It's great to hear these stories. Makes me wonder about the danger
we all expose ourselves to. Maybe we're a bit crazy but we love it. =
Keep the stories coming.
Kevin Colver
On Jan 7, 2008, at 6:12 AM, Greg Simmons wrote:
> 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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