This is a guest post written by Phil, Claire’s dad.

I’m flattered to have been asked by DaveB and Claire (aka Squiffy) to write up a blog on our Tiger Safari at Ranthambhore National Park in Rajisthan, India. I just hope I can do it justice.

We were several days into our tour of Rajisthan, having visited the Pink City of Jaipur and prior to our trip to the Camel Fair at Pushkar.

We arrived in Sawai Madopur a town close to Ranthambhore Tiger Park, late in the afternoon. The modes of transport available to take us to our hotel were the usual tuk-tuk and cycle rickshaw, – in addition there was the novelty of a horse drawn trap. (A bit like Charlie Boreman’s “By any means”) This third option turned out to be the cheapest at 20 Rupees, no doubt because the vendor was hoping (as is usually the case in India) to elicit a commission from the hotel. I’m afraid he’d misjudged my intrepid travelling companions, the hotel had been pre-booked thus no commission was due.

The following day was taken up with us exploring the surrounding area; with it’s shopping and eating opportunities. Claire was particularly keen that we place our business with the charity shop set up to market the handicrafts of the local women. Being a charity, Claire felt that she ought not to haggle over the prices – which I felt were fair in any case.

The day of the Tiger Safari began for me at 4:45 a.m. as I’d been elected to make the booking.

Out of the 20 or so vehicles allowed into the park each day, only two of each type (Gipsy – 6 seater or Canter – 20 seater) were bookable at short notice. The queue for the booking office opened at 5:30 and I was determined to be at the head of the line.

Not so!! – There were twenty or so at the Canter counter and four at the Gipsy counter when I arrived. Luckily for me the last remaining seats (in a Gipsy) were for a full day rather than the standard half-day safari, which the backpackers at the front of the queue were unable to afford.

An urgent mobile call to Dave and Claire brought them to the embarkation point in double quick time, as the trip was to begin at 7:00 am. This left little time to organise a picnic, which as you all know, would be as important to Dave B as the Tiger Safari itself! As it happened we were able to get a sandwich made at the hotel of our fellow Safari companions.

The park is divided into seven sections, with three or four vehicles at most entering each section. As there are a total of only forty tigers in the park, assuming that they are evenly spread, then we were likely to have the opportunity to see perhaps five Tigers maximum. One would have been nice!! But I’m afraid we have to report that our party saw none on that particular day. That is not to say that we were totally disappointed, there was plenty of wildlife to view. We saw several large, cow size antelope with young, also gazelle and deer. To our surprise there was a sizeable crocodile on the banks of a stream. Other wildlife living in the Park (but not seen by us) are Leopard and Sloth Bear.

To add tension to what could have been a slow day, the driver and guide made a bold attempt to liven things up. While stopped at a pay booth in order for those with video cameras to pay a fee, there was a general melee with our guide rushing us to re-board the vehicle in order to head in the direction of some squealing monkeys, which he indicated could be due to Tigers being present – it wasn’t, and there weren’t.

On several occasions during the morning we stopped to observe fresh Tiger paw prints in the sand at the side of the track. These paw prints were so perfectly formed and in such numbers, that I had my suspicions as to their authenticity. Later in the morning we came across a group of rangers (most of the villagers living in the park were employed on a Tiger project of some sort), one of who had a plaster cast of a Tiger paw. We were told that they make plaster casts of paw prints in order to identify individual Tigers, but I notice that this cast was obviously not fresh as it had a coat of paint – I’m convinced that the prints in the sand were man made. All credit to the Tiger Park, whether there were Tigers about or not, an attempt was made to add excitement to our trip.

I’ve heard speculation that Tigers are to be introduced to Africa, in order to preserve them as a species, due to their dwindling habitat in India. Perhaps I’ll have to wait until I go on an African Safari in order to see my first Wild Tiger!

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