ATR - Day 61: Waiting for Bubbly in action; meet-up at Tadoba and Irshad’s birthday

We waited for tigress Bubbly to be in the hunt, saw her with her cubs, but not in the hunt. Had a meet-up at Tadoba and celebrated Irshad’s birthday to finish the day.

November 30, 2023

Thursday, 11:30 PM

Tadoba Jungle Camp,

Near Moharli Gate,

Tadoba-Andhari 

Tiger Reserve,

District Chandrapur,

Maharashtra

India

Much of today’s morning safari was spent looking for a female tiger called Bubbly (or Bubblee), who is a known tigress of the area. So we spent a chunk of our morning in Bubbly’s area in her wait. What made us all the more interested in this tigress is the fact that she has three cubs, and we have had some luck with mother-cub appearances lately. Furthermore, we were told that she had been looking to hunt the previous day. So there was a good chance for us to see her in the hunt. So we thought of trying our luck some more with regard to the cubs as well as an attempted hunt, and waited for it to shine on us. But, as it often happens with luck, it can do this thing between turning towards you but not quite, which is what happened. We saw the tigress and her cubs from a distance and she didn’t attempt to hunt, which could be because she had already made a kill during the intervening night. So there nothing great to click or record except regular tiger images. 

There was a meet-up we had planned at the last moment and even then more people than I had expected turned up and we have a good, fruitful discussion about wildlife and photography and other associated things. Good experience by all means. 

And it was Irshad’s birthday, starting at 12:00 AM (like everybody else’s does), and one of our two editors, Harsh thought it a good idea to wake up a peacefully sleeping Irshad and make his sleepy self a part of the cake-cutting plans Harsh had for him. Hopefully, it made Irshad happy. 

Today’s Vlog is slightly longer and features a very informative and insightful interview with the Field Director, Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve, Dr. Jitendra Ramgaokar (IFS). Do watch!