An Adorable Sleepy Princess

Jungle Book, the fictional story that lit up the childhood of almost every child, with its characters being so loved by children - Mowgli the "man-cub", Bagheera the panther, Baloo the bear, Kaa the python, Akela the wolf, and the iconic tiger villain, Sherkhaan. This is a story that is nestled deep in the dense jungles of Pench, situated on the border of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.

In March, we set out to experience this fictional story in real life. We had heard a lot about the dense jungles of Pench and wanted to see for ourselves what it was about the jungle that inspired Rudyard Kipling to create his amazing little world.

Our first safari was in the morning in the Khursapar zone. Our hopes weren't that high, yet we arrived at the gate with our cameras fully charged and our minds open for what was to come our way soon.

The safari started off with us sighting a pair of Indian Scops Owls nestled in their nest, followed by multiple Thick-Knees, and numerous Owlets, and a pair of Nightjars sitting behind each other, as though saying to one another, "I got your back". Perched on every branch that we looked at were Indian Rollers, Treepies, and Kingfishers.

Alt text: a pair of Indian Scops Owls in their nest.

Alte text: a pair of Nightjars perched behind each other.

Alt text: Thick-Knee digging the ground for insects.

As we drove through the forest, further into the lush forest, we saw a Black Hooded Oriole and multiple Racket-Tailed Drongos flying around from branch to branch. So far, all that we had seen was just a flurry of wings and sweet, melodious tunes hanging in the air. It had been two hours of our safari, and we were slowly beginning to lose hope of sighting the iconic Jungle Book villain.

Alt text: Scenic lakeside as we waited for some tiger movement.

As we arrived at a lakeside and waited for anything out of the ordinary to happen, we heard a loud call - a deer call. That got our hopes up high faster than the speed of light, and we waited for another call to sound that could affirm the fulfillment of our hopes. And there it was, another call from a deer, loud and clear, indicative of something disturbing its peace, something lurking in the tall grass waiting for the right chance to ambush its prey...our guide and driver looked at each other and signalled something quietly. In just a matter of a few seconds, we were speeding off to where the guide suspected the call to be coming from, as we left behind us a mini dust devil.

Soon, we arrived at a small, dried-up stream and waited for another deer call. We waited and waited, but heard nothing more, as though the deer had just mistaken the presence of a threat or it had gone silent out of fear of something predatory...

When you’re on a safari, you would usually look at the behaviour of the deer packs. If the deer are grazing or just walking around without any worries, then there is no danger of a predator being around. If the deer are alert, with their ears perked up and noses held high in the air, they have sensed the presence of a predator. What we usually don’t realise is that, even though the deer are grazing carefree, it doesn’t mean that there aren’t any predators in the vicinity. Maybe there is a predator around, but it isn’t in hunting mode, or maybe the deer just haven’t noticed the lurking predator yet… 

We started driving up the trail and headed toward the rest house for a 5-minute break. On both sides of the road were dry trees and tall grass, and deer were grazing. We commented on that, saying that there is not a single chance that there is a big cat around here. By this time, we were really just looking for something to eat for breakfast and get back to our room and rest. That’s how much hope we had given up. As we sat in the jeep scrolling through our cameras and commenting on the angles and the lighting and the “could-have-been” of every photo, I looked up to my right instinctively. At the same time, our guide screamed: “The tiger is right here, look!” and our jeep screeched to a sudden halt.

Alt text: a young tiger spotted sitting in the tall grass, with its ears perked upright.

My heart started racing. Not out of fear, but out of sheer excitement. Wow. I was so not expecting that. Especially not with the grazing deer barely 500 meters behind us. As I looked at the spot our guide was pointing at, my heart melted. The guide then told us that it was the 10-month-old daughter of Tigress Bindu, dozing off to sleep under the shade of the trees. I hastily pulled my camera out and aimed it at her, and observed her through the lens. Her head lolled forward, and she would jerk awake every time her chin touched her chest. That was the cutest tigress I’ve ever laid eyes on, and she was doing the most adorable thing - dozing off, probably after having a good breakfast, just like a human baby dozes off after their stomach is full. As I clicked about 10 photos of the endearing tigress, she looked straight into my camera, and my finger froze on the shutter button. It was as though time had come to a sudden standstill. I could hear my dad going crazy, clicking photos with his camera, but to me, all I could fully pay attention to were her eyes. Those captivating and elegant brown orbs that could potentially disable its prey with just one look had a firm grip on me. As much as I tried, I couldn't get myself to look away. Eventually, the jeep started with a jerk to just slightly adjust our angle, and that pulled me out of my deep trance.

Alt text: the 10-month-old daughter of Tigress Bindu dozing off under the shade of the trees.

She sat like a true princess under the tree, occasionally twirling her tail in the air and then watching it dance around, as though to ward off her sleepiness. Her ears were constantly moving around, as though listening out for any calls from her mother. We waited and watched her from our trail, about 500 meters away from her, hoping to see her mother come back to her daughter with a fresh kill that would last them for maybe 1-2 days, depending on the size of the kill.

Alt text: Tigress Bindu's sub-adult daughter twirling her tail around playfully.

I watched her dozing off and playing around for a good 2 minutes, filled with nothing but awe at her absolutely adorable actions. She soon got up, looked straight at us, as though challenging us to follow her, and then sashayed off further into the dense grassland behind her, her mildly orange fur shining under the morning sun.

Alt text: Tigress Bindu's sub-adult daughter walking off deeper into the grasslands.

As she disappeared into the tall grass, I sat in the jeep, awestruck for a complete 5 minutes, mesmerised by her actions. There is just something about a tiger cub that pulls at your heartstrings and makes you fall in love with them. We started driving to the rest house again, and I sat thinking about the 2 minutes that I just spent admiring the young tigress, and hoped that she would grow up well into an independent and confident tigress that would reign over her kingdom.

After this, our safari was pretty dry, as we drove along the forest trails and looked for any further signs of other big cats. Soon, we started back to the entry gate, as our safari time was almost up, and we came across a bunch of jeeps crowded at a Y-junction. As we neared them, we noticed a pack of wild dogs, better known as Dhols, trotting around, filled with playful excitement.

Alt text: a pack of Wild Dogs (Dhols) trotting playfully under the morning sun.

As we arrived back at the safari entry gate, we thanked our guide and driver and started back to our homestay to rest before our afternoon safari the same day.

While freshening up, I was thinking about what the upcoming safaris had in store for us, and whether we would get to see iconic tiger villain Sherkhaan in real-life. Guess I would have to wait patiently to find out...