Meet a tigress called Arrowhead from Ranthambhore. This picture is from 2015 when she was still a cub. Her brother Pac-Man is running behind -(I named him after a Pac-Man video game mark on his head). It’s story time
Arrowhead, Pac-Man and another sister called Lightning were born to a legendary tigress called Krishna or T19 her official number, in early 2014. The four of them crossing the ‘land bridge’ on Rajbagh lake here in summers of 2014
By the year 2016 Arrowhead had established her range around the lakes - an area gifted to her by Krishna who captured a new territory and had another litter there. The lakes were no Arrowhead’s
She bonded with this young and very shy male numbered T 86 officially. This one and by 2017 they were mating regularly
By the end of 2018 Arrowhead had a litter of two cubs but they didn’t survive beyond the age of a few months. In early 2019 she had another litter of (we later came to know) of two cubs. In end Feb we saw them for this first time here
During the next few months till the end of June 2019 when the Ranthambhore national park shuts for monsoons I had a blast visually documenting their lives. It’s special feeling to document cubs of tigers whose grandparents were cubs when I started. Blessed indeed
I shoot with a 4 camera set up & usually go the park with my core team. This is how we shoot and this is what we get consistently. I am not the best around but I am consistent and I give it time - decades kind of time. My Ranthambhore photography project started in 1999.
One of my drivers Bhaiya wanted me to name these two cubs Riddhi & Siddhi cause he is a big follower of Ganeshji but we needed to justify the names as I usually name them after a facial mark. So this is Riddhi - I see the Hindi letter र inverted over her right eye. Don’t laugh🙂
And this is Siddh. I am afraid she doesn’t have any mark to brand with the name. I can ID them from a lot of markings but none scream her name to me. Little did I know then that I would be following these two amazing sisters called @RiddhiB9 & @SiddhiBhandari - 🙏
In the end of June 2019 the park shut for 3 monsoon months. It’s scary because the three month gap can sometimes kill the story you are documenting. Once the park reopened in October our story started again and till the lockdown I was busy seeing them grow.
By March 2020 their play fights we’re getting into more of fights and less of play. That’s how they start till they finally separate. Then disaster struck the planet and everything locked down. My story was turning out to be a disaster ☹️
Then in June 2020 the park opened up again for a couple of weeks. There were hardly any visitors and we were on. Amazingly on the first day that I went looking for them after the park reopened, I found all three waiting on the main road to the park. Tigers of Ranthambhore like me
On June 2020 the fights between them we’re getting rough. All three were fighting as Arrowhead was mating again and wanted them to stay away from her.
This was the last time in June 2020 that I saw all three together. I haven’t been going to the park regularly since then and I don’t really have regular pictures of them to tell the story after that. But they live separately and their mother has another litter of two cubs.

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More from @adityadickysin

27 Sep
On #WorldTourismDay let me tell you about my favourite place on this planet - the area of the three lakes in Ranthambhore national park. It’s a stunning place. I will take a few minutes of your time but it may brighten up your day. 🙏
#ThePhotoHour Image
The overall backdrop is stunning because of a plus 1000 years old UNESCO World Heritage site Hill fort from which the park gets it name. It’s just too imposing. #Rajasthan Image
There are lots of pretty places but few where our countries glorious ancient past mixes with raw nature is such a mind blowing manner. Hundreds of years ago people actually prayed in this mosque. Monuments here are a classic mix of Rajput and Mughal architecture #IncredibleIndia Image
Read 11 tweets
25 Sep
Since leopards of Chambal are show stoppers these days courtesy @manishariprasad - Here is a leopard from Ranthambhore which for those who didn’t know touched River Chambal.
Ranthambhore has a very high density of leopards though most visitors don’t see much of them. This is because tigers kill them and to stay safe the smaller cat tends to stay in areas that tigers don’t frequent like steep slopes, hill tops etc. This is a typical sight here.
Leopards in Ranthambhore are not comfortable in the valleys which is prime tiger territory. But they do have to come down to valleys esp in summers when water is short at heights. Often they would do this at the hottest time when tigers are inactive like this one at noon
Read 6 tweets
1 Sep
Pictures of common birds from a tiny sanctuary that we call home. We bought a barren piece of land to build our house on and are slowly trying to turn it into a mini sanctuary. All these pictures are from within our compound. #IndiAves #TribeIndiAves
It’s easy to do and great fun. Every new species that we see is a ‘major discovery’ for us
It soon becomes a pretty cool outdoor studio for lazy blokes like me. No carrying heavy equipment over rough tracks cause we can shoot with a beer glass in one hand. Makes life easier
Read 7 tweets
31 Aug
Nothing to see here just a Banyan tree
Ficus benghalensis - remember the name. In my opinion a poster tree of India
It’s widely believed that the word ‘baniya’ comes from this tree. This may or may not be true - just don’t bring it up in front of my in laws
Read 4 tweets
26 Aug
Let me tell you a sad story from 12 years ago. A story that had a huge impact on me. A story about two tigers that were poisoned on the outskirts of Ranthambhore.
I was called as one of the two independent eye witnesses by the Deputy Field Director of Ranthambhore to follow some ridiculous protocol. If you want details of the event - they are here

dickysingh.com/2010/03/08/two…
How it effected me - One man with accomplices poisoned a goat carcass that two sub adult tigers had killed and then left it for them to eat, which they did two days later. A few hours later they died miserably
Read 13 tweets
28 Jul
Almost all wild cats are ‘ambush hunters’ and #Camouflage is really important to them. I would have never spotted this leopard if he did not turn his head to look towards us

- a photo thread for #IndiAves
Same here. If this Caracal had not moved her head to show her gorgeous ‘tufted ears’ my guide would have never spotted her.
Name: सिया or Ink - गोश or ears : to make सियागोश in Hindi, their name
We had spotted this Jungle cat entering this patch of short grass and then totally lost her till she came out in the open. We are good at spotting wildlife, really good but this one played with us.
Read 7 tweets

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