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| BANDIPUR | GAUR KILL [READ THE STORY] |
| BANDIPUR has always been special to me.This gaur
was killed by a male tiger in an open field near
border road.I got the information at 7.30 pm on
wednesday night.I was at the spot Thrusday
morning
at 6.40am...saw the kill but no tiger.waited for
more than 3 hrs..lot of alarm calls around
indicating the presence of the tiger, but it did
not come out.Thrusday evening a leopard was
feasting on the kill amidst lound alarm calls
from
langur and chital ....hearing this the tiger
comes
rushing to defend his kill..leopard runs out of
sight..we see the tiger for 2 seconds inside the
lantana to our right..i click only to get the
lantana in the foreground in focus.Next second
the
tiger dissapears searching for the leopard in the
direction of the alarm calls.Missed!! i curse my
luck.Next day morning i reached the kill at
6.25am
..a gypsy belonging to a pvt resort reaches the
spot 2 mins before me sees the tiger walking in
to
the bushes...gets no pics.We wait for more than
an
hour ,but the tiger who had his fill by then,
decides to sleep inside a dry nullah right behind
the kill and does not come out...alright.. so no
luck the third time.I sit down and decide to
change the routine ...in the afternoon we reach
the spot an hour before other jeeps .As per plan
we switch off the engine about a quater km away
and reach the spot..the willy tiger which still
manages to hear the rattle of our approaching
vehicle stands right next to the kill..at the
first glimpse of our vehicle [which was around
300
feet away] he retreats in to the lantana..but
stands still watching at our approaching jeep..as
the jeep stops about 150 feet away ...i instantly
click pointing my camera towards the tiger..in
about 5 to 10 seconds i manage to get atleast a
few record shots of this huge male tiger which
remains to be identified.With extreme
satisfaction
of atleast getting a few record shots...all my
feelings of not having got him feasting on his
kill vanish.I silently take a video of the kill
and wait at the spot...thinking that it was all
over. vultures sitting around hover around the
kill but refuse to land,probably sensing the
tiger.Suddenly from our left two wild dogs appear
on the scene...and cautiously approach the
kill..but sensing the tiger around they too
dissapear from the scene.As the other jeeps start
pouring in i decided to exit from the scene aware
that the tiger being shy [not used to vehicles
and
people] would not emerge.As i return back i was
blessed with an sighting which was perhaps more
rare than a tiger!! A sloth bear with two cubs
piggyriding on her!! We also got to see herds of
elephants,a tusker,and groups of gaur too. More
than i asked for!! I will be posting the images
and videos of the tiger , wild dogs,vultures and
the bear cubs with their mother.Keep
watching.here
is short video of the scene showing the dead gaur
and other gaur watching it in the rain.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=za9-KTtYZrQ |
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