Ranthambore/Agra

Tuesday 18th November, 2008 (Al)
Checked into a ‘luxury’ tent at the Ranthambore Bagh. It’s the most expensive place we have stayed so far at 92 euros per night inc all meals. At 2.30pm we boarded a Canter ( an open top truck with about 20 people of board) for an afternoon safari. The aim of all these safaris is obviously to capture sight of a wild Tiger. The guide explained that there was only a 30% chance of seeing one but the afternoon around sunset and in the morning at sunrise are the best times. The Park is divided into 8 routes of which each Canter or Jeep (holding 5) race to the first checkpoint to take their pick on a first come first served basis. The canters and jeeps are divided evenly each day. We took route 4. The whole trip is 3 hours long and the guides and drivers are fined 5000 rupees each if they stray with the time. Our first couple of hours have us viewing mainly Sambar and spotted deer. They tend to come out in the afternoon to drink from the watering holes. With good hearing but poor eyesight, they’re an easy prey for the Tiger. We learnt from the guide there are two ways of working out where the Tigers are - paw marks on the ground and warning calls by the other animals. The monkeys help the deers by dropping the leaves for food and calling from the tops of the trees where they can see the Tiger coming. The adult deer in turn call out warnings to their young and other deers. We head to a main watering hole where there are more deer, wild boars and Storks, but no Tiger. We see a number of other wildlife along the way including water snakes, tiny owls, and a crocodile who was close to some unsuspecting spotted deer drinking from a waterhole. Unfortunately my sadistic thoughts of seeing a wild kill live were scampered by the loud engine of the canter truck which seemed to scare off the deer and send the croc into the water. As we head back toward the entrance of the park we seem destined to be one of the 70% who don’t get the chance to see a Tiger in Ranthambore. There are only 35 plus 6 cubs in the area of which only 5 are male. The female stays with the cubs for two years and the males wander alone. They are notoriously hard to find as they roam approx 15km a day. On our way back something is said between driver and guide and all of a sudden the driver puts his foot to the pedal. 50m or so around a corner are two jeeps parked with people taking photos. I am positioned in the front of the truck and in front of me about 15 -20m away is a huge male tiger, leisurely walking and stretching his paws, scratching them on the bark of a tree. Its an amazing sight. Much bigger than I anticipated and very impressive. I quickly tried to take some photos but my camera setting was incorrect and I spent half the time trying to adjust it, hence the rubbish photos. I was gutted with the blurred pics, however ecstatic that we actually saw a wild Tiger in the flesh. He was in clear view of us for all of about 30 sec before wandering off into the trees. Our guide later told us that we were extremely lucky to see a male Tiger. 16 vehicles a session twice a day, every day are allowed in the park and they only see a male Tiger twice a month. A South African couple had been out 5 times that week and not seen one, so to see one on our first attempt was pretty good. In the following 20 min we saw two jackals, a black tail mongoose and the Indian Kingfisher bird. We departed the Park on a high and headed back to our tent, enjoyed a tasty dinner in the restaurant before bed. We had to be up at dawn the next morning for a 2nd safari, this time in a jeep.

Ranthambore/Agra
Wednesday 19th November, 2008 (Al)
The crack of dawn - when is it ever nice to wake up that early? It had been raining overnight (the first time since we had been in India) and was chilly in the morning. We thought the jeep safari may have been cancelled but sure enough, if there are rupees to be made, it will go ahead. Squashed in the back seat with an Indian family, we entered the park again. We took a different route to yesterday’s and the surroundings were considerably greener. The rain had washed away the dust on the leaves from the days before. Glad we were in a jeep though, as a number of canters had to abandon their paths as they were not 4 wheel drives and the muddy tracks posed a few problems getting through. By the end of the session we passed 3 canters with customers walking dejectedly along the muddy ground. It was disappointing all round as most of the animals were lying low and resting due to the weather. Only deer a mongoose, croc, kingfishers and owls were spotted and I felt sorry for the others in the jeep who were really looking forward to seeing a wild tiger. On the last checkpoint it was discovered that not one vehicle spotted a tiger on any of the routes. We were really lucky to have seen one yesterday.

We were late getting back to the resort and subsequently had to rush to the station. As we were on a waiting list our seats were not confirmed. A talk to the hotel staff and the ticket master at the station suggested we should just get on, plead ignorance (Indian style as they said) and then sort it out with a small ‘fine’ with the train ticket conductor. I felt uncomfortable with this, so when we approached the conductor as the train arrived, he said there was not a single seat on the train available and we could not get on. Our taxi man who worked at the resort we stayed at was still with us and he attempted to get us onto ‘General seating’. Any of you who have ever seen General class on a train in India know that its not for the light hearted. It is the cheapest way possible and it is jammed, and I mean like sardines. Even though Wend was willing I could see myself trying unsuccessfully to fight off the 30 or so men that were crammed in that first carriage (which would normally hold 6 seated) staring intently at us and our bags. Our taxi driver rushed to buy us a ticket but when he came back and saw the carriage, even he admitted it wasn’t a good idea. He called his boss who had some ‘connections’ and arranged for us to head to Bharatpur, 60km from Agra (our next destination) and then we could get a bus or taxi from there. We struck the deal and later realised the difference in price we had to pay between the general ticket and the upgrade was actually a hefty bribe for the ticket inspector….1000 rupees in fact. Corruption is alive and well on the Indian rail system.

Arriving in Bharatpur we met a French/English couple who were on the same route as us and had also paid off the conductor, albeit at the bargain price of 700 rupees. We decided to share a taxi to Agra and after bartering with about 20 rickshaw drivers who hounded us the minute we got off the train, we went with a guy who promised us a cheap taxi ride…only he wasn’t a taxi driver, nor did he have a taxi. Nevertheless, he did a dodgy deal with his friend who did another dodgy deal with another guy, who argues with a number of taxi drivers and the owner of the jeep and before we knew it we were all crammed in to a borrowed jeep heading to Agra. Upon arrival in Agra we headed to Hotel Sheela, the closest budget hotel to the Taj Mahal, as the whole aim of being in Agra was an early morning at the Taj and then departing later that day. We checked in to what looked like a prison cell, paid the fee and headed out with Fabian and Fiona to the Oberoi hotel, one of India’s best hotels for an indulgent drink. Amazing entrance and impressive surroundings. We got a table on the balcony of the bar , chatted away for a couple of hours and indulged in a bottle of Indian white wine (it was decent!). Our glass of wine cost us double what we paid for the night’s accommodation, however it was worth it just to know what the other side was like for a few moments. Nowhere in the world is class difference more evident than in India. The poor are incredibly poor and the rich are disgustingly wealthy. Back to the prison cell for the night and ready for the early rise ….again.