Dateline: October 2010
In April 2010 I went to Corbett in search of the Tiger. This reserve boasts of the world's highest Tiger density - 19.6 Tigers for every 100 sq. km. At the last count it had 164 Tigers. Low rains for the past few years coupled with huge jungle fires resulted in animal movement from one zone to another. My permit was for the Bijrani zone and my stay of 3 nights & 4 days yielded nothing; meaning no Tiger sightings. You can read all about it here -
Team-BHP - The Definitive Indian Car Community (Gurgaon - Jim Corbett - Ranikhet - Gurgaon: The Unsatiated Quest).
My next destination in the crosshairs was Ranthambhore, Rajasthan. Spread over an area of 400 sq.km and rumoured to have 34 Tigers, this is supposed to be the best place for viewing Stripes, even during daytime. Search the internet, pick up any wildlife magazine or book or ask anyone who has visited Ranthambhore and you shall without fail read or hear this singular line - "Nobody comes back from Ranthambhore without having seen a Tiger". Every single thread on Ranthambhore on TBHP too mentioned this and contained awesome photographs - Tiger walking in front of the Gypsy, Tiger lolling on the track and vehicles with gawkers waiting on either side, Tiger drinking water, Tiger cooling itself in the water, Tiger yawning etc., and many more.
All this warmly cockled my heart and I slowly started to build-up the tempo at home. My wife sceptical and kids cynical and uninterested. With a lot of persuasion and cajoling I made all of them agree. My son was categorical - "Paapu, will come with you this time only & I must see the Tiger in the wild".
I did not have the heart to tell him that it is not you who can see the Tiger, it is the Tiger that sees you and if deemed fit shall make an appearance. The year 2010 was branded in Delhi/NCR as CWG-2010 and because of that the Delhi Government had declared a holiday for all educational Institutions & Government & semi-Government offices from 1st Ocotber till 17th October.
After the monsoons the National Park was scheduled to open from 1st October and I made my bookings in July. Why so early?
Ranthambhore is a highly commercialised National Park, just like Corbett and apart from the hotel bookings the most important are the safari bookings. One can afford not to have a hotel booking but without a confirmed safari booking, Ranthambhore has nothing else to offer. I planned my stay in Ranthambhore from 3rd to 6th (check-out at 12 pm) with six safaris:
3rd Oct, 2010 - Evening Safari (Son & I)
4th Oct, 2010 - Morning Safari (Family of 4)
4th Oct, 2010 - Evening Safari (Son & I)
5th Oct, 2010 - Morning Safari (Family of 4)
5th Oct, 2010 - Evening Safari (Son & I)
6th Oct, 2010 - Morning Safari (Family of 4)
Why six safaris? Sariska, Dudhwa, Rajaji & Corbett went Tigerless for me. With reports coming in from R'bhore that it was raining Tigers and occassionaly Leopards, I, with a pinch of salt, did not want to take any chances.
Sumantha Ghosh, a friend who had arranged Suman's & my Corbett trip was instrumental in making all arrangements at R'bhore. My stay was to be at
Welcome to Jungle View Resort Ranthambhore National Park, Jungle Lodges, Wildlife resort, book a hotel in Ranthambhore, Hotel Booking in Ranthambore.
With 4 Cottage rooms & 8 Luxury Tents, this was a quaint & lovely place to stay. I had opted for the Cottage room since it had an airconditioner.
Now the wait for the D-day started. I was scheduled to leave for R'bhore on the 3rd October itself and the evening safari was also on the same day. Hence, the target to reach R'bhore was by 12 noon. I had already charted my course and taken printouts of the maps. So, with a prayer on the lips left at 4 am on the 3rd. Took the NH8 till Manoharpur and then turned left towards Dausa. Destination was Sawai Madhopur via Lalsot. The maps given below shall explain better.
Gurgaon - Manoharpur
Manoharpur - Dausa
Dausa
Dausa - Lalsot
Lalsot - Sawai Madhopur
Sawai Madhopur
The road till Manoharpur was a breeze being the NH8. From there till Dausa was a single lane SH, good at places and bad in patches. The road expansion work too was going on. Dausa to Lalsot was simply horrible and on this stretch I broke the mounting of one my Hellas. Had to remove that unit, taped the wire and continued with one Hella. Lalsot to Sawai was again pockmarked at places. It was 11:30 when we entered Sawai Madhopur. In the town there is a roundabout called the Ranthambhore circle from where when you turn left you come on a stretch of road that has hotels, motels, resorts & lodges on the periphery of the Jungle. Our resort too was on that road but much deeper. By 12 we were settled in our room and having light breakfast. The evening safari was to start from 3 pm and the gypsy with the guide would come at 2:30.
to be continued.../-