Ranthambore

  Ranthambore National Park, Rajasthan, India
Tuesday, January 20, 2009

  Long drive this morning to arrive in Ranthambore for the afternoon safari. The place organized by Preeti is great. We sleep in big tents which have their own bathroom and big bed. It looks really different. We get in the jeep with 4 other persons and head towards the National Park. It is really nice and we see loads of birds, antelopes, wild pigs, crocodiles...Our guide and driver are nice and explain a lot of things.

In the winning jeep

By the end of the day, no tiger in sight and we are about to get home. Suddenly, the guide gets all excited and start shouting "tiger! tiger!". Other jeeps and bigger vehicles start to arrive. I cant see it obviously and my blind boyfriend can!!And then I see it between the trees, walking calmly and being all majestic. He walks like he owns the place. It is incredible and I am more impressed than seeing the Taj Mahal. The driver starts going around , dribbling everyone and their pissed off tourists so that we can get a better view. The tiger walks pas us and crosses the road. The chase is on to find him at the other side of the forest. Our  driver is definitely the best and does not let anyone one go past us. We see him on the other side again, not a bother on him. Everyone is delighted and high fiving each other. We see the tiger one last time near the lake. It is time to leave the National Park before it gets dark. On our way out, they spot a leopard. It is far away on the cliff and hard to see. After a while, we manage to see the cat eating a peacock. It is rare to see leopards as they are nocturnal animals. It was great sightseeing!!Everyone is coming back all smiles.

sleepy croc

The evening is nice and chilly. We have dinner outside nearby a bonfire, talking with a kiwi family and an English couple. The tent is freezing cold and I think we will need more blankets tomorrow.

beautiful tiger

The following day, we get an early start (6am) for morning safari. It is soooo cold , we are all wrapped up as to go skiing. As soon as you get into the jeep, people automatically exchange experience on whether or not they saw the tiger. It is funny. There are 5 routes in the park, The best ones are known to be 3,4 and 5. This morning we go on number 1 and we see nothing, except a couple of animals. Nothing to write home about.
We go to the afternoon safari and are hoping a lot for tit as we are on route 3 again. Unfortunately no tiger was seen this afternoon. Last year they had a mother and three cubs but now they are all grown up and lead their own life. There are around 30 tigers in the park. They reckon we did not see any today because one of them made a kill the day before and was staying near to his dinner all day.
We spend our last night in the park chatting by the fire again and a little girl came to do some Indian dancing with a man playing the sitar.

sunset on Ranthambore