Ranthambore

From Jaipur we travelled to the small town of Ranthambore where we were to do our tiger safari. We stayed in a very nice place that had a buffet lunch/dinner and a pool. There we met an American lady from Anchorage, who was a bird enthusiast. She was very nice and we exchanged information about what to do and where to go as she was travelling the reverse route from what we had. We went out for a walk with her through the town and ended up at a little local joint where we sat down, ordered some water and chatted for a while. We were not game enough to try the food from such a small, street side place. Turns out looks can be deceiving. That night we decided to go out for dinner with the lady as she had been recommended a nice restaurant. Where did we end up, but exactly the same place we had been at that afternoon. They had a delicious cashew nut curry and naan bread straight from the tandoor (wood fired) oven. All up the meal cost me about 150 rupees or $3.50. The tiger safari on the other hand was not so good as we didn't see any tigers. There was a lot of deer, some interesting birds and wild pigs, which we could see on the street anyway. It was also freezing cold in the mornings and evenings. We had to pay about $30 for each safari and I went out twice so was a little disappointed. The driver said it was the worst time of year to see tigers as there was a lot of water around after the monsoons and they could travel large distances without having to drink at the watering holes (or this was his excuse anyway). I wish I had known this earlier. We decided to do another safari down in Kerala where we have the chance of seeing Elephants and also Rhinos in the wild.

Samba deer