Ranthambhore

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Hi guys,

Well, we arrived safe and sound in Ranthambhore yesterday. The train from Jaipur was only half an hour late which is on time for India. The OM restaurant we mentioned previously was awesome, good food, good service and great view. The following day we did a bit of shopping around the bizzars of Jaipur and then went to the Amber Fort Jaigarh, which was pretty cool and once again had really good views of Jaipur. In the evening we went to the Four Seasons restaurant as reccommended by the LP, nice restaurant and pretty good food but not as good as OM, although quite a bit cheaper.

Arrived in Ranthambhore about 2.30pm yesterday with transfer straight to the hotel. We're staying in a luxury tent at the Ranthambhore Bagh which is wicked! We have our own porch with seating, plenty of space inside and a cracking ensuite with the best shower ever! The grounds are really nice and tranquil and makes such a nice change from what we've experienced so far. After a spot of lunch yesterday we headed up to the fort which over looks the park. The views were amazing and we could see plenty of wildlife including Sambar deer, Spotted deer, wild boar, crocodiles, langur monkeys and loads and loads of birds....Dan's in heaven! We also heard a leopard calling (but couldn't spot it. Loads of great photo opportunities as well. Some of the scenes are straight out of the jungle book. Our guide was really good, though his English was pretty bad. He took us to a temple in the fort where we were given a blessing - spot on forehead and garland of flowers (the monkeys liked the flowers a lot, we had to give them away pretty sharpish before they helped themselves!).

Last night we chilled out around the camp fire after a delicious dinner. We met three other couples, one English, one American and one from Hong Kong. They're all really nice but are only here for a few days.

While its absolutly freezing at night here the tents are pretty warm and we've got a decent heater. We also had a little visitor in the night. Heard something rustling around outside so went to grab torch from bag and was very suprised when a little shrew/mouse jumped out at me! We'd left some biscuits in there which our rodent friend had found. Luckily Dan came to my aid and shooed it out of my bed!

We had our first safari this morning. We were up bright and early at 5.45am and got into the park about 6.30am just as it was getting light. We shared our jeep with 3 Americans from a very plush hotel down the road. We saw some Sambar and Spotted deer as well as Blue Bull (strange horse sized antelope), Langur monkeys, more birds but unfortunately no tiger as of yet. Though we did see pug marks (got the photos) and tiger poo!! (very fresh!!!!!!) We also heard a warning call from a Sambar deer but the tiger didn't show. Hopefully we'll have more luck this afternoon!

Unfortunately the internet is down at our hotel (we don't seem to be having much luck!) and so we're stuck in some little hovel fighting off mozzies and paying through the nose for the privilage.

Anyway, we'd better be going before we get bitten any more. Not long till our next safari so wish us luck! We'll let u know how it goes and hopefully get some photos uploaded.

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