Thread by @wildontheright

The Matka Story. #junglestoriesbysagar. Dont miss this one :-)
It was the summer of ’18. Matkasur was ruling the Tadoba Core and Pandhar Pauni was his castle. I had not sighted him before & this time the agenda was only & only to photograph King Matka. 1/n
#wildlifephotography

Tadoba was booming with Tiger sightings and the saying “ Tadoba never disappoints” or “Tiger sightings in Tadoba are guaranteed” had started making rounds in the circles of Wild Life. I had no intentions of finding or photographing other Tigers. 2/n

I had seen almost all Tigresses and other males in the TATR. But! I had always missed Matkasur. So, I land in Nagpur and head to Tadoba with one hope and prayer. Matkasur dikh jaye bas. 3 days passed, many tigers were seen but not the King. 3/n

After 6 failed attempts, after talking to dozens of guides, drivers and locals to get information, my shoulders were dropping. Some said- Ramdegi kade gela vatta.. Some said non tourism la gala asel. Some said, motha kill maarun basla asel, some said Madnapur la gela nakki. 4/n

(all were giving different information in Marathi). I was giving up…
Every evening I used to get messages from friends asking if I found him. The answer was just a NO.I was thinking of flying back. 5/n

That evening my driver came to my room. He knew what I was going through. He saw me not picking up the camera that day. In a jolly tone, kay sir- ek-ek houn zaude aaz. He meant- lets have a drink :-p. I replied mood nahi aahe re. 6/n

His reply to that gave me goosebumps. News ashi aanli aahe ki bottle sampel. Nighalay sandhyakali baaher. Forest gypsy la disla. ( He said I have got such a news that we ll finish the bottle :-p. Forest guys had seen Matka in the evening.) 7/n

We had a quick drink and I removed all my gear out. Checked batteries, cards, packed my bag again etc and shot off to sleep early. Tomorrow was the day!! 8/n

We both met at around 445am and went to the gate and waited. Gates opened and we straight headed to the water hole where he was sighted last evening. It was unlikely he wud be there but we wanted to check. 9/n

Then we went around that area from different routes.. trying hard to hear warning calls. Nothing. Maya and cubs were playing at Pauni. We saw them for a bit thinking Matka might join them but no. He was not be found. We came back. No Matka. No Photos. 10/n

I told my driver. Aaz ratri mi part zatoy. He just said, sir, ek last attempt karu. I blinked and we parted ways in the afternoon. 11/n

We entered the jungle in the evening and this time straight went to Pauni. No movement. Strange. Maya and cubs were not to be seen. We went to another water hole near by and guess who we find- Chota Matka.. 12/n

My driver said Matka nahi tar Chota Tari disla. (At least we found chota matka if not Matka). I slapped him on his back & said chal ithun, Collar lagli ahe tyala. Photo nakoy. (CM had collar on the neck so I didn’t want photos) We reversed & then I heard a warning call. 13/n

That must have been the loudest call of a Sambar I have ever heard. That was followed by a cacophony of warning calls. I threw my cap below the seat, swung up the camera bean bag while my driver turned into a driving legend. He said tight pakda aata straight Matkasur :-). 14/n

The calls came exactly from the same place where Matka was seen previous evening. We headed straight to that water body and waited. A leopard came by in the bushes and quickly took off in a jiffy. That was a bad sign. 15/n

May be the calls were caz of the leopard we thought. Why wud a leopard be on the ground if there was a huge male Tiger around. It didn’t make sense and I thought that’s it. Its over. 16/n

I rested my chin on the hand bar above the gypsy and was looking at a random tree. Birds came, had water and flew back. Life was back to normal. No warning calls. Silence everywhere. 17/n

On the left side at around 50 mts, tall grass moved. It felt as if the grass was walking in our direction. At every step nearer to us, it moved. Then a face emerged. Eyes went wide open, smile took over our faces involuntarily. 18/n

Goosebumps kicked in. I was so mesmerized with the aura of Matka that I just wanted to devour his sheer presence. But then the photographer in me woke up and then I captured him in my memories for eternity. 19/n

That evening, Matka came near our jeep, took a full circle, sat right in front for a bit. Then went inside the water hole for a bath. Gave all possible poses. I felt as if he was rewarding me for the patience.
Could not ask for more 😊 20/n
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