Tiger Ranthambhore N Park

We had a good breakfast as we were off for a four hour / 200km drive to Ranthambhore National Park. 

The countryside was mostly arable when we eventually escaped from Jaipur. It was rush hour and the City sprawled on, we went through the modern area of the City, which we had seen at dusk last night. The are is fast developing and there are some very modern smart buildings. 

We stopped to buy some fruit from roadside sellers and to top up from the ATM.

Arable land took over as we travelled on. Many fields of mustard seeds were being cut by hand and laid to dry in swathes. 

It was interesting to see life on the roadside, many individuals doing business, selling a few of this or that. Loan street dogs happily taking themselves, only they knew where. Many, many sacred cows. The cow is sacred as the spirits of the gods reside in them. They represent Mother Nature providing milk for the family. Cows are fed with the first chapatti of the day, so make their way home in time for this in the evening! Many families have a cow for milk to make ghee and curd.

People place a water container outside their home so that the animals can have a drink. A lot of these cows wander along the road, in either direction. Living and often sleeping in the middle of the road and feeding on whatever they can find. They shuffle through the rubbish which is all over the place, and eat whatever they take a liking to.

I was disturbed by this as cows can't digest plastic! I imagined it causing blockages and the cows becoming very sick. Then dying a slow snd painful death.
There are refuges that take in old and ill cows, some cows have as much as 50kg of plastic in their stomach when operated on to remove the blockages.

Arriving at Raj Palace Ranthambhore we checked into the hotel and were picked up by a huge 20 seater open top vehicle to take us into the game park. 

Visiting is strictly limited morning and afternoon. The park is divided into 10 areas and the drivers told which they can go to. There are 135 resident tigers. We went to area 3, where a male and female tiger lived. We saw hundreds of peacocks, Indias national bird and several types of deer ( tiger food )!

The lakes in the park have long grasses growing on the shores, this is apparently where tigers like to hang out. In places the undergrowth was very dense, in other areas trees were well spaced out. We were looking along the banks of the lakes, driving around for some time we thought we were out of luck. Then on the opposite bank we spotted a female tiger in the water with her back to us. She was a beautiful rich colour. She was difficult to see due to the distance and the trees between us. We watched and made sure everyone had spotted her, then I saw her get up and meander up the hill into the bush. I felt quite emotional, what a wonderful experience even though we had only seen her from the distance. 

We returned to the hotel and sat in the garden for a drink, exhilarated and dusty from the drive. We felt honoured to have seen the tiger.Read more