Tadoba Tiger Reserve - May '25

I was down with a severe viral but this wasn't like the usual one. I could feel that this is totally different compared to what I had before. Tried all home remedy but didn't work. Finally I had to go to a GP who after spending lot of time confirmed that this is a totally new viral. He then confirmed looking at the patterns in my body this is a big cat viral and probably tiger viral and the only remedy is to visit a few tiger sanctuaries 😜.

I started with Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve and is probably my 3rd visit.Tadoba is about 3 hour drive from Nagpur airport. The sighting of tigers in the previous two trips weren’t great and hence decided to do this again. And my plan is also to do a few other tiger parks.

Tour Date                    : 2nd May ’25 to 6th May ‘25

Company                    : Toehold Photography led by Jayanth Sharma

I am told that May / June being the summer season, there are better chances of sighting. Hence I took the bold step of doing this trip in May. It was hot and humid throughout the day. Toehold had booked full day Safaris. The advantage besides being in the park for full day is an early entry before the park is open for general public and late exit. However considering the weather condition we exited the park around 1130 AM (in any case no wild life activity happens during the afternoon time) and enter again around 3 PM. We were extremely lucky to have an amazing sighting of tigers.

We used Kolara gate and Moharli gate, both being a buffer zone. All the parks have two zones viz. Core and Buffer zone. The core zone is a strictly protected area for wildlife conservation, where human activities are generally restricted or prohibited. The buffer zone, on the other hand, surrounds the core zone and allows for more compatible human uses, like sustainable tourism.

Tigers particularly the prominent ones, are often given nicknames based on their physical appearance, behaviour, or even their relationship with other tigers. These nicknames are commonly used by guides, park officials, and visitors alike to identify and talk about specific tigers, rather than official scientific designations. Below are some of the tigers we sighted.

• Heenal, 4 year old tigress with 2 cubs. The cubs are 3 months old.  

• Nayantara 3 year old tigress

• Chanda 3 year old tigress

• Chandini 3 year old tigress

• Bijli (tigress)

• Two female cubs of Choti Thara. The cubs are one year old.

• C3 (tigress)

• Shambu 9 year old male tiger.

• Three female cubs of Choti Madhu. All one year old

 The group :

PC : toehold

 The album can be viewed --> https://tadoba-tiger-reserve.gopsview.com/

BTW, I have still not recovered from my viral and looking for more tigers !!!!