Ranthambore! In search of the Big Beautiful Beast[Tigers]!!

Ranthambore Tiger Safari!

DON'T FORGET TO CHECK OUT THE VIDEO AT THE END! 

Link to book the safari:

https://www.ranthamborenationalpark.in/online-safari-booking-ranthambore.html

[Best time to Visit Ranthambore is in summer-That is from March since the Tigers spotting in summer is better]

We had booked Zone-4 early morning 1st slot [7-10.30am]Safari in the month of January. Since summer heat of Rajasthan is unbearable!!

Price details:

Pls carry original ID cards which you used to book the safari!

Yes it was our first safari in Ranthambore!!

The details of the jeep and guide number will be provided just couple of hours before safari via Whats app. Guide calls you and tells what time to be ready.

How to reach Ranthambore:

By Air: Nearest Airports are:

Jaipur[Rajasthan]: 130kms from Ranthambore

Jaipur is well connected to most of the well known airports.

Flights from most of the major cities have flights to Jaipur

Delhi: 460kms from Ranthambore

Delhi has flight connections from most of the major cities

By Train: Once you reach Jaipur , You can get many trains which travel to Sawai Madhopur[Travel time is about 2 hours]

From Sawai Madhopur, Ranthambore is 15kms away. You can book your resorts in Ranthambore and travel till resort from Sawai Madhopur Station via Auto Rikshaw or Cab.

Booking resorts:

There are couple of resorts, if you book those, your safari jeep picks you up from those resorts.

So based on that I had booked Tiger Den Resort.

People in this resort were too sweet. We reached the night before our safari was scheduled. It was around 10.30pm. They made sure room heater was working fine, got us drinking water.

Safari:

Early morning once we were ready[6.30am],  Tiger Den Resort provided us tea/coffee and biscuits.

When the jeep arrived, we were feeling too cold, then our resort people provided us with blankets for our safari.

Then our safari started.

Path:

Once we are about to enter the jungle, guide goes and gets permission from the authorities. 

Since each and every Jeep would have allotted the zones[we were zone-4], your Jeep is supposed to be in that zone only. They can't  cross over. There are cameras in the jungle everywhere! So crossing and entering different zones is illegal!

How to maximize the chances of spotting a Tiger?

Clue1 to spot the Tiger:

Our guide was following the tiger trails to spot the tiger. Tiger's pug marks on the ground was the first clue he used and he started guessing which path Tiger has taken

Clue2 to spot the Tiger:

Bird calls, Sambar deer calls, noises the monkey make! he was following all these. These would be most helpful as well!!

Our guide was sure that tiger had entered one path. We waited for a quite while but couldn't find the tiger.

So guide asked us if it was our first safari. We said yes!

Then we kept roaming in all possible places and couldn't find any tiger! Then they took us on top of the forest place and stopped for nature calls. It was about 8.30am and no sight of tiger yet.

After stretching for sometime we got in the Jeep again and guide asked us how many safaris have we booked. We said only one! Then he was surprised! Because generally people book at least 2-3 safaris at once!! But honestly we had booked literally only one safari and we already were on it.

Then we changed the path and kept roaming in search of Tiger. We went to a valley place where Jeep is on top of a small hill and need to search for tigers in the valley. Again we were out of luck and time was almost 9.45am

Then Sambar Deer and a crow started making noise. We rushed to that place and started waiting. we were out of luck.

But one more jeep was behind us who had also come hearing to the same noise. Our guide asked them to wait at one end we went to wait at other end. So if they find the Tiger, they will call us and if we find, we would do the same.

But after sometime, we heard their jeep moving, so we rushed to their place and they said they didn't find anything.  Our guide was angry that they left for no reason.

We came back to our original place and Sambar Deer started making noise loudly. So our guide asked our driver to drive to the place where noise is coming. Driver drove fast and in between one more Jeep person said nothing could be there. But our guide was like keep driving!

The moment we reached there, Tiger had crossed the road and was entering the Jungle!! This was the original place where initially our guide had guessed the Tiger could be!! then we kept looking into jungle!! Then we saw the Tiger! but we saw it in bits and pieces since the Jeep driver in front of us was not moving at all. He was like he has foreigners! so they should see properly!![Ironic being ruled by foreigners still giving them importance right]?

Then our guide made sure they moved side and we also could see properly. But we were able to see only face!

Then all of a sudden Tiger decided to cross the road again and slowly started moving back to the place where it came from!! wow!! That vision!! I could never ever forget!!

WHAT A MAGNIFICIENT BEAST IT WAS!! NOT AFRAID OF ANYTHING OR DON'T GIVE DAMN TO ANYTHING!!

IT CAME ON ITS OWN PACE WITHOUT MAKING SMALLEST NOISE! IT STOPPED TWICE GAVE A KILLER LOOK AND ENTERED THE JUNLGE BACK!!

IT DIDN'T TWITCH ONCE ALSO!! 3 JEEPS WITH MINIMUM 6 PEOPLE IN EACH WERE PRESENT THERE!! BUT TIGER DIDN'T GIVE A DAMN!! BEAUTIFUL BIG BEAST!! I WAS SHIVERING OUT OF HAPPINSESS! SINCE ITS MY FAVOURITE ANIMAL IN THE WORLD!!

Spotting the tiger in its own habitat was a dream!! one bucket list ticked off!!

Tiger didn't disappoint us!! So was our guide! One Jeep who said Tiger is not present missed this epic seen and couldn't find any tiger after that. They were just 100mts away from us and missed it! Getting a good Guide and Driver also matters!

Everyone was shocked we spotted a Tiger in our first Safari!! We heard some stories where people could find in their 14th safari! first 13 they couldn't spot anything. Its a pure gamble with a bit of intelligence to use!

Disclaimer: All the info above is according to me when I visited. Anything can change with time! So when you plan your trip, some of the things would have changed! Ex: Train timings, tour timings or websites. Some tours or trains even get cancelled at the end moment! This was just my itinerary. Read and make your plans accordingly 😃