On the Trail of Jumbo & Junior

Tracking in a jungle is always a thrill albeit dangerous, but if one has learned the ways of the jungle to a small extent, he will be able to track in reasonable safety. Thanks to the innumerable accounts of hunting and jungle ways by Kenneth Anderson & Jim Corbett, I can track reasonably well.
Early April, and the forests of Mudumalai are dry and thirsting for precious rain. The forest glades are a mix of brown and green. The animals have moved deep inside in search of water and adequate shade.
I camped at my usual getaway in Masinagudi and after gathering a bit of information that an elephant unit (mother and calf) were around the vicinity, I decided to track them in the morning. Taking into account that the sun would be pretty hot by half past eight, I had a leisurely breakfast and then donned the essential khaki and shorts and strode out to pick up the spoor. Fortunately there was fresh spoor and tracking was quite easy. The elephants had used a game-path and not veered off into thick forest. Here I had to take a gamble – whether or not the elephants would be about foraging or resting, fortunately the very impact of the sun on my back gave me the answer – no animal would be out eating in this soaring temperature, so I threw a bit of caution to the wind and quickened my pace. After this I checked the direction of the wind, there was absolutely no wind blowing, which was a deterrent, because the elephants would now be able to hear me clearly. So caution was applied again and now checking carefully to see where my foot landed as the forest floor was strewn with debris and dried twigs, stamping about on which advertises the presence of the hated foe, man, I continued on keeping a sharp lookout behind. Elephants are particularly numerous in this area and it wouldn’t be wise to have a bull at my back over comparatively open ground.
Slowly the trail wound its way into thicker forest, where green branches now took the place of dry ones. Here, the going was, of necessity, slow simply because the droppings had increased and the huge footprints were visible in the dust. Soon I reached a fork where both the trails took me to a clump of trees, typical elephant hideouts. So I doubled back a bit and circumvented these clumps and found a rock upon which I climbed to gain a better view of the surroundings. As expected, there was a waterhole, albeit dry, but stained with spoor, in the midst of the clump. I was pretty sure the mother and calf were resting in that clump and occasionally taking a bite or two off the trees. After about ten minutes I heard the distant crack of a branch being broken off the tree, in the way only elephants can. Now, sure that the elephants were in the clump I was looking at, I decided to sit and wait on that hard and hot rock.
I sat and listened to the few noises that the elephants made whilst resting. Elephants sleep in a standing position in the shade of trees. After about ten minutes a shepherd joined me and upon questioning him I learnt that this particular unit had been active around the hamlet of Bokkapuram the previous night, and he said that if I remain here the entire day, I’d get a good shot of the elephants. He left with his flock only to return a couple of minute’s later saying that the elephants were right in his path and he did not want to risk an encounter. So leaving me with a word of caution he headed in the opposite direction.
A sharp trumpeting sound broke the silent air and just as suddenly as it had come, it died out, for a moment my heart was in my mouth, thinking that the elephants had gotten wind of me, but once the nerves had calmed, and rationale returned, I realized that it was nothing but a mother taking care of her calf and the sound was of admonishment for perhaps an unruly moment of behaviour on the calf’s part.
Since my companions had an urgent matter to attend back at Belmont, we had to leave the happy mother and calf behind for another day.
I must not forget to mention here that, as I was tracking with relatively inexperienced people, but who are not afraid, caution was of paramount importance and that’s why I did not follow the spoor into the clumps but rather heard proceedings from a short distance away.
Another day, another night, the forest is my land.