Ahamkaara

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

The Land of Tiger - Ranthambore

Sahana Rao Wednesday, March 12, 2008 1 Comments

About the place:

Ranthambore National Park is in Sawai Madhopur District of Rajasthan state, Located at the junction of the Aravalli and Vindhya hill range.

How did we reach:

We had decided to go to Ranthambore by Dehradun Express which leaves Old Delhi station at 10:05 PM and reaches Sawai Madhopur at 5:15 AM the next day.

Accommodation:

We had booked a Swiss tent at Ranthambore Bagh. http://www.ranthambhorebagh.com/

We were delighted with their service, simply wonderful.

A representative from the Jungle lodge picked us from the railway station at 5.30AM.

Day 1:

We were told that there was a visit to the fort which is in the midst of the forest at 8.00 AM. This gave us some time to sleep and to refresh ourselves.

At 8.10AM, We entered the forest,

The serene ambience and uncanny wilderness of the thick forest of Ranthambore had left us dumbfounded.

The fort was huge. We engaged a guide for 150Rs. It is one of the oldest forts in our country

The interiors of the fort and the story attached with it were really stunning.

The view of the landscape from highest point of the fort is magnificient . We also visited the famous Ganesha temple in the fort.

We returned to the lodge by 11.40AM, had a sumptuous lunch followed by an afternoon nap.

At 4.00PM we had a jungle safari. We preferred jeep safari over canter safari. Unfortunately, we were destined for canter safari.

We were taken into the jungle in a canter.

Ranthambore has five safari routes, labeled from 1 to 5. Guide spoke broken English.

We saw a horde of spotted deer. My husband imitated some alarm calls that are usually used by deer .We also spotted many Langurs, a bear, a couple of Sambar deer and many peacocks. We could see a variety of birds.

We were excited to see a pugmark of a tiger which had crossed our route before 15 minutes.

Campfire and a cultural program were arranged that night. We relished the dinner served and enjoyed the dance performance by a small girl.

Day 2:

We had a safari at 6.30 AM.

We were praying for a predator spotting. Our luck chose the same safari route.

We could hear alarm calls from herbivores. Probably, we were away from the predators by a few feet. But, we were not lucky enough to spot them.

It was really disappointing that we didn’t spot any tigers (one can spot, if he/she is lucky) or leopards (you have to be extremely lucky to spot one. Since, leopard is a shy animal). Since, it was our first wild safari it was as exhilarating as it could get.

We had a heavy breakfast and bid good-bye to Ranthambore with a heavy heart.

We promised Ranthambore that we would get back to spot a tiger!!

Here are some things you should not forget when you go there,