After the stepwell we head to our lunch stop, which is at a beautiful organic resort called Umaid Lake Palace. Needless to say, everything they have is organic and grown right on the property, from vegetables to an inhouse dairy and fish farm – including the huge bee hives that are underneath the eaves of the restaurant area, next to where our tables are set for lunch. (Needless to say, we all moved over to another area to keep our distance from those little honey producers!) The resort is beautiful and completely empty. Bhanu later explains they get a lot of business from weddings where they rent the entire facility out – but they are trying to get more tourism business in other seasons. I would hope! Because it is a lovely location, the buffet was excellent and the garden terrace setting (complete with Squimonks cleaning up our plates) was as serene as it was beautiful.
After lunch we have time to wander about the property, exploring the beautiful interiors and the well maintained gardens in front of the hotel.
Back on the road again, we work ourselves into an easy routine of listening to Bhanu and looking out the window at village streets, teeming people, and oh, the trucks! Overloaded with whatever they are carrying, and typically barreling right at us until they swerve at the very last minute to avoid a crash.
It’s an adventure, that’s for sure, and we are definitely glad we aren’t driving! After a couple of hours we stop at our comfort stop, the Tiger Treat, but find only bovines, not felines to greet us.
Comfort handled, we roll out once again, through changing scenery that gets drier and more desert like as the kilometers speed by.
Well, speed is a relative turn, because the highway here is under construction and so we are shunted back and forth between each side of the road, sometimes in as little as a few hundred feet! It’s slow going, and by the time we hit the Ranthambore limits, it’s well after dark. As we head toward the hotel, we find out that the main road leading to the resort is under construction and we need to take a detour. Ok, no biggie, until we see the detour! The resort has sent a guide car for us to lead us in so we don’t get lost, and that’s because we are goin’ off-roading baby! In a 44 passenger bus, I might remind you! Holy cow – Suneel is amazing, he takes that bus right off the main road and into the sand dunes of Ranthambore.
It is totally crazy and there are a couple times when we are convinced we will be stuck, but no, Suneel successfully guides us right into the main entrance of the hotel, backs us up and lets us off at the front door. A big round of applause for our fearless driver!
We all get checked in then scramble for our rooms – which are huge and lovely! So huge in fact, the bathroom could be a separate room in itself, the shower could easily accommodate 10 people, plus it has a door off the shower that leads out to an astro-turfed walled in patio. Yes, that door at the end of the shower. Plus a lovely patio out the back of the room.
Who could ask for more? Food, that’s what we could ask for, and it is delivered in the form of a lovely buffet steps away from our room. There is also a little bar upstairs where we can keep the bartender company after our meal. It’s all you could want, and more.
The 4 of us spend the evening happily munching away, chatting with our tour mates, then retiring the upstairs bar for a little more liquid refreshment before retiring for good to our respective rooms readying ourselves for our morning safari. Tigers! Yes!
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