[Leica] Bandhavgarh - Jhurjhura Female

[jayanand at gmail.com (Jayanand Govindaraj)]

The last of my tiger photographs, this series unfolded on the last drive of
the trip, when Howard & I were together. We were actually on our way back to
the hotel when the Jhurjhura female came out of the woods right in front of
us. This was a surprise to say the least, because she had given birth a
short while ago, and sightings had become sporadic and rare:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Bandhavgarh/Bandhavgarh_20100321_0627.jpg.html

She moved back into the forest, and walked purposefully on:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Bandhavgarh/Bandhavgarh_20100321_0631.jpg.html

At this time, we had to make a decision, whether to try and intercept her,
or go back to the hotel. As we had a fair amount of time, we decided to
press on and try and intercept her. For the first time in Bandhavgarh, I saw
some great tracking by our driver, Kunwar the Ferrari driver, who judged the
intercept to perfection:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Bandhavgarh/Bandhavgarh_20100321_0633.jpg.html

She took her bearings for a minute, and set off for Rajbehra dam, a small
check dam on Rajbehra meadow:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Bandhavgarh/Bandhavgarh_20100321_0638.jpg.html

She reached the dam, and slipped into the water:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Bandhavgarh/Bandhavgarh_20100321_0665.jpg.html

Bliss!:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Bandhavgarh/Bandhavgarh_20100321_0702.jpg.html

She then clambered onto the low dam and sauntered off:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Bandhavgarh/Bandhavgarh_20100321_0739.jpg.html

All in all, a fine and fitting end to a lovely trip.

Comments & criticism, as always, welcome!

Cheers
Jayanand