No ratings.
Why I still think twice about travelling to tiger country. |
Why I Still Think Twice About Travelling to Tiger Country. By Nita Kapadia We had just had one surreal experience in the Muthanga Wildlife Sanctuary. The eerie stillness had so unnerved us that my husband dared me, to dare him to jog behind the jeep. No self respecting forest could be so devoid of life. Just when we had resigned ourselves to a no-elephant day, we saw a whole family on the left side. We were in the elephant corridor. Our jeep stopped a little away from the herd. We took some pictures. Lulled by the calm family scene, my husband decided to step out of the jeep. Before anyone could react, he was out there clicking pictures. Our driver started whispering. It sounded urgent. He was pointing towards the right side of the road. There was a lone elephant. In a split second, his ears fanned out, tail went straight up. There was no mistaking his aggressive stance. There was no way we could make a sudden noise or wave out frantically, so how do we get my husband’s attention? Just then his instincts kicked in, he actually felt something creepy down the nape of his neck and looked towards us. By then our terrified driver had started the jeep. It had just picked up some speed. Then he looked behind and saw the elephant. He realized the situation in a flash and sprinted towards the jeep. When he was safely in, we deigned to look on the right side, the, could be, rogue elephant was quietly feeding himself. So, probably, he was just posturing to get rid of the threat. When my brother-in-law heard this story, he observed that his brother seemed to have developed a healthy respect for elephants. Even so, my son cautioned that we don’t know about tigers. |