Tigerless in Ranthambore

Oh for a tiger! A tight knot of anticipation and yearning churned my stomach as I stepped out of Sawai Madhopur station. Even though I knew it was a ‘game of chance’ I had pinned all my hopes on finally sighting a full grown tiger in Ranthambore National Park and Tiger Reserve.

My previous four trips along with my photographer pal Sherwin to Panna, Kanha, Bandhavgarh and Periyar national parks for a face off with Sher Khan were a partial success. We managed to sight just two one-year-old cubs gamboling under a tree on a morning safari in Bandhavgarh. While we were regaled for nearly half an hour by their antics it was not the same adrenaline rush of confronting either their ‘mommy’ or ‘daddy.’

As we sped through the streets of Sawai Madhopur, the stamp of the magnificent beast was unmistakable even through the early morning mist. Tiger Den, Tiger Trail, Camp Tiger, virtually every other hotel, restaurant, souvenir shop and even tea stall sport the word tiger on their signage. Almost all activity in this otherwise small nondescript Rajasthan town revolves around the tiger.

A convenient extension to the famous Golden Triangle circuit of Delhi-Agra-Jaipur, Ranthambore National Park and Tiger Reserve is one of the most visited wildlife destinations in the country. Wedged between the Aravali Hills and the Vindhya Range, the Park is spread over 410 sq kms, mostly comprising of dry deciduous forest with ancient banyan and pipal trees, large tracts of grassy meadows and a few narrow gorges with dense vegetation, beneath craggy cliffs. Established in 1972, the Park has built up a reputation for tiger sightings at its best and is a photographer’s dream come true.

The arresting pictures like a tiger locked in a tug of war with a crocodile over a huge male Sambar (deer) on the edge of one of the lakes, the myriad moods of the beast among the small covered pavilions and other ruins dotting the Park by Fateh Singh (forest warden for number of years and synonymous with the development of the Park) and renowned wildlife photographer, Valmik Thappar, had set my imagination and expectation on fire. Sherwin and I were determined to get at least one for the album.

Reining in our impatience, we spent the morning of our arrival wandering around Tiger Moon Resort (Indian Adventures Wildlife Resorts) located in Sherpur village, just two kms from the Park and our camp for the next three days. With a backdrop of the Aravali Hills, the sprawling resort, set in a thickly wooded tract with neat stone and sloping tiled roof cottages equipped with all modern amenities, merges perfectly with the surrounding wilderness.

While there is a plethora of options for accommodation, right from Rs 300 per night rooms to five-star properties of Taj and Oberoi, Tiger Moon offers a much closer jungle feel and experience. As it was winter we did not brave a dip in the pool but lazed on the deck chairs observing the abundant and cacophonic birdlife around us. Equally engrossing was watching Guddu deftly etching out the details of a snarling tiger with his brush on a huge canvas outside the souvenir shop of the resort. Self trained, the young artist only paints tigers and can reproduce any tiger photograph with amazing likeness on canvas.

After gorging on some finger licking chicken and mutton dishes for lunch (inexplicably I always get a ravenous appetite out in the wild and the jungle restaurant at the resort dished up a really delectable fare of Indian, Chinese and Continental dishes), fingers and toes firmly crossed we set off for our first safari.

Entry to the park is through an arched gateway wedged between two hills and the narrow cobbled path snakes along for some distance with rock face rising on either side. It’s like wearing blinkers and builds up the drama of the panorama, which greets the eye once you emerge out of the gorge. Even from a distance the Ranthambore Fort perched on a hillock is an imposing sight. A towering edifice looming above the park, the 10th century fort is a striking feature of the Park, bearing mute testimony of the glory of the Rajput kingdoms and battles long forgotten.

The fort no doubt kindled a keen interest but we pushed it on the backburner. Our first priority was to sight the so far elusive striped predator. We had been assigned route number five. There are a total of six routes, each covering roughly a distance of 40 kms and the vehicles, which start on route numbers four, five and six exit through one, two and three and vice versa.

While this ensures distribution of traffic, on the flip side it restricts your chances. The vehicles have to strictly adhere to the route (they refuse to budge even a few metres off the route even for a photograph and you can beg and plead all you please). In other tiger reserves like Bandhavgarh and Kanha the driver and guide are free to switch tracks and race towards the source of the alarm calls for a tiger sighting.

We had no inkling of these rules. An hour into the safari we stopped on hearing the sharp alarm call of a chital, which was accompanied by that of a langoor, a sure sign that the big cat was on the prowl. The alarm calls were originating a short distance away on our right. We expected the driver to backtrack and race towards the calls but he just stayed put. We waited and waited and heard the alarm calls increasing in frequency and urgency but also moving further right, away from us.

“Step on it man, move. That’s my tiger, my dream!,” I was about to scream when the driver switched on the ignition and moved on. I was shocked and all he offered by way of explanation was, “different route.” To say it was highly frustrating is an understatement and on our three subsequent safaris, forget about sighting a tiger, we were not even lucky to hear an alarm call.

By way of consolation, we did sight a trail of clear pug marks on the dirt track shortly after entering the park on a morning safari. Our guide had a close look and said, “A big male, eight years, passed this way a few hours ago.” That was the closest we got to a tiger in Ranthambore, just our bloody luck! And it really hurt when I heard that the English woman at our resort, who had booked an entire jeep for 16 consecutive safaris sighted a female and a cub on the very first day.

On the whole the Park is quite dramatic, especially the narrow ravines with surprisingly dense vegetation for an arid region like Rajasthan and the three lakes, Rajbaugh, Milak Talao and Padam Talao. These attract a variety of migratory birds and herbivores. Often big cats are seen prowling on the periphery. The other star attractions are the marsh crocodiles basking on the shores by the dozens.

Jogi Mahal, the hunting lodge of the erstwhile Maharaja’s is a small but magnificent structure overlooking Padam Talao and a dream location to sight tigers. All you had to do was sit back on the balcony with your favourite ‘poison’ and watch the enactment of the age old drama of the predator and the prey a few 100 feet away. It is good to be the king. In the courtyard is yet another attraction, a huge banyan tree, touted as the second largest in India.

While we sighted the gallery of ‘usual suspects,’ sambars, chitals, nilgai, wild boars, peacocks etc on our safaris, the lasting impression was that of the fort. Besides the amazing bird’s eyeview of the park including Padam Talao, the 32-pillar ‘chatri’ near Hamir Mahal, the abode of the Maharaja is a stunning monument. The temple inside the sprawling fort is also worth a dekko for the antics of the hordes of langoors who station themselves all over in hope of ‘prasad.’ The huge steps, the high ramparts, the scattered ruins inside the fort, all present a strong and interesting collage of history and one has to spend an entire day at the fort to do it justice. As for Sher Khan, guess it will have to be some other Tiger Reserve, some other time, till both our destinies get us face to face. Meanwhile, the quest continues...

Fact File

Season: Ranthambore National Park and Tiger Reserve is open from 1st October to 30th June

Wildlife species: Tiger, leopard, sloth beer, marsh crocodile, sambar, chital, nilgai (blue bull), wild boar, chinkara, jackals, hyena, peafowl, tree pies, parakeets, robins, painted storks, sandpipers, plovers, a total of 300 species of birds

Getting there: Nearest railhead is Sawai Madhopur 12 kms away. Closest airport is Jaipur, 175 kms away

Park entry fee: Rs 25 for Indians and Rs 250 for foreigners

Canter safari: Rs 200 per pax

Jeep safari: Rs 1,400 and accommodates only four pax. Due to the limited number of jeeps allowed in the Park, Jeep safari has to be booked 60 days in advance

Camera charges: Rs 250 for video camera. There is no charge for still camera and professional cameras are charged as per specification of equipment.

Indian Adventures Website: www.indianadventures.com