Blogs from Ranthambhore National Park, Rajasthan, India, Asia

Schon wieder klingelt der Wecker vor 06 Uhr...aber da Tiger angeblich morgens jagen, könnte es sich auch heute lohnen. Um 07.00 Uhr haben wir dann alle Teilnehmer unserer Jeep-Tour eingesammelt und sind auf dem Weg in den Nationalpark. Es ist saukalt auf dem offenen Verdeck und ich habe alle meine Klamotten an, eine Decke um und friere trotzdem. Ein paar ganz coole Inder sitzen aber auch in Flip-Flops und T-Shirt da und bibbern vor sich hin (natürlich wollen sie nicht unsere zweite Decke haben...zu uncool). Leider fährt Nicole aus Oregon, die wir beim Abendessen kennengelernt haben, auf eine andere Tour mit. Wir fahren in Sektor 5 des Ranthambore Nationalparks, hier wurde gestern früh ein Tiger gesehen. Insgesamt sollen laut Reiseführer noch ca. 20 Tiger hier leben, laut unserem Tiger-Sucher/Tourguide etwa 35, wobei der Reiseführer auch zwei ... read more

Thanks for your comments. Cow pat cake is buffalo droppings which are mixed with straw (to make them more combustible), patted and shaped by hand, dried in the sun, stacked and used as fuel. Well guessed! Who writes the captions? Today has been a very long travelling day perhaps not in kilometers (circa 300) but very long in time (six and a half hours). We didn't leave Agra until after midday so late into our Hotel Dev Villas in Ranthambhore. Apologies for the lack of photos. The road from Agra to Ranthambhore was expressway for a while (however not an expressway in the way we understand it - see photo 2 - they come from both directions) then a period of normal road then the road disappeared for 20 kilometers - road under construction - lumpy ... read more

K- We arrived in India about 10 days ago and were immediately joined by my Mum and her partner Don. We are traveling together from Delhi to Jaipur via Varanasi, Khajuraho, Orchha, Agra (Taj Mahal) and Ranthambore (tigers - hopefully). India is a very tough country to travel – a constant onslaught on all the senses - so we are pretty impressed that they are taking on the challenge in their 70s. To make things a bit easier we have hired a driver and pre-booked hotels and I must say that it is very relaxing! However, we also still have the flexibility to decide what we want to do and when – unlike the big tour bus trips. I was in India back in 2003 and Delhi is still as chaotic, noisy, dirty and crowded as ... read more

Namaskaar, apke se (good morning how are you) I'm only a few days in and no idea what day it is till I read the news about a certain Mr. Gadaffi- yeehah! Since last I blogged I have traveled with my own private driver (posh eh) from Delhi to Agra to see the Taj Mahal, absolutely amazing but completely over touristified if you know what I mean. He really loved his first wife and she him, 14 children! Mind you 22 years and 40,000 workers to complete, that puts the trams in the shade. Traveled to Ranthambhhore national park yesterday. 350km of extremely interesting roads, along the way we stop at an up-market restaurant and my driver cannot go in because of the caste system and although there is one wealthy Indian family inside it is ... read more

Sunday 3-20 to Monday 3-21 When we first got to Jaipur, we were a little disappointed that we would be traveling on the actual day of Holi and would only be in Jaipur for the previous day’s Elephant Festival. Turns out, it was probably better that way. As we drove from Jaipur to Rathambore National Park we were amazed to see people in the streets (all men of course, who knows where the women were or how they celebrate) absolutely covered in tikka powder. Humans that were once all shades of brown were now completely purple or green with bright yellow hair or a bright red arm. The amount of color on people was astounding and of course they were having a great time sneaking up on people in the streets, throwing powder or colored water ... read more

After partying it up in the booze free, drug free, meat free paradise that was Pushcar, we decided to head down to Jaipur to calm things down a touch. After a night of rooftop rummy and a few well earned Kingfishers (the bev of choice amongst most Indians), we went to Jaipur Fort, which looked like a smaller and far less impressive Great Wall of China. It was a bit of a walk to the top, so we decided to take the elephants - not the most comfortable mode of transport, but an experience all the same. There wasn't a great deal else to do in Jaipur, so after a night in our hotel room watching a ridiculously exciting game of cricket (England vs. India) and trying unsuccessfully to recreate it with a coke bottle, it ... read more

from Rajasthan...... read more