Tigers!

Hello everybody,

first of all I hope you all had a great Christmas!

I left Bharatpur and Keoladeo National Park on the 25th and made my way to Sawai Madhopur, Ranthambore Tiger Reserve. The train ride was mildly amusing, cause after I thought I had figured the Indian coach numbering out once and for all, I got onto my coach S6 (it said so on the outside, honest) and tried to find my seat. Needless to say, you don't always get what it says on the tin in India, and coach S6 was actually coach S3, so I took my huge rucksack and made my way through 3 coaches stuffed full of people, chai sellers, god knows what. Needless to say, by the time I barged my way through the masses, I was knackered and rather sweaty.

Thankfully, I am staying in the rather plush (for my budget) Tiger Safari Resort (special christmas treat!) and this comes with a nice hot shower, as much food as you like and no mouse on my bed (that's what I got in Bharatpur on the last night... :-)). Ryn arrived later that evening and we booked ourselves onto our first tiger safari in the morning. Then we had a most massive Christmas curry... yummy.

Wake up call at 5am, brekkie, then waiting for the canter, a 20seater open top bus/jeep (unfortunately all the jeeps are booked, unless there is a cancellation). It eventually turned up just before 7am, and we went into the Park. We were assigned zone 4, and off we went to explore it. Unfortunately we had a really annoying Indian family sat in front of us, who were talking, screaming, laughing etc, and on top of everything the father seemed to have an unnatural obsession for feeding the tree pies or any other bird really. So much of our time was taken up by that :-(. We saw lots of tiger food though (sambar & chital deer), and also pugmarks, but no tiger. The family annoyed us even more when they fed the monkeys on the way out and then complained about the monkeys stealing the entire biscuit pack... unfortunately the guide didn't seem to mind, although it is after all against the law to feed the animals.

Anyway, we thought we get rid of annoying indian families and take a jeep in the afternoon - and there were cancellations. However, Ryn and myself were split up, so I was unceremoniously packed into a jeep and driven for miles through a lovely little village to a tented accommodation camp to pick up my fellow tiger watchers for the day - an American family with two kids, really sweet guys, from San Francisco Bay. We were again assigned zone 4, and off we went, along the track around a few bends and then - jeep and canter pile up! A tiger somewhere along the road in front of us. Thankfully, Ranthambore tigers are happy to pose, so three tigers, not just one (a female and her nearly grown up cubs, 18 months or so) came wandering past us in the forest, really close. They crossed the track somewhere behind us and the jeep driver reversed like a maniac along the track, so we watched them lying about for a bit, before setting off again on a wander - probably to get away from the tourists. One was really close to me, the driver even pulled onward a bit to create some more space... sooooo amazing! Absolutely beautiful! And huge!

So we were all very happy tourists and after a bit of tiger food spotting, our guide thought we could do with another treat. So we stopped to listen for alarm calls from deer or monkeys and there were some within a minute or two. So the driver put his foot down and we managed to spot another tigress, of around 3.5 to 4 years, happily wandering about without a care in the world. We even had to tell our guide and driver to move along a bit, so the other jeeps/canters could see too. He was so keen on getting us the best views all the time. And great views they were.

So I got back to the hotel and waited for Ryn, unfortunately she didn't manage to see a tiger, so I tried not to gloat too much. Another jeep safari (man, they must think I am made out of money, India can be expensive when you go tiger watching!) booked for the morning - turns out to be zone 4. This time we picked up a mother and child from the UK from a huge and incredi-plush looking hotel (they claim it's a shock to the system and not very nice on the inside at all. Me thinks they never found mice on their bed!).

Away we go into zone 4, and tatatatatatataaaaaaaa! The "lady of the lake" (i.e. 13 year old mother tigress from yesterday) is lying right beside the track. Watches us, eventually yawns, gets up, stretches, and wanders off. So Ryn (this time in the same jeep) was also happy. Hooray! We then waited forever to catch a glimpse of her cubs, which were probably still in the area, waiting for the mum to come back with food or something. No luck unfortunately... never mind, we saw a tiger!

After this we took a rickshaw to look around old Sawai Madhopur city which was kazillion temples and one of them is built right against the hill, so was amazing. Got back to the hotel, wandered into a tribal craft shop next door, and I again went over budget getting myself a lovely image of Ganesha, cause I love him. He is the god of intelligence and he loves sweets. Man, we get on like a house on fire.

Went for a final canter safari this afternoon, finally to a different zone, which was even more beautiful in terms of scenery. Did not get to see a tiger, but lots of deer, antelopes (Indian gazelle and blue bull), a baby croc, owls, deer mating, wild boar...

Tigery greetings from Monni (aooooom! Thats the tiger sound, in case you were wondering (can't say I heard it though...))