Ranthambore Tiger Reserve! Dec 17-19

There was an Indian holiday on December 17, so we went to Ranthambore Tiger Reserve with some friends.  (Our friend Caitlin arranged the whole thing for 8 people!)  It is approximately 300km away from Delhi (which is a lot longer than you think with the roads and traffic here), but well worth it.  Ranthambore used to be the hunting grounds of the Rajasthani royalty, and is absolutely spectacular as you will see. According to our tour guide, the park only has 35 tigers (We have also heard as low as 25).  The point is it is hard to find these tigers, but we tried and kind of failed. 

Here is the tiger we did see:

Now for the rest...

The group
We had a great group of friends with us, and fun was had by all...

The journey is half the fun

Going to these places outside of Delhi provides a good opportunity to see how others outside the city live.  In this case, we drive through Rajasthan, the neighboring state to New Delhi.   You really get a glimpse into what life is like.  For the most part we saw lots of electricity, laughing children and amazing colors. 

 Sunrise on the Indian landscape.

We called this the baked potato.  The truck is not that large. 

"Are there really cows in the roads?" Yes.  Lots.

Selling decorations for cars and trucks.  The MTV show "pimp my ride" has nothing on these vehicles.

Did I mention how people get piled onto cars?  Common site in Rajasthan.

ALL the trucks have some painting like this.  Just a normal everyday work trucl.  This is scene from one of the main roads, so you can see why it slows down.

 This is a scene from a road in Ranthambore.

Day one-the fort

Half of our group left Delhi around 5:30am, and arrived there just after 2.  This was just in time to have lunch and go to the fort inside the national park.  The fort itself covers a lot of ground  and was absolutely spectacular. On a hilltop, it is a sprawling example of how grand this area used to be. 

See the pictures below for pictures at the fort with our friends Caitlin and Bion.

Monkeys are everywhere. 

Also a lot of peacocks.

View from the fort into the tiger reserve.

Day two-the park, the morning hunt for tigers

So we had 2 safaris scheduled for the day.  The first started at 6:45, the second at 2:30.  Folks, 6:45 is early, and in a desert it is COLD.  So we bundled up and headed out to our big huge vehicle.  The way this works: you go into the park in one of the sections (1-5).  Your guide is listening for a warning sign from one of the deer to other deer that a tiger is nearby.  If the guide hears the warning sign, the driver literally FLOORS it to the spot from which the warning sign came. Imagine a big tank like 18-seater flooring it.  Yep, fun.  We heard tons of warning signs back and forth between two groups of deer, but no tiger.  Apparently the tiger was spotted one section over. 

Though we did not find a tiger, we saw a very beautiful and different side of India, as you can see below.

Did I mention it was cold?

Amazing scenery actually.

Check out this awesome tree!

Just so picturesque!

 This is one of many spotted dear we saw.

Can you see the fort in the distance?

 Savannah, please forgive me for not knowing this bird.  It is one of at least 10 species we saw.

Including this owl.

 This one I know-a heron!

 Another kind of deer that has bad eyesight and therefore often a target for tiger dinners.  I think it is sambar deer.

This is a guesthouse, apparently for VIPs.  We don't count.

Crocodile basking on the bank.

Safari #2-the afternoon search for tigers

Our second safari took us to the buffer zone in jeeps.  We were a bit angry because it was not inside the beautiful park you see above, and there was barely an animal.  I mean, we were like-oh dragonflies!  Literally.  We did see a big buck, but that was about it.  (Caitlin got our money refunded!)  It was more like off-roading.  We barely took any pictures, but here they are:

 Great landscape

 Bion and the other jeep.

 The terrain is obviously not as lush as the morning.  No wonder we couldn't find the animals.

 Oh there is our one animal, and it is a beauty.  Check out the antlers.

We saw this circling overhead.

The excitement came in the night.  There was a real tiger siting nearby our hotel in a farm.  Apparently one of the tigers frequently gets out of the national park and comes to this area, kills a cow, and moves on.  Literally our hotel was like-get in the car and we all drove to this farm looking for the tiger. There were all these people, lights, and basically no one from the national park as far as I could tell.  Frankly, I'm not sure what this says about the conservation and protection efforts.  The state of tigers is not good here at all, or in the world frankly.  But that is not a topic for the blog.

The below pictures don't really convey it.