A hush fell over the group. “It’s a tiger paw print,” said our nature guide Manju as we trekked through the Nepalese jungle searching for the big cat. “Looks fresh – it came through here this morning,” she added crouched on her haunches pointing to a muddy outline the size of a boxer’s glove.
Just a little further down the trail Manju spotted a scat. The dense clump of faecal matter and brown fur, she went on to explain, was down to the tiger’s diet of forest deer.
For two hours, the group – now tightly bunched together and silent – tracked the tiger’s prints single file through overgrown forest trails, following whispered directions from Manju. Everyone attempted to step exactly where the person before had, lest a foot find a loud twig; at any moment, the patterned coat or amber eyes of a tiger might appear out of the gloom.
NATURE CALLS
At 7am every day 23-year-old guide Manju Mahatara picks up trekkers from their hotel before entering Bardia National Park. She rarely gets a day off in peak season, but relishes going into the jungle every day.
Manju’s first duty is to the safety of her guests, and the day always begins with a briefing: “Tigers are very shy animals, they don’t want to face humans. But if we do meet a tiger, we maintain eye contact and back away slowly. Most tigers strike from behind and, if we show them our back, they will attack.”
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