"When Ruth Padel saw an advert for a cheap break to India, she decided to mark the end of a long relationship by visiting what she had always wanted to see: tropical jungle and a wildlife sanctuary. Her impromptu visit turned out to be the start of a remarkable two-year journey through eleven countries in search of that most elusive and beautiful animal: the tiger." "Armed with her granny's opera glasses and a pair of Tunisian trainers, she sets off across Asia to ask the question: can the tiger be saved from extinction in the wild? She plunges into leech-infested jungles and tick-filled forests, tracking tigers by jeep, by elephant and on foot. She follows the pawmarks of man-eating tigers in a Bangladeshi mangrove swamp and acquires a guardian tiger spirit in Sumatra. She visits Bhutan, remote and enigmatic, poised on the edge of change, and the heartbreaking wildlife markets of Jakarta; kayaks reluctantly over tumbling rapids in the forests of Laos; and radio-tracks a tigress with young cubs in the enchanting taiga of far-east Russia. From Nepal to Thailand, Korea to China, she uncovers ancient and modern tiger myths and stories of real-life encounters." "As she travels she meets the defenders of the wild: the heroic scientists, forest guards and conservationists at the frontline, fighting to save tigers and their forests from destruction in places where poverty threatens to wipe out all wildlife. She also examines her fascination - both as a poet and as the great-great-granddaughter of Charles Darwin - with nature, wildness and survival."--BOOK JACKET.