Ranthambhore

On November 8th, 2003, we (Krishna Narain, Ramkrishna Valke, Gautham and Myself) took the night train from Delhi to Sawai Madhopur City. The train left the New Delhi station at about 11 pm and we reached Sawai Madhopur Railway station at about 6.30 am in the morning. Pinto from Ranthambhore Bagh was waiting for us and in a few minutes drive, we reached our resort. Poonam and Aditya Singh were perfect hosts and we felt completely at home all the time! Do check out "www.ranthambhore.com" guys, I am sure you will love this place.

We just had time for a cup of tea when our “Open Canter” arrived. A 10 minute drive and we entered the enchanting Ranthambhore National Park. Would you believe it, in less than a minute and we hit on our first tiger! Awesome sight as a huge tiger walked slowly along a dried out stream as our and several other vehicles drove slowly on the road just along the tigers path! I took several shots. It was 7.30 am and the light was low. The Tiger was moving. I was not happy with the shots. I wanted more! At 9.30 am we hit on the mother and her two cubs. They were with us as long as we wanted and I happily clicked away…

More and more tigers ! Seven sightings in five drives through the park! I did not even go into the park for tigers on the third day afternoon! Plenty of birds too! Ranthambhore is all that I had read about and imagined. The fort, the water (Rajbagh), the sambars, the crocodiles, the tigers… they were all there! Perhaps one of the best places to photograph tigers in the wild. But then, luck also is a factor as in case of any wildlife viewing. The couple who went in the Jeep and did not come with us did not see any tigers at all though they saw a bear and a black Jungle Cat!!

Ranthambhore Nationl park has an area of 1334 sq kms of which 300 sq km is considered as the core area. The tiger in the wild, lives for about 15 years. India has a population of less than 3000 tigers left in the wild. There are several breeding females residing at Ranthambhore! A very valuable tiger reserve indeed! Just tell me, in such a large reserve, why must the tiger sit on the road?

On the 11th afternoon we visited a nearby lake outside the forest. Plenty of birds indeed! I did the same on the 12th Morning too, another small water body outside the forest for birds and then took the 1 pm train to Bharatpur. Just 3 hrs journey from Ranthambhore is Bharatpur, land of birds! Well, that is another story!

Here are some mammal and bird images from Ranthambhore for your viewing pleasure! Do send me your feed back.

Regards,

Vijay Cavale

November, 2003