The guest came a little unexpectedly and we were a little perplexed, as there were no safaris available. After interacting with her, we gathered that she is a solo traveller and comes to India every year; but has not seen a tiger ever and she has no idea about the way safari bookings etc. work. After some discussions, we informed her that we would be able to arrange one core and two buffer safaris. She promptly said yes! And further discussions led to the revelation that I have met her in Majuli, Assam two years back. A bit more pressure on me to assure her of a good experience in Tadoba, and the jungle has always helped me in these situations.

First AM safari, we missed a tiger early in the morning! But, a little later the Junabai female and her three cubs appeared from the bush, checked the tree along with the mother and then disappeared back in the woods. In the afternoon, there were no clues about them, so we decided to check the other parts of the buffer and got lucky with a sighting of another tigress; this one belonged to the Devdoh clan. Next morning, we entered the core with the intention to look for wild dogs, as she has never seen them but heard a lot about them. While having breakfast at the Khatoda gate, we got the good news of wild dogs and for her sheer delight, we managed to sight a pack of six dholes. The 85-year old lady was all smiles and I was thanking mother nature for all the blessings.

Dorothy Knott loves India and her smile, her happiness gave a good kick for me!

Pic & Text Courtesy: Rishin Basu Roy, Svasara Naturalist

Header Image, Edit Courtesy: Anjan Lal, Svasara Guest