Watching for hunting
Tiger Galore at Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve
Best Time to Spot Tigers in Tadoba
Welcome to the land of the tigers, the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve! Tadoba is known for its high density of tigers, making it one of the best places in India for a tiger safari. If you're planning a trip to Tadoba, you're in for a treat! In this article, we will share our tips and tricks for tiger spotting in Tadoba, including the best time to visit and the famous tigers you can expect to see. We'll also introduce you to some of the other wildlife you can spot in Tadoba, from leopards to wild dogs. Get ready for a thrilling adventure in the heart of the jungle with 98 Stripes!
The core area of Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve is closed for visitors from July 1st to September 30th every year due to the monsoon season. This is done to give the animals a chance to breed and raise their young undisturbed. The buffer zones, however, remain open throughout the year, and visitors can go on safaris in these areas.
While the core area is known to have higher tiger sightings, the buffer zones of Tadoba are also good for tiger sightings, as the tigers and other wildlife often move across the buffer and core areas. The buffer zones also have their own unique flora and fauna, which can make for a different safari experience. So, if you're visiting Tadoba during the monsoon season, you can still go on a safari in the buffer zones and have a chance to spot tigers and other wildlife, and some wildlife unique to this season, like the monitor lizard.
TATR is an amazing experience I must say and it’s not that there are tigers here only, but its because of the number of tigers which are here. The 1727 Sq Km forest (comprising off 625.40 sq km core area and 1101.60 sq km of buffer, which included 32.51 sq km of protected forest and 14.93 sqkm of other area), boasts of the most numbers of tiger in India, though officially the count would show less.
While ideally tourists and forest lovers do demarcated certain time of the year to be the good or bad for tiger sighting, which is true, but at the end of the day its your luck, as we are only scavenging 20% of the total forest area and the rest is ONLY THEIR ABODE.
Tiger is not only about might and fear but if you one really looks through them and relates to us, we can see the similarity and we can easily co relate theirs to our’s, only to gauge how lucky we are yet how meagre we have made our self. Being in the forest raised my inquisitiveness to understand their pattern their behaviour and how they could be a part of the ecosystem, and why are they the Apex. The co existence is not easy, as the word sounds, but it certainly requires each and every one to participate to make it happen.
In one of my trips, I could see a tiger hiding in the bushes with her cub, lazing, and to my surprise saw the deers on the path conveniently chewing on the leaves, absolutely fearless. On one thought wondered as how were they getting to eat the green leaves fallen on the ground, and to my utter surprise heard some rumbling on the tree branches above. I was kind of steel bound seeing the ecosystem work. There were monkey’s on the tree and they were eating the fruits and dropping the leaves on the ground which the deer were feeding on. Isn’t that a rhythm, a kind of a perfect floor diagram of what should happen and how their is complete utilisation of the chain. I was spell bound and waited there for some time to see the sequence happen, did try to capture a video of it attached, but that was amazing.
When you see one act it leads to the other, the question which ran past me was, why we're the deers not afraid of the Tiger near by, WHY? Why of all the paces in the forest this particular activity was happening here, it could have been at any place. Though do not have any self back to the logic, but the guides story made sense. Monkey’s are favourite prey to leopards, and leopards generally try to avoid tigers so monkeys were there. The deers being there, as they could see the mother with her cub, so it was obvious she wouldn’t leave the cub to fend for themselves in the open and go for the deer. Hence when you join the dot the story is, the tiger being there with the cub was relatively less fearful for the deer, the monkeys were relaxed and eating as due to the tigers presence the leopard would not come near, the nuts being eaten and the leaves dropping made the best food for the herbivorous - wow isn’t this what is coexistence? Isn’t this what ecosystem is about, man this really blew me off and of course it tinkled me to go for more.
Ever since the number of incidence and its stories that has been linked of coexistence has been numerous. But more to that if you like the tigers and see its movement and action, they seem so intriguing and all of them are kind of purpose driven.
TATR stands out from the others, as the terrain is pretty different at different gates and the way the tigers adapt to each terrain is a treat to watch. While the forest is one, but the tigers have their own territory, and they generally are seen in that area, which could be anything between 20-60 Sq km. The female are are generally focussed and more protective of their areas, while the male are in a constant state of aggression, whether it is food, area or mates (the last one being highly brutal and insensitive)
The guides here are all kind of masters to the gates they belong too and the names tart they keep are pretty funny, and at times also queer. The logic of their names are basically the area they saty in, or a particular mark that can be seenon their face or ears and these folks are so experienced that they go a couple of generations down for them, like Maya being the child of Hill Top (male) and Leela her mother, and the birth was is an area called Pandharpaoni in Tadoba Core, and that’s her territory which she has acquired from her mother Leela. Now isn’t that a family tree of sorts, and yes there are many to it.She had given litters 4 or 5 times till now totalling about 14 but there is only one confirmed case of survival in Surya which is in Umred, and she has struggled as the males have devoured most of her children, for the lust of her. Maya is one of its kind of a tigress who has her own handle in twitter by @MayaTadoba.
While is considered the beauty of TATR and has been the biggest crowd puller ever, there are others also and am sure they would have their own stories to be told.
Tigers in Tadoba Forest - Gallery
