Rise and shine – we are out of bed, breakfasted and on the canter (a 4WD truck like vehicle with 9 rows of seats) before 7am. And off we go – into the wickedly cold morning, all wrapped up in wool blankets thankfully provided by our safari tour guide, Bittu. We leave at the light of dawn, driving to the park the same way the bus came in – seriously! You can now see the sand track in the day time….
Once in the park, we stop for tickets and are immediately hounded by vendors with everything from hats to mittens (I am really seriously eyeing the mittens right about now – it’s cold, really cold!), then we are off into the park that was once the private hunting ground for the rulers, but then given to the government to create the National Park. Famous for their tigers, they currently have 60 on the property, but can really only support 45 with the territory they have. Nonetheless, we would be happy to just see one – but as Bhanu has reminded us, if we are only looking for the tiger, we will not see the rest of the beauty of the park.
We take track 1 this morning and head off into the park, bouncing around on the Canter and holding on for dear life in some areas. We search in vain, but don’t really find any wildlife at all for a long while. Gorgeous scenery with banyan trees and the mountains, but nothing else (and why would they be out, for heavens sakes? It is frigid. Of course the animals aren’t meandering around, they are holed up in their dens or where ever else staying warm while us stupid humans get frostbite in a bumpy, wobbly 4x4 bouncing around the jungle!)
As we get further into the park, we pass other vehicles and Bittu inquires to each if there are any sightings. Nope.. We turn around a few times, finally coming to a cross roads where a guard helpfully (or hopefully) points us in the right direction…
And off we go, bumping down this next track.. We finally come upon some real honest to goodness wildlife! Spotted deer. Yes! Oh, and we’ve found some peacocks too – but we were going too fast to get a photo.
More u-turns, more searching, and nearly an hour later, we’ve still seen bupkus. Oh well, that’s how it goes. We stop back at the cross-roads for a comfort stop (the boys can go – I’m not going anywhere except our hotel – no way, no how) and at least get treated to some great bird sightings – a bunch of Rufus Treepies – sort like a magpie – come swooping down to greet us as we disembark the canter.. They are totally unaffected by humans and come so close, it’s amazing.
We also get our first tiger sighting! (FYI – it’s s sign that says Ranthambore National park with a tiger on it)
LOL. It is now apparently time to head back, so we bundle up again and retrace the canter steps to find some Sambal deer (the biggest in India) and a great big buck just off the trail.
Then come the monkeys – some in trees, but a sweet momma monkey and her baby sitting on the wall at the entrance of the park.
After that it’s back through the sandhills and dirt tracks to the hotel…
…and a few hours to bask in the sunlight, go to the gym (which is at the far end of the complex, next to the spa and is at least a 5 minute walk!), eat lunch (outside) and try to warm up for our afternoon safari adventure!
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