It was our first afternoon into the reserve and we had AC route. It was Thanksgiving Day for Americans. I was sure for some reason or some hope I was going to see Bamera male. It was pretty quiet, no alarm calls and other jeeps had come by without luck either. It was getting late and we stopped by Ghora Demon ,a famous area where a tiger has good cover and water inside a deep ravine. It was said that the pugmarks of a male were seen and so we waited at one end of the ravine. Another jeep drove by and we decided to have them wait at the top while we stayed at the bottom. One of the guides was positive a male tiger was in the ravine. We had agreed that whoever saw the tiger emerge out of the ravine would give out a whistle. It was no more than 2 minutes and we heard a loud whistle. The guys yelled “TIGER”. We turned around and quickly got up to the top and there off to the left of the track no further than 6 or 7 feet was beautiful Bamera . He was just lying down with his huge head resting on his left paw. We all started clicking away with our cameras, or whatever device we had on hand. He was so calm and then he raised his head up and kept looking at us with his mesmerizing golden eyes. I also had binoculars so when I zoomed out I looked at him closely and saw a droplet of water dripping from his nose where he had gotten a gash from a fight with his father B2. I literally wanted to get out of the jeep and go sit next to him.
He looked so peaceful, I am sure he just wanted to rest a little before going on his way to hunt during the night. We were going to be late leaving the park and reaching the main gate so we had to drive a little fast but we made it. I am so excited of how close I was to seeing him. I am truly blessed. I wish for everyone to witness that. I will never forget my beautiful Bamera. As we were leaving him I waved goodbye to him and said “Bye Bamera”. I know I will see him again.
