shed it.  Deer, such graceful creatures, are always a joy to observe.

Since we recently saw wild dogs, we now had our next tiger moment.  Before I go on, let me explain the how the tiger hunt goes – a process that is probably the same today as it was a century ago, only today our trophies are photographs not furs.  We stopped in a spot with other cars, always a good sign.  We heard several roars, quite amazing – as we could track the direction the tiger was moving.  Once that was surmised, all the cars went around the bend to where she would probably exit.  Then we looked for movement, which Lynn saw first!  At this point Mowgli exited the forest. 

Mowgli, born in 2016, is a male from in a range of Tadoba where tigers tend to be shy and aggressive.  He saw how his mother often feasted on Gaurs (the bison), so this is favorite meal to this day.  As a result, he is massive (genetics help as well) and weighs 1500kg.  For a long time he was wandering looking for a territory to claim as his own.  He went head-to-head with two males in the Alizana territory, finally defeating Samrath for the territory.  He killed the cubs of a previous male’s litter and mated with two females and fathered their cubs.  In the summer of 2022 Mowgli was badly injured by the male Chota Matka and as a result he has been dodging him ever since.

While we were waiting for the tiger to come out, we saw a tree with sloth bear claw marks!  We watched Mowgli rub his face on the bark.

While we were absorbed watching nature in action, bees attacked us. Babu, the naturalist, was amazing and immediately told the driver to drive fast so we got away from them. For some reason I was able to stay still so I wasn’t stung, but poor Tom and Lynn were. Everyone who was stung had 20 minutes of burning sensation and the next day swelling.  From then on, our eyes went up every time we stopped!  Babu said that the bees will go to cars with women on their period or with a lot of perfume.  Since none of us fit those categories, we are assuming it was the lovely jasmine flowers that drew them.

After the adrenaline and pain subsided, we moved on and got to see a Monitor Lizard lounging in a tree on the lookout for insects.

We stopped at another watering hole where Choti Tara graced us with her presence as we watched her walk down to the pond, drink some water, cross the island and sit to rest.

The book tells us that Choti Tara (which means Little Star as she is the daughter of Star) was born in 2009 and is the boldest and one of the most loved tigresses of Taboda.  She was raising her third litter when an unknown male entered her territory, she lost sight of her cub and later her male cub was also lost.  In 2019 the male Matkasur was unable to maintain his control of the territory when Rudra pushed him out and fathered Choti Taku’s fourth litter.  In 2021 she had her fifth litter, also losing some of them.  She was seen in 2023 with her sixth litter.  In April she was seen with a single cub and later with two cubs: one of her own and one who was Bijli’s (it is rare to see tigresses caring for another female’s cub).  Unfortunately, she misplaced both cubs and was seen circling the territory for a few days calling out to her cubs, but all was in vain.  This sad story pointed out to me that while living in a sanctuary forest, life is still not easy for wild animals.  My research on tiger cubs tells me bears, crocodiles, and snakes are their natural predators in this jungle.  Males will also kill the young of tigresses they did not father.

We returned to the Tadoba Lake and were able to see two ibis: Redneck Ibis and the Blackhead ibis.  The alligator was still in the same spot, showing his teeth this time.  On the way we saw this Crescent Serpent Eagle fly off its perch and a warthog checking us out.  After leaving the lake we passed by the remains of a temple and saw the landscape change again.

While the safari was coming to an end, we tried to have another tiger sighting or to see a Sloth Bear, but our luck had run out.  This did not mean there weren’t beautiful sights and sounds, like the singing cicadas or a running peacock with his flopping tail dragging behind him.  I was able to get some decent photos of the elusive peahens (they run a lot faster than peacocks) and some deer in a field of grass.  A mongoose crossed our path, as did some warthogs.  We passed another family of Langur, and it looked like one was nursing an injury.  A highlight was seeing a Mottled Wood Owl, sitting in a unusual pose, with its wings slightly open.  In my photos you can see how she has blinked, as in one photo the eyes are open and in the other closed.

As we left the park, Babu submitted the GPS (which is used to track the speed of the jeeps), we took some memory photos, and I bought Tom some Jungle Honey since he clearly contributed to future honey production.

For those of you still reading (!), below are some photos from other moments during this incredible weekend.