13 July 2024
i'm on a blood buzz
with the light getting low and our safari excursion firmly in overtime, we sped away from our meeting with the humans and back towards the animals in the park. we had no idea how far away this elusive tiger sighting had been, but we knew we were in the vehicle of a very determined driver. all of the natural potholes and speedbumps which he had spent the entire journey carefully negotiating were now confronted at full speed and we were thrown up and around as though we were spinning inside a tumble dryer. the call must have been put out to all the other jeeps who were still in the park because we saw another one speeding in the same direction as us on a parallel track. i looked ahead to see these two paths converging, and then back to my left to see that the rival driver showed no signs of slowing down. but like i said, our guy was determined and also refused to yield, so it was by only a matter of inches that we pulled out ahead as we both joined the same track and continued pushing forwards.
and then we stopped... along with time, my heart and quite possibly the universe... as from the trees in front of us we finally saw it... a magnificent bengal tiger. he looked directly in my direction as he slowly sauntered towards us before joining and strolling up the road ahead, eventually disappearing into the trees and vegetation. the encounter only lasted a few minutes in total but the experience will stay with me for the rest of my life. it was such a high that we floated back to our taxi and onwards to the closest town, where we dumped our bags in a cheap hotel and continued rising to the rooftop to share a celebratory whiskey. we talked philosophically about the craziness of the day we had just lived. about how every decision we made, every doubt and delay, every argument and compromise - they all combined to deliver us exactly where we wanted to be. i laid on the hotel room floor that night, which was objectively the worst and subjectively the best place i'd slept in the country, overflowing with an immense feeling of gratitude.
here's an alternate photo of the tiger walking out of the trees
i've posted 197 photos taken with my nikon d810 - here are the last few i posted - view the rest here
i've posted 88 photos taken with a shutter speed of 1/1000 sec - here are the last few i posted - view the rest here
i've posted 351 photos taken with an aperture of f/5.6 - here are the last few i posted - view the rest here
i've posted 25 photos taken with a focal length of 300.0 mm - here are the last few i posted - view the rest here
i've posted 4 photos taken on 15th January 2024
i've posted 28 photos taken from india - here are the last few i posted - view the rest here
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