Tiger, Tiger, Wherefore Art Thou

Carol here, we are in Ranthambhore tiger preserve on our way to search for tigers the first night. Having arrived 2 hours late (bad roads again) for the afternoon safari, we dashed to our Condor ( a large open topped bus that seats 19) and rushed into the park barely missing a few cars, pedestrians and boars along the way. 1 hour of viewing beautiful lakes with ruins of a massive fort (actually, a royal hunting lodge) in the distance on the hills and we had to leave the park or get locked in with the tigers. We all opted to leave. But the next morning our group headed back into the park at 6:00am. The main group got zone # 3, Abo’s and Ross-Rainwaters headed off in a smaller jeep to go to zone #6 for bird watching. Only there weren’t many birds-it was a savannah environment with stone outcroppings that the jeep zigged and zagged over. Beautiful quiet morning ride. Then we came upon the hyena’s. Huge and prehistoric looking-almost the size of deer-they were beautiful. Our guide made hyena noises so that they would turn towards our cameras. They seemed quite serious. After they suspiciously wandered into the woods we went in search of other game. Saw Sambors(the largest Indian deer(kind of like elk) and much smaller spotted deer. The huge Blue Bulls-which is one of the world’s largest antelopes. Then more driving and strange animal noises from the guide. Lots of tracking (a tiger was in the area, but not to be seen yet…) We saw gazelle, crocodile, boar, and one fresh “kill” with tracks…tiger was not to be found this morning. (Mike here: We were not that disappointed in our morning’s outing until we heard that the rest of our tour group saw a female tiger close up. The tigress posed for pictures, gave a brief description of her life in the park, and then signed autographs. )

But we had an afternoon safari with the group still to come. Who by the way, all saw a female tiger walk along side their Condor vehicle that same morning, spray the nearby trees and wander over the hill-so the ross Rainwaters and Abo’s were feeling a little left out…We headed off with the knowledge that since the morning was a successful tiger safari, the early evening safari would primarily focus on birds. Heh, we love birds (but oohh that tiger spotting would be nice too). Lucky for us we saw owls, osprey, sea eagles, kites, furry necked storks, sandpipers, kingfishers, stilts, red wattled lapwing and yellow wattled lapwing, Indian Darter, crows, pond herons, vultures, pea fowl and of course peacocks. Thank god. The group was somewhat sated with their birding and the guide was able to listen for the Langer Macaqes danger calls. Of course I had a secret weapon in one of our group (Steve) who has wonderful tiger energy-spotted it the first day of the tour. I asked him to Please….get us another tiger-he offered the guide 1,000 rupees if he could find one. 1 hour before the park was to close on our last night in Ranthambhore we went speeding off to a lake filled with rushes and tall grasses. Inside this vegetation a large male tiger was wading, quietly approaching the far shore and some prey( well it’s a good theory anyway). First I saw the tail. Then one ear. Then part of a rear end with beautiful orange striping. Then nothing but reeds. Then part of Mike’s shoulder and then another ear of the tiger. As he moved through the grasses my mind filled in the gaps-he was huge and we were very happy. A wonderful day in Ranthambhore.