Tiger territory!

Ranthambhore National Park, covering an area of 1334 sq kms was once a Maharajas hunting ground with the centrepiece being the imposing Ranthambhore fort.

It was ironically turned into a sanctuary and now a National Park to try and protect the endangered Bengal Tiger. It was tiger that the Maharajas hunted for with such vigour.

The protection of the tigers for the most part seems to be working and according to the ‘Lonely Planet’ guidebook, the tiger numbers were 48 in 2014.

 During our many trips over the years through both Nepal and India, we have visited Chitwan NP in Nepal 3 times and Ranthambhore NP once. In both parks we were in search of the elusive tiger, and never spotted one. Having said that, this is not the only reason you would visit the parks as they are beautiful and there is still plenty to see.

 

So, this being the case we entered Ranthambhore again with little expectation of sighting a tiger. This time however we were lucky and spotted one tiger on  both the morning and afternoon safari!

A little obscured by the long grass we were still super excited to finally see our first one in the wild! We waited around for quite a while hoping it would stir but this was not the case. We continued through the park and saw plenty of Spotted Deer (Chital) Samba Deer and Blue Bull (Nilgai) along with lots of birdlife, including plenty of beautiful peacocks!

There are still many remnants of a bygone era scattered through the park including the old hunting pavilions.

Most people do as we did, an AM and a PM safari with a short rest back at the resort for lunch.

Our safari vehicle was an open air canter truck with very little added comfort. It carried 20 people along with the driver and guide. Each vehicle is allocated a specific route through the park to ensure an even spread of safari traffic. We took a different route each time. In the morning we traversed the plains with the hills as a back drop. The afternoon’s drive took a long and narrow rocky track skirting along the edge of a rocky range. Even if there was not a single animal in the park, the drive would be still worth it!

On the afternoon safari the tiger was a bit closer, awake, and hunched down in a typical feline attack position. It was watching some deer quite intently. Still a little too far away for us to get a decent photo with our iphone!!  

We waited at least 20 mins to see if it would make a move on the deer. Unfortunately the deer was well aware of the tigers presence and took off as soon as the tiger twitched.

Being late in the day and dusk approaching we returned to our hotel for a lovely hot shower and a cold beer. The buffet dinner was excellent, with lots of choice and was a perfect way to finish a very busy and exciting day.

Next Stop, Jaipur the ‘pink city’