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I was away in India for 2 weeks in July. I managed to spend 4 days in a remote are near a Tiger reserve. This is a unique place called "Jungle Trails" and has very basic accommodation & little else. The real attraction is the remote location & the undisturbed wildlife that you can see from the house. The host is Mark Davidar (google him & you will read interesting stuff about the place) and Mark is very selective about whom he allows on the place. He does not permit flash photography or people walking around. A month earlier my brother saw 2 leopards from the veranda & Mark sees tigers regularly crossing to the stream.

During my stay we saw Gaur, Chittal, Sambar, Wild Boar & Elephant from the house. There are a total of 27 tuskers (bull elephants) in the reserve & 7 of them visit Marks place regularly. He has named them after the Brazilian soccer team. We were visited by Roberto Carlos on 3 afternoons & he stayed around for a long time, hoping to get more jack fruit! The tusker came right up to the front steps sniffing around. We just got up quietly & moved to the doorway. It was a thrilling experience to see a truly wild tusker at 6 feet distance! He is a young bull of less than 25 years age & not fully grown - probably 8.75 feet tall. He should start breeding in the next few years.

A month earlier a "Makhna" (huge tuskless bull) visited the house & got a bit rough. He started pushing the roof of the veranda & trying to open the boot of a car!

We also had a thrilling time while driving around. On the first night we saw a the usuel gaur, elephants, deer etc. Then we went up a side road to the Moyar river & were thrilled to hear a tiger roar about 7 to 10 times from across the river! It was only about 150 meters away.

The next day we went out later at around 10 pm & were rewarded with sightings of a sloth bear & a large leopard. This was an amazing sight & my life long ambition to see a wild leopard was fulfilled (after over 50 such trips in the last 45 years). The leopard was about 15 meters away & stood majestically on the side track for about 20 seconds & then quietly trotted away. No luck with photos!

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Always shoot through the target & not just at it.