Elephant, Tiger, one horned Rhino, Asiatic
Lion, Black Bear and Leopard forms the Big 6 of Indian forests. While you will
like to avoid a close encounter with wild Elephants, the biggest of them all,
for good reasons, you will be delighted to meet any one of the other five. A
visit to Gir will almost certainly ensure a sighting of Lion, so does a visit
to Kaziranga for rhino. Bear and leopard are almost everywhere, but very
elusive. Tiger can be sighted relatively easily if you are at the right place. The
aura of royalty around tiger has made it the most sought after animal in
wildlife circuit of India
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| Male T24 |
Located just 450km away from, Ranthambhore
is easily accessible from Delhi Delhi
My first trip to Ranthambhore came quite
late in May 2012. Couple of earlier attempt had to be aborted to due to a
highly corrupt system of safari booking. The online booking system has been
hacked by local hoteliers and agents in connivance with forest officials.
Within hours of opening of booking in Sept, 2011, all gyspy seats till April
2012 got blocked. Official rate for a seat in gyspy is around Rs. 550/- which are
then sold for at least 1000 depending on demand. This manipulation was reported
even in leading newspapers like with forest deptt assuring to address this
issue. Till the time forest deptt wakes up, you either need to become victim or
time your visit during off peak period. A large no of canters are also used for
safari. Cost of a canter seat is around 400 as against a gypsy seat of 550.
Canters are real nuisance to the jungle. Imagine yourself hauled in an open
truck on a bumpy road to view wildlife. You can hear them coming from miles
away. While a gyspy has only 6 occupants, a canter has a crowd of 20-30. Crowd
is for cities, not for game viewing.
This year I decided to beat this
manipulation by choosing to visit the park in peak summer. You will bother to
venture out at near 50 degree temp only if you seriously love wildlife. Ironically
both the summer months of May and June provide good sighting. Therefore these
two months are ideal time for photographer. However high the declared density
of tiger in a jungle may be, luck plays the final factor in getting to face
this majestic beast in his backyard. My honest estimation is to face a tiger
once every three outings. I keep one for exploring the terrain and the other
for birding. In between, when luck favors, a sighting occurs. A sighting brings
such joy to your soul that it gets exuded unknowingly. The faces of tourist
coming of tiger territories tell the story point blank. One should not get
disappointed if they do not get to see a tiger. A signboard at Bandhavgarh
righty says ‘You might not have seen me, but I have seen you’. One should learn
to enjoy the landscape, watch the prey base, look for colorful birds and suck
in lungful fresh air. If you do this, you will enjoy all your trips to the
wild.
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| male cub Sultan of T19 |
Ranthambhore is divided into 8 zones. Zone
1 to 5 constitutes the main park area.
Zone 6 to 8 is basically buffer and is best avoided during season. This
is why you can easily get safari bookings for these zones. During monsoon (1st
July – 30th Sept) the main areas of park remains closed. Zone 6 to 8
remains open even during monsoon. On enquiry I found that most foreign tourist
arriving in India
Once you book online, the zones are also
allotted online randomly. For tatkal and current bookings, zones are
allotted manually and hence get manipulated. Most regulars to the park know how
to manipulate it. The zone you get further decides outcome of your safari. Zone
5 happens to be the worst one. However zone 5 has the finest green area of the
jungle called Bhakula. It also provides the some of the best landscape of
Ranthambhore. Even if you get to see a tiger in zone 5, it will not be from
close. Rest of the zones provides equal chance to see a tiger. I have seen
tigers in zone 1 to 4, but none in two trips to zone 5. There are 3 gates – one
for zone 4 and 5, another for zone 1. The third gate opposite the fort entrance
opens to zone 2 and 3. Zone 3 used to be premium. Most of the landscapes of
Ranthambhore you see in Nat Geo / Animal Planet are from this zone. The tigress,
who rules the area around Padam Talab, has traditionally been the queen of Ranthambhore.
It was once ruled by legendry Machli (T16), and now by her offspring Sundari
(T17).
Officially Ranthambhore had about 46 tigers
(2011) over an area of roughly 400 sq km. Every year you lose some tiger to
poaching, death or migration to other area. You also get new cubs adding to the
count every year. T17 and T39 are two tigress who had had given birth this
season. Tigers generally live for 15-16 years during which it gives birth around
4-5 times. The prey base at Ranthambhore is good which is why tigers have
flourished here. Here you can see herds of Sambhar deer, the favorite prey of
tigers. In other parks, Sambhar deer are found in group of 2 or 3. The
landscape is generally dry with rocky terrains. There is quite a large no of
natural water bodies in the park which had helped in sustaining wildlife. Padam
Talab (zone 3) and Malik Talab (zone 4) are two large lakes like water bodies
where you can see crocodiles as well.
Besides the zone, the driver and guide also
play key roles in tiger sighting. Guide and driver are allotted randomly on a
roaster basis. Photographers generally handpick guides by paying a premium
officially. I had one drive with Kalim, who happens to be brother of popular
guide Salim. Kalim was driver for a Nat Geo shoot in April, 2012. I was
impressed with his skill. The bad thing is that once you drive with guy like
Kalim, you start comparing others with him. Foreign tourists had pampered these
guides and drivers by paying handsome tips. They easily judge the tip paying
potential of the tourist they are carrying and conduct the trip accordingly.
Depending on probability of tips, the guide and driver will search for tiger at
every possible spot. Else they will stick to regular tracks. Contrary to what
some may think, tigers do not pop up out of nowhere in the middle of a road
during safari. Tigers are to be tracked down reading signs in nature – like
pugmarks, calls of animals like cheetal, sambhar or langur. This is where your
guide and driver come into play. Tigers generally sleep all through the day and
keep moving within its territory all through the night. It is highly active
during early hours of morning or late evening when it hunts. The guides and
drivers know which tiger frequents which area.
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| Female T41 |
Third important factor is your safari
companions, specially if you have not booked full gypsy. It is important to
travel with like minded people. The people who are traveling in your gypsy can
kill your trip. Often people share the gypsy to cut cost. You can hire the
entire gyspy by paying for all 6 seats. Hiring a full gyspy will cost you
around 4000 per trip. Else you can book as many seats you need. For all my
trips I had booked 3 seats. Most of the time my companions were also in group
of 3 (small family) and had to be picked from a single resort. But occasionally
they were 2+1 meaning they had to be picked from two resorts delaying your
entry to the park. Such delay for evening trip is OK as tiger movement starts
around sunset. But for morning safari, this delay can be crucial. I had bad
companions in 2 out of 9 safaris I took this year. One of them was a couple
with a 2-3 yr child. My request to such people is not to go to jungle and spoil
others trip. Jungle safaris, where one has to sit absolutely silent at times,
is not meant for small kids. Take kids to jungle when they start appreciating
it. Imagine how it would be with canter where several groups will have to be
picked. Or how other 25 plus would behave when it is difficult to deal with 2
or 3. Patience is another key. Once you track down signs of a tiger, you may
have to wait patiently, sometimes for hours, for the tiger to make a move.
Therefore a gypsy having a max of 6 people is ideal as you can expect other 5
to be as patient as you.
Ranthambhore offers plenty of options to
stay put. Sawai Madhopur landscape is generally dry and hence resorts here are
not like the ones you get to see around greener parks like Corbett. This means
that the campuses of resorts are not lush green. A double occupancy hotel room
(AC) costs about 1000 bucks, while a night at a resort would cost you at least
2500 bucks. Staying at hotels on Ranthambhore road closer to town is not a bad
option as it also offers access to local restaurants. The added advantage is
that if you stay on first row of hotels on Ranthambhore road, you are likely to
be picked first and hence you get seat of your choice. The safari booking
office is in the city and hotels are on the 10 odd km road to the park. Further
you are away from city, the more is your possibility of being picked last for
safari and hence almost no choice of seat. Given the greener surroundings, the RTDC
Vinayak is not a bad option for staying, though it is located bit far from the
town. If you are staying in a resort, then make sure to bargain for AP rate.
Else you will end up coughing a lot for buffet meals.
I had a fantastic first trip in May, 2012.
The place I choose to stay was ‘Ranthambhore Bagh’ owned by well known
naturalist Aditya ‘Dicky’ Singh. Though a bit pricey, it provides a homely
environment with excellent staff. I had sighting in 4 out of 5 safaris. The
icing was an encounter with Machli, the icon of Ranthambhore. Fell in love with
the place so much so that I made a second visit in June. Wiser from the last
visit, I could made my second visit cheaper by almost 10K. You gain experience
only by travelling. A rough estimate of 12K will give you 4 safaris with two
nights stay and meals for a couple, which is quite decent. Add a couple of
thousand more a resort stay. In Ranthambhore I have found a destination where I
will be coming back again and again. Looking forward for the park to open after
monsoon.
(Send a feeler at call4tiger@gmail.com to arrange an ideal
Ranthambhore trip.)
