Okay – I am sure some of you are thinking ‘enough with the tigers’ but … we set off yesterday afternoon on another safari with our driver Devendra convinced that the tiger cub he had seen sleeping at 11.30 would still be there in the afternoon.
This time we had our friends Rosalind and Paul in our jeep and they had yet to see any tigers. So we set off along the road and before very long, we saw an immense number of jeeps pulled up on the road:
It was pretty obvious where the tiger was – he hadn’t moved since this morning. We stopped and watched, and he began slowly to move around and stretch:
And then came the excitement! All four cubs were in the area. We spent the next half an hour watching them play and generally mess about, exciting the crowd. At one stage, Devendra took my camera from me so some of the photos are his and some are mine – but I can’t tell which are which!
Anyway, here are some shots for you to enjoy of the cubs playing with each other.
And here one has climbed a tree and is trying to come down – the pictures are a bit out of focus but still worth looking at:
Meanwhile the photographers were beside themselves with excitement;
There are three tigers in this picture for you to find (and if you find four, that’s even better):
We left this crowded scene for a beautiful drive through the landscape, eventually coming across a changeable hawk eagle (I think) eating another bird by tearing off chunks of meat until, eventually, it decided just to gulp it all down:
Replete, he flew away and sat staring down at us.
So jealous! What a brilliant sighting. Devendra is one of the best in the business at finding tigers.
We felt very lucky – and v pleased for Rosalind and Paul who hadn’t seen any tigers the day before despite Devendra’s best efforts
The bird swallowing photo is fantastic! How wonderful to watch the tigers at play for awhile. So relaxed – clearly all on very companionable terms with your guide and the vehicles etc. Did the treed tiger eventually get down in one leap?
Yes, the tiger in the tree did eventually come down in a single leap – it was hard seeing him in the tree and not think of domestic cats that confidently climb trees and then can’t work out how to get down again. He also looked just too big to be in the tree at all!
Awww. Cub tigers playing. And you being appreciated as a meal?!!! Luckily the hawk had eaten. Sounds great fun
It was great fun. The pictures of the eagle eating I thought would appeal – or not – to bird lovers reading the blog – look, here’s one bird eating another!
How great to see 2 lots of tigers and it doesn’t look as if it’s freezing !
Definitely not as cold as the last safari but then this was an afternoon jaunt and ever so faintly sunny. The park was really beautiful, particularly once we’d left the tiger scrum ( though it was a very quiet scrum, not a quality you always notice with Indians).