Ranthambore

Having left Jaisalmer by bus we headed back to Jodhpur and our new Indian family for the night before promptly leaving again, complete with some breakfast snacks cooked up by mum, at 5am to catch a train to Sawai Madhopur. Just outside of the very basic town is Ranthambore National Park which is home to around 40 tigers, so it was time to don our safari gear and head out in a jeep to see if we could bag ourselves one of the critters – ok, may be just see if we could spot one of these endanged animals… there are only 3,500 left in the wild in India! We were only here for 1 full day so booked ourselves onto a morning and afternoon trip and excitedly both times set off into the park full of expectation but also with the realisation that actually seeing one was quite rare! The park is around 1334 sq km of jungle and scrub and as the tiger is a solitary roaming creature it was never going to be easy. Each time we drove deep into the park scouring the landscape for any movement or glimpses, all the time seeing deer, antelopes, crocodiles, wild boars, jungle cats and lots more but no tigers! We’d stop the jeep while the guide waited for a call, but nothing came – either the tiger had forgot to charge his phone or lost the number, I don’t know, but we heard no calls. All the other animals, most of which are good tiger food, sauntered around with out a care in the world so there was definitely no tigers near by! So we’d move on, stop the jeep and again listen for a call – he was actually listening for calls of others animals who would raise the alarm that there was a tiger (or not!) near by. He didn’t once get out of the jeep and listen to the floor, taste the air, feel tiger poo for freshness! None of those Crocodile Dundee tricks! We’d just sit in the jeep and wait patiently, but no tigers, not a dicky bird… well lots of dicky birds actually ibis, owls, green pigeons, parrots and even a huge fish eagle, but no blooming tiger! There were reported sightings from other rangers and vehicles in the park but the closest we got was some huge paw prints in the dirt and an unindentified animal asleep in the undergrowth that was too far away and too hidden to actually see clearly what it was!! To be honest it felt like we’d have more chance of finding Nessie, a Yetti, Lord Lucan and Shegar all playing cricket together! Not saying they weren’t there but, and rightly so, the tiger is a little wary of us humans… probably something to do with us trying to kill it for so many years!!