In search of tigers

One of the main reasons we wanted to come to India was to see tigers in the wild, as it is one of the few places left in the world where one can do this. However, booking tickets for the tiger safari was about as hard as trying to spot them, as they sell out within seconds of becoming available on the website. As a result, we could only get seats in a canter – a 20-seat open-topped truck that sounded extremely uncomfortable (I could already hear Derek moaning…). The better (but impossible to book) option, was a 4WD gypsy that seated six. 

 We had two nights and two safaris booked in Ranthambore – one in the morning and one in the afternoon on the second day. Our hotel contacted the ticket office to ensure our truck would pick us up at 6.30am so we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and enjoying a massage in the onsite spa.

Just after sunset they lit the campfires so we sat around the fire with wine, staring at the clear night sky and listening to the sounds of the animals. Derek decided to have a quick shower before dinner so while I waited for him, second glass of sauvignon blanc in hand, I heard a rustling in the bushes behind me. No matter how much I tried to ignore it (or blame the wine!) the rustling turned into what could only have been something (someone?) walking through the dry grass. I called the hotel’s naturalist over and he guessed it might be a tiger but could not see anything with his flashlight. I wasn’t sure it was something that big, but wasn’t going to take any chances so headed inside.

Lo and behold, the next morning a hyena’s laughing face was captured on the camera trap right behind where I had sat! Thank heavens a hyena didn’t kill me. “Tourist fights off tiger” is a much better headline than “Drunk girl eaten by lost hyena”. Apparently a leopard and cub were in the same spot the previous evening and a few days ago the camera trap did capture a roaming tiger. Given the wildlife on the hotel grounds, we were hopeful for the following morning.

Each safari is about three hours long, with trucks and gypsies following routes in pre-determined zones. Our tickets were for zones 2 and 4 (apparently 1-5 is good, 6-10 a waste of time) and set off in search of tigers. We were the last two people picked up so the only seats left were right in the front, next to the driver. Only after our second safari in the afternoon, when we sat in the back of the truck, did we realise our luck this morning. It was a VERY bumpy ride!!

The park was alive with animals and we saw hundreds of spotted dear, sambar dear, more peacocks than we could count, macaques, black-faced langurs, crocodiles, wild boar, mongoose, kingfishers, owls and many other birds.
But sadly, no tigers.

We also wouldn’t see any tigers on our second trip that afternoon, which was a real disappointment. The closest we got to a tiger was a pretty cool paw print… hurrah.

We had the option of trying to book a third safari for the following morning, but given the expense, coupled with our dry experience today and the fact we had quite a few things to see in Jaipur the next day, we decided not to. Sometimes you see something, sometimes you don’t. That’s life.

We really enjoyed our stay at the hotel and the park was interesting, but I guess we’ll have to come back to Ranthambhore one day to try and spot the elusive big cats. We have one final chance to see them in Sariska in two days’ time, but with a much smaller tiger population, we were now not too hopeful.

Although Derek insists he spotted a tiger from our room…