Tuesday 8th: Today was tiger safari day, which we'd been anticipating for some time. Up early at 5:45 for a cup of coffee and biscuit then into our open jeep for the 13 km drive to the tiger reserve. It was unexpectedly cold especially racing along in the open vehicle, but they provided blankets which were a great help.
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| About to set off in our tiger-proof jeep. |
The jeep didn't seem to provide much protection from ferocious tigers, but our guide assured us we were safe as long as we didn't get out of it. John asked if he carried a gun. "We don't need a gun", he replied.
We shivered our way down the bumpy, dusty road, dodging the usual cows, dogs, pigs, buffalo and goats which wander on the roads, and into the the reserve. The Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve is a huge area which used to be a hunting preserve for the local rulers. When it first became a tiger protection area the tiger population had dropped to about 15. It has now recovered to sixty. In addition to these tigers there are large numbers of deer, antelope, gazelles and other animals and birds which help to provide an ecosystem to support the tigers.
We spent a couple of hours in the reserve, driving about looking for signs of tigers and stopping to appreciate the various other animals and birds we encountered. We waited for a long time at a particular spot our guide identified as the area where he believed the local tiger was lurking, somewhere in the grass. We could see tiger "pugs" (pawprints) in the dust. The tiger did not show itself, so eventually we moved on. We left the park without seeing our tiger, so our remaining hopes rested on our second outing after lunch, to another zone of the reserve.
Some of the animals we did see:
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| Samba |
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| Squirrel |
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| Gazelles |
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| Axis Deer |
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| A little lapwing which came very close, trying to lure our jeep away from its nest. |
We went home to our hotel to catch up on breakfast. There were many other tourists at the hotel, all there to see tigers. On group reported success, seeing three tigers up very close. The tigers had killed a "Blue Bull" - a large antelope. At two pm we boarded our second jeep for our last attempt at seeing them too. After about 45 minutes in the jeep we reached location of the Blue Bull carcase, but despite a careful search our guide could not see tigers. We moved on, climbing a rough steep track until we emerged high on the buttresses above, with a wide (although hazy) view out over the land. Again our guide found pug marks, but no visible tiger. Suddenly he was talking on his phone, told us a tiger had appeared back at the carcase, and asked if we minded going a "bit fast" back down the mountain. We went back down the rough track quite fast, arriving to find a crush of about twenty jeeps all trying to get near the tiger. There was a bit of shouting between guides as jeeps jostled for position.
First we saw a distant glimpse of tiger stripes though the shrubbery, but our tiger kept moving and eventually came closer and closer until he was in full view, about 30 metres away across a dry stream. Amazingly he showed no fear or aggression, just calmly stared at all the jeeps, moving and resting, and working his way past us until he decided he would cross the track to return to the carcase. He then set about pulling and tearing at it to find the last of the meat for a feed.
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| Tigger pauses to contemplate the tourists between him and his supper. |
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| Decides it time to move, crossing the riverbed near the jeeps. |
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| Heading back towards his supper. |
Our guide told us the three tigers seen this morning were a female and her two cubs. It took us a while to realise that this (large) tiger was one of those cubs.
We drove home through the dusty dusk thoroughly satisified and pleasantly surprised that we had actually seen a tiger. A wise man told me that only about half of those who come to see one actually do.
