The Daily Diary of a Wandering Restaurateur
February 1 - Here Kitty, Kitty, Kitty ...
There are two types of safari trips -- either an open jeep with up to six people or a larger bus-like 4x4 called a canter that carries 15 or so. Our morning trip was in a jeep, my afternoon one in the bus. India may be warm during the day but in the early morning it was downright frosty. We were advised to wear everything we had ... and even then, the blankets provided by the hotel were a welcome addition. We shared the jeep with the young honeymoon couple on the left. It was obvious that their hormones were running amok! Nice to see it ...
Arriving at the park, the first stop is for the guide to handle the paperwork. As soon as the vehicle stops, the hawkers descend pitching hats, t-shirts, stuffed tigers and all manner of souvenir ... at about twice the price for the same items in the hotel shop. The monkeys watch all this with amusement, I suspect. The park itself is rugged and the roads are rough. Each vehicle is assigned to one of five zones with only four jeeps and four canters in each. That helps maintain the tranquility of the habitat, but we did seem to end up moving through in packs.
In addition to the elusive tigers, the park is full of other critters that are much more visible. We saw several types of deer, mongoose, a baby crocodile, lots of peacocks and dozens of varieties of birds. This was all interesting but I can see deer in my front yard at home. The object of it all is to spot a tiger.
The tigers of Ranthambhore are magnificent creatures but spotting one is really the luck of the draw. With only an estimated 40 tigers in the park right now, you have to be in the right place at the right time. Our colleague Fraser has taken ten trips this week and spotted a tiger on five of them. Alas, the closest we came was to see fresh tracks. I understand that the very best time to spot tigers is late March to early April when sightings are common on almost every trip. This is when the professional photographers all prefer to come so there must be something to the story.
© 2009 Restaurant Doctor
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