Stalking the Tiger

Thursday January 11th

Every tourist in Ranthambore got up early to meet their safari drivers. The morning was actually really cold, so we bundled up in all of our layers and were happy we'd brought packable down coats.

Coffee and cookies helped us survive the (short) wait for our rides in the cold, dark morning, and the hotel sent us off with water and snack bag, but especially a big wool blanket with a fabulous hot water bottle - each 😄

To the park to find the tigers! Or one. Maybe see a stripe?

It took over half an hour in our open jeep to reach our assigned park gate. We'd drawn Zone 6 for the morning ride . Did I mention it was cold? And dark? 

Mary and I were in the raised back seat of the 6-person jeep. The naturalist and driver were in the front, and we huddled with two other couples - from Liverpool and Mumbai. We were actually having a blast, excited about all the animals we might see!

Morning mist over Ranthambore National Park.

The first animals our guide spotted were two little owlets in a tree. Not exactly ferocious, but cute. 

Before the sun was up, we'd seen a wild boar and a spotted deer. 

After the smog of Delhi and the fog of Agra, it was nice to be out in the clear, fresh air.

Yes, I'm overdoing the sunrise pics.

Our excellent naturalist, Pankaj Joshi, seen searching for the next wild creature. (Check out the YouTube channel Joshi's Nature Expedition for tiger videos from Ranthambore).

Sudden surprise - a sloth bear! She looks just like the moon bears we had in Roger Williams Park Zoo, but this is a separate species only found in India.

The naturalist assured us that spotting a sloth bear was more rare than seeing a tiger in the park. We were dubious but honored. (After this, every time we told someone we'd seen the sloth bear, they were deeply impressed).

We were all excited to spot a colorful bird flitting around a bush. Got to our pit stop and found out it's a common relative of the magpie (India's Rufous Treepie). It's still pretty.

Soon we made a pit stop where the guides pointed out these...

TIGER TRACKS!

Off we went, hunting for the female tiger who had left the tracks, or one of the other few tigers known to be active around Zone 6.

Lots of jeep bumping time later (kudos to our driver) we saw a crocodile sunning itself on a bank, and several birds, including these rose-necked parakeets. We were surprised to hear that they were only parakeets, because they were definitely as large as parrots.

Time was up for our morning safari, but so far we hadn't spotted any tigers. We left the park through this stunning gate. For 300 years, Ranthambore was a private hunting preserve for the maharaja and guests, which explains the castle-like wall and gate.

Bounce bouncing all the way back to Khem Villas, we experienced all of the sights and sounds of Rajasthan, in and out of small towns. Plenty of beep, beep, beep!

It was nice to take a break back at the hotel with a late breakfast and more COFFEE. The sun was fully out and the day quickly warmed up. Mary and I had some fun browsing the little shop at Khem Villas - and possibly picking up a FEW pashminas - from friendly shopkeeper Amit. 

It wasn't long before we were back on the trail in a different jeep for our afternoon attempt.

Another gate. Walls and highway dividers and such in India - or at least in Rajasthan - are often beautifully painted.

This time we had drawn Zone 10. Mary and I were lucky to have the same highly-regarded naturalist, but the animals weren't as active now that the day had warmed up.

We were really hoping to spot a tiger by the end of our ride. Two specific tigers - a male and female - were known to be active in Zone 10, and soon we heard that another jeep had seen one. 🐅 We spent the rest of the drive bumping from location to location to listen and search, stopping occasionally for the naturalist and driver to swap info with others.

This colorful kingfisher caught our attention.

We saw lots of tiger bait (spotted deer). It was fun to watch the young langurs playing near the deer. That's how we knew the tigers weren't nearby.

In the end, it wasn't our lucky day. Bounce, bounce, beep, beep back to our home base. Through the grapevine we heard about some tiger sightings in other zones in the park that day, and one fellow diner showed us a beautiful tiger photo she'd taken. Sigh. But we'd had a truly enjoyable day.

Nearly back to our lodgings, I had to get a shot of this particular tiger. The face is priceless.

Good night!

- Christine