NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC WILD – WEDNESDAY, 29 SEPTEMBER AT 9 PM – DOCUMENTARY

Being a single mother is not easy with humans. So imagine yourself among the cats … Or better, take a look, thanks to the extraordinary work of Aishwarya Sridhar, the 24-year-old director and already recognized photographer – she in particular is the first Indian woman to receive the wildlife recommendation in London in 2020 received the Photographer of the Year Award (“Animal Photographer of the Year”).

Sensitive to the protection of cats since childhood, Aishwarya Sridhar is a regular at the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve in Tadoba National Park (or Taru, named after a local deity) in the Maharashtra region of central India. There she met Maya, a young orphaned tigress who she will observe and film. “Films are magical, they have the power to transport us to another time and place”she continued his side.

After six years of shooting, here is a new animal film shown here as part of the series (in six episodes) that is dedicated A world full of cats – We should say cats after Leopard with jade eyes, about the life of a young leopard in a park in Botswana and before that La Reine du Serengeti, another lonely mother, this time cheetah, from Northern Tanzania National Park.

Ruthless laws

If the Taru Valley is like a paradise for gazelles and other herbivores, The kingdom of the tigress Maya (Tiger Queen of Taru in English) is not a children’s program. Between the scenes of games, rest, chases, those of agony, torn flesh are interspersed … All of this is complemented by an often humorous commentary.

When Maya first finds a mother, she doesn’t have one “Neither aunt, nor mother, nor cousin to tell him how to do it”says the comment and has to experience the unscrupulous laws of the animal kingdom on your own. At the cost of a fatal mistake that will cost a baby tiger its life – she will call it one of the saddest scenes in the film all night long.

Despite an often humorous commentary, the documentary is by no means a children’s program

The cycle of life continues. In the mating season, when a male arrives, “His intentions are clear: he wants the queen and the kingdom”. Then the rainy season announces the imminent birth of a new litter. Maya always takes on her role as mother, tenderness, protector and hunter. Depending on the dangers of their enemies, warthogs or bears, they have to ward off or postpone dangers.

Alone to defend their territory “Maya is a fighter”even if defeated for the first time, ” she is afraid “. She too is aging and sees her hegemony in her own family being called into question. The cycle of nature always. Queen Maya has established herself in the world of cats. In humans, she is the most famous tigress in Tadoba National Park today.