India: Ranthambore National Park

For two nights were stayed in Ranthambore, a small town where there is a national park, home to the Bengal Tigers. We arrived by train in the early afternoon and after lunch I went to a handicraft store. There were loads of amazing handmade crafts, most of which I fell in love with but couldn’t possibly fit in my bag. I could’ve decorated the whole house with this stuff! I ended up buying one small cushion cover with an elephant on it. It’s gorgrous! It’s also nice to go shopping without being hassled or pressured into buying things, like in most of the markets in India. In the evening we had drinks around a bonfire. I’ve been extremely surprised by the weather here. It’s “winter” but it’s a perfect 20-25 degrees during the day, then freeeezing cold at night and in the morning. 

Wild bored, hidden in the fog

Bit too close for comfort, personally..

Early the next morning (in the most freezing of freezing cold) we set off for a jungle safari. The main aim was to spot a tiger, but we had no luck. They use the other animals to try and figure out where the tigers are. The monkeys have a warning call & the deers will all hide if they know a tiger is nearby. The closest we got was a few footprints. We did see a lot of deer, monkeys and peacocks, a wild bore, a tiny owl, some alligators, turtles, water snakes. Even without seeing too many exciting animals the park was stunning. The animals are very much left to live on their own; they’re not fed or kept in enclosures so you’re really seeing them in their own environment. 

We went back to the hotel to relax in the sun (when it finally came out) and headed back to the park in the afternoon. We spent about two hours roaming the park by Jeep, getting fairly bored by all the same animals we’d already seen.  Too many deers! We kept stopping in hope of finding a tiger, and eventually heard the monkey’s warning call. We were suddenly surrounded by about 10 other Jeeps and everyone was pointing and getting their cameras out very excitedly. The jeeps suddenly became in competition with each other, all trying to get the best position, each driver keen for their Jeep to have the best view. At first we were a few cars back, but could still see. Then the tiger moved and we managed to cut right across all the other Jeeps and put ourselves in prime position. We were incredibly close, only metres away. This was possibly the most exciting half hour of my whole trip. We were right up front as the tiger crossed the road in front of us, went over to the water for a little drink and continued to roam the park. It was amazing. Incredible. Unbelievable. There was one small moment when he started walking towards us, where I thought “hmm..he could eat us all” but it quickly passed and the excitement came back. Afterwards, we were all on a little high. All the way back to the hotel we were smiling and giggling and thanking our driver for doing such a good job at getting us in the right position.

 It was nice to be in a really small town, where we weren’t constantly surrounded by honking horns and people hassling us for money. Almost peaceful, you might say!