Corbett Tigers in Winter 2014-15

Winters have always been my favorite time to photograph tigers. Many may think that tiger sightings are better in summers, owing to the fact that shortage of water makes them hang around the last remaining waterholes and dried out thinner density of foliage provides better visibility. But as per my experience, Corbett has been an exception. Among January and February 2015, I visited Jim Corbett Tiger Reserve, Uttarakhand, India on total 12 days and was blessed with tiger sightings on 11 of those days.

Finding a tiger in Corbett during the winters is an easier task. The tigers become very vocal and remain active throughout the day, prefer to walk on the wide tracks & nullahs and bask in the open during the daytime. Tourists (who have got a night stay booking in Corbett) too get almost the whole day to roam around in the forest (generally it's and hour's rest between the morning and afternoon safaris, which tourists can spend on a watch tower too) which maximizes the chances of tracking a tiger. Unlike summers, light remains pleasant throughout the day, which helps in avoiding burnt out highlights and dark shadows in the image. Typical winter foggy conditions in Corbett can provide the photographers with that certain mood to the image.

My initial days during the January 2015 tour did not yield much in Dhikala (one of the tourism zones of Corbett), though sightings happened almost everyday. But most of those sightings happened in the grassland area, where grasses are quite tall during these months and hence, provides lesser photographic opportunities. I generally will not prefer the grassland area during the winters; but this time due to certain constraints had to restrict myself to it, mostly. Bijrani (another tourism zone of Corbett), however, was a different experience altogether and I could make some nice images.

It rained heavily on the first day in Bijrani; and during the afternoon safari, we got to get a glimpse of one of the female cub, towards the fag end of the safari. The light was very low and outcome was a blurry image.

The female cub vanishes as soon as she spots our vehicles

The  next morning safari was the most productive where we could get the same female cub in the same area for quite some time. I got a very pleasant back-lighting for most of my images which helped me to create a very unique mood for the images. Later, the female cub went to one of the male cub, it's sibling, and shared some wonderful nudges. However, I could not document those moments as they were too close for my 400mm prime. Hence, I had to come back with just a close portrait of the female cub.

The female cubs walks across a monsoon river bed

After walking for some distance, she stops to check back us

And then she starts walking again

The close portrait of the female cub

On the last day, during the afternoon safari, we saw the male cub again, relaxing inside the thickets. However, he was in a small opening and I could manage some close portrait images of it, before saying goodbye to Corbett for next few days.

Am a Corbett Tiger!

If the Dhikala grassland disappointed me during my January 2015 tour, it became the action hot-spot during my February 2015 tour. On the very first day itself, during the afternoon safari, we spotted this female (actually other vehicles has already spotted it, we reached the places few moments later) which was on a hunt. Though the hunt was not a successful one, I could manage some nice frames, during the 20 minutes action packed drama.

The female looking at us

After crossing the track, she took position again for the hunt

The hungry tigress

The female looked to be a bit inexperienced in hunting technique. Though she could manage her composure for almost 15 minutes, a slight movement of her tail alerted the herd of Spotted Deer. We thought that she had abandoned the hunt, and prepared to move to the watch tower to check if she can be tracked in the tall grasses. But to our surprise, she sprang from the forest, right in front of our Gypsy and started chasing a deer. However, the deer were faster and this attempt resulted in a failure. Generally, a tiger is successful once in approximately 20 attempts of hunting.

The tigress runs behind a deer in a desperate attempt 

After the failed attempt, tigress looks for an alternative

After this, we went to the watch tower immediately, expecting the tigress to come to the water hole for a drink. During the hunting attempt, the heart beat of a tiger increases by many folds and the body gets heated up, forcing it to come to the water for cooling down. Grasses were tall, and hence though we saw the tigress, I could not make any good image. We saw tigers on next 2 days too, but none of them resulted in good image making opportunities.

Next on the list were some day visits to Bijrani and Jhirna (one more zone in Corbett). I generally do not prefer these day visits, but then this was how the client's bird-watching activity was planned. First morning, the safari in Jhirna went cat-less! We missed the tiger by few minutes as we were busy photographing some birds. Quite a lot of tourists did see the big male of Jhirna for over 20 minutes. We had to come back only with loud roars. However, the evening round in Bijrani was the game-changer which resulted in the sighting a male cub in Bijrani, during the fag end of the safari.

The male cub crosses the Gypsy track

Next day was 14th February, the Valentine's Day. And I got a gift from my girlfriend, Sharmilee, the mother of those cubs I had photographed earlier in Bijrani. I had been dreaming of an image from quite a long time, image of a Corbett tiger in foggy conditions with the stunning backdrop of the Terai landscape consisting of the monsoon river bed boulders and tall grasses. And on the 14th Feb 2015, the Valentine's Day, this Corbett tigress did make it a point to present me this gift! I hope that I have been able to do justice with the image.

When you see a Tiger, it's like a Dream!