Tracking Tigers in Corbett

Clutching the wooden handle, I held by breath as the mahout urged the elephant faster into the underbrush. All of four of us were hushed, our hearts racing. Up ahead, the passengers of another elephant had spotted a tiger, and were waiting for us to catch up. The mahout whispered something in Hindi. The Indian woman who was with us, suppressed a fearful cry. “What did he say?” Her husband said to us: “Don’t be afraid- there are two male tigers here.”

We caught up with the other elephant. The young girl who was seated at the front of the other elephant pointed eagerly- boucing with excitement.

They had already caught a glimpse of the lord of the jungle. We looked into the deep the brush- all we could were tangles of undergrowth. The two elephants plunged in. Suddenly, there was a collective gasp, as a male tiger, sprung out, acknowledged us briefly, before turning his back and disappearing into the undergrowth.

Then we heard a low growl and the cracking of brushes. Less than 15 feet away from us a young male tiger was in the undergrowth. Who knew that the stripes could make a creature camelfluage so well against the half-burnt grasses. He stared us down, as we stared in disbelief at the magnificent creature before us. Of course, we were still tourists, and snapped photos eagerly. Who would miss a chance to photograph a tiger so close and in its natural habitat??

For a few minutes the tiger looked at us, opening his jaw threateningly, give us a glimpses at those gigantic pearly white teeth. We all held tightly onto the elephant. The elephants shuffled a bit, and the tiger decided he had made his presence known, and darted off into the under growth.

We started back to camp. Eagerly chatting, and showing off pictures. The Mahout rewarded the elephant for his braveness by allowing him to have a little snack of leaves on the way back.

While feeling elated from the thrilling experience, a bit of guilt crawled over me. We did disturb the tigers (clearly they weren’t happy with out intrusion). I was glad to learn that there are part of the park that is completely off limit.

I guess a balance has to be made. Tigers can generate so much revenue- people are willing to pay quite to many to get a glimpse of one in the wild, that their conservation should be guaranteed. The problem is- this is not happening. There are only 1,500 tigers estimated to be left in India. A 50% decrease from a census taken (or estimated) a few years back.

Clearly, the tiger tracking tourism industry has a lot it can improve on. Bigger reserves, more space for tigers, working on less obtrusive ways of giving tourists a chance to see these big cats- are just a few.

"A tiger is a large-hearted gentleman with boundless courage, and when he is exterminated - as exterminated he will be unless public opinion rallies to his support - India will be the poorer by having lost the finest of her fauna."

-Jim Corbett