2022: Heat and Hard Lessons
2022 was intense.
It began gently — family time at Kabini, boat safaris, elephants in water, birds at close range. But soon came Tadoba, a place that tested patience more than skill.
Tadoba was harsh:
Sweltering heat
Strict rules
Limited movement
Sparse photographic opportunities
Yet even here, moments pierced through:
Sonam and her tiny cubs
Rudra and Maya mating for nearly an hour
A young tiger stepping into perfect evening light just as the park was closing
Later that year, Ranthambhore in peak summer pushed endurance further. Temperatures crossed 45°C. Dust burned eyes. But the rewards were extraordinary:
T-101 walking head-on for nearly a kilometre
The famous tiger T-120 eating a leopard
Sloth bears, cubs, and endless stories etched into heat and sweat
Monsoon Kabini followed — lush, green, unpredictable — with elephants, wild dogs, leopards, and moments where rain became part of the composition.
By the end of 2022, I had learned something important:
Wildlife photography is not about collecting sightings — it’s about learning to stay present even when nothing happens.
