Corbett Tiger Reserve comes alive in the peak of summer

The monkeys can't take their eyes off the snake, and are all standing on alert overhead

At first, I think it’s a thick log that has fallen on the forest floor near the pond. Hundreds of bees are buzzing all around, their hive disturbed perhaps, by the monkeys overhead.  They are making alarmed sounds, as they are wont to do when they spot an apex predator. Could they have spotted a tiger come for a drink in this blistering heat, I muse?
 
We decide to hang around by the waterhole for a little while, hoping to spot some action. From the corner of my eye, I see the log move. And just like that, we