In the Jungle

The Big Bam in his prime I first heard of a tiger named Bamera in the summer of 2010, while we were doing a survey in the buffer villages of Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve. At the time, he had gained notoreity for lifting cattle and had planted a certain degree of fear in the mind of the villagers. "Bahut bada hai sahab, itna bada tiger humne aaj tak nahi dekha" spluttered a villager, a resident of the same village where Bamera got his name from. Located in a beautiful region known as Panpatha, with a huge dam and an ever reaching green landscape, Bamera was as beautiful a tiger and as extravagant as his namesake village.  Very quickly, Bamera made an entry into Bandhavgarh as it's dominant male, overthrowing his ageing father - B2. Slated to be the biggest tiger Bandhavgarh had seen for a few years, Bamera coaxed everyones imagination into becoming a stuff of legends among the drivers and guides of the park. "Aree, gadi ke bonnet jitna bada hai" some claimed

Babu at Shesh Shaiya  There are many who claim to protect the forest, there are many who love the forest, but there are very few who know the forest. If someone ever tells you that they know the forest, it would either be  a villager living around the forest or a forest guard. One such person, I had the pleasure of meeting was -Babu, I don't know his name in its entirety, but it doesn't matter. The way he talks of the forest, spells more than just his name, of him as a person. Brave (eyes black and blazing with a knowing look), a sudden softness when he talks about tigers and a quiet sadness when he talks about how protection is sometimes a thankless job, Babu epitomises the phrase 'Of the jungle.'  When asked of his forest experiences, the first one that comes to his mind is of monitoring B2 the much loved tiger of Bandhavgarh.This was all B2's area where we used to camp at night  to make sure he doesn't get into trouble with the villagers, points Bab