Friday 14 October 2011

Ramthambore: Tiger Chocolate



Massive Banyan Tree.

Digs spotted this python behind a tree digesting a deer or wild boar.




Our first safari, in a jeep, left at 6am. After a pleasant first hour spotting blue jays, gazelle, antelopes (bigger than you’d think), an engorged python that had a baby deer inside it’s stomach - it turned into a focussed hunt for Tiger. We saw fresh tiger footprints in the sandy track that a guide has drawn circles around. They went back the way we had come from.

Ranthambore was the Maharaja of Jaipur’s hunting ground until the mid-70s when the tigers became protected. Unfortuntely this came too late for many of them and specifically for the one shot by Queen Liz in the 60s. A huge dose of bad kara. We didn’t see Shear Khan or even Baloo: there are also black slooth bears here. We saw tiny spotted deer which our guide referred to it as "Tiger Chocolate".

Kids invented pool game called crocs and buffaloes!

After our safari we met 40 school children on a trip from Johpur. Magi made frineds with 3 girls, Nandini, Metalli and a name I just could not get to grips with or remember. Their fathers were all business men: one ran a photocopy business, one worked for a Jodphur newpaper and the other had some kind of business from home. Their mums all stayed at home. In my weeks here, I haven’t seen many women, apart from Ushi in Delhi, to chat to. Woman are visible doing the hard labour on the roads and in the fields, but they don't work in the hospitality industry like in the UK.

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