The peacock sat atop the Fort. It looked majestic... The forest has a charm about it that I just cannot put into words!
We were on our first trail in the national park and I was thrilled to bits! The feel of the forest, the smells, the sounds... it was beautiful... We moved about in our canter, with all the campers sitting relatively quiet, seemingly in shock at the beauty of the place. We saw tonnes of birds, right from peacocks and quails to honey buzzards and spotted owlets!! The most amazing part was when I stood in the canter with a few crushed biscuits in my hand. And, to our amazement, rufous treepies and jungle babblers SAT ON MY HAND AND ATE IT UP!!!! It was superb!
Well, this is the part where the big cat makes his first entry... NO, not a tiger, but his smaller cousin, the elusive leopard. This animal is truly the ghost of the jungle. The guide located it with the help of nothing but alarm calls of a peacock!!! That was too much to believe!! The majestic animal walked in the thickets, about 50 metres away from us and slowly disappeared into a cave. That was my first ever wild leopard!!! And how I loved the experience!!! We were totally charged after this encounter and sat more alert than ever.
That evening, on our second trail, there was not too much that we saw... But I got to see a crocodile!!! Stunning animal!!! We also saw a LOT of birds.... spurfowls, common kingfishers, yellow footed green pigeons, long billed vultures, "dirty" (painted) storks, and many many more!!
We then had a full fleged visit to the Ranthambhore fort. Stunning place.... The intricacies of the fort really amaze me. We got a wonderful view of the Malik Talao and infact heard a lot of alarm calls too!!
That evening was one of the most magical ones I have ever had.... The magnificent lady came out of the bush, right before us and we were wonderstruck. It occured to me that THIS IS THE ANIMAL WE ARE TRYING TO SAVE!!! She had an aura about her... And just left us in total awe of her. How can one actually kill this animal? She literally posed for us. She sat, she yawned, she growled, she panted and gave us every possible pose!!!
The magic does not end here. She had two cubs with her, who, unfortunately were far off. But I did see one of them.
This was truly one of the most memorable experiences I have ever had... Also because I realized how important it is to raise a public opinion that we NEED TO SAVE THE TIGER TO SAVE OURSELVES!!!
