The Crocodile Hunter

8^th October 2018

Our second safari day began bright and early. We made our way to the ticket office (via a very bumpy tuk tuk) and picked up our tickets. We were the only westerners there – it’s really just for the drivers and guides, but that meant that we got our choice of seat on the jeep. Our morning safari was in zone five, another zone that has a high number of tiger sightings. Our guide was even very promising, stopping to listen for alarm calls and to find tracks.

Again we saw the usual deer, pigs and birds but this guide had no time to wait around – he was determined to find us a tiger. We set off completely alone and over the course of two to three hours, saw only one or two jeeps. There was definitely a sense of adventure on this tour as we crossed rivers and bumped through the undergrowth but unfortunately, despite the tiger prints being only an hour or two old, we didn’t catch a glimpse!

We did however, have a quick break by a waterfall where we saw a very big croc! Zone five was a really interesting zone with lots of wildlife and a definite tiger presence so we were disappointed when, despite our guides best efforts (including keeping us out longer than normal), we didn’t see a tiger. At this point we were feeling a bit desperate but we still had another safari to go so we headed back to the hotel with hope and after our usual breakfast (of four rounds of toast) we had a quick nap.

Our final safari was in a canter which wasn’t ideal but we thought we’d take the chance especially as we were going to zone four which again, is supposed to be great for tiger sightings. Terrain wise there was a good mix of greenery, water and drier areas and we saw plenty of the usual culprits; apparently there are 10,000 spotted deer and 6,000 samba deer in the park – plenty of food for the 70 or so tigers – so it’s no wonder we saw so many of them! We actually saw a kill – it had been left under a tree so it may well belong to a leopard but either way, if we’d hung around for a few more hours we probably would have seen a big cat! However, leaving two tourists in tiger territory is frowned upon so we left the park with plenty of nice animal sightings but not what we came for (and based the whole honeymoon on if we’re being honest).

We finished the evening with dinner from the hotel restaurant and made a last minute decision – to put on departure back by an hour and to try get on to a jeep in zone six which a few of the local guides recommended. So after an episode of Line of Duty (we like to keep it romantic on honeymoon), we got some much needed shut eye!