Ranthambhore again!

Oh boy! This place sure has me addicted to it :-)

The third visit to this place, disappointing in parts, really breathtaking in some ways, the trip was good, overall. :-) The first thing that we saw outside the national park was something i will never forget despite the apparent insignificance of it - a squirrel :-)

When we first entered the national park, there were the ever present long billed vultures on the cliff at the entrance of the park... it felt great to see atleast a few of this highly endangered specie, that has come under great threat because of the drug "diclofenac" that acts as an anti-inflammatory for cattle. When the cattle dies and the vultures feed on them, it affects them adversely and kills them.

spotted owlet - by far the cutest bird around!

A little later, just outside the fort were a big bunch of mischevious langurs, extremely adorable and HYPER!!!!!!!!!! One of them actually got into a jeep and acted like it owned it! Really cute fellow!

The beautiful lakes of Ranthambhore were just BURSTING with life!!!! There was a bird and deer stampede in them! There were ruddy shelducks, and apparently, there are fewer ruddy shelducks than tigers in Ranthambhore... So those of you who think its too bad I didn't see the king himself, I saw someone rarer than him! :P There were bar headed geese and pied avocets, both first time sightings for me :-)

It takes two to tango - the spoonbills

What was the icing on the cake, though, was the pair of spoonbills that looked extremely adorable when they were looking for food in the water!!! They both did the same actions at the same instant... it was like a well rehearsed performance for us :-) There were also countless sambars and chitals, which look extremely beautiful!

Predator and Prey

On one of the safaris, there were frantic alarm calls from the sambars, a sign that there definitely is a big cat or some predator around. The atmosphere got very tense, the sambar began to hit his hoof on the ground, ears pricked and tail up. Was the King somewhere around? Or maybe the leopard, the ghost of the forest! We were all waiting with bated breath for quite some time, but to no avail :( However, the very feeling that was embedded into us was just crazy! Its amazing how at times, there can be a "lull in the forest", at times its just so full of excitement and activity; sometimes its beautiful and sometimes, scary...

An alert sambar!

This place never leaves me without some hidden gift and this time it showed me one of nature's most magnificent creatures - pelicans! We couldn't get good shots of it, but I did manage to get a couple of record shots :-)

On the other hand, the visit left me a little shaken. There was a lot of plastic in the forest and somehow seems to be losing its charm. Just 3 days before we were at Ranthambhore, 2 sub adult tigers had been poisoned by the villagers, showing that this place, too, isn't a safe haven after all...

All in all, Ranthambhore was stunning! This place deserves to be well looked after so that the mighty, elegant beasts that inhabit do get a chance to survive!


A tiger pugmark! Though we didn't see Him, He sure was there..