Bandhavgarh N.P. is the reserve I know the best so I will obviously base my knowledge on this. It is fair to say, however, that the setup in every reserve in Madhya Pradesh is very similar to Bandhavgarh as they are operated by the same Forest Department. This information below gives you an insight into what the daily routine involves and what you’re likely to experience.
INTRODUCTION | PHOTOGRAPHIC GEAR | TECHNIQUE | TRACKING WILD TIGERS | SAFETY & RESPECT

TRACKING TIGERS IN BANDHAVGARH N.P.

TIGER! TIGER!

Whether you see a tiger or not is 90% down to the tiger. If it does not wish to be seen then you will not see it. It’s that simple. I have watched a tiger from a distance lay down low in the grass at the sound of oncoming jeep traffic. Once the jeeps have passed, the tiger has risen and carried on along its journey. The same is true of a tiger passing from A to B. I have watched as a tigress has taken evasive action after spotting waiting jeeps. It’s simply had a good look around, turned around and walked to another more secluded water hole.

With this intelligence and unpredictability against you, you are well advised to treat every passage through the park as a journey through a wildlife haven. Enjoy the park for all its beauty and diversity. Sighting and photographing a tiger should remain a remarkable bonus. As a professional, I’m the first to be guilty of being single-minded. However, on my most recent trips I learned to relax and enjoy the park as a whole. True, I was there for 3 weeks so the pressure was off. But I still enjoyed the park far more and have brought back some fantastic memories and great photographs of deer, birds, monkeys, and views of the jungle habitat.

FINDING TIGERS: ALARM CALLS

Alarm calls are the primary detector used to locate tigers. The key species that park guides listen for are sambar deer, spotted deer (locally known as chital), grey langur and macaque monkeys and, as a contributing factor, peacocks and jungle fowl (a very beautiful, wild chicken). This list is also in an order of relative importance.

A sambar deer, being so large, will only make its alarm call in the presence of a tiger, leopard, or for a pack of wild dog. A sambar may rarely see a tiger but will certainly smell or hear the approach if the tiger is not extremely stealthy. A chital will also call for these predators but will also call for a wolf, caracal, sloth bear, or even wild boar. Most amusingly chital have been known to make an alarm call for a brightly clothed tourist! Monkeys, peacock, and jungle fowl will call for all the aforementioned animals but will also call for the lesser predators such as jackals and jungle cat.

The guides must differentiate between the calls to estimate the size of the predator and the direction in which it is moving. A persistent and prolonged sambar alarm call on its own or combined with chital and monkey alarm calls is almost a guaranteed sighting of a tiger or leopard… or as good a chance as you are likely to get. Your guide will then have to judge its direction and try to be in the right time and right place to encounter the predator.

FINDING TIGERS: PHYSICAL EVIDENCE

Tigers also leave distinctive physical evidence along their path. From this we are able to ‘guestimate’ their path and destination. Pugmarks (footprints) running either along or crossing a road can be assessed to give an indication of when they were created. Sharply imprinted marks with the dust discoloured by damp paws are a good sign that the pugs were left recently. Marks that are rounding and the same colour as the road are older but can still be useful in assessing the likelihood that a tiger is active in the area. Pugmarks also enable guides to differentiate between male and female tigers. A male’s pug has rounded toes, whereas a female’s are pointed in shape. I’ve had the misfortune on more than one occasion to drive a long a track, turn around 180º and discover fresh pugs on top of the tyre tracks just left by my jeep. In these situations you just have to sit back and smile.

Other physical evidence includes fresh urination and scat (tiger faeces). These are often accompanied by scrapes in the earth, particularly visible on the dusty tracks. Again these can be assessed to give a rough time of when the tiger was present. Along with pugs this evidence has particular relevance as tigers are extremely territorial. Their boundaries are closely guarded and maintained with scratch marks and scent marking on prominent trees. A male’s territory will often overlap that of more than a few females. A tigress may allow her daughters to intrude upon her territory from time to time, but if they encounter one another it can be a rather terse affair.

JEEP SAFARIS & THE "TIGER SHOW"

Your driver will try to enter the park ahead of the cue to hopefully be the first down your route. This way you can check for fresh pugmarks. If there are none you are likely to be driven to local watering holes to catch a tiger have a morning drink. This is a likely place to find a tiger especially if the tiger has killed and eaten during the night.

Failing that a good guide will drive from point-to-point along the route, stopping and waiting every few hundred yards. This gives them the opportunity to listen out for alarm calls along the way. All the routes conclude at the same point – a central information and waiting zone. A park officer has radio contact with the main watchtowers high up on the fort. The watchtowers listen out for alarm calls and direct mahouts and elephants to the appropriate area.

If there has been a tiger sighting (normally by the elephants) then the ‘tiger show’ ensues. The tiger show is really a tacky phrase for when tourists are taken by elephant-back to see tigers deep within the bush. Many jeep drivers tear through the park routes like maniacs in order to reach the waiting zone, just in case there is an early sighting. However, by doing this they may miss crucial evidence along there route and clearly put themselves and their passengers at risk. The tracks are often very narrow, bumpy, and winding. If you do not like this high-speed ride then tell the guide and demand that they slow down. You may have to be stern, but do not be afraid to express your concerns. Anyway, tigers are generally invisible in the jungle and it’s a common event for a tiger to step out just after a jeep has passed with all the passengers totally unaware of its presence.

The current morning rules state that you have to spend at least 1½ hrs on your route and you are not allowed to deviate from it. After this time the jeep can then pursue alarm calls throughout the park. My observations contradict this however. If there are alarm calls, most jeep drivers will abandon the rules and chase the calls. It’s the only way that they will earn their tip... very few tourists tip for a ‘pleasant scenic drive’ through the park. With regards to tipping, you should be aware that, as a rule, Indian tourists do not tip. This puts a greater onus on the western tourist with conceivably greater disposable income.

TIPPING RATE

If a guide has sat and done nothing, merely pointed to spotted deer then feel free to refuse to tip… I do! I am limited for space and if a guide is going to fall asleep or contribute nothing then to tip him is to pay for ignorance and a passenger you do not need.

Some people think this is really excessive but the Mahout's job is highly dangerous. They steer elephants (that are lethal in their own right) through thick bamboo and straight into the lions den! For this they should be rewarded and commended. If you have had awe-inspiring sighting of a tiger in its natural environment then the least you can do is to thank the mahout and tip him for his effort. After all, INR500 is only about £6 - a couple of pints or a cinema ticket! I cringe when I see western tourists happily hop off the elephant and turn their back on the one person whom has really made their experience possible.

GOHNI GATE

At Bandhavgarh, the forest department has attempted to alleviate congestion at the main gate in Tala by opening up a second entrance gate on the western edge of the park. The Gohni gate is still very quiet judging by the morning traffic of only 4 jeeps! This compares starkly with the main Tala gate that may have as many as 30-50 during the peak holiday season. There are pros and cons to consider before using the Gohni gate.

The main benefit is that you are now close to the most beautiful areas of the park – namely Rajbehra meadows, Sehra meadow, and Sukhi Patia, the southernmost regions of the tourism zone. Few tigers are seen here, but if you do find a tiger, you will be on your own.

The drawbacks of Gohni gate can be summarised as distance and guide quality. Gohni gate is over 17km away from Tala. This means that during the wintertime (November to January) you have to be prepared to travel for 30-40mins, rattling along in the freezing cold and you’ll have to get up earlier too! I can only say that its something you should brave as the beauty of the 'southern side' should not be missed. It should also be noted that (depending on where you stay in Tala) you may have to really persuade your driver to take you. Very few drivers go to Gohni gate as it severely limits the profit they can make. The chances of seeing a tiger are also reduced (which obviously could impact their tip) and it increases their mileage considerably from an average of 30km a day to over 100km!

The other drawback is guide quality. Some of the guides at the Tala gate have worked in the park for 10 years or more and are keen naturalists. They know the direction of nallahs (dried riverbeds that tiger and other wildlife use as pathways through the jungle), the quickest way to get to different areas, and many of the hidden water holes which all help deduce the direction a tiger may take. As the Gohni gate has only been open to the public since the beginning of the 2005/06 season, the guides are still rather ‘wet behind the ears’. Their knowledge is limited and they have usually only had minimal training from existing guides during the previous off-seasons.

A guide from either gate is mandatory. You have no decision over this even if you think you can do a better job yourself. Generally their English is not very good and the guides will converse with the driver in Hindi. The guides are there more as a precaution to stop a tourist doing something stupid rather than to provide interactive wildlife knowledge. Although there are the precious few that do just this and they are definitely worth tipping!

There are more than enough accounts of tourists behaving irresponsibly and dangerously putting their own and other people’s lives at risk. One example is the account of two American women that climbed out of their jeep, to sneak around to the front of a group of jeeps on foot to get a closer look at a large male tiger. It could well have been the last thing they did.