Entries Tagged ‘Tigers’:

In the famous Jungle Book Rudyard Kipling acknowledged the undisputed status of the mighty Bengal Tiger by introducing Shere Khan as the King of the Beasts.

Promising news that I wanted to share from COP26 as over 100 nations have promised to end and reverse deforestation by 2030, in the summit’s first major deal.

The New Big 5 project is an international initiative to create a New Big 5 of Wildlife Photography, rather than hunting. Shooting with a camera, not a gun.  It’s a message backed by more than 100 world-leading photographers and conservationists including Dr Jane Goodall.

There is an aura of power and majesty about the Tiger, unchallenged while patrolling their territory. In the famous Jungle Book Rudyard Kipling acknowledged the undisputed status of the mighty Bengal Tiger by introducing Shere Khan as the King of the Beasts. Although the cat family includes many impressive and attractive animals, the Tiger for me is the most beautiful of them all.

Global Tiger Day is celebrated across the world in recognition of the animal regularly voted the public’s favorite animal. Despite this, the tiger is endangered and under threat of extinction from habitat destruction and poaching. One hundred years ago there were 100,000 wild tigers, now there are less than 3,500 tigers left in the wild. In the last century Asia’s wild tiger range has shrunk by 93%. Shockingly, 40% of that decline has happened in the past ten years.

21st Century Tiger, one of the many charities working hard to save the Tiger, based at ZSL London Zoo, are a unique funding coalition between Zoological Society of London and Dreamworld Wildlife Foundation in Australia which gives 100% of funds it raises, to carefully chosen conservation projects throughout Asia.  21st Century Tiger work with zoos around the world to raise money for wild tiger conservation and channels this money to conservation projects where it can make the most difference. Its sister organisation, Amur Leopard and Tiger Alliance (ALTA) handles projects throughout the Russian Far East.

21st Century Tiger currently funds the work of both international and local conservation organisations with a range of projects from education and anti-poaching, to monitoring of the tiger populations in Sumatra, India, Malaysia and through ALTA, in Russia. These important projects address the pressures the tiger faces in today’s world of trade, exploding human population and vanishing forests.

Global Tiger Day was established in 2010 at the St Petersburg Tiger Summit when tiger range countries declared their aim to double wild tiger numbers by 2022. This day is an opportunity to raise funds for wild tiger conservation with 21st Century Tiger and to build awareness of the issues effecting their survival.

On this day please try and support all those that help to keep this beautiful animal alive and to preserve it for future generations. I have had a lifelong love of the Tiger and to think children growing up may in the future not have such love or passion for these animals through not being able to see them in the wild feels me full of great sadness.

Some of the many other charities trying to save these animals are –

Tiger Nation – See their work here.  TOFT Tigers –here.  Save Wild Tigers – here  Born Free– here  WPSI- here   Tiger Watch – here  Tigers4Ever –here

They are many charities that help these beautiful creatures; I donate 50% from the sales of my limited edition Tiger prints that go to 21 Century Tiger. Over the next month I will be adding more limited editions to this collection. We can all do something not matter how small that all goes to helping the survival of this species.

If you’d like to photograph these amazing creatures in 2016 then I still have a few places free on my “Tigers of India” – 7 day photography tour. Its an action packed week with two safaris a day in one of the best please in the world to see wild Tigers. All the information and blog posts from many previous trips there can all be seen on this link. Its a magic place to see these Bengal Tigers and one place you will never forget.

Its amazing we have a day set aside for these majestic animals and one they really deserve and need. To all those that work tirelessly to save all Tigers I thank you and to everyone around the worlds that does their bit thank you also. Lets hope Tigers in the wild live on and have a viable future in the wild, many thanks.

After two days of driving too and from Ranthambhore to Delhi airport, dropping off the first weeks clients and picking up the new ones it was good to be back on the trail of the Tigers. Once again my new client hadn’t ever seen a Tiger and it was his wish and dream to see one in the wild. After our morning coffee and a routine I was so use too now,we entered Ranthambhore this morning. The noise, and chaotic nature of Delhi replaced with the calm and beautiful morning light.

Both of my jeeps were allocated their zones and once more we set off on a well practised routine. The mornings are so special in Ranthanbhore, the smells, the flowers, the light, you can even smell some of the animals and where they have scent marked certain trees etc.

Once we entered our zone it wasn’t long before we heard Samba Deer alarm calls, often this is the first sound you hear that may indicate there is a Tiger around. We stop the jeep, turn the engine off and just listen.  By listening and letting nature tell you whats happening around you there is some much you can learn and lots of information that can be gathered by doing this.

On this occasion the noise and calls just slowly stopped and we started our jeep and continued on the small dirt track you have to stay on throughout the whole duration of your safari. While you search and look there is so much to see, as Ranthambhore is far more than just Tigers.

We carried on, then in a flash..”Tiger..Tiger” those famous words over the years I have become accustom too. We looked over to our right and there was a big male Tiger cleaning himself. He was T23, a very rarely seen and shy dominate male of that area. My client took some images, people including myself often freeze on their first view of a wild Tiger but the noise of his shutter going indicated he was fine.

He was very aware of us, and getting a closer view amongst the dense habitat was a little tough. Within a few moments though he got up and vanished as quickly as we had found him. Clients always wish to see a wild Tiger, thats why they book this trip with me but I have to say as I remember it well. There is no better feeling than seeing your first Tiger and now in my case seeing your clients see their first so I was overjoyed here.

We tired to track him but he went deep into the forest and you have to stay on that small dirt track within your zone which is for the welfare of the Tigers and the safely of people in the jeeps. We carried on and once more you settle into the routine of listening, turning the engine off, ands watching for tracks and clues. The mornings for me always often up the best chances to see Tigers as its cooler and they transverse their territories during this time.

After capturing alittle more of the wildlife of Ranthambhore later we had a chance encounter with T19. We didn’t see her cubs this time as she was hunting but it was still a wonderful moment and for my new client having never seen a wild Tiger to now seeing two in his first day was amazing. My other jeep also had some amazing encounters with T19 and her cubs so all and all another great day on the first day of the second trip.

Ever client from my 2014 trip now had seen and got some lovely images of Wild Bengal Tigers which is what I always try to deliver, but nothing can ever be promised as these are wild animals and don’t turn up when you want them or land or sit somewhere where you have enticed them into with food. So nothing can be promised and no image can be planned you really just take what you can and get.

I hope our luck as a group continues after this first day with 5 more days of safaris left. I will report back in a few days time and I hope you are enjoying these blogs back home. If you would like to join me on my 2015 trip then please click here for more information, all the best from Ranthambhore, India.

I am now offering  a new and private and bespoke photo tour service. Where I will lead a private safari to many different places around the globe, offering a unique experience within nature. Everything is arranged on an exclusive basis to suit your individual requirements. The beauty of private safaris is that you share with those you know, or it’s just you and your partner where I guide you throughout the whole time your with me. Where you benefit from an almost one to one experience among nature.

These custom trips are for one person right the way up to six people for any number of days and at a time of your choosing. With a private trip as this you choose when you want to go, at any time of the year. You choose how long you want to go for and as many days as you like. Larger numbers and the cost is significantly reduced. Click here to be taken to this page.

The aim of all my tours is simple: to offer unmatched experiences that maximize opportunities to watch and photograph wildlife in the finest locations and to help participants improve their techniques and achieve the best results from their photography, irrespective of their level of experience.

I work with some of the best ATOL -protected companies around, that have been providing trips to some of my locations for many years. Working alongside these companies helps me with the logistical support I need on the ground enabling the very best experience for each and every client.

Places I offer these amazing private safaris too are

India- Home of the Royal Bengal Tiger

Jaguars And Wildlife Of The Pantanal – The amazing Jaguars of Brazil

Kenya – Masai Mara Migration – The amazing event in nature known as the Migration

Madagascar – The amazing wildlife and diversity of this place will blow you away

Finland – Wolves, Bears and Wolverines its one of the best places in the world to witness these.

Sumatra – Home of the Great Ape-Sumatran Orangutan.

Falklands  Islands – One of the only places in the world where the wildlife are so trusting and close.

Mull- Otters, Eagles, beautiful coastline Mull offers everything you can imagine.

Shetland Islands – This beautiful coastal group of islands with blow you away with its wildlife

Texel- A Spring bonanza of wader birds and others this small Dutch island offers some great birdlife

The cost of a private safari to one of these destinations is dependent on the number of clients per trip, the number of days and nights your require and approximate dates. For an extract quote please email me at craig@craigjoneswildlifephotography.co.uk many thanks.

They say a picture paints a thousand words, I hope this one does, tt’s a Female Tigress wondering through her territory in the morning light, taken in Ranthambhore Tiger reserve, India. This photograph captures the moment when she became aware of my presence as I sat in a small jeep, hidden from view, thousands of miles from home, engine turned off and the air thick with alarm calls.  I could not only feel my heart beat I could hear it among the forest noises as I captured this photograph.

On 29th August 2012, the Supreme Court in India decides the plight of the Royal Bengal Tiger by those that maybe haven’t even seen or even been to those areas now that they may condemn to the history books. India is home to half the world’s tiger population, according to the latest census released in March 2011 by the National Tiger Conservation Authority, the current population is estimated at 1,706 – up from 1,411 in 2008.  A link hear to the recent ruling can be seen.

The Supreme Court wants the Tiger reserves to restrict tourism to the buffer zones, but the problem in Ranthambore, as well as other reserves, is that the only area it can designate as buffer is not somewhere tourists would want to visit, let alone tigers. There, the buffer zone is a wilderness with very little flora or fauna, littered with gravel mines. To reach the zone, tigers would have to travel 35 miles from the main park, and even cross main roads. So these proposed plans and buffer zones just won’t work and will be the beginning of the end for Tigers in India.

Ranthambhore Tigers are doing really well and the reserve is run to a strict rule. At present there is 25 cubs there doing well, one family being brought up by their Father, the first time in history this has been reported. And my group of clients this year had the amazing privilege of witnessing this and capturing the images of dad with his two cubs as their mum had died and he was bringing them up alone. To read the story of this case click here.

Animals only breed when they are happy, so how are tourists distributing them? as in core areas Tiger numbers on the whole are on the up. Nature would tell us if it wasn’t happy with falling birth rates, Tigers numbers falling or dying. But she tells us the opposite here in Ranthambhore. A place I know well and love, having visited many times over the last several years. I’ve met many drivers, guides and people that live in and around the tourisms area of Ranthambhore whose whole economy is based on tourism, take this away and they have nothing.

All of which rely on the Tiger for their livehood, but more than that they love, cherish and look after these animals. Keeping them as safe as they possibly can. Remove all of this and this will send the Tigers into the history books I believe and many others on the ground also do. I’ve been told its called – community based conservation, and the tiger will be exterminated without it.

I am no scientist but it’s so clear the Tigers are ONLY living because of these people and tourism, let’s hope they carry on keeping Mother Nature’s most beautiful animal as safe as it can. I hope they make the right decision for the Tiger first and foremost, keeping this animal alive, safe and well for the future generations to see just how beautiful they are, good luck to the Tiger and also the Indian people.

I am off to Madagascar at the weekend for my 11 day photo tour there so once I return home I will up date my blog on the courts ruling as the date of the hearing coincides with when I’m away, many thanks.