Tiger
This is an old webpage carried forward to our new site. Please note that some of the information might be out of date and we probably have newer footage.
Tiger
The tiger is one of the most famous and charismatic wildlife species in the world. Everyone knows what a tiger is; however, few people see them outside of zoos. They were once spread throughout much of Asia and Indonesia but are not reduced to small fragmented populations, often consisting of less than a hundred animals.
Perhaps no country has learned to live with tigers better than India. The people of that vast nation are proud of their tigers and tigers reserves. This, even though people are lost every year to tigers. Even on the periphery of the tiger reserves there seems to be an understanding of the risk, yet a realization that the tiger is a valuable resource. This tolerance is of course aided by the fact that tigers bring in large sums of ecotourism revenue and jobs, which are critically important in the poor rural regions that surround many reserves.
Filming Tiger Stock Footage
Filming tigers is either easy and inexpensive or time-consuming and costly. In the former just go to your local zoo. Almost all zoos have tigers in part because they are a charismatic species and in part because there’s conservation value in having some tigers in a protected environment. Some zoos of course have more natural settings. A second option is to travel to a part of the world where tigers still exist in the wild. And no place is more conducive to that than India and its vast network of parks and protected areas that conserve the Bengal tiger. Perhaps the most famous, and the best place to see tigers, is Bandhavgarh National Park. Another good option is Kanha National Park, the inspiration for Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book. In just a few days at either one of these parks, and with the assistance of the expert guides (one I can recommend is Wildlife Photo Tours), you will likely see a tiger. Of course seeing rare events such as predation is another matter and requires either a lot of time or a lot of luck.
A good telephoto lens can come in handy, but it depends on the habitat. In some parks in India the terrain is relatively wide open while in other cases it can be quite dense. One thing for the videographer to keep in mind is that in many parks you are not allowed out of the vehicle so keeping the camera still can be a challenge. Try to have as few as people as possible in the vehicle. Most of the India parks don’t open their gates until well after daylight and close them well before dark (unfortunately) so low light isn’t an issue in these locations.