Birthday Celebration@Tiger Safari Ranthambore

Birthday Celebration @ Ranthambore

We have visited Ranthambore Tiger Reserve several times. To be exact, I have been to Tiger safari here 7 times during 4 different trips , and I was fortunate to see the Big Cat up close. Here in Ranthambore, you have a good chance of spotting these majestic creatures in their natural habitat.

Days required– 1-2 days

Nearby places to go – Kota, Bundi, Tonk

Best time to visit – Tiger safari can be done throughout the year except for monsoon. Park is closed from July to September.

How to reach –

Ranthambore National Park is situated in Sawai Madhopur District which is also the nearest Railway station. The nearest airport is Sanganer Airport in Jaipur which is 190 km away. One can self-drive or hire a car from Delhi or Jaipur.

The best and cheapest way to reach is by train as there are several trains from Jaipur, Delhi, and Kota.

How we traveled – We have done a road trip from Kota as well as Jaipur. Also, we have used the rail route to reach here.

Where to stay – Because of being a popular tourist destination, Ranthambore has a wide variety of accommodations for everyone. You can stay at budget hotels, Oyo rooms, and 3-4 star resorts. There are few 5-star properties like Oberoi Vanyavilas, Vivanta By Taj, etc.

How to go around – Sawai Madhopur is a small town. After reaching here, you can take an auto-rickshaw to your accommodation. Most of the hotels are situated on the main road to the National Park. Also, there is a facility of free pickup and drop by Safari vehicle to the guest’s hotel on the day of the safari.

Places to visit –

Ranthambore fort and Ganesh Temple are situated near the entry of the National Park. One can go there by personal vehicle. No personal vehicles are allowed beyond that point.

Itinerary –

We drove to Sawai Madhopur on Saturday afternoon to celebrate Paaro’s birthday and reached there by evening. We first went to the booking counter to get our boarding passes for the morning safari. We had booked a resort which was close to the National Park gate but far from the railway station/Town. The resort was good with greenery all around and two pools for adults and kids. We had our dinner in rooms. We called the hotel reception to arrange for the cake and celebrated her birthday and slept after that as morning safari starts at 6 am.

In the morning, Canter was there on time to pick us up and after that, we went to the entry gate. There were several jeeps and canters with hundreds of visitors waiting there. We had zone 4 for the morning safari and zone 3 for the evening safari. The safari time is 3 hours. We entered our zone after a few minutes and everyone was excited to get a sight of the tiger. The guide was telling stories of the tiger reserve and the last few sightings. I was hopeful but not so excited as I knew chances of sightings are usually very less as I had not spotted any tiger in my last 2 visits to the park before. The third time is the charm as just after 30 minutes into the jungle, we spotted a tiger, big and lazy one resting near a small water body. Everyone took their mobile phones, DSLRs out, and started filming. I could not believe my eyes as the tiger was just a few meters away from us ignoring the screams of the human beings as if he didn’t care what was happening around him. My adrenaline shot to another level when he started walking towards our vehicle. The guide asked everyone to shut up and stop shooting photographs. There was a pin drop silence as he was walking past the vehicle. I was on the window side and it was an open vehicle, I could hear the sound of his tail touching the vehicle. It was the moment filled with excitement as well as terror. When he was at the safe distance, the guide told us that we can now take the photographs. He told us that usually they don’t attack humans but clicks and flashes of Camera irritates them and no one can take chances with this big cat.

We were in the company of this majestic creature for almost an hour before he disappeared in the bushes. For the rest of the safari, everyone was busy discussing the tigers and showing their photographs. They dropped us at our resort at around 9:30 am. We had our breakfast and took some rest. We checked out from our room and asked the hotel reception to take care of our luggage and we went for the evening safari. We were again lucky to see two tigers again there.

I think it was the best birthday celebration for Paaro. We drove back in the evening to reach home late at night where we again celebrated her birthday with our friends.

Quick tips for fellow travelers –

1. Book your safari well in advance(at least 1 month or you will have to choose from zones that don’t have a Tiger population) through Govt. Operated site. They will give the option of choosing dates, shifts as well as zones. Canter(capacity of 30 persons) is easily available but the Jeep(capacity of 6 persons) safari is costly and difficult to get.
2. Reach a day before your safari. Book a nice hotel/resort for the night. Get a boarding pass in advance for your safari(Yes, boarding pass need to pick up from the booking counter even after online booking of tickets).
3. Canter/Jeep will pick you from your hotel if you inform them while getting the boarding pass. Leave your contact no. with them.
4. Safari is closed during monsoon. In winter, it is greener and scenic for a jungle safari. In summer, you get a better chance of spotting tigers near water bodies.
5. Have your Govt. photo ID and photocopy of the online ticket with you for boarding pass.
   1. There are 10 zones in Ranthambore, but Zones 1-5 have a maximum population of tigers. The tourists always prefer Zone 3 because of high probability of spotting a Tiger as there are many water bodies inside it.

Few new information –

1. The booking center/ boarding pass counter is shifted to Shilpgram.
2. Better to go for boarding pass collection 2 hours before the safari as this has to be passed on to the driver of your canter/gypsy which will be there near the counter before the safari.
3. Collecting boarding pass is a very tiring job and highly mismanaged so better to ask for help from the hotel manager who will either do it for a small tip or for free. Your vehicle will come to your hotel to pick you up for the safari.

Ratings (it is subjective and my personal opinion)

• Overall rating 9/10 – Ranthambore is one of the best places for tourists as well as photographers for a Tiger Safari.
•  Travel Expense 2/10 Travelling to Ranthambore and Tiger safari is not so expensive. If you book a luxury stay and Jeep for a safari only then you have to spend extra bucks for the trip.
• Travel ease 9/10 – Despite a small town, there are many trains from Jaipur, Kota, and Delhi for Sawai Madhopur. From there, you will easily get autos to your hotel.