Tiger! Tiger! by Pam Voth NFT

There is nothing like the heart-pounding excitement of searching for wild tigers in the forests of India. I wake before dawn (if I’ve slept at all) to have tea, gather my camera bodies and lenses, then climb into an open-top 4-wheel drive Maruti and head into the park as the sun begins to lighten the sky. The driver, the guide, and I all have the same goal, to catch sight of a wild tiger. We speed along the rutted, twisting forest track to get ourselves deep into the forest, close to where we know a tiger patrols its territory. We come to a sudden halt. The road dust catches up to us and silently settles back to the earth as we listen for clues from the forest. Birds and bugs sing and buzz to each other. A langur looks down on us from the high branches of a tree. In the distance, we hear the alarm call of a spotted deer. We drive slowly now in that direction, the seat springs of the vehicle creaking almost too loudly. We stop again. There, in the shadows. Tiger! Tiger!