Every Dog Has His Day

Dusk was falling. We were slowly making our way back from the forest. Much to our sadness, the jungle safari was coming to an end for the day. We still had the choice of another jeep safari or a Kabini River cruise the next morning. As our jeep was winding its way out of the forest, we passed two tribal women carrying bunches of dried grass and twigs on their heads. A little ahead, we saw a young boy walking past, hitting a stone with a stick, as he made his way back home. A lone dog followed him. We realized we were getting close to a tribal village just on the outskirts of the forest. We could discern a few huts some distance away, the last few in a clump, perilously close to the forest.  We were about to exit the Nagarhole Tiger Reserve. Suddenly, the driver of jeep braked, and our vehicle came to an abrupt halt. The guide did not have to say anything. Leaping across the jungle path, right in front of the windscreen, was an adult leopard.

The guide whispered, “He is after the dog”. The poor soul was about to fall prey to the big cat! But we were thrilled, excited at having seen the famed Indian Leopard of the Nagerhole National Park. The guide, just a little while back, had told us that we were lucky to have seen two of the four major predators most commonly sighted in that region, the golden jackal and the Asiatic wild dog or dhole. However, the other two were the big cats, the tiger and the leopard, which had eluded us so far. He had added that they were probably waiting for us to come back another day.

Photograph of Dholes taken on a foggy morning

As the spotted big cat leapt in front of our jeep, chasing the poor dog, we were struck by its speed and powerful muscles despite its small size. At least, in my mind, I had imagined the leopard to be much bigger. In reality, leopards are short, powerful and stocky with their unmissable long tails. The guide later told us it was an adult male. In the flash of a second it had disappeared into the adjoining bushes where the little dog had disappeared too. For a moment, we were relieved it wasn’t one of the women or the young boy.

As suddenly as the leopard had appeared and disappeared, we heard the screeching cries of the dholes from behind the bushes and also a long yelp, as our friend, the village dog, made his final dash for life. Our guide, who was sitting next to me, whispered softly, “The pack has come”.  He had told us earlier how ferocious and deadly could a pack of dholes be. The next instant, all eight of us in the jeep, saw a sight that seemed to have emerged straight from a Nat Geo episode. We could see the leopard climbing up a tall tree, about ten meters or so from our jeep. By this time, our companions, who were armed with cameras, got busy, while the rest of us just watched, mesmerized, unable to even breathe. The dholes could not be seen in the dense undergrowth of bushes and small trees but we could hear them. The guide softly said, “They are at the bottom of the tree.” By this time, our spotted friend had climbed to the highest branch. No other human being could be seen now. Living on the edge of the forest the villagers had eyes and ears as keen as those of the chital or sambar. The next jeep had arrived and stopped a little way behind us but they had already missed the chase, the escape and the climb. We could all see the leopard crouching on one of the top branches. The village dog had escaped by a whisker, and by a sudden twist of fate, the hunter had become the hunted!

The Hunter becomes the Hunted

The sun was going down fast; only a portion of it could be seen at the horizon. The driver said we would have to make our way out of the forest as it would no longer be safe to linger. We had already stayed beyond the stretchable limits. As he started the jeep, we saw the leopard holding on to his life on one of the topmost branches, while the dholes,  whom we could not see but had only heard, continued to  circle the bottom of the tree.

Crested Hawk Eagle

As we emerged from the forest leaving behind the silver oaks, the teaks, the rosewood and the sandalwood trees to stand witness to infinite tales of the hunter and hunted, of death and deliverance, of survival and narrow escapes, I could not help thinking about the fate of our protagonists. The secrets of the forest would, forever, remain hidden in mystery of the all encompassing darkness which would soon take over. The forest lives by its own laws and all its habitants have to live by them but, as in the human world, Fate or Chance does get to intervene. How long did the leopard remain perched up there? Did the dholes continue to wait for him to leap off the branch and escape with incomparable speed or did the leopard slink away in the all pervading darkness of the night or did the pack simply lose patience and give up on its prey? The end will never be known. I leave it to the imagination of my readers.

Our convoy of jeeps slowly made their way back our lodges by the river Kabini. The flora and fauna had kept us enchanted throughout the three-hour evening and next morning safaris. The Kabini River separates the Bandipur and Nagarhole National Parks. They are a part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. Apart from the predators already mentioned, it is also the home to some more like the famed but elusive black panther and the striped hyenas. We had got a chance to come across a host of herbivores like the sambars, chitals, four-horned antelopes, gaurs or the Indian Bisons, wild boars and not to forget the Asiatic elephants. We saw herds of elephants moving around, playing in the dust, making their way to the river and even taking a dip in the cool waters. Birds and beasts beautifully camouflaged in their natural surroundings, the forest echoing and coming to life in the wee hours of the mornings or at dusk with their calls, birdsongs, hoots and tweets. Spotting them on the tree branches or the jungle pathways were the highlights of these safaris- the gray langurs, the macaques, the mongoose, the Malabar Giant Squirrel and the Indian Monitor Lizard. Whether it was a river cruise or a jeep safari, it would open up a beautiful world of rare species of birds like the cormorants, drongos, crested hawk- eagles, herons, ospreys , serpent eagle, hill mynas, and of course, the ever colourful kingfishers and parakeets . No ride through a forest was ever complete without seeing the herds of spotted deer, as they nestled together, eyes in all directions, ever alert and ready to take off at the slightest sound or sign of danger.                          

Perhaps the two images I will carry with me forever are that of the cormorant sitting on a dead tree in the midst of the placid waters of the river Kabini against the setting sun and the other is that of a deadly predator hanging on to a branch of a tree for his life while a pack of another predator decides his fate. Perhaps they both sum up the inevitability of death and the precariousness of life.

DS