Boroma, a majestic 8-year old Royal Bengal tigress, and her two playful cubs created an unforgettable show at Kanha Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh in a moment photographers would dream of throughout their entire lives. In the midst of incessant rains in the monsoon that soaked a party of wild animal lovers, the family came out of dense bamboo thickets and made a wet stakeout look like the most spectacular of nature’s shows.
The Rain-Drenched Encounter
It was noon on a usual wet July day when senior photographers who were camped on the core zone 2 of Kanha saw some movement. Much had been of water and the lenses clouded and the garments clung clammy but at length it paid. Boroma, after a river goddess of the country in which she had her haste had her 10-month-old cubs, a male and a female, led to the hide by their mother.
The three played more than 45 minutes of what one of the spectators described as a lifetime performance. Boroma moved intentionally gracefully across a piece of lawn, her orange-gold hair shimmering in rain, and the cubs galloped and jumped about in innocent exultation. One cub attacked his brother behind high grass, and both fell rolling down in mud-puddles, when Boroma stood on and looked on the fun before baiting into an imaginary hunt.
The pictures were taken by each photographer: the piercing amber eyes of Boroma searching the danger, the shaking of Cubs after the rain like huge sized kittens, and the collective bounds by a family over the meadow. Their coats splashed on the green, and the faces were to the point, all upgraded by the rain, which made it special, said the lead shutterbug Ravi Sharma, who fired a 1,200-shot burst, which went viral on the wildlife forums.
Boroma: Kanha’s Star Tigress
Boroma, which was made radio-collared in 2020, is the most photographed predator of Kanha. She was born to tigress Rani and made her first fame when she gave birth to her first litter during a drought in 2021 and now has 4 cubs in total. The officials of the forest attribute her audacious nature to the good land with a rich supply of chital, sambar and waterholes, which covers 25 sq km along the banks of Halon River.
Her second successful litter consists of her latest cubs born in February 2025, which increased the tiger population in Kanha to 135, the highest in Central India. Being active in the day defying the stereotypes of nocturnal activity, Boroma regularly flaunts cubs in high safari seasons to delight the tourists and instruct young cubs the basics of hunting.
The perseverance of photographers is rewarded.
The 12-member team of amateurs and professionals, Nagpur, Bhopal and Mumbai, spent four hours in heavy rain. They had rained covers as well as tripods and thermos flasks, and they did not make a noise when the family of Boroma came to within 20 meters. Hands were shaking with cold, but hearts were racing: this was Boroma unscripted the one that Neha Patel had filmed as a cub-playfight and earned herself Wildlife Photographer of the Month.
Ethics maintained the shutters decent; no invitations or callings bothered the tigers. After the visit, the rangers commended the level of discipline in the group and how these sightings strengthen conservation funds- Kanha gets 50 crores of funding annually in tourism.
Saving Grace in Monsoon Magic.
This sighting emphasizes the model tiger recovery by Kanha. The habitat restoration of Project Tiger (1,000 sq km inviolate core, anti-poaching drones and 200 village relocations) has increased sightings three times since 2010. The family of Boroma is the representation of success: the survival rates of cubs are 85 percent in comparison with 60 percent average in India due to the availability of the prey (3,500 chital herds) and veterinarian procedures.
Yet challenges loom. Climate changes cause unpredictable monsoons, which endanger the health of cubs, and the increasing human-tiger conflicts are observed on the boundaries of the buffer areas. Authorities are envisioning future connector roads to Pench Reserve to the growing cubs of Boroma who are likely to leave their nest by 2027.
The social media was getting buzz with the hash tags of #BoromaCubs and #KanhaRains and got 5 million views. The photographers give the proceeds to the tiger health fund of Kanha so that the legacy of Boroma would live on. In wet radiant splendour, she reminded everyone: the best plays of nature do not require a stage, but only patient spectators.
