This is about my experience with the Meadow queen of Maregaon in Tipeshwar, also called the “4” Mark tigress because she has a huge “4“ beside her right eye. She is the daughter of the Budha Male and the Pilkhan female born in their litter of 3 in November 2013. Read on.

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She is called the Enchantress of Tadoba and the Queen of Tadoba! Born to Leela and Hill Top in Pandharpauni, Maya has blossomed from a cub to a princess and finally a Queen whose glory surpasses the boundaries of the Tadoba National Park. Maya lost her mother Leela very early to snake bite but she has grown up to take up her mother’s throne and since then expanded it to cover the largest territory in the national park.

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Pench National Park, nestled in the heart of India in the lower southern reaches of the Satpura hills, sprawls a massive 758 sq. kms across the states of Madhya Pradesh & Maharashtra. Named after the pristine River Pench it was immortalised by Rudyard Kipling in his Jungle Book. Every year millions make their way here to spot Akela, Baloo, Bagheera and Shere Khan.

Our story revolves around two young male tigers who have made their home in the small hills and well-stocked teak mixed forest of Rukhad. Let’s track and watch the two tigers - from first light to last light - living, patrolling and marking the same territory.

Tigers, like many large mammals, are believed to have a mental map of their territories and they are also extremely territorial so to have two young males patrolling and marking the same territory is not observed very often. The presence of two males in their prime invariably leads to drama and multiple fights till one emerges supreme.

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The presence of a tiger changes the jungle around it, and those changes are easier to detect. Bird calls darken, small deer call softly to each other. Herds do not run but drift into shapes that suggest some emerging group consciousness of an escape route. A kind of shiver seems to run through everything, a low hum that sounds — literally, in the whispered Hindi conversation of the guides —  like sher, sher, sher! This zone of apprehension follows the tiger as it moves. Often, the best way to find a cat is to switch off your engine and listen. You might then hear, from a distance, the subtle changes in pitch and cadence that indicate a boundary of the zone. But even then, it is impossible to predict where, or if, the tiger will appear.

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Choti Tara (also called Gauri) is a beautiful and big tigress in her prime, at around 7 years of age then. She was born to her mother Tara in a litter of four. Choti Tara has a confident air about her and a very calm demeanor, yet when you see her you can sense you are in the presence of a mighty tigress. She is tough, and has been in fairly brutal fights with other tigresses, notably with the Ambat Heera female. Choti Tara has a big territory now and covers the area from close to Kolara gate & Jamni village, towards Kosaikanar, Jamunbodi, Chital Road, and until the Tadoba Guest House, Tar Road. She has a radio collar around her neck which gives her the name “Collarwali“ or the Collared Tigress.