Tadoba Tiger Reserve

Tadoba :

They say " A tiger would let you see, only if it wants you to see", in my case that was very true here. Tadoba is one place where everyone is assured of seeing the great cat, but i was sooooo close to it, yet could see it, (well i just had a glimpse of it sprinting across a few feet ahead in the early hours of the morning). At some stage, during the tiger trail, my wife wondered, if it was the  tiger trailing us, or the other way around. I could hear the tiger moving around in the thick foliage, but could not see it, as it refused to come in front of us. 

Tadoba is located in Maharashta, around 35km's from Chandrapur which is considered the mining belt of Maharashtra. One can reach there by road / rail (nearest station being Chandrapur) & by air (nearest airport being Nagpur). 

Tadoba has a good density of tigers in it. there are around 45 tigers spread along an area of 630 sq kms of dense forest, comprising mainly of teak & bamboo trees. Besides tiger there are big cats like the leopard & smaller cats like the Civet & the Wild cat. The forest is also inhabited by sambars, deers, langur's, wild dogs, sloth bears, nilgai & crocs, and a huge array of birds. 

Sadly, Mining threatens the delicate balance of nature, here in this beautiful place.

Wild Dogs : looks cute, but its believed that a pack of 5 could bring down a tiger. Than both, the Tiger & the wild dogs avoid crossing each other.

Swan, i guess so :P

Sunset over the Tadoba lake : a few years back, the cottages were situated here, but to maintain the discipline in the reserve, now no one is allowed to stay here.

Sunset in another part of the forest :

Stag : Always found him alone. 

Shikra : belongs to the eagle family :

Sambar (baby) : looked really funny & dumb. 

Sambar 

Nilgai : another rare animal, which is concentrated only in a few parts of india, and Tadoba is one of them.

Langur : 

Kingfisher : 

Hen & her Chics :

Hawk Eagle :

Elephant & her Calf : An Elephant kept captive just outside the reserve. Really sad to see the calf chained, it was sooo cute, just felt like getting it home :)

Spotted Deer (Cheetal) :

Racing Chics :

Lone Chic :

Butterfly. :

Black Drango :

Bird : Don't know which bird this is, Need to read up birds a little more, before I go the next time.