The five bone rattling hours we endured to get to Bundi, our previous temporary home, were repeated but this time leaving in the opposite direction. At Pinkie's guesthouse we met an engaging Frenchman named Christophe who decided to join us on our next adventure. Arriving in Sawai Madhopur, Helen and I, being exceedingly shallow and having suffered 6 weeks of television deprivation sat in front of the idiot box watching E! for the rest of the bliss-filled afternoon.

Our 5am wake-up call sounded like an atom bomb going off next to my ear. By 6 we had passed the gauntlet of swarming souvenir hawkers at the gate and were freezing our butts off in an open topped bus 4-wheeling through canyons chasing a glimpse of the elusive Pathera Tigris, the Bengal Tiger. I never thought you could motocross in a bus...now I know better. After about 2 nail biting hours of seeing every animal but a tiger we stopped at the ranger's camp for a short break which was immediately interrupted by our guide excitedly squealing "tiger, tiger" and corralling us back into the vehicle. We hightailed it over to the sighting and as soon as we stopped, the bushes about 30 feet away rustled a bit and out he swaggered. Heading towards our vehicle the tiger halted, looked right at us, and continued across our path and into the brush on the other side. Naddeem, our guide (whom we would luckily have for almost all our outings), was explaining that the young male and his sister were 13 months old and even though there are 27 cats in the reserve it was very rare to see a tiger this close. A split second later someone looked up the road and saw another one! She sauntered straight towards us and then elegantly slid into a laying position across the road and stared back at us for about 3 minutes. When she'd had her fill of adoration she followed her brother into the thicket.

At first I thought that they couldn't have been too wild because they weren't the least bit scared of us...then I realized they weren't really scared of anything. Being legally hunted almost to extinction up until the 1970's, the population was brought up again during the 80's. In the 1990's the Bengal Tiger almost vanished due to poaching and subsequently they were extremely wary of humans. The laws have been helpful, but one major problem is the park system. For most Indian park rangers, the only qualification requirements are that you own a gun, are willing to accept menial pay (about $45/month), and be prepared to take only one day off a month, which would be your only time to buy fresh produce and provisions. The other side of the equation are the poachers who are highly organized, well armed, and ruthless. Mix in a little bureaucracy and corruption and you have a system that has gaping wounds. It boils down to the fact that the guards are just plain scared of the poachers. In September the Hindustan Times ran an article about rangers who had been lying about their tiger populations so they wouldn't get into trouble. As it turns out the actual numbers are probably half of what had been previously stated. The Prime Minister was recently at a northern tiger reserve to talk about animal preservation and rescue when he was told there were actually no tigers left in the so called "protected area" - a park where the government had recently funneled over $325,000. Needless to say, some heads rolled.

We went back in the afternoon to a different safari zone (they have 5) not really expecting much. They say the sighting percentage is about 50%, but that's not totally true because that figure reflects the park as a whole, not an individual's chances of a sighting.

There are three tactics guides use for tracking tigers in the park. First, where they were last seen. Second, since they are soft padded animals, tigers prefer to walk on trails so their footprint, or pug mark, is a good indication of which direction they're headed. And third is the behavior of the other animals. When the deer smell or spot a tiger they yelp a warning call that can be heard for several kilometers. Monkeys and certain birds give a warning too, but since a tiger's favorite cuisine is deer they have a vested interest in making their call the most desperate and chillingly audible. So, there we sat staring over the deer lined lake. The last warning cry had been about an hour and a half before. The guide's heeding of patience wasn't enough to keep people from getting bored watching deer lethargically feed. Naddeem was loosing his battle to keep us in check. Suddenly the quiet was shattered by another yelp from a deer that was about 25 yards away. 15 feet from us the brush started rustling almost unnoticeably. It was more like a slight movement of the shadows. Then she slowly appeared sizing up the menu as she sauntered to the brush around the other side of the lake. We were told this beautiful beast was the mother of three two-month old cubs and clearly she was out for some dinner fixin's. Unfortunately, the sun was setting and the park was about to close so we had to call it a day. But before we left the nature park one of life's most important questions was finally answered: exactly how fast can a guide and a driver fix a flat tire in an active tiger area?

We thought we were the golden children and we'd have sightings every time we went out. So, naturally, for the next 4 days we saw nothing but: Spotted Deer, Sambar Deer, a Blue Bull Antelope, Bilabar Antelopes, Crocodiles, Jackals, Wild Boar and Boarlets (which I still can't tell from a Delhi city pig), Mongoose, Five-striped Palm Squirrels, a Turtle, Langur Monkeys, Parakeets, Snake-neck birds, Cormorants, Dove-cheek Birds, Indian Tree Birds, Peacocks, a Red-crested Woodpecker, Kingfishers, Green Pigeons, Owls, Herons, a Black Drongo, Egrets, and other unpronounceable critters. We were even introduced to the Banyan Tree which creeps through the forest by dropping long roots from it's extending branches. As the roots settle into the ground a new trunk is formed and the old one disintegrates. Many of the trees cover several meters and look as if they have three trunks. All I could think of was how cool it would be for a Swiss Family Robinson style tree house. Oh, excuse me, we also saw a swamp. Yep, we saw all this, but no tigers!