The second retrospective tale came from Royal Chitwan in Nepal. This is tiger
country and any knowledgeable guide knows the story of a bird guide that was
mauled to death in Corbett by a tiger, so we are allowed to walk only in the
presence of local " guides ". They come with the classic local bravura, armed
with large staves - this must be where the phrase to " stave off " came from.
Or not.
I had a small group (about 5 people) and the two locals insisted on walking in
front of me even though they were not very proficient at birding. Very
suddenly, a large sloth bear walked out from some bamboo about 20 meters in
front of us. Behind her were two cubs. I was thrilled as this was a new mammal
for me and an amazing sight. The bear slowed down, examined us for about 10-15
seconds, and then trundled on her way. I turned back to my clients to check
their reaction only to find that my two body guards were nowhere in sight. I
finally located both of them in a Sal tree about 10 meters behind us.
It turns out that they are more afraid of sloth bears than they are of tigers.
The week previous to our arrival, a mating pair attacked two guides on their
way home from work, managed to pull them out of a tree, killing one and
hospitalizing the other. We were informed that the odds of a charge in that
situation are about 50-50. Well, the claws were very formidable looking, and
from now on I carry my own stave (for all the good it would do).
Scott Connop
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