Man-eaters of Kumaon

Jim Corbett is an extremely skillful, courageous, and honorable hunter who is able to greatly articulate the details of his hunts and life in general. His stories deal with great adventure and danger, pulling in the reader as if we were actually with him. If you’re into hunting, big cats, or adventure in general this is a great book. Because most of the book deals with him detailing his encounters with these man-eaters, things can be a bit repetitive once you get a good idea of the hunts but never the while, a great read! Having love and compassion for the very animals responsible for the brutal killings of peoples and the animals that he is tasked with to kill, shines the respect this man has for nature, the villages of India he’s protecting, and the world in general. Unfortunately or probably more fortunately, most of us are never going to be out hunting for a big man-eating cat in the jungles of India in order to save a village and avenge countless brutal murders, but reading this book sure feels like it’s the closest we can get, as we go along with Jim Corbett in his adventures.

Jim Corbett (1875 - 1955) was an experienced hunter, who was called upon by the Government in India to track down and kill man-eating tigers which were terrorising villagers in the Kumaon district in Uttarakhand, which borders Nepal and Tibet. While early in his life Corbett was a hunter, he later evolved his thinking to become a naturalist, and championed the protection of wild animals.

This book describes the events of hunting (mostly) man-eating tigers in the 1920s.

In this period, while tigers had already been heavily hunted, there were still a high number roaming about, and those which become man-eaters were taking many lives. Corbett writes first about the Champawat Tiger, a Bengal Tigress responsible for an estimated 436 deaths before he tracked her down in 1907.

Corbett, while perhaps not a naturally gifted writer, makes a good attempt and has created a readable book filled with facts about tigers and descriptions of the forests of Uttarakhand. He shares his exceptional skills in tracking, predicting tiger behaviour and his knowledge around what makes a tiger become a man-eater.

At the 1929 District Conference, the troubles with man-eating tigers were raised, and the top three most dangerous were determined by the number of people killed. Jim Corbett was asked to deal with these tigers. The first was considered the Chowgarh Tiger
but was found to be the Chowgarh Tigers - villages who thought they were being terrorised by one man-eater, when there were actually two!

Chapter 5 is the odd one out - The Bachelor of Powalgarh, an exceptionally large Bengal tiger who was the most sought after game trophy of the time. Although many had tried no one was able to outsmart this tiger. Corbett tells the story of how he hunts this giant (which was definitely not a man-eater).

The Mohan Tiger is the second of the three man-eaters. The Kanda Tiger is the third of the District Conference tigers that Corbett killed.

In Chapter 8 Corbett traces 15 years of history of the Pipal Pani Tiger a non man-eater, from its tracks in the mud as a cub, up until its death 15 years later.

The final chapter, in 1938 when Corbett is 63 years old, tells of the last man-eating tiger he hunts, the Thak man-eater which proves to be one of the most dramatic kills.

One of the more interesting aspects is why tigers become man-eaters. Man is easy prey for a tiger, but generally they stay well away from humans. It is only when injured and unable to hunt their natural game that they turn to the easy meals. “The wound that has caused a particular tiger to take to man-eating might be the result of a carelessly fired shot and failure to follow up and recover the wounded animal or be the result of the tiger having lost his temper while killing a porcupine.” Porcupine quills are very brittle and once embedded in a tigers leg will heal over then fester and cause a lot of pain and discomfort. This effects their demeanour as well as ability to hunt.

In 1957 a national park in Uttarakhand was renamed Jim Corbett National Park in his honour.

4 stars, but probably not a book for those who cannot separate the 1920s from today, or are upset at the hunting and killing aspects.

Jim Corbett was a cool guy. And what could be cooler than adventures amongst tigers in the 19th/20th century?