Part 2 – A summer jaunt further on to Ranthambore

Welcome back to the part-2 of the posts on our recent trip to Jaipur and Ranthambore. If you have not looked at the part 1 yet, here is the link – Summer jaunt to Jaipur

As always we awaited the safaris and forest experience. We finished our shopping at Bapu bazar in Jaipur by late evening and got back to the hotel… We traveled by cab for around 3 – 4 through the beautiful highways and villages to reach our hotel – Heritage Haveli. Settled in and slept, waiting for the coming safaris! 

The Landscape: 

The first two hours in the morning were usually cold… We all waited for the sunshine to creep in through the clouds, and the soft rays to create a beautiful effect on the landscape. 

In the reserve, each zone had contrasting landscapes. Every morning we would wait to see how the zone we go into would look like. We enjoyed all the zones for what it had. Like dense lush green jamun trees, waterholes, arid habitats and others. 

Here are some beautiful pictures of the landscapes in the zones.

BIRDS–

In each zone we had amazing bird sightings. We saw many groups of peacocks and also got to see a few males failing to get the attention of the females by dancing. Both of us predicted that it would rain after the peacock danced and indeed it did! 

Peacock dancing.

Every safari we spotted at least one owl… Through the days we got to see 4 different species of owls – Dusky eagle owl, Indian scops owl, Brown fish owl and Spotted owlet in awesome perches. The owls were so camouflaged that their eyes stood out, they were creepy yet beautiful. 

Brown fish owls

Indian scops owl

We also saw many other species like parakeets, water hens and kingfishers. Each bird had a different work for the day. We got to see nesting, feeding and hunting as well. We loved observing the birds’ behaviors and instincts as we waited past every tree, patiently. As a whole we spotted around 50-60 species of birds. 

Mammals & Others

We saw crocodiles on banks, sambar deers, langurs, spotted deers, obviously the tigers and the leopard!

By the way, do you know why the crocodiles keep their mouth open? – It is to regulate their body temperature, cooling themselves down much like sweating through their mouth.

Sambar deer reaching out for leaves

Sighting leopards here are very rare.. This is because, of the conflict/fight between the tigers and leopards being very likely. But we did have some luck and got to see the leopards. We saw a mother leopard with her 3 cubs.

There was a line of jeeps standing and waiting to get the amazing view of the cubs…

Tiger sightings! It was wonderful. Each tiger has it’s own territory in different zones. First day we got to see a tiger from atop a hill in the waterhole and relaxing.. Slowly, it got up and walked out gracefully – half body wet.

In the other safaris, luck was not on our side and we missed spotting the tigers. We would speed-drive to the place where it was and would end up there at the wrong timing and would miss spotting it. But these things happen, it’s just a matter of luck. In the last safari, we were all looking forward to spotting Sultana and her cubs in Zone 1. The events just rolled past so quickly. 

We drove through the zone, waiting at different spots. Our guide was telling us –  “Alarm call suna toh, samjho tiger dhik gaya” (If you hear an alarm call, be rest assured that you will get to see the tiger). 

It was all quiet and dry when suddenly we heard an alarm call! All of us jolted up and could feel the adrenaline rush through us as we drove super fast towards the call 😀. We waited near a waterhole and saw Sultana and her cubs walking right towards us, emerging from between the dry tree trunks. It was so elegant and heart-filling to watch them walk and drink from the waterhole. The tigers put up with so many postures and gestures. We took awesome clicks, hi-fyed each other and enjoyed the experience as a whole! 

Here are some photos of them.

Sultana alone.

Sultana’s cubs

But finally we had to leave and get back to our hotel. We all came back and had fun talks about the different experiences through the safaris…

After the wonderful time at Ranthambore it was time to head back home. Before we left to Bangalore, we went to a shop called ‘ Blue pottery’.. We bought some things got back to hotel checked out and left.

We had some awesome memories to carry back with us!

See you until next time!