India (Frommer's, 4th Edition) (293 page)

RANTHAMBHORE NATIONAL PARK

Ranthambhore—for many decades the hunting preserve of the princes of Jaipur—covers a mere 40,000 hectares (98,800 acres) but offers a fascinating combination of crumbling monuments, living temples, wild beauty, and your best chance to spot a wild tiger. Set within a high, jagged escarpment,
Ranthambhore Fort
(save a few hours for a visit) has towered over the park’s forests for nearly a thousand years and has witnessed many a bloody combat—even the Mughal emperor Akbar fought a battle for supremacy here in the 16th century. Inside the fort (open dawn–dusk at no cost) lie a number of ruined palaces, step wells, and a celebrated Ganesha temple visited every year in September by two million pilgrims who come to worship during the Lord Ganesha’s birthday. But it is the forests, that lie shimmering in the gorges below, scattered with more ancient crumbling monuments, that attract the foreign pilgrims, who come during the winter months to catch a glimpse of the mighty Bengal tiger. Sightings are recorded fairly regularly—it is said that between 75% and 95% of all the photographs ever taken of a tiger in the wild have been taken in Ranthambhore. This has meant that the 26-odd tigers living here have become totally habituated to human observation and are almost entirely indifferent to the sight and sound of vehicles and camera flashes.

The success of the park is due in no small measure to the efforts of Fateh Singh Rathore. A member of the princely family of Jodhpur, Rathore was made field director of Ranthambhore in 1972, the year tiger hunting was banned in India. Almost single-handedly, Rathore mapped and built the park’s roads and persuaded 12 entire villages to move voluntarily, having arranged financial compensation and constructed new villages with modern facilities that included schools, wells, and electricity. He also used a powerful spiritual argument: It is the tiger that always accompanies the goddess and demon-slayer Durga (who embodies the power of good over evil), so it therefore deserves protection; however, its survival remains forever compromised in a habitat shared with humans (see “Free Range: The Trade in Tiger Parts” above).

Under Rathore’s protection, the Ranthambhore tiger population increased from 13 to 40, and his dedicated study and photography of the subjects brought much of the tiger’s beauty and plight into the international spotlight. But at no small cost—Rathore was awarded the WWF International Valour Award after a mob of villagers, angry at no longer having access to their ancestral lands for grazing and hunting, attacked him, shattering his kneecaps and fracturing his skull. On his release from the hospital, Rathore simply returned to the village and challenged them to do it again.

After a brief scare in the early 1990s, when poaching (apparently by the park’s own wardens) almost halved the resident tiger population, numbers stabilized by the year 2000. Today, people like Rathore and Valmik Thapar, one of India’s foremost campaigners for the protection of the tiger, are once again fighting a crucial battle against widespread poaching; they argue that the authorities set up for the protection of the reserve are doing little. In fact, unofficial stories tell that Rathore was summarily banned form the park at one stage, having been too vocal against corrupt officials and their hopeless policies. But Rathore and Thapar were proven right; in mid-2005 an independent committee appointed to carry out a tiger census discovered that numbers in Ranthambhore had dwindled from 40 to 26, in spite of the presence of several new cubs. Some local tiger aficionados are more positive, however, and will remind you that by mid-2007 there had been a 2-year period without any poaching incidents; apparently there are now six cubs in the tourist zone and 12 in the entire reserve.

If you want to understand the tiger politics of the region, you will no doubt find yourself engaged in intense discussion at Sher Bagh and Ranthambhore Bagh, both good accommodations. Fateh Singh’s daughter-in-law manages Sher Bagh, while his son Goverdhan, a doctor, runs the nearby charitable hospital for the welfare of local people; it’s one of the best-run rural hospitals in India. They also run an excellent rural school (visitors are welcome to visit both the school and hospital)—all this based on the philosophy that unless one develops solutions in concert with local people, it won’t be possible to save the tiger for posterity. With an estimated 90,000 humans and almost a million livestock living within a 5km (3-mile) radius of the park, the pressure on this island of wilderness remains immense, but its popularity and the efforts of many wildlife supporters will hopefully stand it in good stead. You can also go to the website of
Travel Operators For Tigers
(
www.toftiger.org
), a U.K.-based organization promoting responsible tiger tourism and tiger research.

While tiger sightings are relatively common, don’t expect the experience to be necessarily a romantic one. It can be ruined by the presence of other vehicles, particularly the open-topped 20-seater Canters buses with whooping kids on board. Only a limited number of vehicles are allowed at any sighting, but this regulation is not always respected, hence the designation of different routes (see “Game Drive Formalities,” below) to keep number densities spread throughout the park. Even if you don’t spot a tiger (and be prepared for this eventuality), the sheer physical beauty of the park is worth experiencing—from lotus-filled lakes and dense jungle to craggy, boulder-strewn cliffs and golden grasslands. Other species worth looking for include caracal (a wildcat), crocodile,
nilgai
(large antelope resembling cattle),
chital
(spotted deer), black buck (delicate buck with spiraling horns),
chinkara
(a dainty gazelle), and sambar (their distinctive barking call often warns of the presence of a tiger nearby). The park also has leopards (notoriously shy), wild boars, and sloth bears, and is rich in birdlife—over 400 resident and migrant species.

Note, too, that park authorities are planning to introduce a small safari park that should provide impatient visitors who are hell-bent on spotting tiger with an almost zoolike experience. If you’re desperate, ask your host about this development.

Not Just a Pretty Face: Fascinating Tiger Tidbits

Unlike most cats, tigers have round pupils and are adept swimmers. Cubs are, however, born blind; it takes 1 to 2 weeks before they can see. When a tiger sticks its tongue out, curls its lips, and closes its eyes slightly (as if snarling), it’s actually checking for scents in the air. This behavior is called the “Flehmen Response,” wherein the tiger analyzes smells using sensory receptors in the roof of its mouth. Tigers are immensely powerful—strong enough to kill and drag an animal heavier than itself—and can eat over 30 kilograms (66 lb.) of meat in a single night. Females make better hunters, while the males are notoriously lazy—even when it comes to sex. When a female is in heat and makes a mating call, the male will often hide until the female seeks him out and foists herself upon him. Much like the human fingerprint, every tiger’s pug markings (footprints) are totally unique. By the time hunting was banned in the 1970s, only 2,000 tigers were left out of an estimated population of 50,000 in the 19th century. Today some 6,000 survive throughout the world, of which between 2,000 and 3,000 are found in India.

Essentials

VISITOR INFORMATION
Ranthambhore National Park is closed July through September due to the monsoon. Unlike at Bharatpur, traffic and numbers are closely regulated. For general information, call the
Sawai Madhopur Tourist Centre
(Sawai Madhopur Railway Station;
07462/22-0808;
Mon–Sat 10am–1pm and 2–5pm).

GETTING THERE
The nearest airport is Jaipur’s, which lies 180km (112 miles) away; it is just under a 4-hour drive. Alternatively, the sprawling village of Sawai Madhopur (10km/6 1⁄4 miles from the park gates) is well connected by rail to Jaipur (just over 2 hr.) and to Jodhpur (8 hr.), and is on the main line between Delhi (51⁄2 hr.) and Mumbai. All accommodations listed will arrange pickups from the station.

GAME-DRIVE FORMALITIES
Only official vehicles with sanctioned drivers and guides are permitted to take visitors into the park. There are two types of vehicle: jeeps and Canter buses. The latter—ferrying up to 25 passengers—should be avoided, even though they’re slightly cheaper. To ensure your place in a game-drive jeep, it’s best to arrange well in advance through your hotel. Places on the 40 vehicles that are allowed into the park for each drive session are often booked up to 2 months in advance. For bookings in a jeep, call the
Project Tiger office
(
07462/22-0223;
Mon–Sat 5–7am and noon–2pm for advance booking). If you have no alternative, Canters buses can be booked a day in advance at the tourist reception center at RTDC’s Hotel Vinayak. If you book with any of the accommodations recommended below, they will arrange all this for you (they also enjoy unofficial priority access to the park, and seem to be able to arrange entrance at short notice, although you shouldn’t count on it). Please note, however, that you must let your host know when and how often you would like to go on a game drive as soon as possible—these officially need to be booked 60 days in advance. The price varies depending on where you stay; the official rate charged by the park is Rs 800 for a seat on a jeep (which includes park entry, but excludes a Rs 200 video fee), but you can also book through your lodge, essentially sparing you the bother of exchanging cash at the park entrance. For a wonderful introduction to the park, ask your host to find a copy of
The Ultimate Ranthambhore Guide
(Rs 175) by Sheena Sippy and Sanjna Kapoor, also sold at the park’s gate.

Tip:
Although the park’s seven routes are assigned randomly, and you are normally not allowed to choose which route you would like to go on, you
can
request that your host try to have at least one game drive either near a body of water in the park or in an area where a tiger was spotted the day before. The best time to visit the park is between November and April (Jan–Apr is best for tiger sightings). The park closes during the monsoon season (July–Sept).

There are two game drives: The early morning drive (winter 7:30–10:30am; summer 6:30–9:30am) is often preferable to the afternoon drive (winter 3–5:30pm; summer 4–6:30pm), given that temperatures can make for muggy afternoons. However, you should pack something warm—it can get cold both early in the morning and once darkness approaches.

Routes (which drivers are pretty much forced to stick to) and guides are randomly allotted, which means you may be on a tight budget yet find yourself in a jeep with an excellent guide, watching a tiger bathe in the lotus lake that fronts the beautiful 250-year-old Jogi Mahal, while a hapless guest paying top dollar for the same trip trundles around with a monosyllabic guide with halitosis. Note that the overhaul of tourist entry procedures and rules are a constant topic for bureaucratic debate, and procedures may change on a whim at any time, so check ahead.

Where to Stay & Dine

Almost all the best options are on Ranthambhore Road, which flanks the park. If you’re watching your budget, a good-value option is the tastefully rustic
Ranthambhore Bagh
(
07462/22-1728,
or 011/2691-4417 or 94-1403-0221 reservations in Delhi;
www.ranthambhorebagh.com
), where you can book twin-bedded luxury tents for Rs 4,950 with all meals included; Rs 1,500 per person for a game drive by jeep. Located 5km (3 miles) from the park gate, accommodations here are simple but comfortable (it has slightly cheaper traditional walled rooms—with A/C—if the tents sound too rough (Rs 4,300), and the fixed-menu buffet meals are often served outdoors. Frequented by photographers and conservationists, this is a good place to meet and talk with wildlife enthusiasts. Another option worth highlighting is
Khemvillas
(Khem Villas, VPO Sherpur Khiljipur, Dist. Sawai Madhopur, Rajasthan;
094/1403-0262
or 074/6225-2099;
[email protected]
), rated by
Condé Nast Traveler
on its Hot List Hotels 2007, this 4-hectare (10-acre) resort has a choice of premium, free-standing cottages (Rs 16,000), each with its own plunge pools and outdoor showers; rustic but comfortable tents (Rs 13,000), and four smart, airy modern bedrooms in the main building with views from the top floor (Rs 9,000). This is a great, authentic place to stay with a lot of soul, and if you want to be close to the park in understated luxury this is recommended.