It's a harsh world!

Pench Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh, India, becomes hot, dry and dusty in April, when this image was made. The bed of the river that runs through the reserve is parched and all cracked up, with only a few pools of water here and there. These are sought out by tigers (the only big cats, apart from jaguars, that are comfortable in water), to lie in and cool off. And, since these spots are far off from the regular vehicle tracks, the only way to approach them is on elephant back. However, these ultimate all-terrain 'vehicles' are notoriously unstable for wildlife photography. You can't take all your photo gear with you - there just isn't enough space to accommodate you, another photo colleague, your gear (and your colleague's), and the mahout (the elephant 'driver'). So, you need to take only one camera body with a short lens, and hope that you are able to approach the tiger within your lens' range. I prefer to set the camera to shutter priority to compensate for the movements made by the elephant and the tiger, and hope for the best!
Species: Royal Bengal Tiger, Panthera tigris
Location: Pench Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh, India
Date: April, 2010
Equip: Canon 50D, Canon 70-200 f2.8 lens at 200mm
Specs: ISO 320, f 9, 1/1250s (shutter priority)

Thank you for taking the time out to look, and for your comments/critiques.