Mission:

TIGER
Images and words by
Andy Rouse / naturepl.com
A single chital alarm call pierces through the
silence; the call of a frightened animal. It’s
dawn in Ranthambore, a very special time
to be out on tiger patrol. On foggy mornings
like this it’s a cold, dark, mysterious place,
making it very difficult to locate tigers. But I
can find inspiration in the atmospheric land-
scape. We rely on alarm calls from the va-
rious deer species, as well as bird chatter, to
tell us that a tiger is in the locality. The chital
calls again and my excitement rises to a peak;
the deer may have sensed a tiger, smelled it
or seen a tell-tale movement in the grass...’
 Seeing a wild tiger always
takes my breath away and
afterwards I feel vibrant and
alive.

[Above] Wild tigers are tough

to find and even tougher to
photograph. They spend a great
deal of their time hidden in
long grass, their stripey coats
helping them blend in to their
environment.
[Below left] The tigers of Ran-
thambore are sometimes seen
resting on a fort, catching a
breeze. The temperature on this
day was over 37C (100F).

I have always had a special affinity with ti- breath away every time, and afterwards I feel
gers. There is something about their total vibrant and alive.
arrogance and their total fragility as a popu- It is an alarming fact that, as a species, tigers
lation that always draws me to spend time are severely endangered. But the way I see
with them. it, great photography is a way to raise awa-
I took my first images of tigers working in reness of tigers and give them an additional
a zoo while I was still at university, but I PR boost.
always knew I wanted to document them in I do sincerely believe that we can save the ti-
the wild. Fast forward to today, and the tiger ger, and I hope that my emotional connection
has given me some of the most rewarding with these magnificent cats shines through
wildlife encounters of my life. It is so special in my images, perhaps inspiring others to
to me. Just to see a tiger in the wild takes my love them too.
 [Left to right]: Chital deer in
deciduous forest; Bengal ti-
ger yawning; Cars full of tou-
rists watching a tiger; Indian
darter warming up at dawn.
[Bottom of page] Sunrise
over a lake in Ranthambhore
Tiger Reserve.

Ranthambore National Park is one of the Ranthambore is also counted as a famous

biggest and most renowned National Parks heritage site because of the pictorial ruins
in Northern India. Covering an area of 392 that dot the park. Ranthambore Fort, built in
square kilometres, it is located in the Sawai the 10th century, towers over the entire park,
Madhopur district of southeastern Rajas- standing at 700 feet above the surrounding
than. plains. The grasslands and deciduous forests
Ranthambhore was once a hunting ground that characterise the Park are also home to
for the Maharajas of Jaipur but in 1973, the leopards, sloth bears, chital and sambar deer,
Indian government started Project Tiger, as well as langurs, Rhesus macaques and a
setting aside an area of 60 square miles as a variety of plants, reptiles and birds.
tiger sanctuary. This area later expanded to But it is the tiger population for which Ran-
become what is now Ranthambore National thambore is best known. Their presence can
Park. Today, it is one of the best locations in be felt everywhere. Even when you can’t see
India to see wild tigers. them, you know you’re in tiger country.
The Tigers of
Ranthambore

[Above]: Machali, former

queen of Ranthambore; [Right]
Krisha T19 with her male cub
Arrowhead; [Below right]
Adult male Sultan T72; [Below]
Noor T39, mother of Sultan.
[Left] Individual tigers are iden-
tified based on their unique
markings and stripe patterns.

Ranthambore is home to some of the world’s

most photographed tigers, each one with a
name and unique ID number assigned to it
by the forest department. Individuals can
also be identified on the basis of their stripe
patterns. Like a human fingerprint, every
tiger has a unique stripe pattern - and the
most easily recognised markings are used to
tell them apart.
The lineages of every tiger in the park are
carefully documented, along with their terri-
torial ranges, age and dominance status.
Getting to know individual tigers is essen-
tial if you are to photograph them well - and
they each have their own personalities, repu-
tations and legends.
Machali
I’ve built my career on having relationships
with the animals that I photograph. I don’t
just regard them as photographic subjects, to
me they are something much deeper. There
have been a few special ones over the years,
but perhaps one of the most well known is
Machali, the Queen of Ranthambhore. In
her prime she was totally dominant in her
territory, fearless, and just plain beautiful.

In her lifetime, Machali has proven herself had the weaponry, or the desire, for combat.
as a great hunter and mother, but many will In the above image, Machali (on the right)
remember her first as a fighter. She fought fights one of her daughters for territory.
her siblings, her mother, male suitors and The extended claws show her intent. At this
her own offspring. She was such a success- stage, there is no maternal love, the daughter
ful fighter that she only ever lost in her later is competition for food and territory. It was
years, when age meant that she no longer all over in seconds, Machali the easy winner.
Machali was always a great and fearless hun-
ter. But on one particular afternoon, I found
her stalking a young Sambar, who was com-
pletely unaware of her presence. It’s a testa-
ment to her skill that she could stalk across
open ground like this and remain undetec-
ted. Just look at her shoulders, every muscle
is tense, she just exudes power. Every foots-
tep was chosen carefully and her eyes never
left the Sambar ahead.
Machali’s nickname ‘Lady of the Lakes’ was
given to her because of her territory; the
lakes around Ranthambhore fort. It is one of
the most scenic parts of the Park. One of the
reasons why Machali became world-famous
was because the wide open space in this area
made it easier to see and photograph her
than the other tigers in the Park. More than
a dozen films have been made about her, and
at one point she was the most photographed
wild tiger on the planet.
June 2014 was my last time I photographed
Machali. We found her limping down to a
waterhole late one afternoon in a very iso-
lated and lonely part of the park. I could see
that her teeth were gone and by her general
condition, hunting looked difficult. I was
very upset by what I saw, but age comes to us
all, of course.
Though Machali is still alive, her dynasty will
soon end. But I know that her legacy will live
on in every corner of Ranthambhore.
 Wild cubs
are the holy
grail of tiger
photography

Tiger cubs are nervous,

and are closely guarded
by their mothers. To
photograph them is very
tough, and often involves
many days of frustration,
looking at pug marks
and trying to work out
where they might be.

To document cubs in the wild is surely the safe place for their mother to bring the food
holy grail of tiger photography. I’d taken pic- back to them. To photograph them at that
tures of them in captivity [right], but wild age wasn’t going to be easy and I would need
tigers are extremely secretive and cautious all the help I could get.
when caring for young cubs, rarely bringing Mission: Tiger Cub was something I set my-
them out into the open. I had images of ol- self in 2014, enlisting the help of my close
der juveniles in the wild, but I knew I could friends Aditya (‘Dicky’) and Poonam Singh
shine a spotlight on the plight of the tiger if I in Ranthambhore. I have worked with Dicky
could get images of wild babies. all my tiger career; we spent 3 months colla-
Cubs will begin to follow their mothers out borating on my first tiger book ‘Tigers; a Ce-
of the den at around two months of age, but lebration of Life’ and since then, he has been
they don’t participate in hunts. They wait in a ever present in my quest for tiger images.
Noor
Noor is Machali’s niece and just as extro-
vert as her auntie. She has also inherited the
quality of being camera-friendly! Her domi-
nance over a large territory make her the
current queen of Ranthambhore.
When I visited the Park in June 2014, Noor
had just given birth to her second litter of
cubs.
During a tough two weeks in June 2014, I
finally got the opportunity I was waiting for.
Noor had given birth to cubs, no more than
three months old at the time, and I spent
every day, in the fierce heat of the Indian
summer, hoping to get a glimpse of them.
Noor kept the cubs sheltered in a cave, but
as the heat topped 44 degrees Centigrade, I
guessed that they would have to drink soon,
and cool off.

Suddenly, Noor appeared in the road. She had

her cubs with her! One was running around,
so she picked it up in her mouth and walked
the cubs down to the a shallow pond .
 Noor was first in the water. She
snarled at it, scanning carefully for
crocodiles before letting the cubs
follow her in.

I parked the jeep 150m (450ft) away from

the pond and took out my long lens. I’ve
photographed tigers from 2m (6ft) away, but
if Noor was going to bring her cubs to the
pond, I didn’t want to make them nervous. It
would be their first time seeing people.
I’ve encountered a lot of wildlife but this was
perhaps the most magical experience of all.
For two hours, Noor and her cubs cooled off
in the pond, bathing and playing and drin-
king. It was an incredibly rare thing to see,
and the fact that nobody else had seen the
cubs before made it seem even more special.
The cubs were very playful in the water, and
I watched them affectionately nuzzling their
mother and clambering over her back as she
lay down in the water. Noor kept a watchful
eye out for predators as they played.
Once Noor and her cub had enjoyed their
lengthy dip, she picked them up and carried
them away from the pool. ‘Mission Tiger
Cub’ had started with a real bang!
Sultan

Sultan, Noor’s son, was born in 2012. Unu-

sually, he was the only cub in her first litter.
In the absence of any siblings, Sultan often
played with his mother instead, growing in
confidence. When the tourist-laden jeeps
showed up, he would position himself
between Noor and the encroaching vehicles.
Today, Sultan lives independently in his mo-
ther’s territory. He is bold and handsome and
has a great future ahead of him.
Krishna
In 2015 I returned to Ranthambhore, hoping
to find and photograph Noor and her cubs
again. But, alas, she had developed a very shy
nature and stayed away from the areas of the
park where we could go. Fortunately, Ran-
thambhore tigers are doing well and another
female with cubs the same age, Krishna, was
not as shy as Noor.

The first time I ever saw Krisha was in 2008,

when she was a cub. She is the daughter of
Macahli, and it shows! The image of Machali
(above) was taken on that 2008 trip, when
Krishna was still a youngster. Now, seven
years later, Krishna is fully grown and I can’t
help but see the similarity between mother
and daughter; the posture of one recalling
the other. Now with cubs of her own, Krish-
na has come full circle.
My peaceful thoughts were interrupted by down into my lens, it felt like she was boring
Ray who whispered «she’s coming Andy». right into my eyes. I kept my attention fir-
Instantly I knew that he meant Krishna. She mly on my little world, as I was shooting her
strode out of the bush and walked towards I saw her turn and call back into the grass
our vehicle before sitting down. Our angle and chaos erupted onto our little scene as all
was amazing, very flat onto her with the three cubs appeared from the grass.
background far behind, she was staring right

After nuzzling mum, Arrowhead gave me an

amazing stare.

As usual Arrowhead was the boldest and Arrowhead has a very tight bond with Krish-
came straight up to nuzzle Krishna, before na and he began playing with her, giving me
staring straight into my camera... some of the nicest tiger interaction I’ve seen.
I was smiling from ear to ear. It’s so rare to
get this interaction with tigers, and especial-
ly with Krishna who goes out of her way to
avoid us. The mist started rolling in again and
I began to realise that time was actually very
short before we would be shooting through
it. I just hoped that whatever they were going
to do they would do it quickly, I knew it was
a very unique and special encounter and
didn’t want to miss anything.
Suddenly, two of Krishna’s cubs decided to of punches. I fired on instinct, oblivious to
take centre stage - and what started out as everything else around me. It was an incre-
gentle playing quickly degenerated into a dible moment of rare action, lasting no more
full-on fight! Standing on their hind legs, than 20 seconds. And then, as quickly as it
the cubs exchanged blows in a rapid flurry had started, it was all over!
After a particularly foggy dawn recce, I retur- growl of Krishna herself and we backed the
ned from the park having taken no pictures jeep away, giving her space to move. A few
at all. Ranthambhore is a cold, dark, myste- minutes later, she appeared, striding right
rious place in conditions like these - and it out onto the track, quickly followed by her
makes finding tigers very difficult indeed. cubs. I almost shouted for joy!
Most often we rely on alarm calls from deer Krishna is quite different from Noor, and I
or langurs to tell us where the tigers are, but could tell that she didn’t much care for vehi-
even they were silent. cles and was going to avoid us, so I moved
By the afternoon, the sun was breaking the jeep much further away, along the track.
through the mist and I ventured out again, Luckily it paid off, and Krishna began wal-
hoping that my luck was changing. And king straight towards me, cubs in tow.
sure enough, we found Krisha’s cubs resting My mission to photograph a female and her
in some long grass around a lake shore. As teenage cubs was off to a great start!
I was photographing them, I heard the low
Young tiger cubs start practicing hunting
skills early on. They spend the majority of
their time playing with their siblings and
their mother, which helps them to develop
useful life skills such as stalking, pouncing,
swatting and climbing.
The tiger is a worldwide and instantly-re-
cognisable icon that signifies power, good
luck and courage. In the worlds of fashion,
entertainment and education, the image of
the tiger is used more than any other animal
on this planet. But the constant exposure to
tigers from an early age means that many
people don’t realise how endangered they
have now become.
Today, only 3,200 tigers are left in the wild, a
far cry from the situation a century ago, when
100,000 of these iconic creatures roamed the
Asian continent. They are now restricted to
just 7% of their former range, fragmented
across 13 countries. And when you consider
that the count of 3,200 includes six unique
Tourism is important for tiger conservation,
providing an economic incentive to keep
them alive. Tiger guides also monitor the
populations, so if a tiger disappears, they’ll
know about it.

sub-species (Bengal, Indochinese, Sumatran,

Siberian, Malayan and South China tigers),
the figures become even more alarming.
Poaching, habitat loss and conflict with hu-
mans are the biggest threats to tigers. They
need our help and I don’t want to live in a
world where the only place we can see them
is in a museum. I want to get more people to
love tigers and to understand what we can
do for their conservation. It’s in all of our
interests to care. Saving tigers saves habitat,
benefits communities through sustainable
tourism and provides a feel-good factor. It’s a
commitment to the future of this planet, for
the next generation and the one after that.
 I’d like to hope that
the one person who
sees my images, and
is inspired by them, will
be one who saves the
tiger from extinction

In January 2015, census data from India re-

vealed that the tiger population has risen to
2,226 compared to 1,706 in 2010; an increase
of over 30%. And in July 2015, Bhutan re-
corded a population of 103 tigers, up from Andy Rouse is a professional photographer,
the last estimate of 75. wildlife advocate, and Ambassador for 21st
Good news indeed, but we can’t afford to be Century Tiger. His
complacent. We all need to work together to book ‘Tigers: A Cele-
save this magnificent species from extinc- bration of Life’ has so
tion. It may seem like a daunting task, but donated over £8,000
there is definitely hope for the tiger. I really, to tiger conservation
really believe that. around the world.
Contact:
[email protected]
+44 (0)117 911 4675