Tigers unlike Lions are solitary animals, so these numbers are impressive +/- 10%. My home state has one of the largest numbers and I was fortunate to see a Tigress with fresh kill and couple of cubs. Truly majestic beasts these are.
Back when I saw them in Corbett national park with their kill, the thing that amazed me the most was their size. They looked bigger than a hatchback! (Ignorant me)
Jim Corbett's books have been recommended in this thread, and he talks about their behavior in the wild in great detail. Worth a read if you want to know more about them.
also fortunate you werent the 'fresh kill'!
serious, though, in what kind of context is it possible to see an adult tigress and not totally crap your pants?
One with a fresh kill isn't going to be very interested in you unless you come too close to it or its cubs.
Prior permission is required from the authorities and they are very strict about handing them out and also they come with lot of restrictions, like the permit is restricted to a single zone of the forest and your entry/exit times are pre-defined and logged.
That fella is lucky, looks like the tigress decided to cut her chase midway, else with that speed, the cameraman was a goner.
Don't think the tigress cut the chase midway. Rather, the sudden change of surface from forest to tarmac affected her grip.