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The day began with the three of us - myself , Amit and Manaswi getting up early for our ride inside the Rhino Area. We started our trip from Sonari Rest house where we were staying to Salukapur Forest Rest House , where we were to be provided the elephant booked earlier. The drive through the jungle was quite refreshing as always but remained largely without any sighting of animals or birds.
Kewal Singh who has always been our guide at the Dudhwa National Park was accompanying us. Having reached early we took our photographs of minivets, chloropsysis, flamebacks and other birds busy with early morning activities.
The elephant was finally ready and we insisted Kewal singh to accompany us who was hesitant in coming into the Rhino area citing the Mahout acts as the guide inside the Rhino area. Having agreed we began our Journey which begins through the Wooden Entrance to the electrically fenced area for the Rhino. We sighted our first Rhino at Around 7:45 A.M on the periphery road of the Rhino Area and were excited at starting the day nicely.
A little later suddenly Kewal Singh excitedly pointed out that there was a Tiger ahead of us in the forest. The call for Tiger electrified us and we tried to focus on the area pointed by Kewal. However none of us other than Kewal were able to locate it and we were feeling sorry for having missed the opurtunity. Despite this we continued our search for the tiger on elephant back. As we were concentrating on the tiger as being ahead of us all of us we were looking ahead. Unexpectedly the tiger surprised us by coming up from behind and started following the elephant. Manaswi who was sitting in the back was however able to sight him timely and alerted us about the tiger. The Mahout turned the elephant and made us come face to face to the tiger. The tiger by then decided to get inside the dense area of the forest but our Mahout managed to keep trail. The tiger finally decided to stop at an dense area of the forest but still visible from a patch where our Mahout had positioned the elephant to allow us to take the photographs. The majestic animal was face to face with us and we were glad that we are on the elephant back and not on the ground. The feeling of safety was however not very strong with our elephant also nervous with the elephant directly ahead of her who would shake herself now and then. The tiger stayed at the spot for some time and then showed it’s anger by baring his deadly teeth. It was then that the Mahout advised as to return because the elephant was too nervous ( we were surprised the next day when we were informed that she gave birth to a male elephant and also felt guilty that we had unknowingly put her to danger).
With lots of photographs and a short video ( most of which turned out to be useless due to bad light ) we returned back. (Only a few photographs where Amit had used his flash turned out of reasonable quality.) We even forgot to go after the rhinos which was the reason to be there inside the area. After all we had at last spotted our first tiger and that had left us numb. Manaswi who was on his first trip with us had proved to be lucky for us. Amit and myself thanked Manaswi for being with us and also extracted an undertaking from him that he would accompany us on our later visits to the forests.
Kewal Singh who has always been our guide at the Dudhwa National Park was accompanying us. Having reached early we took our photographs of minivets, chloropsysis, flamebacks and other birds busy with early morning activities.
The elephant was finally ready and we insisted Kewal singh to accompany us who was hesitant in coming into the Rhino area citing the Mahout acts as the guide inside the Rhino area. Having agreed we began our Journey which begins through the Wooden Entrance to the electrically fenced area for the Rhino. We sighted our first Rhino at Around 7:45 A.M on the periphery road of the Rhino Area and were excited at starting the day nicely.
A little later suddenly Kewal Singh excitedly pointed out that there was a Tiger ahead of us in the forest. The call for Tiger electrified us and we tried to focus on the area pointed by Kewal. However none of us other than Kewal were able to locate it and we were feeling sorry for having missed the opurtunity. Despite this we continued our search for the tiger on elephant back. As we were concentrating on the tiger as being ahead of us all of us we were looking ahead. Unexpectedly the tiger surprised us by coming up from behind and started following the elephant. Manaswi who was sitting in the back was however able to sight him timely and alerted us about the tiger. The Mahout turned the elephant and made us come face to face to the tiger. The tiger by then decided to get inside the dense area of the forest but our Mahout managed to keep trail. The tiger finally decided to stop at an dense area of the forest but still visible from a patch where our Mahout had positioned the elephant to allow us to take the photographs. The majestic animal was face to face with us and we were glad that we are on the elephant back and not on the ground. The feeling of safety was however not very strong with our elephant also nervous with the elephant directly ahead of her who would shake herself now and then. The tiger stayed at the spot for some time and then showed it’s anger by baring his deadly teeth. It was then that the Mahout advised as to return because the elephant was too nervous ( we were surprised the next day when we were informed that she gave birth to a male elephant and also felt guilty that we had unknowingly put her to danger).
With lots of photographs and a short video ( most of which turned out to be useless due to bad light ) we returned back. (Only a few photographs where Amit had used his flash turned out of reasonable quality.) We even forgot to go after the rhinos which was the reason to be there inside the area. After all we had at last spotted our first tiger and that had left us numb. Manaswi who was on his first trip with us had proved to be lucky for us. Amit and myself thanked Manaswi for being with us and also extracted an undertaking from him that he would accompany us on our later visits to the forests.
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