A Trip to Remember – The arid jungles of Ranthambore – April 2025
Dusk is slowly covering the forest floor, as animals, birds, and weary travelers all make their way home. For the third category, disappointment is writ large on all their faces – for 2.5 hours, they have bumped around the dusty terrain, braving oppressive temperatures, praying for a sighting of the elusive Royal. This is Ranthambore, the arid historic national forest in Rajasthan, India. The Bengal Tiger is a regal creature, King of this jungle, showing itself to only a few lucky ones. This elusive mystery is part of its aura, a royal swag unlike any other in the animal kingdom.
Ours is the third vehicle in a convoy of three – one Gypsy sandwiched between two dusty Canters as we make our weary way out of the jungle’s Zone 5, another day spent in wishful anticipation. Looking at our dejected faces, our guide tries to boost our morale, pulling the Canter to a stop next to a meandering water body, which in this summer’s sweltering heat, has dried to a shallow trickle. The other vehicles pull up behind us, one last glimmer of hope sparkling in all their eyes. Will the King oblige?
Minutes pass, our hopelessness multiplying with every minute, when the first Cheetal shouts its warning call. The langurs take up the chorus as our guide animatedly announces the arrival of the Bengal Tiger at the waterbody. A hush settles over the stragglers, and cameras with monstrous lenses point towards the source of the cacophony.
Out steps into plain view, the Royal Bengal Tiger – Ganesh or T120, as he’s known in these parts. He doesn’t know that, cares even less as he ambles over to the water and settles in for the last bath of the day. His back is towards us, though he is aware of our presence, he is not bothered. We are a mere nuisance in his daily routine, intruders in his realm. His tail thrashes, splashing water over the rest of his body as he relaxes into this luxury.
After about ten minutes, he steps out of the water, his luxurious coat glistening in the dying light of the day. With an imperious shrug, he showers minuscule water droplets into the heavy, humid air around him. Then, he begins his royal walk, slow and languorous, towards his resting place for the night.
The cameras around me slow down significantly, their relentless clicking, which had added another level to the sounds of the jungle, becomes more sporadic. The hushed tones of the spellbound tourists slowly rose to the levels of normal conversations. But 50 feet away, the centre of all this attention, walks away unfazed. His prey, which had shrunk away into the shadows, finds their lost voices again, as the jungle comes alive with the sounds of a fauna going to sleep for the day. The King has just retired into his castle for the night. Our journey on the jungle safari at Ranthambore also comes to a joyous end!
Only the drivers of the Gypsies and their guides remain unmoved, this is a sight they see almost everyday but for us visiting tourists it’s a date with royalty. For some, like me, it’s a first-time experience, and I’m suitably humbled to be graced by the royal visitation. A trip to remember, just when it all seemed lost. We had by now forgotten all our woes of the day, our travel weariness had faded in this rush of adrenaline, all was well in our world!
Ranthambore is a 5.30-hour journey from Delhi-NCR – accessible by road, rail, or air. The nearest airport is Jaipur, 160 km away, and the nearest train station is Sawai Madhopur, 14 km away. By road, Ranthambore is approximately 380 km from Delhi, and the route map looks like this:
I will be remiss in my responsibilities if I fail to mention certain words of advice/caution to those reading this and planning to visit Ranthambore. Plan your travel early, and book safaris only through the official Rajasthan Government website (link given below). There are a whole lot of scams going on in the name of booking safaris, Gypsies are most in demand, and they vanish in minutes when you are trying to book. Keep all traveler information ready – name, age, Aadhar/Passport, etc. (file sizes less than 100kb). In all probability, if you are booking multiple seats, by the time you fill in all details and go to the payment page, the Gypsy seats would have been booked already!
There is some system gaming that goes on, so that one is forced to do Tatkal bookings ( 7 calendar days ahead of your safari date), and you end up booking exorbitantly priced seats a day before the safari through hotel-sourced agents. Our Tiger sighting happened while on safari in a Canter, so it’s about luck and not the mode of transport. Ultimately, it all pales into insignificance once you sight the Royal Cat at Ranthambore.
Happy traveling! Ranthambore awaits….
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Information for Jungle Safaris at Ranthambore can be found here
