Legacy
Three mothers. One bloodline. One season. · Ranthambhore, April – June 2026
Ranthambhore’s story has been written by one family for thirty years. Machli (T-16) was the tigress who made the lakes famous; her daughters and granddaughters still hold the same ground, and anyone who has photographed here has, in some way, been photographing her.
Riddhi
Between April and June 2026 I went back three times, and found myself following not one tiger but three generations of the same line. Riddhi (T-124), Machli’s great-granddaughter, holds the lake territory in Zone 3. Her cubs from 2023 were almost grown; she was pushing them out towards territories of their own, and one of my last frames of the season is of her walking away into the forest. Days later she was reported with a new litter.
Riddhi (T-124) at first light, Zone 3, Ranthambhore · April 2026 · Leica SL3
Riddhi through the dry grass, Ranthambhore · April 2026 · Leica SL3
Riddhi on the long forest track, Zone 3 · April 2026 · Leica SL3-S
Riddhi walking towards the jeep, tail raised · April 2026 · Leica SL3-S
Riddhi between the trunks · 2 June 2026 · Leica SL3-P
Riddhi in the dry forest · June 2026 · Leica SL3-P
Riddhi head-on through the grass · June 2026 · Leica SL3-P
Riddhi walking away over the fallen logs — one of the last sightings before her new litter · June 2026 · Leica SL3-P
Riddhi disappearing into the forest · June 2026 · Leica SL3-S
Riddhi at Rajbagh Lake · 26 June 2026 · Leica SL3-P
Riddhi in the tall grass by the lake · June 2026 · Leica SL3-P
One of Riddhi’s sub-adult cubs, resting · April 2026 · Leica SL3
Riddhi’s sub-adult cub between the trees · April 2026 · Leica SL3
Riddhi’s sub-adult cub under a tree · April 2026 · Leica SL3-S
Riddhi’s sub-adult cub, close to independence · 26 June 2026 · Leica SL3-S
Riddhi’s sub-adult cub cooling off in a forest pool · 27 June 2026 · Leica SL3-P
Riddhi’s son, T-2505, walking the forest track towards us, Zone 3 · 27 June 2026 · Leica SL3-P
Durga
In Zone 4, Riddhi’s cousin Durga (T-2307) was raising her first litter of four. At a quiet waterhole I watched the cubs learn what it is to be a tiger: play, patience, the odd bad idea, and a mother who let them get on with it.
Durga (T-2307) and her cubs in the water, Zone 4 · 10 April 2026 · Leica SL3
Durga’s family at the waterhole · April 2026 · Leica SL3
One of Durga’s cubs descending the rocks · April 2026 · Leica SL3
Durga and her four cubs · April 2026 · Leica SL3
Durga’s cubs in the pool · April 2026 · Leica SL3
Cub interaction at the waterhole · 26 June 2026 · Leica SL3-P
Cub interaction · 26 June 2026 · Leica SL3-P
One of Durga’s cubs · June 2026 · Leica SL3-P
Two of Durga’s cubs · June 2026 · Leica SL3-P
Durga’s cubs · June 2026 · Leica SL3-P
Durga’s cubs at rest · June 2026 · Leica SL3-P
Durga’s cub · June 2026 · Leica SL3, Sigma 200mm f/2
Shakti
Shakti (T-111), Durga’s mother, appears only briefly, with two cubs of her own: the third mother of the season, on the same ground her grandmother Machli once walked.
One of Shakti’s cubs by the water · 1 June 2026 · Leica SL3
Shakti (T-111) with her two cubs · 1 June 2026 · Leica SL3
Shakti’s two cubs · 1 June 2026 · Leica SL3
The ground they share
None of this is the whole story of these animals. It is one season, in which one family let me watch. Jogi Mahal and Malik Talao, below, are the lakes and the waterhole where all of it happened, the ground Machli made famous and her descendants still hold. Everything here was made on Leica SL3-P, SL3-S and SL3 bodies, most of it with the Sigma 300-600mm f/4.
Jogi Mahal — the lakes and forests of Ranthambhore have shaped generations of tigers and photographers · Leica SL3-P
Malik Talao, Ranthambhore · Leica SL3, Sigma 14–24mm
