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Published: April 18th 2006
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The second day of our tour we took a train to Ranthambore National Park. The park covers 1334 square kilometers and has about 35-40 tigers. Until 1970 when it became protected, the park was the hunting grounds for the maharajas (high kings).
The ride from Delhi was 5 hours in an air-conditioned 2-tier (AC2) class train car. It was very comfortable with curtains and bedding for overnight trips. There were vendors selling Chai tea, water, pop, or snacks walking up and down the aisles. Each car had a couple toilets with one being ‘western style’ where you can sit down and the others being ‘Indian style’ squat toilets. The toilets all emptied into a pipe that curved a bit and put the waste directly on the train tracks! The toilets all had a large cup and a water spout used to clean one’s back side. I’m not 100% sure about the mechanics of how the cleaning is done. But I always carried some toilet paper in my daypack, so I didn’t need to ask.
Indian Railways is the state-owned railway company in India that has a monopoly of the train system. Covering 39,000 miles and transporting about 5 billion
people a year, it is one of the largest and busiest railway system in the world. With 1.6 million employees it employs more people than any other company in the world.
We stayed 2 nights at the Tiger Den Lodge just a couple miles from the park. There were 4 rooms in each of the several small, white, 2 story lodges. All of the rooms had air conditioning, which was a relief in the middle of the day after being in the hot 90+ degree sun for hours. They all had western style toilets and hot showers. Although, the shower in my room had only mildly warm water. Power outages happened several times a day, so it was a good idea to carry around a flashlight in your pocket in the evenings.
Each day we were served 3 really good meals. In the morning they had fruit, vanilla wafers, omelets, juice, coffee, and tea. For lunch and dinner they would bring out several different types of Indian food. About half of the dishes were vegetarian. I actually liked the ones with big chunks of cottage cheese. The ‘non-veg’ dishes were usually chicken or sometimes mutton. Hindus (about 80%
Squat toilet on a train
emptying directly to the train tracks. of the population) don’t eat beef since cows are sacred. Muslims (about 12% of the population) don’t eat pork since pigs are a dirty animal.
There were 2 safari drives each day, one from 6am-noon and another from 3pm-6pm. We were required to stay in the jeep the entire time except in designated locations that we stopped for bathroom breaks. Tourists getting eaten by tigers are bad for business. When we stopped for breaks there was usually a designated spot behind a large tree or behind a building for the women to go to the bathroom. Men just found their own tree somewhere.
Each morning when we were checking in at the entrance to the park, there was a mob of locals surrounding the jeeps trying to sell us souvenirs. They got pretty aggressive at times. They would sometimes physically put an item in our hands and ask for money, forcing us to hand it back to them. We generally didn’t buy from these vendors since it would only encourage mobbing the jeep more.
The jeeps had 2 benches that sit 2 people each and 2 seats in the front for our driver and a guide. There
were no guns in the jeeps. The guides all seemed pretty knowledgeable about the names of animals. Some of them spoke really good English. There was usually one guide in the group that was especially good at spotting and naming the rare birds.
The overall the goal of the jeeps seemed to be finding tigers. I’m sure the drivers and guides get much bigger tips when the tourists get the adrenaline rush of seeing a wild tiger. The guides would chat when the jeeps passed each other to communicate the locations of the latest tiger spotting. They didn’t have walkie-talkies to communicate, possibly because the terrain was very hilly blocking the signals. I did get to see one tiger on our first morning drive.
These safari drives seem a bit intrusive on the animals at times. When a tiger is spotted, the jeeps from all around converge on the road nearest the tiger. Every time the tiger moves, the jeeps follow it along and jockey for the best spot to see the tiger. Eventually the tiger will wander off in an area that the jeeps can’t get to. But the tigers mostly hunt at night when visitors are
not allowed in the park. These eco-tourism trips create a whole new economy and bring lots of money into the nearby villages. It gives the local people an economic incentive to keep the wildlife (especially tigers) in good numbers.
Before our second afternoon safari ride, we got to go on a hike at Ranthambore Fort, built in the 10th century. It is high up on a hill that overlooks across the huge valley below. The fort covers the whole hillside. There were several locals coming in to the fort to pray. About a mile or two into the hike we came upon an open market. All around the fort there were langur monkeys that would eat right out of people’s hands. For lunch they packed us a box lunch to eat at the fort (we found a spot away from the monkeys). It consisted of a cheese sandwich, a hard-boiled egg, an orange, and juice. After the long hot hike it all tasted so good to me.
Our last night in Ranthambore our hotel had a “barbeque” (basically an outdoor buffet). Later they had live music from local musicians, dancers, and people blowing fire from their mouth. They
would put a bunch of gasoline (or some other vary strong smelling flammable) in their mouth, light a match, and fire away! Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera with me when they were doing the fire blowing.
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EricaRidley
Erica Ridley
Wow!
>> There were 2 safari drives each day, one from 6am-noon and another from 3pm-6pm. << This sounds AWESOME! Did I mention yet how green with envy I am? Take me! Take me! =)