leopard, and its population is
spread over large territories. It
can take weeks to spot one and
then see the same individual
again. So it’s very hard to
fi nd any patterns or predict
movement. Having said that,
instinct, experience, and
forest craft come in handy.
Most of the sightings are from
a distance, so identifying
individuals is also a challenge.WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES
THAT LADAKH POSES?
The fi rst and most obvious
dii culty is acclimatising to
the altitude. Once you’re hit
by altitude sickness, the only
solution is to get oxygen and
descend to a lower altitude. I
usually start cardio exercises
at least a month before my
scheduled trip. It seems to work
for me. In winter, food can be a
challenge. There are no green
veggies then, and after a point,
the same old dal-chawal canthe years, and it has worked
at many levels. Tiger numbers
are up, and the forests that
saw local extinction events
have been repopulated. There
is, however, a gap between our
government’s current focus on
development and the attempts
to save an apex species, whichneeds large tracts of forest
connected to each other. We do
need development, roads, and
energy, but at what cost?HAVE YOU EVER FELT
ATTACHED TO A PARTICULAR
WILD ANIMAL THAT YOU
WERE FILMING?
Padmini was the first tigress
I ever saw in the wild. She had
five cubs, and we followed them
till maturity in 1976. We filmed
over two to three years. Back
then, Project Tiger had just been
announced, and this was the
first film to capture the tigers’
natural history. All the tigers
you see in Ranthambore today
are possibly related to Padmini
or carry her DNA. I had many
a close encounter with her, but
she never threatened me, in
spite of possessing a mother’s
protective instinct. I firmly
believe that she understood we
meant no harm to her or her
babies. I felt a special ainity
towards her.begin to feel like a drag. A quick
fi x for us is a couple of bottles of
raja mirchipickle—it keeps you
warm and makes the simplest
of meals delicious.
The cold is not easy to
deal with for anyone, and
photography equipment is no
diff erent. A temperature range
of -20° to -40° is expected. So
you have to be prepared to hug
your camera and keep batteries
close to your body even when
sleeping. Moreover, filming
gear weighs between 16 and
18 kilograms, besides a heavy
tripod and a bag of heavy-duty
batteries. If you’re lucky, you
can hire a horse, but usually
it’s all slung on your back and
hauled up to the location.THERE HAS BEEN A
SUSTAINED CAMPAIGN FOR
TIGER PROTECTION IN INDIA.
HAS IT WORKED?
Protection of tigers has had a
lot of support and funding overThe annual migration of
Masai Mara is one of the
biggest wildlife
spectacles in the world.WHICH IS YOUR FAVOURITE WILDLIFE
DESTINATION IN THE WORLD, AND WHY?The Amazon rainforest, Brazil and Masai Mara,
Kenya. The Amazon transforms during the rains—
thousands of miles get submerged under water,
giving birth to an ecosystem that supports a
multitude of life forms. I love Masai Mara during
the annual migration, the instinctive movement of
millions of animals propelled by hunger. In India,
Kaziranga National Park is one of my favourite
destinations. My most treasured moment there
was watching a herd of elephants and a tiger
walking side by side.FROM TOP: COURTESY OF MIKE PANDEY; MAGEBROKER/ALAMY; CAPTURE THAT-W
ILDLIFE/ALAMY
Kaziranga National
Park offers
sightings of tigers,
elephants, and
rhinos in one place.A Western tragopan
in the wild.travelandleisureindia.in