“Third time’s a charm,” is what they say. Flashback to 2009, I had just finished my first year in med school and opted to volunteer at a small rural clinic in the suburbs of Mumbai. The place was Govandi, a slum town bordering a landfill. Pestilence flourished. Networks of open sewers traveled along every building like arteries through a body. Piles of garbage stacked high and flies rested on still bodies like in a Somali refugee camp. I had travelled throughout east and southeast Asian and thought those experiences prepared me for whatever India had to offer. Not quite. Govandi was shocking, but the clinic’s mobile unit travelled to even a poorer community, Deonar Dumping Ground, the 6th largest landfill in Asian, home to a community which made it’s living scavenging for plastics, metals, and any scraps which would generate merger profits.

Living here may have been hygienically intimidating, but the people were honest and demonstrated great optimism and warm hearts. The good nature of it’s people did not prevent me from contracting malaria and giardia. Bone breaking joint pains and the worst headache of my life complicated by persistent stomach gurgling and rushing to the toilet every 20mins. This would discourage most from returning, but after contracting this “photography bug” I had no choice but to return.

Fast forward to 2013. This time the setting was Vellore, Tamil Nadu for 4wks work at the large university hospital. This was my free ticket to explore multiple national parks throughout the country. First stop was Kaziranga in Assam to shoot Indian rhinos, second was Bandhavgarh for tigers, and last was Susan Gir for Asiatic lions. 2/3 were incredible, however my tiger safaris illustrated the dishonesty of prime tourism culture. Keep in mind that foreigners pay 10x as much as the locals. By simple logic, service should be better in comparison. That’s far from the case. While at Bandhavgarh I was relegated to the zone with the fewest tiger sightings. Despite booking 4-5 months in advance, of the 5 nights/6 days, I only had 4 jeep safaris. The remainder of the time I was to have “birding’ trips which the safari company tried to cancelled despite receiving payment. My guess was that they weren’t happy with the low tips I gave them. You give me shitty service and you receive shitty tips. So, to cut things short, I didn’t get my tiger shot.

Late 2019 I contacted multiple agencies about setting up safaris. Initially I wanted to return to Bandhavgarh as it has the highest tiger density. This time I wanted to maximize my chances to acquire my shots. I made sure that I would have full day safaris with access to all zones. 6 years earlier this option was presented to me, but I didn’t have the financial support. Multiple national parks were presented; Kanha , Pench, etc, but none offered full day safaris. Bandhavgarh too no longer offered this option. The only place where it was available was Ranthambore, a popular park about 2.5hrs from Jaipur, the pink city. The location was set, but then COVID hit and put the world in a standstill. A second attempt in 2021 led to the same conclusion. My persistence never waned and in late 2021 I contacted Raj at Exploryndia once travel restrictions were released. April 2022 I was in Ranthambore- “third time’s a charm.”

I had to question and second guess everything prior to departing. I needed receipts for the safaris, hotels, and internal flights. I confirmed multiple times that my hotel transfer would be present upon arrival to Indira Gandhi airport. Previous experiences have left me with an unsavory perception of how business is done in India. A couple bad apples ruin the batch. I’ve been over charged and misled to join inappropriate tours over a decade ago. One rickshaw driver knowingly drove me past my destination then feigned going astray while attempting to rack in a couple extra rupees for the ride. He almost cost me my connection to the Taj Mahal. At the end, I caught my bus, he caught a slap in the back of the head and no rupees. Meticulous preparation and reliable agent assured that this trip would be different. Though, I was not allowed in my flight to Jaipur as I had a drone in my hand luggage. Dumb rule. I eventually booked a later flight and made it to Sawai Madhopur.

Early in the morning I met my guides, Ikram and his apprentice, Trilok. He was full of energy and excitement as his heavy words rushed into one another like a herd of water buffalo rushing to the feeding trough. Speaking and driving was fast. My kid remarked that the safari jeep was like a thrill ride at Tokyo Dome City. Bumps, sudden changes in speed and direction kept her holding on tightly to the jeep in efforts not to be flung into the dense dry forest. Within minutes of entering zone 2 I spotted two tigers resting under several trees, T120, a big 660lb male, and Arrowhead, his mate the previous day. We were first to arrive and my elation of finally being in the presence of one of the most magnificent large predators propelled me to quickly fire off some shots just for the sake of capturing my 4th panthera. Composition and video was to follow, but my initial high quality shots were enough to consider this trip successful. Roaring, mating, marking territory is what was observed during the following hours. Ikram knew better than I and encouraged to continue looking for others as he had caught word of a mother and cubs sighted in zone 10.

17 unique tigers in 5 days. Many frolicking cubs, several cooling off in water bodies, and a couple passerbyers, but the most special sighting was on the last day of the last safari. Driving along a canopied road a jeep ahead of us spotted a sloth bear climb into the nearby bush along small hill. An amazing find, but the animal was secluded by thick bush- only rustling of trees and a dark shadow could be appreciated. We tracked it’s movement until the unbelievable was uncovered. About 50 meters ahead of the beast was Arrowhead, the female from our first drive. Standing still, salivating from apprehension, it waited for the bear to make a closer approach. Who was to make the first move? As we slowly crept closer we heard a deep bellicose growl and aggressive movement towards Arrowhead. She ran down the hill towards my jeep avoiding the bear’s advance. The bear scurried across the adjacent creek and made it’s way up a rocky hill to avoid and any further altercation with the powerful tiger. I’d say the bear won this round. Ikram was ecstatic and stated that these interactions are rare and that he last witnessed anything similar was over 10 years ago.

A small break from the tigers led me to the Chambal River to view gharials, a long thin snouted critically endangered crocodilian with a perturbance at the tip of it’s snout. Apparently the best time of year to see them is in winter as these cold blooded reptiles are less active and rest on the banks to warm their bodies. This time of year the temperatures average in the high 90s to 100s sufficiently warming the water to keep them active throughout the day. This being the case, they preferred to rest on the base of the riverbed instead of basking on the beach. Further complicating things, Ikram informed me that someone jumped into the Chambal from the crossing bridge the previous night which launched a search patrol most likely disrupted the gharial’s routine and further submerged them deep into the river. I saw one… a juvenile.

Was the mission perfect? Perfect enough. Logistics will always be a problem in India, but my primary objective was to capture high quality shots of Indian fauna. Despite acquiring 2 types of E. Coli, I’m not done with South Asia. Karnataka has been calling for the past 2 years as it’s great for Asian Elephants and Gaur. Nagahole National Park is renown for it’s single melanistic leopard. Bera for Asian leopards and striped hyenas is another must visit destination. A lot of luck, even more gastroenteritis, and an undying sense of adventure will be necessary.

April 2022