Tiger
I feel very privileged to have seen a wild tiger, not even in a reserve (albeit not very far from the then newly established Satpura Tiger Reserve – about sixteen miles from the nearest point on the boundary). I had only recently arrived in India for the first time. It was night, almost everyone in the bus was asleep. I had the front seat alongside the engine, and was staring out watching the world by the dim yellow headlights. We were going very slowly, climbing a steep hill on a very rough road. The driver and I were the only two who saw the tiger leap out of the jungle and cross the road diagonally in front of us. The driver was at least as excited as I was – he’d never seen a tiger before. I had, of course, but only in zoos. Lots of excitement telling everyone about it when we stopped at Adegaon half an hour later.
One thing that really struck me was the size of the animal’s paws. Massive.