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India 2007 - Days 7 to 9 - Ranthambhore by Liz Canham
#94 - 31 - 0 - India 2007 - Days 7 to 9 - Ranthambhore by Liz Canham
[ 2007-09-10 00:01:00 ] - lizc
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One of our main reasons for travelling to India this time was the hope of seeing a tiger (or several) in the wild. We had been to Kenya many times and thus had seen a large variety of fascinating wild animals, including, lions, a cheetah, elephants, buffalo, giraffes and all sorts of antelopes, but of course tigers don't live in Africa, so this was a big hole in our list of "must sees".
We boarded our trusty Tata in Jaipur and headed for Ranthambhore, a four hour trip on reasonable roads and were, as ever, met with a cold face cloth and a cool fruit drink. Having made sure that we could join a safari bus the next morning, we were taken to our room, one of four in a bungalow in the lovely garden, and left to make ourselves at home. This was one of four similar bungalows and there were also a few tents, for the hardier individuals. The garden consisted of a large lawn with facilities for cricket and croquet with a couple of shaded tables, surrounded by bright flower beds and shrubs, then an attractive pool area with sunbeds.
We unpacked and made for the pool, to be joined by a couple of visiting Red Legged Stilts, which paraded around, danced for one another and drank from the pool.
Meals at this hotel are buffet-style, not something that I would normally recommend in India, as often, the spirit burners are turned off if the food begins to stick to the warming pans then relit if the food starts to go cold - thus the high incidences of food poisoning. However, this was definitely an exception and throughout our stay, there was usually a meat dish, a vegetable dish, featuring any or all of spinach, potato, peas, cauliflower, courgettes and peppers, a dal, rice and a fresh nan or roti brought to the table. The dal varied, sometimes yellow split peas, sometimes orange lentils, sometimes chickpeas and sometimes urad dal (black lentils), always differently and delicately flavoured. One of the highlights was a spicy, aromatic hard-boiled egg curry - absolutely delicious! There were European choices too, but who wants spaghetti Bolognese when there's curry on offer?
It was only on our last evening that we noticed two ladies sitting in the dark on the ground outside the dining room window with a charcoal fire in front of them, cooking the rotis individually - and very good they were too.
Five thirty am saw us up and waiting on the hotel veranda with hot coffee and biscuits to stave off the hunger pangs for a few hours. The safari bus, a high open-topped affair, duly arrived and off we drove, collecting more passengers en route, to the gates Ranthambhore National Park. Even in India in March, it's chilly at that time of the morning and more so racing along in an open vehicle!
Entrance to the park and visitor numbers are strictly controlled and each vehicle is allocated a Zone number to which it must go and in which it must stay for the duration of its visit. Our route in Zone 3 took us along a track to an archway beside which some gaudily coloured parrots were cavorting and on with the fort above us, through a wooded area, past a lake to more open grassy ground.
Our first sighting was a pair of nilgai (a type of large antelope), quickly followed by chital (spotted deer) then, driving into open ground, approaching a large pool, it was obvious by the number of stationary vehicles, that there was something interesting. We drove up to join the others and yes, there she was, a huge lone tiger, resting by the pool, having recently killed and eaten her fill. What a splendid sight; she even obliged by walking a short distance before resuming her contemplation of who knows what - fantastic.
As well as the tiger, we saw a myriad of stunning birds, including heron, kingfishers and peacocks. One resident of the pool was a crocodile, but he obviously didn't want to show off and barely more than his snout broke the still surface water. Another bonus as we were driving away was the sighting of a Little Owl, so called because it really is tiny and so well camouflaged in its tree that we were amazed that the guide even saw it in time to have the driver stop for us to have a better look.
After the early start, breakfast was very welcome, with a choice of fruits, cereals, eggs, spicy fritters and freshly cooked paratha stuffed with spicy potato and peas.
We did it all again the next morning, this time in a jeep with four other tiger hunters, but were allocated to Zone 1 of the park, less renowned for its tiger sightings. The occupants of another vehicle told us that tiger spoor was seen over our tyre tracks, so we must have been very close, but alas, no tiger for us today, just a selection of monkeys and antelopes. It was a lovely drive though, with the sun rising gently, the birds singing and the insects buzzing around being the only sounds when our driver killed the jeep's engine for us to enjoy the peace.
Our next stop will be Baratpur, well-known for its bird sanctuary then on to Agra and the amazing Taj Mahal.
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