Matriarch of Bandhavgarh : Sita
(Poached in 1996)
In March 1994, Sita delivered her ill-fated fourth litter in which one cub was blind since birth and died after some time. Sita was so much distressed and disturbed by his death that for few days she wandered everywhere in search of her cub. During that period park authorities closed her area for tourists. She also gave birth to a female cub later known as 'Mohini' because of her good looks.
Charger had habit of snatching the kills made by Sita but she never minded it and was always pleased to see Charger.
In September 1996, Sita produced her fifth litter of one male and two female cubs. In order to feed them properly, Sita would quite often trespass in to other’s territory. She made kills in other’s domain and she used to drag them into her territory.
In the year 1996, Sita turned 15 years old which is considered as old-age of tigers, but she was absolutely fit. Up to this age, she has produced 6 litters and seemed fit to deliver a 7th litter as well.
Parks close down in month of July for 3 months. When month of October arrived in the year 1996, the park was ready for its next safari season, tiger tracking geared up. During tracking nobody could trace Sita and a peculiar silence or depression was spread in atmosphere.
No trace of the beloved tigress Sita ignited huge controversies in the media and the pressure mounted in the Forest department to investigate the whereabouts of Sita. Soon rumors began to spread about her disappearance. People believe she was shot three times in Barua Nala and died behind the rest house in terrible agony. Some blamed it a handiwork of poachers spread in local villages. Local people and Forest Department were shocked with the disappearance of Sita.After few months, police caught some poachers and recovered a tiger skin and bones from them. The enthusiastic officer and other policemen claimed that it was skin of Sita and called up many experts from Tala to verify the fact. They hung the skin in the verandah of Manpur Police Station for viewing and thousands of people from surrounding villages turned up to see it. Believing it to be Sita’s skin, they abused poachers and poured praises on policemen. But still suspicion remains, because by having a look on a shrank and decayed skin and a pile of broken bones, it was impossible to trace the identity of died tiger.General perception of Sita’s death was that she has been poached. It is often said by guides and experts say that it is very hard to trace the body of any cat family member died due to natural death.
About Legendary Tiger: Charger
(Died in 2000)
Banka was the dominant male of Charkadhara in Tala range of Bandhavgarh National Park. Banka is a word in the hindi language word means handsome and is use to praise the look of any male character
One morning the silence of the Tala range is broken with the deep throated calling of “aaungh- aaungh” . It was Banka prowling along the Aama Nala road. Suddenly, a series of resounding roars heard from above the hill jolted the jungle. Banka stopped dead in his tracks and immediately looked up. Soon he heard fast approaching footsteps, heading towards him, churning the dry leaves scattered on the ground, combined with short hideous growls. The tiger accepted the challenge and gave vent to a full throated roar, which only quickened the movements of the oncoming stranger.
A vicious looking male stranger tiger in his prime with mane like long hair fringing his face broke the cover of bamboo and fell over Banka like a thunder storm. Banka rolled over the ground with the impact of attack and lay under the stranger, who frantically tried to bite through his head and neck. Banka roared in defiance and raked the body of his rival with his fully stretched paws. The roaring sound of fighting tigers echoed in the forest. Soon the ferocity, youth and indescribable anger of the young tiger took better of Banka. Banka gave up, disengaged himself from deadly grip of his rival, bleeding profusely, left the battlefield and tottered away from the onslaught.
Next day, at the stroke of sunrise, the vicious tiger stepped out of jungle and lay down beside the forest road, licking his bleeding gashes and still growling at intervals. With the advancement of day, safari jeeps began arriving the forest. A ford jeep carrying party of jungle-trackers appeared around the corner where the vicious male was laying. They had unknowingly come near the new tiger following overnight pugmarks of Banka. The furious tiger raised his head and intently rushed in the direction from where the sound of the jeep was heard. He swiftly prepared himself for a charge as the sound approached nearer.
It was Rajan, sitting behind the jeep, who noticed the approaching tiger, first. Massive head, wide eyes, massive physique and aggressive posture made him realize that it was not Banka. In an excitement of tracking the first tiger since morning, they drove towards him. As the jeep stopped near the tiger, he jumped up, rushed towards the jeep roaring menacingly, and almost collided with the vehicle. He growled and scratched the earth with his claws in anger. His saliva fell all over on the cloths of he occupants of the jeep, who shouted in unison, with fear. Fortunately the tiger wheeled back abruptly and went off into the forest. The jeep went back to Tala village and rumor spread that Banka had gone mad, Jeeps riders still couldn’t believe that Banka’s territory was penetrated by a intruder despite of getting news of seeing a lookalike tiger resembling Banka, under a bush at a nearby village, away from its territory.
Then Kuttapan, the head Mahout (person who rides an elephant) decided to solve the mystery of Banka’s madness. Riding over his huge tusker Gautam, Kuttapan entered the high grass behind Gopalpur pond looking for Banka. Within a moment, he heard a distinct loud growl from his right, and the next moment a thundering striped fury shot out from the grass and charged at elephant Gautam. Kuttapan somehow managed the elephant and rushed out of that grassland, perspiring profusely and declared that a very dangerous and short-tempered tiger had arrived in the forest.
That was the most authentic confirmation about the advent of Charger. who with his mate Sita, became a celebrity couple all over the world for almost a decade. Charger ruled Chakradhara and adjoining territories from beginning of year 1991 to 1999.
Charger earned his name through his unusually aggressive disposition towards tourist safari jeeps and elephants. He terrorized many visitors, jeep drivers, mahaouts on countless times. Sita gave birth to a male cub Langru who stayed with Charger & Sita and they accepted him even at the age of 4 when grownup male cubs were usually driven away by dominant males. Charger and Sita were very compassionate for each other. Charger often shared the kills of Sita and in return defended her territory form outsiders.
At the age of 16 in year 1996, Charger lost his longtime companion Sita and his real ordeal began after Sita’s departure lead to a tragic turning point in life of Charger. He was hungry most of the time and survived through scavenging. He wandered in search of dead animals. Old age restricted Charger's movements, as new generation of Tigers: B1, B2 & B3 were claiming their dominance in the area. Restricted movement lead to his increased sighting in a particular region of Barua Nala. Charger could not restrict himself for too long in a limited territory and ventured into Rajbehra and had a conflict with B1 and both faced injuries.
In June 2000, Charger was engaged in a conflict with the strong male B2. This was the decisive battle with B2, in which B2 wrote the last deciding page of Charger’s grand saga. A week later, Charger was found half dead, lying in a ditch close to Mardari village. To avoid any controversies and danger to villagers, the forest department drove Charger into a cage and put him inside an enclosure at Chirhadhar. A veterinary doctor attended his wounds and Charger seemed to improve in health. Since then Charger remained in enclosure.
Charger was often seen walking along the fence as he wished to roam independently in to the area once ruled by him. He felt loneliness in enclosure as he had spent most of the time of his life in a royal style by ruling the jungle whereas he was now reduced to a enclosure.
It was the ungrateful day of 29th September, 2000, when Charger passed away leaving his name in history. A memorial was made in a place where his body was disposed and is now known by the name of ‘Charger Point’. We can visit Charger’s Point during safari in Magadhi zone (Gate - 2). Charger lived a comparatively longer life and was an exceptional dominant male in Bandhavgarh National Park.
We all will remain indebted to the contribution made by Sita & Charger in Bandhavgarh Tigers Population.
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