The last thing you heard from me was about our visit to the Taj, which I can’t stop talking about. Our next stop was Dev Villas, a small resort in the backyard of a wildlife reserve park in Ranthambore. The large resort was a light pink and had pictures of tigers everywhere, giving us hope that we would see the country’s national animal the next day.
As we drove in through Rajaztan, the state we would be in for the next week, we noticed distinct changes from Uttar Pradesh. There was little pollution here, which our noses thanked us for, but the air was much drier. Actually, most things were different about this state compared to others, including the color amidst such dry land. Of course, there is color in other states, but the land is not nearly as dry and absorbent of color than Rajaztan. And Rajaztani clothes have a different color than other states in India. I’m talking neon colors, but somehow they make it look beautiful.
After a typical Rajaztani meal, most of us retired for a good night’s sleep before our 5:30 wake up call for our first safari. We were scheduled to go on three safaris while in Ranthambore, two on Sunday and one on Monday, so we were about to have two busy days. Before I went to bed, Kristina and I made some final plans for Ruth’s birthday the next day. And the next morning, we left our rooms early to place some fun “21 related gifts” at her door when she woke up.
We were told to bundle up, so all of us boarded our canter (large jeep that fits 20 people) looking like marshmallows. Each safari lasts three hours, and for the first safari, we traveled through Zone 4. The park, covering 700,000 square meters, has five zones that guides can take canters to not overwhelm the animals by sending too many into one zone at once. Zone 4 proved to be our lucky zone for the day, because after driving through the forests and rocky paths, we found three tigers close to each other! Two cubs were playing with each other and the mother was a few kilometers away guarding her slaughtered prey. It became something of a chase as the tigers moved. Our guides knew exactly where they were going, so we found their spots and camped out with the other canters and waited. They are such beautiful animals and we are lucky we got to see them in a protected environment.
Since people only stay at the resort when they are going on safaris, breakfast was waiting for all of the guests when we got back at 10:30, and lunch was soon after before we went on the second safari of the day. This time we didn’t see any tigers, but we did find many deer, peacocks and monkeys to make up for it. When we came back that night, the celebrations for Ruth’s 21st began and all of our planning was successful. It was a great night for everyone, especially the birthday girl!
Luckily for her- and everyone who celebrated (all of us) – we had another safari the following morning, followed by a four hour bus ride to Jaipur. It was a treat seeing tigers in Ranthambore, but we still had a lot more to see during our week of travels.
Get Curried Away With Kamber 