A rendezvous with Ustad
- Posted
Over years, certain tigers in our national parks have carved out distinct identities for themselves. Today, when we as tourists visit various tiger reserves, guided by forest officials, we look out for sightings of particular tigers in his or her territory. In the present circumstances, for the avid tiger enthusiast, each tiger territory in the forest has been made even more familiar due to its inevitable association with the dominant wild cat in the region. These tigers are usually nicknamed by forest officials and guards of the reserve. Largely based on recurrent sightings, over the past few decades or so, tourists too have evolved an understanding to associate certain tigers with the success stories of particular national parks and sometimes even specific zones in the reserve area. Justifiably, today we associate Collarwali or the ‘Princess of Pench’ with the Pench National Park spanning across Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, the tigress Malika with the Tadoba National Park in Maharashtra, Munna with the Kanha National Park in Madhya Pradesh and several other dominant figures accordingly. However, when it comes to the Ranthambore Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan, the tiger galaxy is quite star-studded, as we usually associate the park with quite a few tigers who have carved out distinctive identities for themselves over the years. Besides the legendary Maachli, over the years, wild life enthusiasts have also grown familiar with tigers like Sitara, Noor, Sultan and Ustad among several others. See link below to read more in The Statesman.