I really wanted to see a tiger. Past efforts sent me looking in
Indonesia, Cambodia and Thailand as well as many months poking into
the various tiger habitats of India and Nepal. I had seen tracks and
was close on several occasions, including a wonderful- there he is
right there- instant when atop an elephant in Manas, but I did not
have my tiger. I have seen cheetah, lion and leopard in Africa.
Watched a Jaguar swim a river in Peru, a cougar followed me while I
hiked alone here in Montana, and I had a tiny speck on a distant dry
hillside in Tibet pointed out to me as a snow leopard. But still no
tiger, despite that the species is the largest and territorially most
successful of all the cats. Yes, the leopard does occupy a larger
area range, but where their territory overlaps, tigers do prey on
leopards. Indeed, the tiger is alone among the large cats in that it
has no natural predator, nothing looks at the tiger and thinks—meal.
Hyenas prey on lions, leopards and cheetah. Wolves, coyotes and
sometimes, though rarely, bears prey on cougars, which is also true
for the snow leopard. While the South American jaguar must always be
wary as it is on the dinner menu for anacondas and crocodiles. I
could say, with a sense of humor, it is a jungle out there and that
is what helps to make the tiger so unique.
In 2000, just after I met the woman of my dreams, I was in Nepal and
on my way to Royal Bardia, a beautiful park lying in the Gangetic
plains of western Nepal hard against the border with India. I had
traveled via the impossible long overnight bus ride from Kathmandu,
12 hours of too loud music played over a long since worn out speaker
system. As it grew just light enough to see, the crowded bus stopped
in the wee early morning, and I climbed and crawled off the bus then
stood along the road waiting for my just now awake eyes to adjust. A
voice asked from the darkness, “are you John?” then a hand
touched my shoulder. I replied then the hand guided me to a waiting
safari car. The light grew steadily as the driver introduced himself
before we began down the road for the resort where I would stay.
Very early the next morning, I bounced along in that same safari car
with the same driver and a guide named Mohan, with us where two
people from England, Neil and Liz Pitts. The couple really wanted to
see a tiger, perhaps as much as I did. Our guide’s plan was to have
us down by an oxbow of the Karnali River well before first light. He
knew a spot where tigers often swam the river for the day protection
of the national park after leaving the fields and villages, where
they roamed at night. We sat quiet and expectant, waiting while the
light. The heat grew, but no tiger. Oh well. We motored along in our
safari car, checking several less well-used river crossing sites. We
saw lots of deer and a rhino, but no tiger, not even a track. Mohan
told us we would check one more place, a place where he sometimes saw
wild elephants and then we would return to our lodge.
Our guide was first down the misty trail then our driver followed by
Neil then his wife Liz. I brought up the rear. Damp low morning
clouds rose like smoke. We were almost to a braid of the river, when
the path broke out of the sal forest and into tall riverine elephant
grass. In a tree to our right, across a good stretch of open ground
from the main forest, was a large agitated troop of macaques, Macaca
mulatta. Our trail went near this tree then down through the tall
grass to the river. Our guide and driver were through the grass to
the riverbank and Neil was almost to them when we heard the growl.
We all heard the growl.
Liz stopped short with me at her shoulder. She looked ahead to her
husband and I looked right into the grass. The growl came again and
had I the nerve I could have bent down and stroked the fur on the big
cat’s head! But the tigress acted first, she reversed and raced
through the grass out across the open river bank then threw herself
into the river eventually disappearing on the opposite bank. Despite
the distance covered, this took less than the time for one rapid
breath.
At once, the macaques jumped down from the tree and hurried across
the open ground to the forest.
The five of us gathered on the riverbank, in the open. With nothing
near enough to hide anything large, we looked about and
nervous-blinked our eyes until Mohan laughed then we all laughed that
anxious laugh of the survivor.
Back at our safari car, we surmised that the tigress had come upon
the monkey troop as they went to the river for a drink. No doubt, she
surprised them and they rushed up into that isolated tree to avoid
her, but then they were cut-off from the forest. The tigress knew her
business, the day would heat, and the macaques would have to find
shade or roast in the hot sun. If they stayed up in the tree, the
heat would kill them. It was a matter of time before one of the
monkeys made the dash for the deep forest and safety. What the
tigress had not planned on were tourists coming along and ruining her
hunt.
To this day, the sound of something heavy swishing in the grass makes
me stop. And sometimes, late at night when I wake with a start, I can
still hear the growl, feel the tigress near. We were lucky, all of
us, that day, the tigress chose to run rather than change her menu.
It was ever so spooky to be so near such a large predatory animal and
not see her until she became angry with us and snarled her warning.
There are those times when adventure becomes a tad too adventurous.
Last on my cat list is the cloud leopard. I understand they are
difficult to see in the wild as they spend their lives up in the
canopy and avoid contact with humans. This last little bit of
information suits me just fine. Cheers.
Postscript: I wrote this years ago for my friend, Susan Sharma at the India Wildlife Club and for one reason or another she didn't publish it. Then I found it while looking for something else this morning. Seems like a long time ago but the memory holds strong.
I LOVED reading this! I wish you would write more personal adventures and put them all into a book. I think it would be so interesting!!
ReplyDeleteYou can read more of John's wonderful adventures at http://www.IndianWildlifeClub.com
ReplyDeleteSearching for 'John Eickert' on the top right hand corner of our home page gives 90 results!
Thanks for the long association John.