We left Agra early for the 260 km journey to Ranthambhore National Park. A short journey by Australian standards but as we have come to know, this distance by road in India is an elongated time warp that could take forever. For us 6.5 hours with a 20 min stop at the 'tourist shop' where you can buy overpriced anything but especially carved elephants, camels, turtles and extremely overpriced textiles.
We now know that the average speed for any trip of length regardless of the quality of the road is 40km/hr.
We were deposited at the Ranthambhore Safari Lodge at 1:30 pm in time for a rest before we embarked on our 3:00 pm Tiger Safari. Ranthambhore Safari Lodge is the famous place mentioned in 'The Pub With No Beer'. I have pondered this oddity for a couple of days now and wondered how this scenario would play out in Queensland if in the off-season they stopped serving all meat and salad dishes and only served Chinese and Indian food.
Anyway, the Lodge accommodation was terrific. Great staff, great grounds and terribly embarrassed that they could not serve us Indian food.
We were to do our Safari in a Jeep fitted with two rows of bench seats. It duly arrived with a young couple from London already aboard in the first seat. This left IW and I to somehow scale the side of the Jeep into the back bench seat. For a normal athletic couple this would have been no trouble but to two people who now have trouble remembering how to spell 'athletic' it presented more of a problem. Needless to say, there were no photos taken and we made it into the back seat.
Off we went - a whole afternoon of adventure in front of us - or so we thought. We had about a 5km drive to the entrance and to our surprise just before arriving we veered off the road and into another accommodation venue. There we picked up another English couple, the husband leapt into the front bench seat leaving his wife to scale the side to join us in the back.
There have been many stories written about the width of 'Wallis hips' so trying to fit both of us plus a 'not so small' lady on one bench seat is silly beyond belief anywhere in the world except India. This is what you do here. On our 6.5 hour drive here we passed countless jeeps without two specially fitted bench seats that had at least twenty occupants.
We entered the park to be greeted by at least 100 monkeys playing and crawling over everything - so used to the people and traffic that there was nothing you could do to dissuade them. This was their area and they did as they pleased.
After the driver had registered, off we went into the scrub in search of one of the thirty Tigers that lived there along with Sambhar Deer, Spotted Deer, Leopard Jackal, Sloth Bear, Crocodiles, Hyena plus a fantastic array of bird life. Despite the discomfort of playing 'Sardine Charades' along the way we had a lot of fun.
We screeched to a halt at one point because the driver saw a Tiger footprint in the dust at the side of the road. We were puzzled at how a Tiger could leave just one paw print but having witnessed several great circus acts over the years we were sure Tigers could hop on one leg to avoid detection by a group of people who had never seen one before.
We witnessed many beautiful sights and animals during the first hour and then it happened! As we drove alongside a small water course where Sambhar Deer were having a bit to eat and a drink, our attention was drawn to a dark shape alongside a deserted brick hut on the side of the hill.
What followed was spectacular as nature unfolded before us. The deer eating and drinking in a small dip in the land, the Tiger taking an inordinate amount of time to creep into position and us perched in our Jeep on the other side - barely thirty metres away and desperately trying to be quiet. Some wanted to shout and warn the deer, others wanted the Tiger to win.
The patience of the Tiger was endless, for fifteen minutes we watched as she crouched behind a bush and inched forward toward the deer which were enjoying their day. One deer slowly walked to where the Tiger was hiding. This is the end we thought. There was one small bush separating them. Then all of a sudden the deer let out a high pitched squeal and ran up to the top of the hill.
The ones down below scattered and the one at the top continued to sound the alarm - the Tiger did not move. It was all over in a flash - the deer lovers cheered, the Tiger lovers were devastated. The Tiger slowly crept back to the side of the building where we first saw her. The guide said the reason it did not attack was that the deer wasn't in the right position so the Tiger was not assured of a kill. They will not attack until they have all the odds in their favour.
Just then a large carrier that transports about twenty people arrived. It was full of American tourists. The atmosphere soon disintegrated as the noise level rose as they screamed their delight at seeing the Tiger. We were glad the carrier did not arrive any sooner. The Tiger fans in our Jeep wanted to drag a deer up to the Tiger then from the mouth of a quietly spoken English tourist came the words "Don't hurt the deer, lets drag an American tourist up." With apologies to our American friends, but yes we did laugh as it was a very fitting comment at the time.
We stayed on to see what would happen. Other Jeeps came and went but for some reason our drivers wanted to stay and watch. At this stage the Tiger was only visible through high powered binoculars. Despite several hints we stayed there for a further 45 minutes looking at the undergrowth and what to the naked eye looked like a small rock which we were told was the Tiger's head.
Eventually we headed back to the entrance, said goodbye to all the monkeys and checked out. We were then driven back to our respective hotels to relive the adventure of the afternoon.
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