Blogs from Ranthambhore National Park, Rajasthan, India, Asia - page 4

Even the little Indian girl, who had been wailing just moments before fell silent, on hearing the distress call of the Samur buck, sounding for all the world like a smoker ‘hack’ ing through a megaphone. Answering calls came back from the plateau above and the other side of the narrow wooded valley that surrounded our safari truck. There was some agitation in the trees too, as the birds caught wind of what was up and then the spotted deer and monkeys playing by the river seemed to disappear into thin air. Our guide whispered that there was a predator moving along the plateau so we waited, barely daring to shift our sore buttocks for fear of alerting the tiger or leopard to our presence. The forest fell silent and seemed to suck even the noise ... read more

Greetings all, We are now in Ranthambhore National Park. After watching the sunrise over the Taj Mahal from our balcony at the hotel in Agra, we had a quick breakfast and then our driver took us to Bharatpur where we were to catch the train to a town near the park. We had been “warned” by our tour coordinator in Delhi that the trains in India are not like the trains in Europe and North America and this would be quite an experience for us. Then, two days ago, we read that two people were killed and eight injured in a stampede at the train station in Delhi. I guess they announced that the train would be departing from a different platform than where people were congregating; in their rush to get to the new platform, ... read more

Today we arrived for our long awaited trip to Ranthambhore National Park, in search of tigers and other wildlife. We started our morning game drive at 6.30, where we later discovered we were not allowed entry to the park until 7 am, so we watched sunrise outside the reserve! On our first drive we saw a wide variety of birdlife - including two Spotted Owlets, Kingfishers, Little Egrets and a Painted Stork, Marsh crocodiles, loads of Spotted deer and a few Sambar deer, Common Langur monkeys - very cute many with young - but unfortunately no sighting of the tiger, which was a little disappointing. The park is set in a backdrop of mountains, with beautiful valleys, and many waterholes which attracts an abundance of wildlife. In the afternoon, we set out again, with a lively ... read more

Ranthambhore National Park was once the hunting ground of the maharajas of Jaipur and is one of the last few habitats capable of supporting viable populations of 'Panthera Tigris" - the Royal Bengal Tiger. "Seeing a tiger needs patience, and is purely a matter of chance", said the forest ranger as our jeep entered the park. We knew it, but the excitement and sense of anticipation was palpable. The park sprawls across approx. 400 sq. km. of forest where the rolling Vindhya and craggy Aravalli Hills meet. Vegetation is lush and varied. Dhok, ber, sal, pipal and banyan trees, a few scattered palms, the odd mango grove, and three lakes support more than three hundred species of birdlife and a profusion of wildlife. Every trip to the forest was rewarded. Sambar stags with magnificent antlers chewing ... read more

Safari at Rathambhore National Park... read more