The Charge of K2 of Kolara Buffer
May and June 2023 were full of action for Belara Buffer zone as Veera, the dominating female, was sighted with 2 very small cubs ( probably 7 weeks old ) and was giving regular sightings. All the Photographers literally rushed to click the tiny furs. Alongwith with this TATR department started Full Day safaris in Buffer areas.
As such a plan was made by Psithurism to do a Full Day safari from Kolara gate to be led by Niraj M. Wanikar, which would cover Kolara, Madnapur and Belara zone, and Shankar Iyer & Sambit Pradhan decided to join alongwith me in the sojourn during 17th and 18th June 2023.
We all entered from Kolara gate with our guide being Ashish Jivtode and driver being Shankar Vaidya. They are our regular combo when it comes to Kolara Buffer entry. Within 15 minutes of the entry Junabai Tigress and her 2 cubs were infront of us, making the start very successful. We clicked some good pictures. This was a regular timing so many other Gypsies were also present from Kolara and Madnapur.
We decided to come back in this location in the afternoon and moved towards an area where K2, a new male who just got separated from his mother Kuwani female from Kolsa range, was trying to establish his own territory. In the recent past he was being sighted very regularly. When we were approaching the area Ashish, our guide, observed the pugmarks of a Male Tiger going in opposite direction but we still decided to check the area. While we were on our way back he again observed the tyre marks of Gypsies taking U-Turn, which indicated the Tiger came back on the road after we passed by and the Gypsies behind us got him on the Gypsy track. At one point the pugmarks turned towards left indicating Tigers movement towards water body no. 104. We headed straight towards this waterbody where almost all the Gypsies were waiting and anticipating the arrival of K2. The wait of almost an hour or so made some of them impatient and they left the place leaving only 2 Gypsies behind, one being ours. Ashish was very sure that the Tiger will come on this waterbody, keeping our hopes alive. Suddenly at a long distance deep inside bushes we located some movement and saw Tiger sitting inside probably waiting for everyone to move out so that he can come out and enjoy his well deserved drink.
After around 20 mins K2 started moving slowly and cautiously towards waterbody. On the waterbody some Wildboars were drinking water and monkeys were playing on the trees around the waterbody. K2 saw them from some distance and started stalking instantly, moving very slowly towards the waterbody, taking care that his cover is not blown away. Such was his approach that he took 30 mins to cover just 100 meters, completely silent, steady and patient. Somehow monkey got the presence of the predator and started the alarm calls, cautioning the Wildboars who became alert and slowly started moving out of the waterbody as they were clueless about the exact location of the predator. Amongst all of them, 3 of them started moving towards the hidden Tiger which was just next to us, completely alert but were totally unknown about the exact place of the predator.
We were about to witness a hunt and kept everything ready to capture this natural history movement. When they were in close proximity suddenly K2 charged on them making them run for their life, the last in the line was probably just 2 inches away from the attacking paw of the Tiger, thus escaping the death and the attack was foiled. I have captured the total sequence on the video. ( Interested may contact me via Niraj ). It was so sudden and over in fraction of seconds that none in my Gypsy could capture a single photograph of the charge and attack. We all were stunned after seeing something which was never unexpected.
After the attack we clicked lot of pictures of the frustrated K2, who was left hungry and the Wildboars were lucky enough to live another day in their life. I am sure the last one of them must have had palpitations for long time after the attack.
Rest of the day went without any special moment, although we got Junabai and cubs exclusively in the afternoon. The main focus of Full day, Veera and Cubs weren’t sighted. The day ended well with some excellent clicks of Dagoba, the dominant Male of the zone.
Some moments are carved in the memory for lifelong. This was one such experience which I will never forget in my life.
Chalo Jungle