The History repeats …. meeting the Queen again!
Kanha National Park is experiencing a rocking season this summer with some great sightings. Every day, some exciting news is coming from Kanha and sightings are happening across all the zones of the park. As expected, Our trip in the middle of April also started with a bumper sighting of a sub-adult male cub of MV3 who was just separated from its mother and trying to establish his territory in the Kisli zone. He already started looking like a young and dashing male tiger who was quite bold and comfortable with the vehicles around. We spent a good amount of time with him and he gave us some fantastic photographic opportunities. After such a perfect start to the tour, it was time to visit our all-time favourite part of the park which is Mukki zone and of course, there is a reason why it is special for us.
In April 2017, we visited Kanha National Park for the first time and we fell in love with this magical jungle and its mixed landscapes of evergreen canopies and huge meadows. Not only because of the beautiful jungle, but this trip was also very special for us because of the memorable sighting of the famous DJ (Dhawajhandi) tigress. It was a treat for us to watch this bold and beautiful Queen of Mukki closely for a good 40-45 minutes. She was in her prime at that time and we were blessed to witness her graceful walk in front of our vehicle for such a long time. To date, It is the best tiger sighting I have experienced and it created a special place for her in my heart.
After this trip, visiting Kanha became a yearly ritual for us. We have been visiting the park continuously for 3-4 seasons now and during each visit, We especially plan at least 2 safaris in the Mukki zone hoping to see DJ again. Unfortunately, we were not able to meet her again and every time we kept missing her by a margin. Last year also we planned a visit here in the freezing cold of January just to see the DJ with her 5 newborn cubs but this time as well we were not lucky enough to see the family.
 |
| DJ from 2017 near Handpump area, Mukki zone, Kanha (PC- Ninad Jog) |
This time also with the same hopes and enthusiasm we started our first Safari of Mukki zone in search of DJ and her remaining 2 cubs from the recent litter. Not very far into the safari, we saw her male cub sitting and relaxing along the roadside. He was around 18-20 months old and looked as bold and beautiful as his mother. With very few vehicles around, we got to capture him from different angles and also got some good shots while he crossed the road. The female cub was also sitting nearby behind the bushes. She was also quite bold and was not at all bothered about the increasing number of vehicles around. We waited there for some time hoping that she would also cross the road but she was not in the mood to get up so we left her behind and moved further in search of the Mother. As the cubs were not yet separated, we were hopeful that DJ would also be somewhere near and we would definitely get to meet her this time. We tried to find her a lot but all our efforts went in vain this time as well and we had to return back without seeing the Queen. We were happy about the sighting of both the cubs but at the same time not seeing DJ when she was so close was a bit disappointing.
With mixed feelings from earlier safari, we started our last safari with high hopes again in search of the Queen. The excitement for all of us was at its peak now. Even after dedicating the first hour or more only to DJ and her cubs, we did not get any signs of them being around so we decided to check some other parts of the park for some other tigers. Unfortunately, after another hour of extensive search also, the tiger remained elusive. Despite a few distant alarm calls and some old pugmarks, we were not able to get any traces of the latest tiger movement. Other vehicles also did not have any information about any sightings from the morning. It was about 9-9.30 AM already and with only the last couple of hours left in the safari, we thought this was going to be a dry safari. With very little hope, we decided to make a last attempt and we went back to check the hand pump area near Dhawajhadi camp which is a favourite place of DJ and her cubs. A few vehicles were already waiting there as one of the vehicles got a glimpse of a tiger crossing the road but they could not identify the tiger. This was the same place where we saw the DJ for the first time and again waiting at the same place rejuvenated our memories from 2017. While everyone was waiting silently in front of the camp trying to hear any signs of tiger movement, we saw a couple of vehicles rushing towards the other side. We all got excited and without wasting any time, our guide and driver decided to follow the vehicles. Within a few minutes, we stumbled upon a roadblock at the CCP (Chota Chatta Patthar) area. When we got up from our seats, we were pleasantly surprised to see our beloved DJ relaxing just a few meters in front of us on the main road. Within a minute after we reached there, she got up, crossed the road and went into the bushes as if she was just waiting for us only to say Hello. All this happened so quickly and we could only manage a couple of her shots while crossing the road. We tried to see her as much as we could while she was walking behind the bushes until she disappeared into the bamboo thickets. After some time her male cub was also seen following her and went into the same thicket. The female cub might already be there because we could hear the growling for some time. Probably the mother was trying to keep the kids away as she was in the process of separating them.
 |
| DJ from 2024 near CCP area, Mukki zone, Kanha. |
All the guides and drivers were confident that the whole family would come out to relax at the nearby water body called Babathenga and hence all the vehicles rushed and surrounded the water body waiting to see the family enjoying in water. Even after patiently waiting for about 15-20mins, they did not come out. As safari time was getting over, some vehicles already left the place. After trying our luck for 10 more minutes we were also forced to leave the place with the hope that we would see DJ again in the next season. Even though today's sighting was short, it was really pleasing for us to see DJ again after so many years. Even though she was quite old now, she is still ruling the area as a dominant Queen of Mukki and she did not allow any other female to settle here for so many years and that was incredible. For the rest of the safari, me and Anup (both of us have been together for all the trips to Kanha since 2017) were just talking about DJ and cherishing our memories with her from 2017.
After reaching the resort, when I was just surfing through my mobile, I saw a notification about a Facebook memory from Kanha and when I opened it, I could not believe for a second that it was the memory of the Facebook check-in we did on the same day (16th April), 7 years back in 2017. Oh my god, what a coincidence it was! We saw the same tigress in the same area on the same day after 7 Years. We also realised that not only me and Anup but Noorul Bhaiya, our naturalist from Pugmark resort was also with us at both these times and thanks to him we were celebrating such a rare and wonderful moment that day. We were on a cloud nine at that moment because we were the only ones from that group in 2017, who kept on visiting Kanha every season, especially for DJ and today our patience paid off dramatically. We couldn't have asked for anything more than such a memorable last safari of the season. This incident made Kanha even closer to our hearts and gave us these golden moments to cherish until we meet our Queen again!
Wo Kehte hain na...
"Agar kisi cheez ko dil se chaho … to puri kainaat usse tumse milane ki koshish mein lag jaati hai…."
If you like this, please check out my other travel blogs below
Comments