Species: Bengal Tiger | Location: Kanha National Park, India
I took this on the last of five days in tiger preserves (Bandhavgarh and Kahna National Parks) in the morning before we left for Kaziranga National Park. Although we had seen this young male tiger twice before, each time it was dusk and he and his brother were somewhat distant and obscured by grass. We had spent 5 full days looking for tigers and several of our group decided to sleep in instead of rising at 5:30 to eat a quick breakfast and head out. As a result, our vehicle only had our driver, guide, and a couple to accompany me. We looked and listened for alarm calls most of the morning and one of the others in our group got a bit exasperated, but our guide waited patiently until it was almost time time to head home. As we rounded the corner, this young male lapping up water from a small pond. As he looked up, I got this shot with water dripping from his mouth as he spied us. Needless to say our exasperated companion was now jubilant. : )
This is actually my preferred crop.
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