Ranathambore Tiger Reserve - A visit to Unnis and her little cubs.

Five of us, Poornima, Amit, Honne, Pavitra Kumar and I , started our trip from Bangalore to Jaipur, post a long wait at the airport, followed by few cups of hot coffee at the Kiosk. Just when we were cursing the super expensive tasteless coffee at the Maiyas Kiosk, Honne our friend happened to be the shopkeeper’s ex-colleague at an IT firm and we got some “free food” as a compensation. Makes sense! He quit the company started a tea-snacks store at airport, we IT folks know how much we get paid.

Our flight to Jaipur was on the 15^th of April 16.15pm. There was a whole lot of confusion due to GoIndigo customer care calling us every now and then that the time had changed. Perhaps it was two hours late. But no one was sure. We landed Jaipur at around 6pm and from there our journey was to Sawai Madhopur, a small village which opens to RTR – Ranathambore Tiger Reserve.

Sudhir, another friend was to reach Jaipur from Mumbai at around the same time and he made it approximately at the same time.

We expected the drive to Sawai Madhopur to be about 4 hours excluding dinner. An Innova vehicle was waiting for us.There was a little confusion since the driver said the drive is 6 hours, but we got clarified with the trip co-ordinator over phone. We loaded all our luggage and expensive photography gears were kept safe at the back. We started our trip to Sawai Madhopur.

 We stopped at a small dhaba serving tasty food in very dim light(yeah! May be that could be a reason why it was tasty, could see no creatures living or dead gone into it! But nevertheless , we  love unhygienic TASTY food anytime). Finished our dinner at around 10pm, we continued our journey and found a crazy congestion at the road due to some truck drivers indiscipline. They were haphazardly parked although if managed properly could  have cleared easily but the nasty driver(s) were fighting over it. That took long to clear and we reached the Hotel Vrindavan palace at around 2am.

We had a Safari early in the morning and all were sleepy. We got an average shut eye for a couple of hours and were ready to go to safari at 6am.The lazy driver came at 6.45 giving reasons we were not ready to take. The forest in the early morning mist is a treat to eyes, if we sight a tiger or no that is secondary. We were not selective of our zones at safari and when the guide sent us to Zone 6 in the morning, we had a lot of expectations. We just wanted to see a tiger, that the probability of sighting a tiger at Ranathambore was that high. We just saw a Civet cat which was lying hurt on the pathway and it seemed very sick. There were very few birds of Prey too. This was the first trip where I saw Nilgai or the Blue Bull in plenty numbers. They have a face like a horse but belong to the Bovine Family. There were more than enough peacocks and deers. If you sit and spend time patiently, you could get lovely pictures of peacock flight, peacock perched beautifully on trees and if you are lucky you could click some peacock dance pics too. Nevertheless we were only in for tigers. So we ignored the beauty of the peafowl and its vibrant colors and proceeded. We returned to the hotel hungry and starving after huge disappointment! Who said it’s easy to spot tiger at RTR!!

Just Opp to Vrindavan Palace was a small restaurant bearing the name “Noon to Moon” and it was noon so we decided to eat there.

Were we just hungry or the food was that delicious nobody knows but we cleared the plates off as if they were just washed and took a few cups of tea post brunch.

This trip co-ordinator in his pure businessmans tone wanted to just finish all the 6 safaris for the money he got. We didn’t know the zone preference until we met some other folks who said Zone 3 and 4 are the preferred ones. Hence we insisted we should go in one of those two zones repeatedly. He was adamant and insisted we must go to the zones he would arrange and out of 6 safaris we had only zone 3 once. Agreed its sheer luck to see a wild cat and in that, if he puts us in a zone where there is 1 out of 10 chances of spotting a cat, then the probability of we being so lucky is 0 out of 10!

So there were heated arguments almost before every safari. Second half was zone 2 and that’s also not a very favorite zone for tigers. We wasted time arguing and went to a zone he suggested. Adamant and greedy man as he was , he was not ready to take extra pain in changing zones with his numerous contacts there.He promised that second half on second day would he put us to zone 3 or 4, but insisted we went to zone 8 the next morning.

In RTR, zone 1-5 are on one side close to the famous Ranathambore Fort and the other zones 6-10 are the other side. Zone 10 is a place where you might run into our well (in)famous Ustad. But the chances were very very less.

The second half we were put into Zone 4 and again as expected we were disappointed. All of us saw Mr Nallamuthu a renowned National Geographic Producer and director, and we just thought we could take a pic with him. But no one volunteered to ask and he just passed by with his gentle smile towards us. For a man so famous, he seemed so down to earth and gave information to the driver Hemraj (Hemraj was Nalla Sirs previous driver) about the whereabouts of T-19 and her cubs. He said she had not hunted for four days and was hungry. Nalla Sir was making a movie on T-19 and her cubs right from the time she mates the male and delivers these cubs until the day the cubs grew into sub adults.

We were back to “Noon to Moon” now since the moon was out and had coffee with pakoras. The store keeper Mr Hanuman Saini  at the Souvenir shop suggested us to visit the “Raam Shaam  Dhaba” at the entrance of Ranathambore road for tasty vegetarian food. Indeed the food was tasty but the wait for it was long since he is a busy man.

We finished our dinner and went back to the Hotel. Mr Saini had even suggested a Biryani place to visit – a small cart vendor who gets limited food and is the best in Sawai Madhopur. We decided to visit there the next day.

Next morning was again a long wait for the driver to get us to the forest and we had kind of got used to this. Despite of arguments with the co-ordinator, he had put us in Zone 8 again with no further ado. We were very furious at him and knew this trip was a waste of time, went with a lame driver and a guide who was not even cautious at the signs of the jungle. They happily munched what we gave and were on a gala trip to the jungle talking loudly, unaware we were inside jungle. We decided not to pay him even a single penny as tip.

One amusing thing about the Ranathambore National Park is, no two zones are alike. Although around the same geographical region, the kind of forest, the vegetation , the terrain, everything is different in each zone.

Second half of the day was the big day. We were put in everyone’s favorite zone – zone 3. There was the most beautiful fort view amidst the river and if one is lucky, there might be the lady T-19 with her cubs playing along the river or at the fort. The most beautiful pics of Ranathambore is of T-19 on top of the fort, sitting majestically at one of the jharokas. One must be lucky to witness that sight!

We were at the zone4 right behind many other jeeps and expecting. After several rounds at the safari, she blessed us with her sight. We went to and fro to get a good place to see her. There she was. Unnis or T-19 or Krishna

, daughter of very famous Machli. She mates with Star Male (T-28) and was found raising her three cubs.  There was a lot of commotion. Nalla Sir with his gears was in the other zone following her, expecting her to hunt for she had not eaten for 4 days. There was a lot of commotion and a stag Sambar came running on the river as it was running on top of water. Oh what a sight it was! Water splashing beautiful around the fauna and the Sambar running at lightning speed. We all thought that the tigress was after the Sambar, but it was not! She was walking on the bund to go and rest under a tree.

Seeing a tiger walk towards him and alarms from her friends might have frightened the sambar and thus the reaction. I can close my eyes and I get the picture right here. Such a beautiful sight it was.

We were on the other side of the bank (in zone 4), amidst the bamboo shoots, there was a white lady in another jeep pointing towards a huge turtle which was soaking sun on the bank. With her accentuated English she said “Look a turtle” and we turned thinking it was a tiger as most of us didn’t understand her accent and we over excited by seeing tiger. Honne turned to her and said in local accent “No turtle, we want only tiger”. It was very funny for me and having a good laugh over it thinking about it.

While returning from the zone 4 almost at the base of the fort, we heard langur calls and the langur on top of a tree constantly was looking at one direction and was giving calls. Amit, a very shrewd nature enthusiast, said there will definitely be a cat. We halted and were carefully watching the behavior of Langur. Then when the jeeps halted there, we rushed to the place. YES ! There it was. A leopard cub resting on top of a high fort wall. That was the place the langur kept looking and gave calls.

It got a little late since all halted to see leopard after the safari hours, thanks to our driver/guide who made sure we secured a good place to sight and click pics.

At the gate we managed to get pics with Nalla Sir. It was a proud moment to have met someone as great as him. So down to earth, he came to us to get the pics as he promised. He did not ignore us. Everyone was wanting to talk to him, to know him, he came to us and spoke about his next movie. Happy were we, after spotting a tiger and a leopard, tipped the driver and guide good.

After the treat to eyes, was the time to treat for tummy. SO we decided to eat at the Biryani place suggested by Hanuman Saini. We asked Mr Saini to book an auto to take us there and it was there in 30 minutes. We reached the place in ten minutes time and alas! The tasty biryani was all over. !! There was one last plate and four of us ate it like we were hungry for years. It definitely was so yummy. We decided to come again the next day and went to have a look at the bazaar. The auto driver suggested a place for Kulfi. Trust me this was the best Kulfi we ever had!  All of us were full so we took parcel.

At the hotel we cleared the kulfi box off and devoured with pleasure. :D

Next morning was the last safari, so we decided by hook or crook we must get into zone 3. So we ditched the safari vehicle and booked a canter to go to the zone 3 since that was the other option available. We got picked from the hotel at sharp 6 but the other expensive hotel where the painted –dented heavy lipstic, high heels and perfumed ladies got into took about 30 minutes time to get picked, so did the other couple at a three star hotel, and then we picked a lady with a kid and her husband who were hardly interested in any such things. The time we reached the gate, half the vehicles had gone inside and there we were slowly enjoying all hotels gate watching colorful ladies who had come for honeymoon.

Luckily they all made space for us to be ready with the gears to shoot. We were confident that there will be sighting today at zone3.

We reached the bund where we saw the female cub of T-19 with a kill of dead deer in its mouth. We were a bit late else would have witnessed her first ever hunt. Cursed those paint company ladies for being late.

She devoured the deer calf for sometime and left to a higher place. All the three cubs were in one place at this point. Nalla Sir was content for having shot T-19’s cubs first kill and Hemraj was driving his Jeep today. Slowly two cubs started walking towards the lake. When they were close to the bund, one of the cubs crouched seeing a wild bore.. She almost leapt on it, but the wild bore got a clue and ran for its life. We missed another hunting scene, unfortunate were we.

Both cubs playfully walked around the lake. The third was in the grass playing with the grass strands. Only his ears were seen. He went and started scraping the bark of the tree. Some say tigers do this to sharpen their claws. They also mark their centre of range by scraping. Other way is to spray.

We were really close to these two sisters when they both just decided to go back to the place where they left the kill. I almost died of heart-attack when she was approximately 3 -4 metres distance under the bush. It was scary as I could not see her stripes and feared she might leap from nowhere.

But then she emerged beautifully, smooth and  flawless like silk from under the bush without making any noise. There was not much time to enjoy their games and if lucky another sight of a kill, the guide kept saying we have to leave and we left.

We tipped them good for having sighted the best trio so far. Our flight to Bangalore was from Jaipur at 20.10pm and considering the drive from Sawai Madhopur, we left the place post lunch.

With a lot of memories and pictures we left Sawai Madhopur.

From Jaipur, Sudhirs flight was early, so we dropped him and went to have tea. We returned to check in and buy some sweets and waited for our flight call.

We reached Bangalore by 10pm and took a taxi back home. This has been a memorable trip and when I write these things I miss it even more . Soon will return to RTR for more memories.