Ranthambhore National Park

Hello friends,

We had been to Ranthambhore National park on 15th Jan, 2010 and stayed there till 18th Jan, 2010 .

The team included (L to R )

Mr . H .Satish

Myself (Arjun Haarith)

Mr. Sateesh.N

Mr. Vishwanath.S

Brief History :

Ranthambhore was established as the Sawai Madhopur Game Sanctuary in 1955 by the Govt of India, and was declared one of the Project tiger reserves in 1973. Ranthambhore became a national park in 1980. In 1984, the adjacent forests were declared the Sawai Man Singh Sanctuary and Keladevi Sanctuary, and in 1991 the tiger reserve was enlarged to include Sawai Man Singh and Keladevi sanctuaries.

Ranthambore wildlife sanctuary is famous for its tigers and is one of the best places in India to see these majestic predators in the jungle. Tigers can be easily spotted even during the day Time. Good time to visit Ranthambore National park is in November and May when the nature of the dry deciduous forests makes sightings common. Its deciduous forests were once a part of the magnificent jungles of Central India.

The park lies at the edge of a plateau, and is bounded to the north by the Banas river and to the south by the Chambal river. There are several lakes in the park. It is named for the historic Ranthambhore fortress, which lies within the national park. The park covers an area of 392 km², and is famous for its tiger population, and is one of India's Project tiger reserves. Other major wild animals include the tiger, leopard, nilgai,wild boar,sambar, hyena,sloth bear and chital. It is also home to wide variety of trees, plants, birds and reptiles. Ranthambore is also the site for one of the largest banyan trees in India.

Location :

Ranthambore National Park is one of the largest and most famous national parks in north India. It is situated in Sawai Madhopur district of southeastern Rajasthan, about 180 km from Jaipur, which is also the nearest airport. The nearest town and railway station is at Sawai Madhopur , about 11 km away.

The Famous Tigers of Ranthambore

During the past few years, there has been a decline in tiger population in Ranthambore due to poaching and other reasons. However there were some tigers who succeeded in carrying on their genes even in such circumstances. A tigress known as "Lady of the Lakes" was, at a very young age, separated from her parents due to increase poaching in the area. The young tigress was called Macchli since she had a mark on her body which resembled a fish. She grew up with great determination for ruling the jungle. She mated with a male who resided just beside her territory and gave birth to three female cubs, the most famous being dubbed 'Macchli - The Junior' in a documentary. Despite Macchli also being the name of her mother, the young cub found herself stuck with the designation. The father of the younger Macchli died early due to an unknown disease, which was confirmed when forest officer Fateh Singh Rathore saw him in Ranthambore. After this, the elder Macchli found the scent of a different male, known as Bumburam, and mated with him. She gave birth to two cubs. Baccha is believed to be her grandson.

Major Attractions

Tigers: The Park is one of the best national parks in the country to spot a tiger. This majestic predator can be spotted ambling or basking under the sun here.

Ranthambore Fort: The majestic fort, built in 10th-century, towers over the entire park area. It stands at a height of 700 feet above the surrounding plain. Inside the fort, there are three red Karauli stone temples devoted to Ganesh,Shiva and Ramlalaji. The temples were constructed in 12th and 13th centuries.

Padam Talao: This is the largest of the all the lakes located inside the park, and the beautiful red sandstone Jogi Mahal is located at the very edge of this lake. A gigantic banyan tree, considered to be India’s second largest, is near the lake.

How to get there

By Air : Jaipur at 180 km is the nearest airport from Ranthambore Wildlife sanctuary.

By Rail : Ranthambore National Park is around 11 km away from Sawai Madhopur railway station, that lies on the Delhi to Bombay trunk route.

By Road : A good network of buses connect Sawai Madhopur, the nearest town from Ranthambore to all the major cities within the state of Rajasthan.

General information :

• National Park area: 275 km² core area. 392 km² including buffer zone.
• Tiger Reserve area: 1334 km²
• Altitude: 215 to 505 meters above sea level
• Closest airport is Jaipur at 180 Kms
• Terrain: Dense tropical forest, open bushland and rocky terrain interspread with lakes and streams
• Best Season: between November to March
• Closed: Monsoon(July - August)

Our Trip commencement :

We left Jaipur on 15th Jan morning, and reached Sawai Madhopur by noon. We had booked the safary trips in advance.

Day 1 :As scheduled we went to the afternoon safary on 15th. In that Safary trip we got route no. 3. This route has beautiful lakes of Ranthambore. They are :

Padam Talao

Rajbagh lake

Mallik talao

A view of the famous " Rajbagh Hunting palace ".

Rajbagh is the second largest lake among the three lakes in Ranthambore. Rajbagh Talao has whippings that protract to the bulge of the lake. The water plants in the lake offer the mud deer with indolence to tickle on. Tigers can rarely be seen near Rajbagh Talao.

The safary on route no.3 was worth that day , as we took pictures of Sambhars , treepies , Bar headed geese etc., with some landscapes too. According to me route 3 is one of the best routes in the park.

Sambhar

at Rajbagh lake.

The Bar-headed Goose (Anser indicus) is a goose,which breeds in Central Asia in colonies of thousands near mountain lakes. It lays three to eight eggs at a time in a ground nest.

Brahminy Ducks:

Day 2 : We took route no 4, in the morning and we found nothing except nilgais , chitals and sambars. After shooting pictures f the sighted species, we returned back.

This is a young sambhar which was very curious at the sight of cameras.

In the afternoon, it was lucky. we were shooting sambars near mallik talao in route 4, suddenly a gypsy from a far away place gave us a signal, our gypsy driver went there in a moment. And we were amazed to witness a royal tigress sitting in a bush. It was T-17. After 30 mins, it came out of the bush and followed the path along with the gypsies. People on route 3 were eagerly waiting for the tigress to come their side. But that did not happen,since people in route 3 could not enter route 4.

After a while the tigress waited patiently to hunt a sambar, but at certain point of time an alarm call was heard and sambars took to their heels. After the majestic animal's sighting we returned back.

This is a T-17 female. Beautiful tigress!!

It was waiting to pounce on a Sambar, but unfortunately missed it !!

Day 3 : In the morning we went to route 2, accompanied by Mr. Salim Ali. After searching for a while, suddenly a male tiger came out of the bush. It was T-23 male.

These are all the lovely T-23 male of Ranthambhore.

In the afternoon we had been to route no 1, where we found nothing but Boars and Langurs

Day 4 : This was the last day of our trip. It was very cold in the morning. It was a fog hit day. We got up the gypsy and went inside the forest, The route followed was no 5. We went through the mist under a very less viewing distance due to the mist. Suddenly we heard alarm calls given by Chitals and Langurs. We waited there patiently and suddenly the beautiful queen T-17 appeared. That was an amazing experience. After that we drove further, Went up the hill took few landscape pictures and came back.

The mist covered forest :

In the afternoon , we went to route no 4. This is also one of the most beautiful routes of Ranthambhore. While driving, the driver noticed few pug marks. We waited for a while and again T-17 appeared. Now it was very good in lighting and the sun was shining brightly. The tigress walked towards our gypsy and then took a turn and went back to the bushes. While coming back, we took pictures of the cute bird Treepie, plum headed parakeets and returned back home.

This is one of my most memorable encounter in the wild.

Plum headed parakeet :

After sometime treepies will become friendly to humans :)

Accommod:ation : We stayed at “ TIGER LODGE AND RESTAURANT “ owned by Mr. Sushil Singh Chauhan (Bhaiya) . This was a very good lodge with all facilities. It is also economically good. They also provide food (extra cost).

Bhaiya himself is a gypsy driver and takes us wonderfully inside the forests (one of the best for wildlife photographers)

Incase you are willing to visit this place, you can use our name, so that he will know.(This is just for a better response).

His contacts are : 00917462-222212 / 09414307921

sushilswm@yahoo.co.in

Ranthambhore in brief :

The fort of Ranthambhore.

Tourists waiting