February 26, 2011
We two started our trip in the morning going through Train followed by a jeep to hotel. It was so tiring that we slept as we reached Tiger Machan Resort, located deep into forest.....
got up early from softy bed at around 5 am. As usual, I was damn busy in capturing the beauty of forest into my digital camera and as usual he was warning me for getting ready fast. Ahhhh...thank god we got safari on time as planned and austria foreigners were sitting beside me. I was happy for everything yet, be it my clicking pictures unusual or be it my ascent to speak with them. Our first safari took us on a route in Zone 1 which was slightly easier on the eye with a fair bit of evergreen trees en route. We saw more than 50 birds in this one safari alone! But we could not manage to spot a tiger.
But, Driving through the reserve in an open jeep in the early hours of the day is a delight.
The feel of the forest- the heady scent of foliage, the chaos of bird sounds, the cool breeze, the soft grey sky seen through the gaps in the leaves – is indescribable.
The entrance to the park is through an ancient stone arch and some ruins, with tall cliffs on either side of the road (where vultures nest) – so one gets the feeling that one is stepping back in time. There is a sense of time being frozen within the forest of Ranthambhore.
Later in the afternoon, for our second safari, we took a canter (16-seater open vehicle ) along a path through Zone 3. Zone 3 has a series of lakes so the chances of seeing birds and wildlife are higher in this zone. We spotted migratory birds aplenty – Northern Shovellers, Painted Storks, langur and others whose names I don’t remember. And some gujju people actually irritated me this time. And then meeting of a tigress was possible. It was on this trip we were successful in watching Tigress T17. After seeing her abs and weak stomache, i got afraid since she was empty stomache and we were full on it. Anyways, he was happy and ultimately i was happy. Lucky we, we spotted Tigress.
And considering spotting a tiger requires great luck, you more often than not, can end up feeling that the safari was a wasted trip. So unless you’re with a group of expert wildlife watchers (like I was), the success of your safari greatly depends on the knowledge/interest of your guide in non-tiger matters. :)
The feel of the forest- the heady scent of foliage, the chaos of bird sounds, the cool breeze, the soft grey sky seen through the gaps in the leaves – is indescribable.
The entrance to the park is through an ancient stone arch and some ruins, with tall cliffs on either side of the road (where vultures nest) – so one gets the feeling that one is stepping back in time. There is a sense of time being frozen within the forest of Ranthambhore.
Later in the afternoon, for our second safari, we took a canter (16-seater open vehicle ) along a path through Zone 3. Zone 3 has a series of lakes so the chances of seeing birds and wildlife are higher in this zone. We spotted migratory birds aplenty – Northern Shovellers, Painted Storks, langur and others whose names I don’t remember. And some gujju people actually irritated me this time. And then meeting of a tigress was possible. It was on this trip we were successful in watching Tigress T17. After seeing her abs and weak stomache, i got afraid since she was empty stomache and we were full on it. Anyways, he was happy and ultimately i was happy. Lucky we, we spotted Tigress.
And considering spotting a tiger requires great luck, you more often than not, can end up feeling that the safari was a wasted trip. So unless you’re with a group of expert wildlife watchers (like I was), the success of your safari greatly depends on the knowledge/interest of your guide in non-tiger matters. :)
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