Clutter Queen | Bandipur

As with most Tiger tales, this one began at around 6 PM, at the fag-end of our safari. There was a call around 5:50 PM and then there was dust, dust and more dust as our driver Bomma zipped through the tracks to the location. On reaching, we noticed there was only one jeep who had seen her and she had walked around in the open grassland before she shied away into the bushes. Our driver told us that there was no pathway inside the bush and that she has to come out onto the road. As we relentlessly searched the bushes, I knew for sure she was sitting somewhere inside them, watching our every move. We were waiting at a junction and there was a pathway ahead from which we hoped she would cross over. But, there was no sign of her and we started the jeep and moved forward slowly. Bingo!!! There she sat! A little inside the pathway from which we were expecting her! Boy! Those Hypnotizing eyes made it difficult for me to focus; there was minimal light and the lack of VR on my lens gave me the nightmares! Gladly, I have managed this picture. She sat there for about 10 seconds before she shied away into deeper bush again. The jeep was happy! Everyone had made their images! We waited for some more time, as we knew for sure she wanted to cross the road. But it was 6:30 PM and we left her in peace. There was another jeep who had missed her as they were waiting at a distance. Later, we heard that she emerged from the same pathway just after we left. She crossed over, marked the trees, scratched her paws on the ground and walked away into the darkness. She had been watching us from inside and came out only after our jeep left. She had outsmarted us! After all, she was Gowri-Putri! I felt dumb and happy :)

Done