The Waterhole

Durga and her four cubs · Ranthambhore · 10 April 2026 · 3:36 to 4:18 pm

April afternoons in Ranthambhore are spent waiting at water. At 3:36 Durga walked down to a pool among the rocks with four cubs behind her, and for the next forty-two minutes the family did what tigers do in the heat: drank, lay down in the water, got up, and lay down again.

Nothing dramatic happened, which is why I like these frames. One cub picked its way down the rocks on its own. Two of them pushed at each other in the shallows. Their mother watched all of it and us. The pictures are in the order they were taken.