Seconds after my departure in pre-dawn darkness for a game drive in Bandhavgarh National Park, the sky released such heavy rain that my sunscreen ran down my face like paint. The open-top Mahindra Scorpio safari vehicle was quickly soaked, as was the wool blanket on my lap. As the water came down, my chances of seeing a tiger diminished with it. “Tigers can be a little unpredictable in the rain,” Suru Thakur, my naturalist guide, told me. They can also be trickier to spot in fog, which enveloped us.
A tiger safari has little in common with a safari in Africa, where, in some countries, lions practically join you for breakfast. Tigers are elusive and solitary animals. This was late January, a few weeks early for prime viewing season, so I treated it as a game of luck, humility, and patience. Adventurers—even those who have flown across the world in search of wildlife—know that nature promises nothing.
