Tigers in Ranthambhore National Park!

In the morning on 6/10 we got up early to drive to Ranthambhore National Park, home to 58 Bengal Tigers. The drive was approximately 6 hours through the hot Rajasthan desert. At our rest stop (yes, singular rest stop), it was boiling outside. Buses in Delhi and the surrounding area are not allowed to have curtains for safety reasons, so the temperature on the bus can either be freezing or too warm, as the AC seems only to have two settings: off and full blast. Upon arriving at the hotel we had a great buffet lunch.

Our safari began at 3:00 from the hotel, right in the heat of the day. We piled into open-air jeeps and began driving to the park. It was 108F outside and hot breeze blew in our faces as we sped down the road. The hot breeze was not especially enjoyable. Outside the entrance gate, Rose and I bought safari hats that say “Ranthambhore National Park” and have a picture of a tiger on the front. Somehow, it was a little cooler once we got inside the park, so the heat was not unbearable. We drove on a bumpy dirt road past countless Sambar deer and spotted deer, peacocks and monkeys. After about 45 minutes we got to the watering hole where a tiger had been sighted earlier that day. Unfortunately, we did not see a tiger this afternoon. We did however see a sloth bear poking around the the rocks for termites and other insects. The bear looked like a black bear, but its nose and eyes were reminiscent of a sloth’s appearance, which is where I assume it got its name. After watching the bear for a while, we returned to our hotel and got some sleep before going out again the next morning to try and find a tiger.

On 6/11 we woke up early to try and see a tiger before it got too hot and they all retreated to sleep in the shade. We went to a different area of the park with a different guide in hopes that we would see a tiger. Our guide’s name was Ved, and he was great. The landscape in this section of the park had different trees than the day before and was much flatter for much of the ride. After driving for a while, Ved stopped the car because he heard a monkey’s warning call. We sat in silence for a couple minutes before driving on, where we soon stopped again. Ved got out of the car to investigate a marking on the dirt road where the tiger had laid down to sleep. He touched the ground near the mark, felt it with his fingers, held his hand up to his nose, and declared that the tiger had been here 6-7 hours ago. Nearby there was a scratch mark in the grass, which Ved said was made about 1.5 hours earlier. This guide knew his stuff.

We retraced the road we had been driving on for a little while until we came across two jeeps on the road—looking at a tiger! The tigress was large, having recently eaten a Sambar deer. She slowly walked parallel to the road, not giving the multitude of cars that began to crowd the dirt road a second glance. Ved took our car farther ahead of the group, to where he could tell that the tigress was going to cross the road. We waited as she slowly walked directly at our car. Her methodical walk took her within feet of me; her piercing yellow eyes striking fear into my body. With one simple leap the tigeress could have jumped into our car, but thankfully she had no interest. As the number of cars stacked up behind us grew and grew, the crowd getting louder and louder, we drove back toward the entrance to see if we could find the male tiger, who Ved knew was around.

We again sat and waited in silence by the man-made pool for a few minutes, hoping the male tiger would come near us, to the only drinking hole in the area. From afar he appeared, walking just as slowly as the female had. We watched him approach us for many minutes, but before he got close to us, too many cars had gathered near the water. The tiger, noticeably larger than the female we had just seen, retreated into the hills to wait for the cars to leave so that he could drink in peace. It was time for us to leave the park anyway, so we bid farewell to the tiger and headed back to the hotel.