The private hunting grounds, for the Maharaja of Jaipur, Ranthambhore, near the township of Sawai Madhopur, now rightfully serves as a national park and one of the dream destinations for wildlife lovers like me !
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| A rare tiger yawn sight |
Place: Ranthambhore National Park
Location: Rajasthan
Closest City: Jaipur
How to Reach: 362 Kms from Delhi
Closest Railway Station: Sawai Madhopur
Closest Airport: Jaipur
It was starting of November 2010 when we decided to go on a family trip, just the four of us, and I am so lucky that we came up with Ranthambhore as the final destination. It was not the first time for me, but I always get excited before going to wildlife sanctuaries.
We reached there after staying one night in Jaipur, and started searching for a good wildlife resort. There were ample of options like The Pugmark Resort, The VanyaVillas by Oberoi, The Nahargarh Resort and many other hotels and camping sites. Over all these options, we chose The Taj Sawai Madhopur Lodge, which was only 5 minutes drive from the main entrance of the park. It was fully worth staying there as they provide a lot of activities for children as well as adults throughout the day, a small swimming pool is there, the beds in rooms are really comfortable and also the staff there is very courteous. The room rent includes the buffet breakfast and ya! Don't forget to have Caramel Custard during desserts in the dinner. :PSo now, we were all set to explore the national park so we hired a private Jeep for four people, which cost us Rs. 2500 [including the guide's charges]. The Jeep took us directly from the hotel to the park, and I was ready to capture some great photographic views. We saw a diversity of species of birds in the initial phase of the safari which included Owls, numerous Peacocks who were in their mating season, Storks and many more.
Finally, we were lucky to spot a lazy yet Regal Tiger resting in the waterhole. It was a scintillating sight and a chance for me to press the capture button as many times as I could ;-) . This was not all, while returning back to the park entrance, we spotted another Tiger going uphill, and that scene was a "cherry on top" for the safari !
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| Tiger resting in waterhole |
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| Another Tiger spotted |
Other animals such as Monkeys, Spotted Deers, Neelgai, Langurs were a common sight there. Here are some random pictures which I managed to click during the safari.
Returning to the hotel, we visited the castle "Jhoomar Baori ", where the other RTDC hotel in Ranthambhore is located. It is a must see place in Ranthambhore.
After the safari and visit to Jhoomar Baori, one can always buy Tiger printed T-shirts or posters as souvenirs.
P.S. : You gotta visit Ranthambhore even if you have 0.001% interest in wildlife ! ! !
P.S.S : All these pictures were clicked by me using Panasonic Lumix FZ30.
