After another 5 hour, bone jarring ride we made it to Ranthanborn National Park, the third marker on the linked Google map.
This is a arid, kind of like foothill areas in the southwest. The park is huge and is divided into seven areas for the jeeps and open trucks that visitors ride in for the safaris. Our guide explained that we had Zone 6 but that a tiger had been spotted in Zone 7 so we tore out a full speed on the jeep tracks. A wild ride to find the wild tigers. We came across at least 15 other jeeps looking for the tiger. Since no one could see it we drove back to our zone only to get a call that it had come out in the open. So we turned around and tore back to the original site. When they say "hold on, we are going fast now" they mean it.
The tiger was in the grass and eventually go up to go get a drink at a small water hole. There were so many jeeps that it was hard to get a picture. What a magnificent cat. It was identified as "T34" by it's territory. The guide said it is a large male and is unusual to see, maby once in 10 days so we were really lucky. Of course, nothing is done here without some cash being exchanged. The guide explained that we would be paying the main ranger and the extra guide who came on our jeep for the privilege of going out of our zone to see the tiger.
The rest of the safari was pretty calm. Unlike Kruger in South Africa, there isn't a lot of diversity in the animals. We saw somme antelope, very large size with short horns and some spotted deer.
On the way back we passed through another small village that was home to a large Hindu temple to the god Ganesh - the elephant god who gives good fortune and prosperity.
Teh center of the village was clogged with the usual caotic mix of dogs, pigs, cows, buses and camel carts. The camel carts are especially hard to pass as their loads of bags containing straw take up muchof the road.
This afternoon we have some rest time which we need, then we go on another safari in the morning.
As proof of what a small world this is, when we were in the small shop here the owner asked where we were from. When we said Massachusetts he said he had a good customer who was from MA and did art restoration. Turns out the customer is Tom Blachick, the head of the Williamstown Art Concervation Center at the Clark!
Happy Easter Sunday to everyone. I guess you could say that we got up at 5:30 this morning to see the Easter Tiger instead of the Easter Bunny.
This is a arid, kind of like foothill areas in the southwest. The park is huge and is divided into seven areas for the jeeps and open trucks that visitors ride in for the safaris. Our guide explained that we had Zone 6 but that a tiger had been spotted in Zone 7 so we tore out a full speed on the jeep tracks. A wild ride to find the wild tigers. We came across at least 15 other jeeps looking for the tiger. Since no one could see it we drove back to our zone only to get a call that it had come out in the open. So we turned around and tore back to the original site. When they say "hold on, we are going fast now" they mean it.
The tiger was in the grass and eventually go up to go get a drink at a small water hole. There were so many jeeps that it was hard to get a picture. What a magnificent cat. It was identified as "T34" by it's territory. The guide said it is a large male and is unusual to see, maby once in 10 days so we were really lucky. Of course, nothing is done here without some cash being exchanged. The guide explained that we would be paying the main ranger and the extra guide who came on our jeep for the privilege of going out of our zone to see the tiger.
The rest of the safari was pretty calm. Unlike Kruger in South Africa, there isn't a lot of diversity in the animals. We saw somme antelope, very large size with short horns and some spotted deer.
On the way back we passed through another small village that was home to a large Hindu temple to the god Ganesh - the elephant god who gives good fortune and prosperity.
Teh center of the village was clogged with the usual caotic mix of dogs, pigs, cows, buses and camel carts. The camel carts are especially hard to pass as their loads of bags containing straw take up muchof the road.
This afternoon we have some rest time which we need, then we go on another safari in the morning.
As proof of what a small world this is, when we were in the small shop here the owner asked where we were from. When we said Massachusetts he said he had a good customer who was from MA and did art restoration. Turns out the customer is Tom Blachick, the head of the Williamstown Art Concervation Center at the Clark!
Happy Easter Sunday to everyone. I guess you could say that we got up at 5:30 this morning to see the Easter Tiger instead of the Easter Bunny.
Easter Tiger is much more exciting!
ReplyDeleteThat is crazy that the man knew someone you knew. What kind of shop was it?
It was just the small gift shop in the bazaar. We ended up not buying anything there and later being taken to several "warehouse" operations that had the same things the shop owner was selling on the basis that the "ladies" in the villages were making the pieces directly for him to sell. Interesting.
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