This is our second trip to India but our first experience with the Indian rail system. During our seven-week visit, we will take eight rail journeys crisscrossing hundreds of miles of train track through central and southern India. Our final destination will take my husband Frank and I to Bandhavgarh National Park in search of the near-extinct Royal Bengal tiger.

Tigers, the largest member of the cat family, are solitary animals. The adult male can weigh up to 500 pounds, and his female counterpart as much as 375 pounds.

Tigers large eye openings gather more light than human eyes, tiger night vision is about six times better than that of humans.

The tip of her nose is pink and the backs of her ears are black with two white spots that resemble a pair of eyesdefault text

Their razor-like teeth and sharp retractable claws — that can reach up to six feet — enable them to hunt and take down prey twice their size.

Many cubs do not make it to adulthood and may be killed by Leopards or even other male Tigers while the mother is hunting.

Cubs are not able to hunt on their own and until the age of 18 months, they remain solely dependent on MOM.

A tiger cub gnawing on a “kill” that “mother” has provided.