Where did I leave you? Oh yes, this monkey clinging to a tree.
I will try to catch up: Day Two we learned a little more about the process. It turns out that the reason my inquiries as to how to spot a tiger's stripes or the swish of the white tip of his tail were met with such blank stares is because finding a tiger is not so much about seeing as it is about hearing.
You see four different kinds of deer. You SEE wild bison, wild boar, jackals and monkeys. You even SEE leopards in trees or sunning on rocks and lions lounging about on huge savannah plains. But unless a tiger jumps out in front of you, you don't SEE a tiger. He's hiding out on the forest floor. You can't see him. Instead you have to hear that he is coming. Yes, I typed that correctly. It is not a mistake from touching teeny Blackberry keys. You here THAT he is coming - not that you hear him coming.
That's what the guides were doing looking straight ahead of the moving vehicle or standing arms crossed staring blankly into the forest during those stops. They were waiting and listening to all the birds chirping and monkey's breaking branches and peacocks screeching and deer rutting to pick out the alarm calls - the particular sound that is the monkey up high or the wee barking deer down low warning everyone else that the Tiger is on the move!
And so we continued driving and stopping and waiting and listening for hours on end in our search for the elusive cat.....
Opps, we are here. Gotta run. Later.
Some friend of Rick's apparently happened across a tiger sleeping right across the trail he was walking. Someone later told him if it hadn't already eaten, he'd not be telling that story.... :^O
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