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23Sep2022

Tiger photography and famous Indian tigers

Over the years people have become very interested in wildlife and many have taken up wildlife photography as a hobby. Tiger photography has also increased as a result and when we talk of tiger photography then mentioning Indian tigers is must. Indian tigers are undoubtedly the most photographed tigers in the world for the reason that the number of tigers is the highest in India and certain wildlife parks are well known worldwide for the opportunities those provide for tiger photography. Parks like Bandhavgarh, Kanha, Ranthambore, Tadoba, Corbett etc. went on to become go to destinations for tiger photography and in turn resulted in the making of many famous Indian Tigers.

Some famous Indian Tigers.

The growth in interest for seeing tigers and tiger photography started gaining momentum by the turn of the millenium although even prior to that many Indian tigers had already become famous owing to the fact that they were being photographed very frequently and were getting published in various newspapers and magazines. Also documentaries were being made on these famous Indian tigers. The list includes Charger, Sita, Lakshmi, Mohini etc. These tigers were pretty tourist friendly and didn't mind the presence of safari vehicles or elephants and as a result they were frequently photographed. Tiger photography was easy with these celebrity Indian tigers. Years passed by and new tigers started to replace the old ones. Among the new tigers, some remained shy but a few were bold like the famous Indian tigers of old and tiger photography continued to flourish by the turn of the century.

Rajbehra Tigress with cub (Left) and Mr. X (right), two famous Indian Tigers from Bandhavgarh

The number of Indian tigers  however was dwindling all this while and people were mostly unaware of the fact. Tiger photography continued to be concentrated in the few parks where these famous Indian tigers resided. In 2006 the alarm was sounded when the census figures showed an alarming decrease in the population of tigers and only 1411 Indian tigers were left in the wild. This news spread like wildfire and not only did it ensure the conservation of this amazing cat which indeed is the flagship species of wildlife tourism in India but also ensured a sudden increase in the number of tiger photography enthusiasts worldwide. The parks experienced visitor numbers like never before, better conservation efforts resulted in more parks becoming famous and the numbers of famous Indian tigers started growing exponentially. New names joined the bandwagon of the celebrities and tiger photography had now become a globally sought after interest with thousands of foreign tourists travelling to India with the sole intention of photographing famous Indian tigers. Tigers such as  B2, Machli and more had now gone on to become household names.

Noor (Left) and Aurangzeb (Right), two famous Indian tigers from Ranthambore

With every new census people got a reason to rejoice for Indian tigers were growing in number. The numbers were growing in most parks and this resulted in new places becoming famous for tiger photography. And new places gave us new celebrity Indian tigers. Tigers like Baras, Jai etc. from new parks like Khursapar, Nagzira, Umred Karhandla, Tippeshwar started becoming famous. Today India is home to almost 75% of the global tiger population and thus tiger photography is incomplete and, in a sense, impossible without Indian tigers especially the famous Indian tigers.  

Collarwali with cub (Left) and Big Boss (right), two famous Indian tigers from Pench (MP) and Sundarban respectively

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