In Sri Lanka, when we say ‘Tiger behind the bush" our soldiers will immediately point the AK-56 towards the bushes in the Vanni in search of two legged tiger. But in Ranthambhore National Park (RNP) in India, it’s a different story. One will point one’s camera, instead of the gun, towards the bushes with a lot of excitement in search of a four legged tiger, to press the release button of the camera.

This story is the continuation of the articles that appeared previously in ‘The Island’ newspaper on August 15, 2007 and in the month of July, 2008. My last trip to RNP was on December 14, 2008, together with my wife, for four nights and we planned to cover eight trips to the park. The visit to RNP was mainly to find out the movements of Machlai (a tigress) and her fourth litter of three female cubs who were almost two years old, in November 2008.

This is the Winter season in India and the temperatures are around 10-15 degree C. The jungle is covered fully with bushes after the monsoon from July-September. During this period, sighting a tiger is not that easy. According to the information available from the Naturalist/Driver with whom I usually go to the park, one of the cubs has been moved to another park by the authorities; the second one has been fitted with a radio collar to record the movement of the cub by park authorities; the third cub is a puzzle to the Wild Life Department and to naturalists, as no one was able to spot it in recent weeks.

Also, the movement of Machlai is unusual as she keeps moving from place to place, instead of being confined to her usual territory.

Thus, this visit to the park was in search of Machlai and the collard cub. The RNP is divided into five zones and once you get a permit to enter one zone, you cannot use it to enter another zone on that particular trip. So luck counts a lot in visiting and spotting wild animals in parks and game reserves.

RNP opens daily from 7.00 - 10.00 am and 2.30 – 5.30 pm during the winter. This helps the animals to rest without getting disturbed by the tourists, whereas here, in Sri Lanka, parks are open from sun rise to sun set.

It’s a good idea for the Sri Lanka Wild Life Department to study the systems adopted in India, especially in regard to opening and closing hours. We concentrated on zones three and four as these were the two zones where this tiger family had been spotted before my arrival in Ranthambhore.

We entered the park around 2.30 pm on December 14, concentrating on zone four since the tigress Machlai had been spotted in this zone. This zone covers an area of thick bushes named Lakarda and a lake called Malik.

It was a disappointing afternoon, trip with no big cat being being sighted. nor were there any clues of pug marks of the tiger or any alarm call from the sambar or the spotted deer.

On the 15th morning, we got into the park at 7.00 am with a zone four permit. Tracking of a tiger is mainly on pug marks and the alarm call from the monkey, sambar or the spotted deer. Pug marks of a tiger were observed in the Lakarda area and at the same time the naturalist of our jeep noticed a drag of a kill of a deer on the road and the footprint of a female tiger.

Male pug mark tips are round while those of the females are pointed. I was really excited and getting my Nikon D3 Body with 80-400mm zoom lens ready. But no sighting, even though we heard an alarm call from the sambar and the afternoon trip was too disappointing although the Game Ranger had seen the collared cub near Malik Lake. Despite our bad luck, we did not give up as we had five more trips to do.

Following a wake up call from the Resort Manager, Patrick at 5.45 am on the 16th and as usual, we arrived at the park entrance before the gate had openend. It’s very important to get into the park sharp at 7.00 am, because normally tigers are on the move early in the morning and late in the evening when they go to drink water or change their place of resting. Our usual driver and naturalist decided, to get the permit to enter the same zone of four and we were the first to enter the zone.

We heard alarm calls from all directions in the lake Malik area and I was confident that we would see a tiger. For a few minutes, our driver did his best to locate our great friends at the RNP.

At last, we had a glimpse of a tiger back at the border of zone four and three where the tiger was moving towards zone three and it happened to be Tigress Machlai.

The afternoon trip was again confined to zones four and we entered the park at 2.30 pm. Footprints of a tigress was observed as we entered zone four, and according to the naturalist, these large pug marks had to be those of Machlai.

But they were in the opposite direction to the adjoining zone. We toured all accessible roads in the zone, and having noticed further pug marks of a female tiger near the Malik Lake, but not of Machlai, without any sighting, we ended our afternoon trip. I have not taken a single picture up to now after visiting the park five times during this trip and this disturbed me, since this is the first time since my first visit to the park in 2001, I was not able to take a picture of a tiger, nor record a sighting. My plan for the next day was to see a tiger, even if we failed to sight the family that I was tracking. I discussed this with our jeep driver too and planned to enter the same zone, since at the northern border area named Shakula, there is another family of tigers with two cubs of 15 months, who had been frequently seen.

We got up as usual with the wake up call from the Resort Manager, Patrick, and at 7.00 am we were at the gate of Zone four. We covered the lake area, but without sign of the Machlai nor her collared cub. But we noticed pug marks of a male near Lakarda and tried our best to locate it, with no luck. As planned the previous night, we moved towards the Shakula area and we heard the alarm call from the spotted dear as well as from the monkey. I was getting ready with my camera gear and suddenly, my driver yelled tiger!! tiger!!. At the same time, the two grown up cubs too came out from the bush. I was so excited, so was my wife, to see the family at very close quarters for good photography. According to the naturalist, the mother tiger was about five years and the two cubs happened to be from her first litter and looked very healthy. We were quite happy about our morning trip, although we could not spot my usual tiger family!

I was expecting our luck to continue for the afternoon trip as well. We were inside the park at 2.30 pm.

We tried our best to locate Machlai or the collared cub but to no avail and we travelled towards the territory where we spotted the other family in the morning and we could not see even the pug marks. On our return at 4.50 pm and while passing the bushes of the Lakarda area, the naturalist spotted a few fresh pug marks of a tiger and we stopped the jeep.

It was of a male tiger and we turned the jeep since the animal had moved in the opposite direction. We followed a few yards of the footprints, but the tiger had moved into the bush. So, now no sign, but my wife suddenly with excitement said there! there!,

The tiger was only a few yards from the jeep. It tiger came out from the bushes and went back and we sighted it again from a different location.

We followed the tiger for at least 15 to 20 minutes until the tiger moved into the bush again. The driver, who has been visiting the park for the last 20 years, was of the opinion that this male tiger was the son of Machlai’s second litter and his age could be over three years.

The following morning, we entered the zone three, in vain, although we heard the alarm calls from spotted deer as well from the monkey with many fresh pug marks.