A picture of a sumatran tiger in the water
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A picture of a sumatran tiger in the water
91707, 21134, Kh18K-34/24, Northrop F-5T Tigris, Royal Thai Air Force Museum, Don Mueang International Airport, DMK, VTBD, Thailand, 6th May 2025 ©Daren Rose
91707, 21134, Kh18K-34/24, Northrop F-5T Tigris, Royal Thai Air Force Museum, Don Mueang International Airport, DMK, VTBD, Thailand, 6th May 2025 ©Daren Rose
91682, 21119, Kh18Kh-19/24, Northrop F-5T Tigris, Royal Thai Air Force Museum, Don Mueang International Airport, DMK, VTBD, Thailand, 6th May 2025 ©Daren Rose
91682, 21119, Kh18Kh-19/24, Northrop F-5T Tigris, Royal Thai Air Force Museum, Don Mueang International Airport, DMK, VTBD, Thailand, 6th May 2025 ©Daren Rose
Like in the military, days begin early on tiger tours.
Our flight was at five to seven, therefore to get up, meet up, travel to the (correct) terminal, check in, go through security, find the gate and board before quarter past seven, we had meet in the lobby at four, and up an hour earlier.
Which we managed.
We climbed on the bus with our luggage, drive 15 minutes to the wrong terminal and five more to the right one, then find which of the shiny new desks we had to check in at. And all before the first coffee of the day!
We got in line and handed over our bags, one by one, then made our way to security, where India has its own strict rules.
That took another half hour, then a ten minute walk to the gate, which had just started to board.
I grabbed a Coke to sup, to heal ease my achey back and legs, though in truth I was doing OK.
We all got on, for the 90 minute flight to Nagpur, through most of it I slept. Which was the best way.
The landing was dramatic and sideways, or felt like it, and if it were a test the pilot would have failed. But we were safe.
We went into the terminal, got our cases, and went outside to arrivals where our fixer was here, and lead us out into the morning sun and heat to a fleet of landcruisers to take us to our lodges outside the reserve.
Nagpur seemed a small city, though has a metro, and also has the usual mix of houses, rich and poor to barely standing.
Then out into the countryside, where the harvest had just been gathered, and the land is being ploughed, though some fields of cotton were still standing.
The journey had less horn tooting, but to make it more interesting, short stretches of motorway ended at towns, where there were junctions with no give way lines, no obvious priority, so was a tootin free for all.
Someone left their wallet at the service station: the call came over the drivers’ mobiles. It was Jools’s.
So we had to turn round and go back five miles to meet the manager, who after Jools described it, returned it, and took no reward.
That act saved our holiday.
Suddenly we turned off, down an Indian six foot sixer, which I can tell you is a scary thing. Across farmland, bridges barely standing, and dirt-poor villages whose inhabitants hardly marked our passing.
Passing traffic did so by playing a game of chicken as to who would drive off the pavement. It made for an interesting drive.
And then we swung off the road, though a gate and into a collection of buildings: our lodges.
We were met by the owner, made to feel welcome, then offered dinner. More buffet curry.
And then onto the main event, or the first of 17 main events, as that’s how many safaris there is going to be.
A fleet of converted jeeps arrives, with two rows of elevated seating behind the driver: Jools and I get in, and a guide gets in behind us.
We drive at breakneck speed, through a sometimes quiet village, to the gates of Tadoba National Park, where our credentials had been presented, and one of the limited slots given to us.
Our passports checked, we enter the park.
It is jungle, but not as we think of it. Dryer, but primitive, with access roads to parts, but others eft alone so not to disturb all the 91 tigers that live here.
We see two species of deer: barking and spotted, as well as birds. Though those you mostly hear.
It is blindingly hot, and with the heat and bouncing around on red dusty tracks, Jools soo felt ill, but soldiered on, as there was little choice.
We came across a troop of monkeys, who looked at us with the distain we deserved. I took shots.
We then joined about a dozen other vehicles at a watering hole, as this is where the tigers and cubs came to drink,
Most animals come here to drink.
A pack of wild dogs arrived, but were soon alarmed, a deer was barking out warnings that became more frequent, until a majestic male tiger was seen through the undergrowth.
Even tigers need a drink.
He came along a bank and out of the grass, right in front of me, paused, then walked on paw at a time into the water, and out the other side to see what the wild dog was barking about.
The dog yelped, and the tiger made two or three quick paces, and the dog fled, so the tiger relaxed. But clearly wasn’t happy with the fleet of jeeps and cameras recording his every move.
In time he crossed the road and went into the dense vegetation, so after a few minutes, we made to move off.
The back of a tiger’s ears look like huge eyes, and our guide spotted him laying down, so we stopped.
The tiger yawned, then got up and walked back to the pond before slowly moving off.
Most other jeeps moved off, but we stayed, as our guide had heard more warnings by the deers.
And sure enough, a lone female appeared, walked over the track and along the edge of the pond nearest us. She laid down, yawned, and surveyed her options.
The walked on, then backed into the water and lay down, taking the edge off the day’s heat.
We moved off. In truth the weather had changed No longer forty degrees and hot with it, clouds were building, and flashes of lightning were seen. A keen breeze appeared, knocking dried leaves from the trees above the track as we sped back to the entrance falling on us like snow.
Dust devils danced in front of us, and we thought we would get soaked.
The journey back took over an hour, with the weather getting worse minute by minute, but staying dry.
We reached the gate, dropped off our park guide who hadn’t guided us at all, and we sped back through the village to the camp.
WE all went back to our cabins for showers, and even after a good soaking, the white towels showed large amounts of orange dust still came out of our hair and pores.
Tired, but happy, we met at eight for supper of, you guessed it, buffet curry and salad. And beer.
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The Bengal tiger is a population of the Panthera tigris tigris subspecies and the nominate tiger subspecies. It ranks among the largest wild cats alive today. It is estimated to have been present in the Indian subcontinent since the Late Pleistocene for about 12,000 to 16,500 years. Its historical range covered the Indus River valley until the early 19th century, almost all of India, western Pakistan, southern Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan and southwestern China. Today, it inhabits India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, and southwestern China. It is threatened by poaching, habitat loss and habitat fragmentation.
As of 2022, the Bengal tiger population was estimated at 3,167–3,682 individuals in India, 316–355 individuals in Nepal, 131 individuals in Bhutan and around 114 individuals in Bangladesh.
Felis tigris was the scientific name used by Carl Linnaeus in 1758 for the tiger.[1] It was subordinated to the genus Panthera by Reginald Innes Pocock in 1929. Bengal is the traditional type locality of the species and the nominate subspecies Panthera tigris tigris.[2]
The validity of several tiger subspecies in continental Asia was questioned in 1999. Morphologically, tigers from different regions vary little, and gene flow between populations in those regions is considered to have been possible during the Pleistocene. Therefore, it was proposed to recognise only two subspecies as valid, namely P. t. tigris in mainland Asia, and P. t. sondaica in the Greater Sunda Islands and possibly in Sundaland.[3] The nominate subspecies P. t. tigris constitutes two clades: the northern clade comprises the Siberian and Caspian tiger populations, and the southern clade all remaining continental tiger populations.[4] The extinct and living tiger populations in continental Asia have been subsumed to P. t. tigris since the revision of felid taxonomy in 2017.
The Bengal tiger's coat is yellow to light orange, with stripes ranging from dark brown to black; the belly and the interior parts of the limbs are white, and the tail is orange with black rings. The white tiger is a recessive mutant, which is reported in the wild from time to time in Assam, Bengal, Bihar and especially in the former State of Rewa. However, it is not an occurrence of albinism. In fact, there is only one fully authenticated case of a true albino tiger, and none of black tigers, with the possible exception of one dead specimen examined in Chittagong in 1846.[9] Fourteen Bengal tiger skins in the collection of the Natural History Museum, London have 21–29 stripes.[3] Another recessive mutant is the golden tiger that has a pale golden fur with red-brown stripes.[10] The mutants are very rare in nature.[11]
The greatest skull length of a tiger is 351 mm (13.8 in) in males and 293 mm (11.5 in) in females.[12] It has exceptionally stout teeth. Its canines are 7.5 to 10 cm (3.0 to 3.9 in) long and thus the longest among all cats.[
The Bengal tiger ranks among the biggest wild cats alive today.[14] Males and female Bengal tigers in Panna Tiger Reserve reach a head-to-body length of 183–211 cm (72–83 in) and 164–193 cm (65–76 in) respectively, including a tail about 85–110 cm (33–43 in) long. Total length ranges from 283 to 311 cm (111 to 122 in) for male tigers and 255–285 cm (100–112 in) for female tigers.[15] They typically range from 90–110 cm (35–43 in) in shoulder height.
In the 20th century, Indian censuses of wild tigers relied on the individual identification of footprints known as pug marks – a method that has been criticised as deficient and inaccurate. Camera traps are now being used in many sites.[35]
Good tiger habitats in subtropical and temperate forests include the Tiger Conservation Units (TCUs) Manas-Namdapha. TCUs in tropical dry forest include Hazaribag Wildlife Sanctuary, Nagarjunsagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve, Kanha-Indravati corridor, Orissa dry forests, Panna National Park, Melghat Tiger Reserve and Ratapani Tiger Reserve. The TCUs in tropical moist deciduous forest are probably some of the most productive habitats for tigers and their prey, and include Kaziranga-Meghalaya, Kanha-Pench, Simlipal and Indravati Tiger Reserves. The TCUs in tropical moist evergreen forests represent the less common tiger habitats, being largely limited to the upland areas and wetter parts of the Western Ghats, and include the tiger reserves of Periyar, Kalakad-Mundathurai, Bandipur and Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengal_tiger
Male bengal tiger on patrol, Bandipur Tiger Reserve, India
A picture of two playing sumatran tigers.
Nikon N80 | Nikon AF-S Zoom-Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8D IF-ED & AF-S Teleconverter TC-20E III | Kodak Vision3 500T @ 800
Digitized with Sony a7R III & FE 90mm f/2.8 Macro G OSS | CineStill CS-LITE | Valoi 360 135 Holder
Home developed in Fujifilm Negacolor | 3:30/38C | Paterson Tank, AGO Film Processor
Negative Lab Pro v3.0.2 | Color Model: Basic | Pre-Sat: 3 | Tone Profile: Linear Deep | WB: Auto-Mix | LUT: None
Nikon N80 | Nikon AF-S Zoom-Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8D IF-ED & AF-S Teleconverter TC-20E III | Kodak Vision3 500T @ 800
Digitized with Sony a7R III & FE 90mm f/2.8 Macro G OSS | CineStill CS-LITE | Valoi 360 135 Holder
Home developed in Fujifilm Negacolor | 3:30/38C | Paterson Tank, AGO Film Processor
Negative Lab Pro v3.0.2 | Color Model: Basic | Pre-Sat: 3 | Tone Profile: Linear Deep | WB: Auto-Mix | LUT: None
Whiptails are medium-sized, long, slim-bodied, diurnal, fast-moving lizards with long thin tails. Two whiptail species occur naturally in California and this one is probably a Tiger Whiptail, Aspidoscelis tigris. Observed in Riverside county, California
Image - Copyright 2025 Alan Vernon
A picture of a sumatran tiger.
A picture of a sumatran tiger.
A picture of a sumatran tiger.
A picture of a sumatran tiger.
A picture of a sumatran tiger.
A picture of a sumatran tiger.
