Hearing to The Call of the Wild

My eyes fluttered open to the darkness around me and my heart skipped a beat as I heard something jump and scuttle on the tin roof above my head. I smiled as I remembered where I was. It was 2 a.m. and I was in the forest guest house at the Dhela Zone in Corbett National Park.

I was lying awake listening to the racket caused by all night animals. Their voices merged together to give the forest its voice. Now that I was awake the events of the last day, evening safari flashed in my mind. 

We started off in our Gypsy in full spirits. Wearing hats, goggles and carrying our binoculars and water bottles and switching on our ‘Dora the explorer’ mode we started our journey. 

Our Gypsy

Our guide cum driver started to brief up on the history of the park and current wildlife available here. “The reserve is divided into four zones and you will get a chance to visit at least 3 of them'', he said, “Corbett is the home to four big cats: The Tiger, Jungle Cat, Leopard and the Fishing Cat. The Tiger is the king of this region and the other felines crouch in tree tops away from his sharp eyes.” 

I let my ears listen to him and allowed my eyes to take in the beautiful scenery. Tall trees towered on both sides of the narrow road. Below them a blanket of yellow orange dried leaves covered the ground. Sunlight pierced through the thicket occasionally. 

Wild Rooster

I saw a wild rooster run in the trees and then the driver called our attention. “There are few rules of the forest.” He commenced, “the first being you all need to be really quiet (this earned a groan from my younger brother) and the second being you need to listen to the forest because it's impossible to see every creature in it but it's easier to follow their unique calls.” 

So as we plunged deeper into the reserve and I powered up my ears to take in frequencies as low as 20 Hz also. That’s when I realized that listening to the forest was even better than seeing. So many birds were shrieking and calling out through the treetops. The sudden loud chatter of monkeys or the sharp bark of the barking deer. The rustle and crunching of leaves as a random animal crossed by were musical in their own way. 

Then our guide shut off the engine of our Gypsy and whispered, “Can you hear it?” all that I can hear now were fat honey bees buzzing about my head and not being a big fan of them anymore I tried to shoo them off. 

The guide continued, “These monkeys on that tree are chattering incessantly. This is a call.” I asked, “Call?” 

He replied, “Tiger is the key predator when he sets foot in any area animals like monkeys, langurs, peacock climb on tree tops and give call to caution the prey. The tiger is hidden somewhere here only.” 

I excitedly started to scan every bush for a blur of orange. My father said, “Better sharpen your ears kids.” Our guide said, “You won’t hear anything sir, a tiger’s padded feet don’t make any noise even on dried leaves.” 

A blanket of Leaves on soil

Now using all my eye power, I gazed avidly. I saw something yellow so I gazed back at that spot after searching once again I found a pair of two yellow eyes staring at me.

It had to be the tiger or was it just the sun playing tricks. I called the driver and asked him to look there. He glanced but denied my speculation. Having  nowhere to look at I returned to gazing at that spot. Finally after waiting for a long time and seeing the other Gypsies arrive we decided to move on. 

Our guide tried to cheer us up and said, “Out of a100 times, you see the tiger only once but it sees you 99 times.” 

This sent a shiver down my spine, the entire forest reminded me of the movie ‘Kaal’. With tall trees looming on either side and the sinister noises from the foliage. Indeed forests are ideal places for horror movie shoots.

We then reached a pond and had fun watching the elephants take a bath and even saw a few tuskers crossing the road up close.

Elephants taking a bath

A Tusker up close

We then saw a few peacocks and peahens and even the wild boar. Finally our time was up for the day and we hurried back. 

Wild boar

The government guest house of the Dhela zone was situated in the heart of the forest. The cottages were big and comfy.

Th Guest House

Out was a real old banyan tree on which our guide showed us a baby owlet. 

Baby Owlet

Seeing the dense forest right out of our room we tensed up and asked, whether the tiger would come at night? The guide calmed us and said, “Around this guest house electric wiring is done, 12V current runs through, if an animal touches them, it would be scared away.” 

We then had a hearty dinner as the sun went down. We made friends with the cook, a friendly Pandit ji and he even opened the library for us to read something about the forest before turning in early for bed as we had to wake up at 5 am to start morning safari at 6am.

Remembering that I had another safari in a few hours I quickly plunged back to dreaming about tigers. 

In the morning the forest was humming softly before sunrise. The cool forest air grazed my cheeks and our Gypsy moved on. “Today we will head to the grassland area, chances are high to spot the tiger there.”

Tiger's Pawprints a little away from our cottage

The grass in the grassland area was as stripped as the tiger’s fur. 

The Grassland area

We saw a herd of deer galloping right in front of our Gypsy. A sambar deer gazed at us lazily. The elephants walked together for their morning bath.

Herd of deer

We saw a bunch of jackals having breakfast on the fawn killed by them probably. But the tiger was still nowhere to be found. 

The Jackal's Kill

The sun started to rise beautifully in the grassland. Each twig acknowledged it. The wind carried the good morning message around the forest.

We clambered back on the main road and saw two still Gypsies with excited tourists. Our guide asked them what was up. 

One driver replied that, “A tiger, probably female, ran across the road just now. We think she has killed something, now we are waiting for her mate to come join her.” 

So we stood next to them and waited. Finally, the two neighboring Gypsies decided to move ahead to look at the elephants having a bath but we stayed dormant.

I tried thinking about the arrival of the tiger. The tiger will move just along the Gypsy, pause and then look at us and then give a roar and move back inside. Sadly I was not the director of the tiger's movement. 

This was the stark difference between a zoo where the enclosure shows each movement of the tiger but in the forest the tiger sees every movement made by you.

Our driver pointed out to look at a peacock. “The way it has perched itself on such a tall height and giving calls. I am sure the male tiger is just willing time. It will surely emerge soon!” 

Can you spot the Peacock?

After 30 mins we heard a loud roar. “That’s where the female went.”, our driver explained. 

Now excitement coursed through me. Surely the tiger will respond to his wife. But it made us wait another 15 mins to finally step on the road. 

When the tiger came no one needed the driver's exclamation to turn their heads. His sheer aura called us towards his majesty. He was slowly ‘cat-walking’ across the road and then he glanced towards us.

What was he thinking about a bunch of tourists clicking pics? His yellow eyes were filled with pride and scorn for us. ‘Just some well dressed monkeys, what do they know about the roughness of life?’, He thought(Probably).

The Tiger

Having given us pictures and memories to hold for a lifetime the king joined the queen to enjoy the meal before going to bed. Having had the tiger's image imprinted in our minds we went back.

On our next evening safari, we went towards the Jhirna zone which had a river flowing through. Due to summer time, the river reminded me of the water truce in The Jungle Book.

Water Truce

Afternoons in the forest were really sticky and waiting for tiger was really torturous. Hats off to the Nat Geo photographers.

Our guide did hear a lot of calls, I guess a majority were false so as to just spark our enthusiasm. Well, at least two of them were right as we saw two more male tigers in their respective territories.

We then went to the grassland region of this zone and saw a whole community of peacocks and peahens. The mating season is going on and it was really amusing to see a peacock spreading out its feathers to dance to impress the maidens. 

Sadly, none were interested though I cherished his dance and even played some Bollywood songs in my mind to honor this guy's attempt. 

The Dancer

After enclosing another day's memories, we went to sleep. The next morning we had a canter ride. It is a big vehicle (like a bus) with huge open windows. This took us to the Dhikala zone, the one in lower Shivaliks.

Here we saw a crocodile lounging on the rocks and saw a kingfisher and even the mighty Eagle. We then saw many more birds flocking together or standing alone on some rocks. Sadly, I can't remember their names but their beauty captivated me nevertheless.

Birds nests with Sunset

Rest no more tigers, then I thought I had already got to see many things than many other tourists. So, quenching my desire for more I allowed myself to deeply breathe the fresh forest air and enjoy the peace it held.

The Eagle

The forest is like a railway station where announcements are made by monkeys and birds regarding the arrival of trains (here, the tiger). The only difference is that the commuters (the prey) rush away from this train. 

Enjoying the bustle , I felt happy to see cleanliness. Tourists realize that they are just visitors here and have no right to pollute this place. The numerous termite hills built all over the forest are proof that it is healthy.

I am glad that Jim Corbett’s vision is being upheld by us and we will continue this in the future too.

Jim Corbett

Corbett national park, the home of tigers, will keep calling nature lovers and helping them realize the beauty of nature and find the true heaven right on this planet.

Corbett National Park