We set off this morning at 6.30am in a canter to the Ranthambore National Park Tiger Reserve. This is a fabulous national park for the Bengal Tiger that was once a private hunting ground for the Maharajas of Jaipur. Firstly I got up into the canter…wahoo!! We spent about 3 hours looking for tigers. We saw Deers, Antelopes, Monkeys, Boars, Lizards, Crocs, Birds (including magnificent peacocks) but no Tigers and not even the Sloth which we were also keen to see.
A bit disappointed we came back to the hotel for breakfast and had a very welcome rest. A few hours off meant that we could have a swim, a pre lunch G&T, lunch and then get ready to head off again on another safari to try to find the elusive tiger.
The roads on these safaris are quite hair raising, they are steep, bumpy, with river crossings and rocky parts…its all an adventure of the first order. This time we went off on a different path deeper into the forest. We followed rivers and penetrated deeper into the forest in search of the damned elusive tiger. We kept going back to places on the river where he (they) had been seen, driving around and around but again to no avail. The guide was fabulous and just didn’t give up until it got dark and we just had to leave. Never having found the tiger…such a shame. It is one animal I would have loved to have seen in the wild.
We came back to the hotel and sat around polishing off a few more G & Ts and some red wine (our supply has now diminished) with a group of us before dinner. It is now bedtime and we face another early start in the morning before we head off by road to Jaipur.