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Well, it is our last day on Safari.  We have been to two national parks and are on our 8th tiger safari.  We are currently in Kanha NP.  The previous two days have been a bust....no tiger sightings.  But, with our usual positive wildlife photographer attitude, we are optimistic that our trip to Kanha will bear fruit.  A female tiger had been sighted the previous day and we knew where to look.

So, here we are at 5:19am, anxious to get into the park.

7R501120-Edit Today, we have a full day permit.  It gives us permission to move to any of the park zones and stay all day.  This means the morning day group will leave the park around 11 am and not be able to return until after 4pm.  This gives us a 5 hour window with only a couple of other trucks in the park.  Our hope is the tiger will move during this window.  

So, we are headed to the tiger through the forest.

7R501129-HDR And we are in luck.  There is an old female sleeping in the weeds.  Our guides know who she is and report that she has two young cubs hidden somewhere nearby.  

A1A09735 IMG_3856 So, we take a break for lunch.  

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And when we return the day folks have left and we have the area to ourselves.  Of course, our hope is she will get up and move.
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With the other two trucks positioned near the sleeping cat, our guide suggests that she will exit the tall grass and walk across the more open area so we position here.

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It is now hours later and the afternoon crowd shows up.

A1B09056-Edit IMG_3867 And then it rains...

IMG_3857 The guides are not happy.  The rain will reduce the probability that the cat will leave as she will be cooled off and less in need of water.  We are hoping she will need to attend to her hidden cubs.  Always optimistic!

We know she is still sleeping.  Occasionally, she will raise up and give everyone hope that action will follow.

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Now we are getting nervous.  No one can understand why she has been there all day and it is getting late.  We are 45 minutes from the gate and have to be out of the park by 6:45pm.  Time is short.

A1B09068-Edit Abbi, our trip guide is smiling but you can tell he is nervous.  

Alas, the time comes and we need to leave.  We exit the park and our safari ends unfulfilled.  Such is the life of a wildlife photographer.

The jungle setting of India coupled with the single subject focus of our trip provided one of the most challenging photo experiences I've ever had.

As an aside, we learned that there is quite a bit of documentation about the tigers in Kanha.  So, I go home with this information about T-65.

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