This is the story of the deer and the tiger… that neither the deer or I ever saw. It was my first day back at Kaziranga National Park in Assam. I was with Bani Saikia the ranger’s right hand man who took me on an amazing journey along the periphery of the park. Within the first half hour I had witnessed and photographed all the LARGE mammals that Kaziranga is so well known for – large herds of elephants along side rhinos and not too far away, wallowing herds of Wild Buffalo. It was simply magical to be back in a place that right after my first trip had me captivated. The most impressive difference coming back here after my trip in January was the transformation that had occurred within the three months. Kaziranga was transformed into a lush green herbivore paradise. Everything looked incredibly fresh and green – I felt like eating salads again.

The park closes on the 1^st of May as the roads which were already in pretty bad condition only gets worse and even now we had to use the Getaway in 4WD.

OK – I have limited time on the internet, so let me get straight to the point. We were in the Kohora range and along the main tourist track when I spotted a Sambhar deer – wasn’t like it needed spotting abilities since it was right out there in the open standing in the middle of a Nullah. I quickly got the vehicle to stop and composed a shot – saw 3 pied kingfishers zipping along the water and managed to get 4-5 shots in. All the while the guard and Baini were whispering and talking – obviously debating, but they were speaking in Assamese and I couldn’t follow a single word. I, ofcourse was in the very back of the vehicle and without a window to the cabin of the vehicle a little hard to communicate. About a minute later Bani sticks his head out from the side and says, “Saar, aap tiger Dekhliya?” Tiger? Kidar? I ask… and he says, “Sambhar ka Peechay”

I scan with binoculars everywhere ‘Behind’ the sambhar but find nothing…

Moments later it was gone…

Got back to the room and started downloading the pictures after dinner and I was eager to see if in fact I could find the tiger in any of the shots… I thought there may have been a slight possibility that it may have been lurking somewhere in the bushes that I could zoom in on. I downloaded the pictures and what do I first see – A bloody tiger standing in the open on the bank of the nallah looking towards the deer!!

And neither the deer nor I ever saw it – I suppose that’s the way the tiger likes it – to be a ghost, to be undetected – and so there’s the story of the Deer and the Tiger as George Schaller so nicely wrote a book about.

Moral of the story – Focus, but always be mindful of your surroundings.