I'm not sure if I've posted this here before or not, but the recent
talk about tigers makes it seem appropriate now.
A couple of years ago I was recording nature sounds in Chitwan
National Park, Nepal. I was walking through the Sal forest with a
guide and one other person. After walking for about an hour we found
some fresh tiger tracks and decided to follow them.
We'd been following the tracks for quite a while, thinking the tiger
was long gone, although we noticed that the tracks doubled back on us
at a small creek, where the animal had obviously taken a drink. Along
the way I heard a drongo calling from a tree up above, amid a lot of
other birdsong, so I decided to stop and record it. I set up the
equipment, then the three of us moved about 50m from the microphones
and stood there quietly for 10 minutes or so.
With the recording finished, I moved to pack up the equipment. This
involved spending a couple of minutes squatting on the ground while
packing up cables and so on. When I stood up I heard a very deep and
low growl, as if someone had recorded a cat purring and slowed it down
to 25% or so, coming from somewhere in the undergrowth near me. I
slowly turned around to see my guide and the other person mouthing the
words 'tiger, tiger' and pointing to a spot less than 10m away from
me. From where I stood I could not see it, but I could see the
undergrowth moving.
I stood there frozen for a while, wondering how effective my
lightweight Manfrotto 001 Nanostand and Nagra V would be as a
defensive weapon (yeah, right!). After what seemed like an eternity,
a bunch of jungle chickens flew up from the undergrowth about 20m
away, as the tiger passed by before leaving us altogether.
I have since learnt that squatting in the jungle is not a good
strategy. A human being standing up is not a recognisable food source
to the average tiger; however, a human being squatting in the
undergrowth looks like a nice fat monkey - surely one of the tiger's
favourite foods! I have made many more recordings in the same jungle,
but now I avoid squatting down as much as possible.
And on this topic... About one week ago I was recording early morning
sounds on a rooftop in Varanasi (India), when a troop of marauding
macaques (I counted 17) made their way across the rooftops and onto
*my* rooftop. These macaques are very curious and aggressive, getting
into everything and grabbing anything that's not screwed down. So I
hurriedly packed up my equipment and prepared to head back inside
until they had gone. As I descended the outdoor staircase (all
concrete construction) I was confronted by a female adult macaque. My
experiences with macaques in Borneo and Nepal suggests that they will
usually shy away if I pull the appropriate 'warning face' (kind of
baring your teeth and opening your eyes very wide). But not this time
- she pulled the face, I pulled it back, and then she lunged at me. I
swung my daypack at her, knocking her off the railing and sending her
scurrying. Unfortunately, the strike deflected the bag and sent it
crashing into the concrete wall, cracking the Nagra V's perspex lid.
Oh well...
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