SOLO: The Tiger Queen – By Suyash Keshari

If there is any individual who has had a bigger role to play in my personal and professional life than my family, it has to be tigress Solo. I had known her since she was a cub herself and followed her life for almost eight years. We grew up together.

Through her, I learned the importance of family, of living in the moment, being ruthlessly loyal and ambitious but at the same time caring and loving. I saw her miss ten, maybe fifteen hunts before successfully bringing down her prey – each failed attempt bringing her closer to starvation. Through this, I learned to never give up. A tigress in the wild taught me all this and more. A tigress called Solo.

In October 2020, Solo was poisoned. This is her story-

Solo was born to the legendary Rajbehra female – a tigress famed among safari goers across the world – she was quite the showstopper at the time, controlling one of the most extensive and pristine territories in Bandhavgarh. Solo and her three siblings – two females and a male, were born in 2012 in a deep cave that Rajbehra’s mother Jhurjhura had frequented.

While Solo’s mother Rajbehra and grandmother Jhurjhura were named after the areas they resided in, Solo got her name because of her personality. From a young age she had the tendency to be independent, venture away from her siblings in curious pursuits and being alone. She was the solo female among a litter of four.

Getting to know Tigress Solo

As I continued to delve deeper into Solo’s life, I started recognizing her movement pattern and routines. I understood which game trails and paths she preferred most, as well as which ones she avoided due to thorny bushes or uneven ground. I learnt of her favorite waterholes, caves for resting and trees for scent marking. All this helped me learn about her movement patterns in such detail that it became easier to predict where she will be seen next.

Tigers prefer the path of least resistance and love to walk on the soft sandy safari tracks. If you are a seasoned tracker, you can easily tell if a pug-mark ¹is fresh, if it belongs to a male or female and whether the tiger is walking, trotting, or running. Serious trackers can even tell if the tiger is young, in prime or old, jus through its pug-marks.

The rise of the Tiger Queen (and the troubles in her paradise)

As Solo grew bigger and stronger, she pushed her siblings out to other territories and slowly captured her mother’s area – secluding Rajbehra to a small pocket of the forest where she would spend the rest of her life. This earned her the nickname- The Tiger Queen

Just as Solo was beginning to establish her dynasty, trouble ensued. Her first litter of cubs were killed within a few weeks from birth. It is unclear who fathered these cubs since much of the lives of tigers remain secret. But it was confirmed that a male named Mangu killed them. It was incredibly tragic, but in the jungles, it is about the survival of the fittest. Male tigers who do not father the cubs, will kill them and mate with the female to ensure the future of their own progeny. Its nature’s brutal way of ensuring the balance.

Solo’s second litter of five cubs were born in mid-2018, fathered by Mangu. One of them was born weak and passed away within two weeks of birth. After this loss and that of her first litter, Solo’s personality became more aggressive toward other tigers. This culminated into one of the most difficult sightings of my life.

A fight that haunts me to this day

It was January 4th, 2019. Solo was now about seven years old. I was in the Sehra grassland area of her territory when alarm calls of Sambhar deer alerted me to a big cat’s presence. In the distance, we saw a bulky figure. He was approaching the base of a hill where Solo kept her cubs – who were just about two months old at that time. As we approached the figure, it gave itself away as a male tiger known as Bamera Son. With his fluffy winter coat and mane in full glory, he looked bigger than ever. Though a beautiful sight, I was instantly alarmed. He was not the father of Solo’s cubs and trespassing her favorite area.

Within a few minutes, he picked up on Solo’s scent, and made his way toward her cave. And then everything happened with incredible speed. In an instant flash of blood and fury, Solo came thrashing down from the hill, almost crashing into Bamera Son. The forest around seemed to be shattering with the roaring sounds of the two tigers. It felt like the ground was shaking, and my legs began to give way in the jeep. The tigers were enveloped by thick bamboo, but the fight continued harder than ever. It was evident from the shaking of foliage as the two tussled about. At some point, the two separated, and Bamera Son made a dash for the road, with Solo in tow. Bamera Son’s mouth was bleeding, but what I saw next haunts me till this day – Read Part 2