Tiger Tiger Burning Bright

January 22nd, 2006

Dear Diary,

HOLY SHIT! I saw a tiger today! I real one. Not in a zoo. An honest-to-goodness, live, wild, could-eat-you-if-she-wanted-to, TIGER. (Or rather, Tigress. Our guide informed us that she was a female, about 3 years old). Way cool. We went on a jeep safari into the jungle at Corbett National Park and managed to get a glimpse of one of their famous beasties. This is not all that common given that there are only about 140 of them in a park that is 1,200 square kilometers. We had a good guide, though, and nearly killed ourselves flying down a dirt road in the jeep, in pursuit of a sighting. I was standing up looking when the guide hollered that he's just seen a tiger cross the road ahead of us and told our driver to floor it. Which he did. I darn near fell out and got the wind knocked out of me by a roll-bar, but it was worth it. She was so incredibly beautiful. She stood there, preening in the sunlight, surrounded by greenery and it was amazing.