Aditya ‘Dicky’ Singh

What’s the toughest question to answer in Ranthambhore? You guessed it right. It is - How many tigers are there in Ranthambhore?

Tigers by their very nature are elusive and are not the easiest animals to find. It is very difficult, if not impossible, to get their exact numbers in any wild area, specially in large and dense forested areas. Ranthambore is neither large nor dense. The Ranthambhore tiger reserve is nearly 1400 square kilometers in area but of these 1400 square kilometers, only a small part (of slightly under 300 square kilometers - the part known as Ranthambore national park) has tigers. The rest of the Ranthambhore tiger reserve is not a good enough habitat for tigers, where the odd tiger may stray in occasionally for a short duration of time. This part has too much of human disturbance (mainly cultivators and cattle herders – the number one enemies of wildlife in India) and not enough prey base.

So how tough is it to estimate the number of tigers in a place like Ranthambhore? I would say that it is not easy but at the same time Ranthambhore (because it is a dry deciduous forest) is the easiest place, amongst all the Indian tiger reserves, in which to conduct a tiger census. A tiger census is always an estimation with some margin of error. If you get together a small group of people who know the terrain of Ranthambhore and are willing to work hard (and none of them have to be tiger experts) to conduct a tiger census in Ranthambhore, the margin of error should be between 5 to 10 percent.

Since the time Project tiger was launched in 1973 the different tiger reserves in India used the

Recently the Project Tiger funded an extensive census of tigers in all the tiger reserves in India and the results were scary – between 1200 and 1500 tigers in all of Indian wilderness. It was carried out by Wildlife Institute of India using lots of camera traps – the only proper way to do a tiger census.

What do they have to say about how many tigers are there in Ranthambhore? 31 including all the cubs. Before I read this data I thought there were 32 including cubs. I could be wrong.

This nationwide census finally put to end the big stupid debate that was going on about tiger numbers in India with people like us claiming no more than 1000 to 200o and the government claiming 3000 to 4000. And it woke the nation up. The Prime Minister is now acting tough and we have a lot of hopes from him. he is a great man who can really act when required.

I am posting some interesting pictures that came out from the camera traps used in this census in Ranthambhore none of which are mine and don’t ask me how I got them. Some people may get sacked if I answered that. These pictures have been taken with Indian tax payers money and since I am one of those I have a right to post them.

Male for sure.

There are a series of pictures of this guy and he is not supposed to be here. After a few pictures he started waving to the camera.

They are not supposed to be there either

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I wrote a short article for some friends who are planning a photography trip to Ranthambhore and I liked it so much that I decided to put it up on the website of our lodge The Ranthambhore Bagh

It goes like this…

Ranthambhore is one of the best places in the world to photograph tigers in their wild, natural habitat. Some of the best wild tiger photos in the world have been taken in Ranthambore. There are a number of reasons for this and the most mportant ones are:

1. It is relatively easy to find tigers in a wildlife safari in Ranthambhore national park, thanks to the dry nature of the reserve. On an average a photographers should be able to get at least a few good tiger photography opportunities in a 3-4 days. When I say good opportunities, I mean great sightings in good light for at least 15 minutes and a good photographer can get a lot done in that time.

2. All the wildlife pictures in Ranthambhore are taken from jeeps (or Canter “safari bus”). This means that one is taking wildlife pictures from a much lower angle and the end results are eye level photos, that are much more impressive. In most of the other Project Tiger reserves, the only tiger photo opportunities that one would get are from the top of an elephant, which is not only a poor angle but also a very unstable platform to shoot wildlife from.

3. Ranthambhore has some very interesting backgrounds to offer. The forest here changes it colors in every season. It varies from lush green in October, to yellows and reds in winters (from the end of November to February), to yellows and browns in the summers (March to June). The ancient ruins that are found all over the park add to this environment.

4. Ranthambore also has a lot to offer wildlife photographers, besides tigers. It is the best place in the world to take pictures of Sambar deer. One can get excellent pictures of ungulates, birds (particularly the ones that prefer drier habitats), landscapes, old monuments in the jungle etc. So when you can not find an obliging tiger to take pictures of, one can still get a lot of other very interesting subjects to shoot.

There are some downside of wildlife photography in Ranthambore too and the main ones are:

1. It is difficult to book jeeps in Ranthambhore. Only a limited number of jeeps are permitted to go inside the park and since there is a huge demand for them, they get booked well in advance. The Canter “safari bus” are not so good for photography. Not only do they offer a much higher angle than jeeps, there are other people in the Canter too and they may all be moving at the same time. However, the Canters are much more affordable than jeeps and if you are planning to spend a long time in Ranthambhore then Canters maybe easier on your pocket. John Isaac, a good friend of mine actually prefers the Canters over jeeps.

2. When you book a jeep in for safari, you are allotted a route and you have to stay on the allotted route during your jeep safari. This can be painful for photographers because it is important for them to get the right routes.

3. You could get stuck with the wrong team of drivers and guides. There are a few (only a handful - I would say) excellent guides and drivers in Ranthambhore, who understand the light, angles etc and can predict action with some degree of reliability. You could end up having a pretty lousy trip if you are not with one of them.

You can easily come over these drawbacks by keeping a few things in mind. Remember to book your trip well in advance. I would recommend booking at least 60-70 days in advance. If you do that you will end with with confirmed jeeps with good routes and look around for a good team.

Some tips for wildlife photography in Ranthambore

1. Equipment: I would recommend carrying at least three lenses - one wide (I use a 17-35 mm f
2.8), one normal (I use a 24-85 mm) and at least one tele (I use a Sigma 120 - 300 f 2.8). A super telephoto (500 or 600 mm) would be mind blowing and I use a 500 mm f 4.5 Sigma. I would also recommend carrying at least two camera bodies (I have
an EOS 1D Mark II, one EOS 20 D and one EOS 3) and carrying a dust proof bag to keep all this stuff in. Dust is a big problem here, so always carry all the things required to clean your gear.

2. Film: If you are still shooting film (or slides) and I am, carry 100 and 400 ISO films. I know that the Fuji Velvia 50 is great but you need to be a very brave person to shoot wildlife in India with a 50 ISO film. If you are shooting on digital carry all the cards, hard drives etc that you think you would need because you can not get any of those here. In our place you can download you images on our computer and back them up on CDs / DVDs but you can not do it everywhere.

3. Support: Tripods are great but they do not work on jeeps and canters unless you slightly modify the vehicle (if you are planning to stay here for a long time you could do that). However, I would still advise you to carry the tripod. Beanbags, on the other hand, are great in the vehicles. They are easy to carry and can be set up almost anywhere inside a jeep or a canter. Best of all, you can buy them here for a very low price. I have a tripod and a monopod but have shot most of my stuff inside the park on beanbags.

4. Light: The terrain in Ranthambore national park is hilly and so the lighting is totally different at different times of the day. The best lighting (the soft winter light) is between November and February, though this is not the best time to find tigers. April, May and June are the best time to find tigers but the summer light of these months can be pretty harsh. During all the months the light is nice and soft in the early mornings and in the late evenings.

5. Time duration: If you want to get some serious wildlife pictures, I would recommend coming here for at least 4-5 days (more if you are planning to come here in the winters). If you are planning to spend less than that then plan on getting lucky.

If you think that my pictures are good then you should check out some really good pictures from Anup Shah , Theo Allofs and Andy Rouse . My stuff won’t look so good after you have seen the big guys of wildlife photography.

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I just got a mail from Doctor Dharmendra Khandal, the Field Biologist of Tiger” title=”http://ranthambhore.blogspot.com/2005_12_01_archive.html>Tiger” target=”_blank”>ranthambhore.blogspot.com/2005_12_01_archive.html>Tiger Watch and has been in Ranthambhore since. In early 2005 Dharmendra and I were instrumental in getting the Operation Co-operation launched by the then Deputy Field Director of Ranthambore national park - Mr. G S Bhardwaj. After this operation was called off we were all very dejected but soon Dharmendra decided to start a full fledged (in terms of action and delivery and not in term of funds) anti poaching program and did it in style. Right now he is enemy number one for tiger poachers.

Just two days ago he got some information about a group of

Dear boss,

It was a preventive raid that we carried out in the early hours of the 2nd August 2007. As you have always said we should do something “before” tiger poaching happens and not “after” it happens. Till now we have only caught poachers after they had done their killing. What we did yesterday was preemptive.

My informer reported to me that fifteen Mogiyas families with 12 guns have crossed over from Madhya Pradesh (to the periphery of Ranthambhore tiger reserve) and waiting for the right time to enter the reserve. He also told us that about one third of these people were in a place near Sapotra, another one third were in Gangapur and he did not know where the rest were.

I personally met the Superintendent of Police Mr. Jose Mohan (a young and dynamic police officer who recently nabbed few notorious dacoits and other highly wanted criminals). After I briefed him about the information that I had got, he showed great interest and called up his best policeman for the raid.

Two police teams and our Tiger Watch team (three 4 wheel drive jeeps with 16 people in them) reached Amargarh Social Forestry Plantation, near Sapotra at 0400 hours in the morning and started the raid. Within two hours we had executed four operations and seized five guns and two poachers.

What would interest you are the linkages of these poachers, who were caught.

One of them – his name is Shankar alias Ram Karan – is Devi Singh Mogiya’s real uncle. He is wanted in Madhya Pradesh for various crimes, some of them related to wildlife. He has 10 sons, the eldest being 36 years old and the youngest 3 years old. All these 10 sons are part of the group that crossed over from Madhya Pradesh to enter Ranthambhore for poaching. This man and his older sons are seasoned poachers with a lot of experience. Five of his ten sons are adults and have their own guns. Two of these five – Ram Singh and Kalua – were active members of Devi Singh’s gang, when this gang had killed five tigers between 2003 and 2004. Devi Singh had confessed about their involvement on camera. By the way we did not catch any one of his sons. They were in the same area and are still there but we could not nab them. Maybe soon we will – before they strike.

The second man that we caught – Jagdish alias Bhuria Mogiya – is the real brother-in-law of Devi Singh Mogiya. We seized three guns from him. One was his. The other guns belonged to Ramawtar Mogya (son of Rajmal Mogiya – who we now realize is not really a “reformed poacher) and the third belonged to Afsar Mogya (son of Harji Mogya). The fourth gun belonged to Shankar (alias Ram Karan) and the fifth gun belonged to his son Ram Singh.

You would remember the day we caught Raj Mal Mogiya . You would also remember Devi Singh Mogiya of Uliyana village, who admitted to killing 6 tigers between 2003 and 2004. Harji is brother of two infamous tiger poachers Jugraj and Lakhan. Harji was killed by a leopard, he had shot and injured, in the same area where we had caught Rajmal Mogiya.

All this indicates that the “real bad guys” had run away from around Ranthambhore, after Operation Co operation, are now getting back or at least their younger progeny is. These guys are sons of master Mogiyas. I have enough evidence to show that they were deeply involved in tiger poaching in the period between 2002 and 2005.

Now story reveals one very dangerous fact. One of the guns that we caught – which belonged to Jagdish / Bhuriya Mogiya - was found from the house of a forest guard where he had kept it “safely”. We collected it from the forest guard’s family after convincing them to hand it over. At that time the Forest Guard - Kajod Mal Gurjar - was not in his house. He is currently posted in Gangapur plantation area where we caught all these guys.

Can you believe all these guys were found in the forest areas? They built their Tapri (temporary hutments) in the plantation areas run by the Forest Department. And Kajod is the guard in charge of these plantation areas. And this bastard was once a guard inside Ranthambhore tiger reserve. He has very good connection with these Mogaya poachers. How you will we save our tigers, if the guards are the ones helping the poachers?

Few other facts:

• Malarna Dunger to Gangapur is the main holding area of this community right now. This is a very remote area and totally ignored by the Forest Department and other Conservationists.

• More than 15 families of Madhya Pradesh Mogaya’s are settled in this area

• All have strong family connections with the local poachers like Rajmal, Lakhan etc.

• All belong to notorious Devi Singh Mogya’s family – probably the most dangerous of all the operators in Ranthambhore.

• All are settled here in Forest areas like plantations etc which are under the direct control of the Forest Department.

• All of them have strong relations with forest guards.

• Every body has illegal guns. 15 families therefore 15 guns.

• They are the “real bad guys” - purely nomadic type not like our Mogiyas, who are “some what” settled.

• They are all wanted in Madhya Pradesh for wildlife and other violent crimes.

• We have to think about a stronger and active information gathering system.

• Good thing during this raid is that I identified a few expert policemen in Sawai Madhopur. We have to spend some resources on these police personals to encourage or to involve them into this anti-poaching system. The Senior Superintend of Police is taking a strong interest in anti poaching operations, which is excellent news.

Regards,

Dharmendra Khandal, Field Biologist, Tiger Watch, Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve

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