18th January: Searching for tigers in Tala

We had another early start, woken by a hot cup of chai at 5.45 am (and given a slight shock by the frogs clinging to the wall of our bathroom). This time we were accompanied by both Satyendra and Bonnie as we headed off to Tala, the "premium" section of the park. Satyendra sat in the front with the driver, while the obligatory park guide sat in the back with us. The jungle was covered by a light mist that gave it a very mysterious atmosphere as we bounced along the dusty path. Watching the rays of the rising sun filtering through the jungle was truly magical.

A very friendly visitor

Bandhavgarh through the morning fog

Sunrise through the jungle mist

An unearthly light filtering through the trees

Morning sun on Bandhavgarh

We were of course looking mostly for tigers, but having Satyendra and Bonnie with us ensured that we did not miss out on the many other wonderful animals lurking amidst the jungle. They pointed out several beautiful birds (eagles, owls, and peacocks), a large herd of bachelor deer (still preparing their horns for rutting season, so not yet fighting with each other), and many langurs and rhesus macaques. Here's a load of photos...

Peacock

Eagle

Owl

Unidentified (but rather hirsute) creature

Bachelor herd

Mid chew

Posing in the sunshine

Grazing beneath the fort

Checking that everything is in working order

You can almost feel the velvet on those antlers

An adjutant stork cleaning his feet

A mongoose scurrying through the undergrowth

One of the many langurs we spotted seemed to be attacking the tree to which he was suspended. Satyendra explained that this was because he was peeling away the bark to look for insects. We watched him at work for several minutes, while Satyendra pulled out his beast of a camera, making us distinctly envious. The monkey eventually found his quarry, and settled down for breakfast with a look of great contentment.

The destructive monkey is on the right

Satyendra and his extraordinary camera

Langur looking for breakfast (video not very well focused, but should give the gist)

After a couple of hours' safari, with neither sight nor sound of a tiger (the alarm call of other animals is often the best clue), we arrived at the half-way checkpoint. There the other jeeps were also gathered. Satyendra had a chat with some of the forest rangers, and found out that the elephant-riders (who set out each morning on their mighty beasts to look for tigers) had spotted a young male tiger and were tracking it. We set off for where they had last been sighted, and there met one of the senior rangers. Satyendra found out from him that the tiger they were following was one that Satyendra knew was very shy and particularly disliked the elephants, so he predicted that the tiger would disappear. He was right. We waited with the ranger (and several other jeeps) until it was certain that it would not be possible to see the tiger, and eventually drove off feeling slightly disappointed. We had greatly enjoyed the morning's safari, but since we only had one more session to come we were starting to feel slightly worried that we would miss out on the park's star attraction.

No tigers, but the view wasn't too shabby

Claw marks in a tree nearby where we waited for the elephants to find the tiger

Yes, but we want to see you too

Back at camp we were served an almighty brunch while we listened to more fascinating tiger stories from Kay and Satyendra. The park was closed every Wednesday afternoon, so we had several hours free. We used the time to catch up on the blog and go through the several hundred photos that we had taken over the previous couple of days. After a tasty snack at 4 pm, we were driven up to a small village behind Tala. Kay opened a gate that led to an old house owned by friends of theirs, which had a magnificent view of Bandhavgarh in the evening light. We lingered as the sun fell behind the horizon, enjoying a quiet disturbed only by the twittering of birds (readily identified by our naturalist guides, of course) and the laughter of the village's children drifting over on the breeze. By the time we had returned to camp it was time for dinner. Suffice to say that we ate very well, while the fire at the heart of the gazebo protected us from the chilly night.