Ranthambhore - the largest expanse of dry deciduous forest in the world.
The Ranthambhore National Park, which is a part of the much larger Ranthambhore tiger reserve, lies in the Sawai Madhpur District of Eastern Rajasthan. The Chambal River forms a natural boundary of the Park towards the east, and on the eastern shore of Chambal lies the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. To the northeast of the Park, flows the river - Banas, a tributary of Chambal. Across the river Banas, lies the Keladevi sanctuary, while the Sawai Man Singh sanctuary lies to the south of the Park. Both these sanctuaries, along with the Ranthambhore national park, are part of the Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve. Today, this Project tiger reserve spans over 1334 sq. km of area, of which 282 sq. km is the Ranthambhore national park.
We, the keen wild life enthusiasts started our trip from Hyderabad to Ranthambhore. The challenge was to make it to Jaipur and then Sawai Madhpur, in half a day, which is about 130 kms from Jaipur. The whole purpose was not to waste time to catch up with the tigers. We took the early morning flight from Hyderabad to Jaipur and then hopped in the connecting train to Sawai Madhpur(inter city express).
With a prior booking at Ranthambhore Bagh, which is owned by the renowned wild life duo Aditya and Poonam Singh, we had a car waiting for us at the Sawai Madhpur station.
The arid surrounding on the ride from the station hardly makes you feel that you are approaching the thrilling land of Machli, the star tigeress of Discovery. The distant horizon has streaks of hills covered with shrubs and small deciduous plants.
We were welcomed at the resort by a very excited and nice Boxer - Tyson, our first brush with an animal, which although being a pet had quite a wild side to it. The resort has a very personal touch about décor and the service, instantly makes you feel at home, thanks to Poonam and Aditya.
The evening trip was arranged from the resort for Ranthambhore fort. The unique feature of the park was that the fort was inside and the surrounding jungle giving it an extra romantic touch. The fort also housed a temple and as we entered through the first dilapidated gate, we actually entered the buffer zone of the park and interestingly Machli was spotted on the same roadside on our last day. So the thrill of seeing the jungles punctuated with birds, langoors, peacock and even crocodiles got us in the groove of the wild, which would stay with us all through the trip and even much after that. The presence of the temple made it a popular tourism spot for the localities’ in their colorful ghagra cholis walked up the fort of the mighty Rajput’s. The view from atop the fort overlooks the whole park and the Aravalli range. The park has scattered extensions of the fort that were the hunting palaces of the rajas. It is quite an irony to think that once those who were hunted now rule the palaces (one is inhabited by Machli and her three cubs), infact parts of the fort is a haven for leopards too.
Already on the adventure groove, we decided to do the night safari by walking. We started from one point of the jungle at about 8 in the evening and went deeper escorted by four guards with lathis and torches. The overall experience and the thrill to enter the unknown were too overwhelming. At a small peak, we sat down to enjoy the wilderness in all its glory. On our way back, our walk was duly rewarded by spotting few cheetals and a hyena.
To top all the excitement of the first day, we spent the evenings chatting with Aditya on his numerous wild life expeditions and listening to live Rajasthan folk in all its purity.
The next two days of our stay were planned with three safaris to the park – morning and evening. The park is categorized into five zones to evenly distribute the large traffic of visitors. The local guides informed that zone 3 & 5 were the lucky ones for sightings. There is a lottery system that happens to allocate the zones, one can feel the palpable excitement mounting from that very moment and all seem to be just interested to see the star – The Royal Bengal Tiger. On the contrary, we were there just to feel and absorb nature; sighting would be an extra bonus. As luck would have it, all the three times we got either zone 3 or 5 and altogether spotted about 7 tigers. We also got to spot sambhars, numerous birds, cheetals, Langoors, crocodiles and a mongoose.
The best sighting was by far zone 3, where the famous Machli resides with her three full-grown cubs. It is beside one of the very few lakes in the park, so quite a coveted territory and in that respect, Machli can be considered as the Queen of Ranthambhore. We had just entered the zone, looking all round for some good sighting when I noticed a yellowish orange head pop out from the side walk and within minutes we were following the two cubs going for their evening drink. They walked in their own pace, gallantly without being bothered about the over enthusiastic onlookers and the extreme palpable excitement all round. The other one we spotted resting under a tree, in a cool poise for all the paparazzi. The power, might and the beauty was glowing all round her and it made me seriously doubt the cause of killing or not making constructive efforts to save the tiger.
After all the excitement, we spent the last day in Manasorover Lake for bird watching. While you sit and see all your feathered friends, you feel at peace with yourself and one with nature. Kingfisher, tree pie, crane, Indian Roller, Geese made us have our own imaginary flights with them in a beautiful musical harmony.
The most dreadful account after three days of bliss was the journey back home. I wish it never happened and I still feel my spirit is hovering in the jungles.
