Tiger

The main reason for us (or anyone) visiting Ranthambore National Park is to see a tiger. We had two scheduled game drives – one in the early morning and one in the afternoon. Each one lasted four hours and was undertaken with eighteen other would be tiger spotters in an open topped vehicle called a canter. To say the least, these are not a comfortable ride and the tracks they travel along are rock strewn and extremely bumpy. However, we were willing to bear the discomfort for the sight of a tiger. So we spent eight hours looking. In this time we saw samber deer, chital deer, Indian antelopes, peacocks, crocodiles, tree-pies, two varieties of monkey and a number of wading birds ........ but no tigers. On returning to the hotel without a sighting (nobody had seen one that day) we were offered one last chance the following morning before we set off for Jaipur on the next leg of our tour. So the next morning, with a distinct sense of déjà vu, less than half of the group set off again. The first hour went very much the same as the previous eight – lots of different forms of wild life but no tiger. Then we turned a corner and there it was – a magnificent female tiger strolling down the track in front of us! We followed it for about 20 yards, apparently totally oblivious to us, and then it paused, turned to the right and walked into the undergrowth. The experienced lasted about three minutes but it made all the searching worthwhile. We discovered later that we were the only group to see a tiger that morning.