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- Herausgeber: Nature Press
- Kategorie: Lebensstil
- Sprache: Englisch
‘Tiger! Tiger!’ takes you to India's Cardamom Hills in the Periyar National Park, one of the most important tiger conservation areas in the whole of Asia, located in eastern Kerala. We set off on foot along the Periyar Tiger Trail with gamekeepers who were previously poachers. En route with trackers and porters from the Adivasi tribe, the author - with tent and cooking pots - roams the lake district and its hinterland for four days in search of poachers and Shir Khan, the ‘king of the jungle’ - and meets many other familiar faces from the famous ‘Jungle Book’. A captivating and touching journey into the true heart of India and into the time of Rudyard Kipling. Illustrated eBook with numerous photos.
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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025
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Inhaltsverzeichnis
Tiger! Tiger!
Kai Althoetmar
Tiger! Tiger!
On Foot on Tiger Safari in Southern India
Imprint:
Title of the book: „Tiger! Tiger! On Foot on Tiger Safari in Southern India“.
Year of publication: 2025.
Publisher:
Nature Press
Kai Althoetmar
Am Heiden Weyher 2
53902 Bad Münstereifel
Germany
E-Mail: Althoetmar[at]aol.com
Text: © Kai Althoetmar.
Cover photo: Gamekeeper on the Periyar Tiger Trail. Photo: Thierry Leclerc, CC BY-ND 2.0.
The research for this book was self-financed and without grants or benefits from third parties.
In ancient India, the maharajas and colonial big game hunters used to go tiger hunting on the back of an elephant. Today, the elephant is a Land Rover, jeep or Indian Tata that crosses the reserves of Kanha, Ranthambore or Corbett to stalk tigers. The shots are snapshots and just click and clack.
In a remote corner of southern India, in the Periyar Tiger Reserve in the Cardamom Mountains of the Western Ghats in the east of the state of Kerala, there are two other options. Firstly, for a handful of rupees, you can take a leisurely cruise across Lake Periyar on an excursion steamer with a soft drink in your hand and keep an eye out for wild animals from on board. This enterprise is particularly popular with India's honeymooners, and the boats are full of young, happy Indian couples. If you take the two-hour cruise a few times, you are guaranteed to see wild elephants, with a bit of luck also buffaloes and Asiatic wild dogs and, on the two thousandth round trip, possibly the shadow of a tiger's tail. Option one promises comfort and safety. But, as is so often the case, appearances are deceptive. In September 2009, a brand-new excursion boat hit the rocks and sank when a herd of elephants appeared on the shore and many passengers rushed onto one side of the boat for a public viewing just as the boat was taking a sharp turn. Forty-five people were counted dead, all but two of them Indians, most of them women and children. About twenty passengers survived the trip.
We found out about another way of tracking the tiger by chance after surviving our boat trip: the ‘Periyar Tiger Trail’, which starts near the village of Thekkady in the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary. ‘Trail’ here means walking through jungle and grassland, organised by the Kerala Forest Department. The excursion lasts two, three or, if there are no other interested parties, exceptionally four days. Apart from me and Kerstin, who is usually more interested in Shiva temples and Buddha statues, there are no other interested parties.
We set off the very next morning. The first rest camp is four hours away. We pass the Periyar Lake, the reservoir from which drowned trees surrealistically stretch out their trunks.
Oncoming storm on Lake Periyar. Photo: James Southorn, CC BY 2.0.
Herons stalk along the shore. In the forest, black Nilgiri langurs scurry through the branches, a sambar deer, the Bengal tiger's favourite dish, crosses the path.
