The Hunt for Shere Kahn III – Last Chance in Ranthambore

Maybe it was my constant reading about Jim Corbett (famous tiger hunter/conservationist) and his hunting maneaters, or maybe it was my obsessive looking at photos of tigers online that caused Lianna to suggest we should try one last time for a chance to see a tiger. Our only logical choice was to head to Jaipur for a night before catching the next train to Ranthambore, Rajasthan’s best known tiger park. After discussing our budget and time frame before flying to Goa for Christmas we figured we could only afford to spend one day on safari in the park, not very much time.

We decided to book our safaris online (www.rajasthanwildlife.in) learning from our experience waiting for jeep space in Bandhavgarh, and had all the necessary documents printed off. Most hotels will organize everything for guests but if you are staying in a low end budget hotel be prepared to wake up at 530am and venture down to the Forestry office and drop off registration forms. Unfortunately, the morning of, we couldn’t find them anywhere! We ripped apart all of our bags but it ended in vain when we were still without our documents. So we headed down anyway and were crossing our fingers they had our names recorded somewhere and got lucky, the system worked for once. We met our guide, picked up the other guests (from awesome looking hotels) and headed into the park.

Not long after entering the buffer zone we noticed some jeeps had stopped and told us they heard deer alarm calls alerting other animals of the presence of a tiger. More jeeps stopped and in a split second, one jeep raced further up the road and we followed in hot pursuit. Everything afterward happened so fast it is difficult to describe but after we parked and our eyes focused to where the jeep was pointing we could see a large male tiger making its way up a hill. Jeeps raced for position and not more than 10 seconds later the big cat disappeared into the jungle. I tried to snap a picture but since the sun had not risen, I ended up with a blurred mess but at the very least stripes can be seen. Not quite the wilderness experience one hopes for but when a childhood dream comes true its tough not to be awestruck. Not even the frantic jeeps could ruin such a priceless experience. With smiles on our faces we continued into the park, it was a good start.

Ranthambore was different than the other parks we had previously visited because the terrain is far less dense than either Bandhavgarh or Chitwan. This makes wildlife viewing quite a bit easier as wildlife can be seen from further away. We enjoyed our safari, spotting many many chital (spotted deer), sambar, peacocks and Nilgai a huge antelope the size of a horse we hadn’t yet seen. We were still on a high from our first tiger sighting but since it was over before we knew it, we hoped we could steal another glimpse of this incredible animal.

After lunch we headed out for our final safari not feeling confident as we drew route number 1, not a tiger spotting route apparently. Again, we had no trouble finding the sambar and chital and excitement arose when we spotted some paw prints in the sand. We continued up the road and were treated to a special sight, a family of sloth bears were walking along a dried up creek bed. This was a bonus as sloth bears are extremely endangered and very rare throughout the park. The bears continued on their way and we continued on our way as well. After an hour or so more we turned back and ran into the same group of sloth bears again, this time much closer on the road. The mother let us know she didn’t want us too close by standing up on her hind legs as a warning. Truly an amazing experience and one we never expected.

On our way out Lianna and I felt truly lucky to have had such a good day in comparison to some of the bad luck we experienced in Bandhavgarh. Smiling ear to ear we exited the park and again we met some jeeps gazing into the forest below. Some careful jeep maneuvering and we could see what they were looking at, in the distance a young male tiger was sleeping under a tree. As the jeeps collected we had a good view point from which to see the tiger occasionally lift its head, lick its paw then settle back to its cat nap despite the loud jeeps above. Again it was difficult getting any kind of photo but getting an extended look at a wild tiger was the icing on the cake for me. I couldn’t think of a better finish to the day and will certainly be one I wont ever forget.

That night it was early to bed for a train the following morning at 4am to New Delhi. In typical indian fashion we were late for 3 hrs which normally would be fine except that we were freezing (broken window) and Lianna was having a hard time dealing with the incessant starring from the local men as we were on a lower class train due to availability. Exhausted and starving we made it to Delhi for a night before leaving for Amritsar.