In anticipation of Caturday, we have two Big Cat photos from Pramod Gowda. His narrative is indented, and you can enlarge his photos by clicking on them:
Pramod had just this caption originally:
I’ve come across your website, and I’m really interested in sharing a couple of Wildlife photographs I’ve captured in the jungles of Southern India.
But of course I wanted more information, as I don’t think we’ve had tiger photos before, so I asked for more, and Pramod sent this:
These tigers (Panthera tigris) were encountered in the Bandipur Tiger Reserve in Karnataka, India. Bandipur is one of the 5 tiger reserves in Karnataka and has the highest tiger population in the state.
These photographs were captured on a morning safari in the Indian winters.This was one of the two subadults which was stalking the Indian Gaur (Bos gaurus) for a hunt on a winter morning. While the Indian Gaur struggled to keep its pace with the tiger, it was one of the finest sights I’ve had in the jungles of Karnataka. Eventually, the Gaur escaped into the bushes, and with that the tiger disappeared as well moments later.
(Below) This was a fully grown adult male who’d just moved out of its old territory and looking for a new territory. He was barely 50 meters away head-on and by far the best tiger sighting I’ve had thus far.As he kept coming towards us, we’d have to keep driving the Jeep backwards for nearly a kilometer. He was old, bold and fearsome, and something I’ll always cherish every time I step into the woods of Bandipur. I’ve had a lot of encounters in the jungles of Bandipur and Nagarahole in Karnataka over the past few years, but, I’ve never seen any tiger who’s as brave as this one—ever!
JAC: Here’s a map showing the location of this reserve:
Pramod, what an absolutely stunning photo of that handsome, old brave tiger. More, please!!
Beautiful, amazing photos! What an incredible experience that must have been.
Q: What immortal hand or eye could frame thy dreadful symmetry?
A: The non-random survival of randomly varying replicators.
I was going to post:
It’s the eye of the tiger
It’s the thrill of the fight
Rising up to the challenge of our rival
And the last known survivor
Stalks his prey in the night
And he’s watching us all with the eye of the tiger.
But yours is so much better!
That’s a good song, though.
What a sighting and what gorgeous photos! i can’t imagine the excitement of seeing this tiger.
That would be a dream for me.
Love to see what else you photographed there.
I going to need special dispensation from PCC(E) to use the word ‘AWESOME’! That must have been an unforgettable encounter, Pramod!
Fantastic photos, especially the head-on one. Wow.
Stunning. Thank you. More please.
Wow, what an honor to have had these encounters! Thank you for sharing them with us.
What a cat! Thanks for the photos and commentary.