Visitors gave a bad name to Tiger Tourism on Wednesday by going berserk on spotting tigers in Pandharpaoni area of the Tadoba reserve.
More than 100 visitors in 30 vehicles, including those in the Chimur-Tadoba-Rajura state transport bus virtually scrambled and competed to have a glimpse of four tigers that had appeared on the Pandharpaoni-Tadoba road around 9am on Wednesday.
According to Project Tiger guidelines, a distance of 30 metres should be maintained between vehicles and the animals but many were barely 10 metres away from the tigers.
With Pandharpaoni becoming a hot spot for tiger sightings, the permitted 40 vehicles entering from Moharli, Khutwanda, Kolara and Navegaon gates head for the spot, causing not only congestion but complete chaos as per a report in TOI by Vijay Pinjarker.
On Wednesday, when the four sub-adult tiger cubs were sighted, vehicles rushed to the spot. Ostensibly scared by the noise, two cubs crossed the road and vanished inside the dense bamboo clusters while two continued to relax on the road for more than an hour.
There were more than 30 vehicles at that time on the spot. Those at the back, upset at not getting a clear view, protested boisterously. The ST bus passengers and its drivers stepped out of the bus, which is completely against the rules, and climbed atop for a good view. Six van majoors with their bicycles too were there at the spot. Some who could not sight the tigers jumped off their vehicles and hollered to those in front.
With time ticking away to the 10am deadline when the Moharli gate is shut, vehicles began speeding brazenly. Some stopped to click more pictures and one of the vehicles was just 6 feet away from the tiger.
One of the tigers preying a nilgai, which had been released in Pandharpaoni after getting close to humans, was also disturbed by the vehicles. Some gypsies even stopped their vehicles on the attacking tiger's path.
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