Mauling zebras? Halle Berry in the Catwoman suit? We were one step closer to answering this question today. Yep, that's right. We. Saw. A. #%$@ing. TIGER!!
And it was GORGEOUS. Seriously, one of the most beautiful creatures I have ever seen. We nearly saw it make a kill, too, but then the herd of deer noticed it, sounded alarm call, and the tiger sulked off growling. WE COULD HEAR IT GROWL! I'm telling you, it was awesome. It was probably only about 50 feet away from us.
Tigers are extremely rare in the wild, bordering on extinct. It is thought that there are fewer than 3,200 left on earth. Supposedly, India is probably the best place to see them, and from what I understand Ranthambore National Park is one of the best places in India. That being said, there are only approximately 30 tigers that roam the area of the park open to tourists (approximately 125 square kilometers) and tigers are nocturnal, solitary, territorial animals, so each tiger will command its own area and rarely leave it. Thus, seeing a tiger today was far from a sure bet.
Furthermore, there were late, post-monsoon season rains in this part of India, which means the grass, trees, and brush are thicker and greener than is normal for this time of year, which makes it difficult to see the cats when they are lounging around during the day, as they tend to do. I still can hardly believe we got as good a view as we did! Jusuf was correct: seeing a tiger is an almost emotional experience. Maybe it's just an instinctive adrenaline high one gets from being so close to such a giant predator, but it was seriously so cool.
You can find more information on tiger conservation here.
*Oh, also, we saw monkeys, crocodiles, peacocks, deer, antelope and other things I would have tried to make sound reeeeeally cool in the absence of seeing a tiger, but now that we saw one, who really cares about the other dudes? :)
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