Gypsy Tiger: How I Became A Wildlife Cinematographer!

by Contributor
Gypsy Tiger: How I Became A Wildlife Cinematographer!

Life isn’t fair all the time but sometimes you get dealt a great hand! Here’s my journey of becoming a Wildlife Cinematographer.

How It All Happened?
Being a wildlife cinematographer was always a dream but as life would have it, instead of landing a job in a wildlife channel, I got my first job in a business news channel in Mumbai. Number crunching and market ups and downs became my daily routine, but my mind was always set on getting out of the newsroom to explore a wild world which most people did not know about.

Credits: Gypsy Tiger

Along came my good friend, Nikhil Nagle, a former banker whose passion for wildlife took him to far corners of the world for over 20 years, to document these untold stories through photographs. In 2017, he decided to turn this passion into a professional venture – that is when he roped me in to set up Gypsy Tiger.

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The Wildlife
“A comfortable bed to sleep in, home cooked food and sometimes even basic amenities like toilets are going to be missing, are you ready for this? We will be travelling 200 days out of 350,” said Nikhil. Having lived in a city all my life, I was apprehensive, but also raring to go and the lure of the wild is what kept the adrenaline pumping!

Credits: Gypsy Tiger

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Gypsy Tiger
A startup wildlife media firm fuelled by passion, Gypsy Tiger produces wildlife video and photo content for people who appreciate it and also to pique the curiosity of those who aren’t deeply interested in it, by projecting wildlife as fun, accessible and interesting.

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Credits: Gypsy Tiger

There still exist areas on this planet where the invading human hordes haven’t reached. Areas where much more splendid creations of nature are free to roam, areas where the air is still fresh,the ground still clean of plastic or other synthetic waste and the night sky is still full of stars. And here we ventured.

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The Journey 
Since 2017 its been a rugged, chaotic and beautiful ride into the wild. Being a solo woman traveller is not easy and it’s even tougher in the wild. There are physical limitations which test your confidence, but with all of these challenges comes a lot of fun as well.

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Credits: Gypsy Tiger

I have visited over 20 countries with Gypsy Tiger. From Polar Bears to Jaguars, Tigers and silverback Gorillas, we have seen them all in their jungles. We have felt the joy at seeing a mother caring for and feeding her cubs, laughed at snow monkeys’ funny antics, got emotional upon seeing a Deer trying to save her baby from a Tiger and experienced pure exhilaration on witnessing successful hunts!

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Each place has its own story. Here’s a glimpse into some of these natural habitats and the way of the wild as I experienced it.

Ladakh
One never forgets the first trip. We visited Ladakh in the peak of winters to document the ghost of the mountains, the Snow Leopard. This trip was my first and biggest challenge to decide if I had it in me to continue wildlife filming. The temperatures fell below -25 degrees on most days and small village homes with less than basic facilities were the only accommodation.

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Our sleeping bags provided some comfort but for days we had to survive on instant noodles and live without a shower. One instruction I still distinctly remember was our guide saying, “Do not drink water after 7 pm, it will be a challenge to go out to use the toilets.”

The shoot was even tougher, with the wind lashing at you and snow making it tough to see anything. We would wait for hours on end in the open with our camera gears to get a glimpse of a snow leopard and were warmly rewarded after a month when we saw around 8 snow leopards! The torture was completely worth it.

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Alaska
August is the time for the famous Salmon run in Katmai National Park where the sock- eyed Salmon come to spawn upstream. It is also a time for Grizzly Bears to come and catch these fish and fill up their tummies to prepare for the long winter hibernation. This was our chance to get up, close and personal with the mighty bears.

Credits: Gypsy Tiger

Our comfortable lodge in the middle of the tundra-forest was breathtaking and the mode of travel was via seaplanes. The awesome aerial view of the Alaskan landscape would make us forget the task ahead — trekking each day for 7-8 km with 20 kg of camera gear on our back over mushy ground was no easy task. Rain lashing down on us in temperatures as low as 3-4 degree Celsius was the icing on the cake.

By the end of 10 days, we saw more than 40 bears, a cub trying to imitate his mother hunting salmon, playing with each other, mama bear chasing a male bear away….we got some amazing footage and we could not complain.

Brazil
A place which boasts of one of the richest wildlife in the world, Pantanal is home to the biggest Jaguars. Here you see the big cat roaming the banks of the river in search of food which includes Caiman, Anacondas, Capybaras amongst other species. Being on an open boat with temperatures soaring at 40-45 degree Celsius and humidity killing you, shooting was both a
challenge and a treat.

We rarely got more than a 10-minute break, every part of the river bank had a Jaguar. This is one place where we were always falling short of batteries for the camera as most of the time it kept rolling. A place so dear to us that we have gone there 4 times already!

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Credits: Gypsy Tiger

From anaconda hunts to mothers teaching their cubs to swim, to mating pair, we have seen it all but are still hungry for more. But the biggest challenge there was a tiny creature, the infamous mosquitoes — nothing worked on them until we managed to somehow get our Indian Kachua Chaap which provided the much-needed respite.

Kaktovik
Polar bears have always been one of my favourite animals and what could have been better than spending my birthday with them! October month in Kaktovik, Alaska means -30 degree Celsius in an open boat all day. We had a cosy trailer as our home for 10 days and just french fries and burgers as our meals.

Credits: Gypsy Tiger

The weight of all the clothes was more than our body weight and trying to operate cameras was the most difficult task. It was so chilly that removing the gloves off your fingers for more than a few minutes would turn them blue. But it was heaven, we saw close to 20 bears!

Wildlife Parks In India
Tigers are endangered with around 3800 left in the wild and India is home to most of them. The beautiful Sal forests are home to a variety of species like the elephants, Monkeys, Deers, Leopards, Tigers which roam freely. Each park has its own famous tigers and most of them have names which immediately gives that emotional connect with us.

 

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Credits: Gypsy Tiger

From the famous Tigress, Arrowhead of Ranthambore to Spotty of Bandhavgarh National Park swimming with her cubs, to Paro of Jim Corbett National park teaching her solo cub how to hunt, we have seen and documented it all. Watching a Tiger up, close and personal is always mesmerising no matter how many times you see them!

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Conclusion
Over time, I have travelled to Patagonia (Chile) and walked with the Pumas, stayed for hours inan open boat and filmed the Polar Bears of Svalbard (Norway), spent many months across all of India’s Tiger parks, went diving to explore the vast ocean.

I have also had some heart-wrenching experiences watching the critically endangered Orangutans struggle for survival. Seen the Rhinos lose their horns as a preventive measure to protect them from poachers, visited Canada for coastal wolves to an undisclosed location. Each journey has brought me closer to wildlife and farther from city life, each day is a lesson.

Credits: Gypsy Tiger

It also brings forth the sad reality that more than half of the species we know are critically endangered. Over time, this wild world has become my home. Contrary to what people say, I feel that one is more safe and protected here than in any cities of the world.

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This article was contributed by Simran Gill of Gypsy Tiger. If you wish to contribute your story, drop us an email on hey@curlytales.com