Ranthambhore Feb 2018: Tigers galore!

[janzin]

Day 4 (morning)

 

We decided to return to zone 4 because we'd had such good luck there yesterday, and we still hadn't seen Laila, and there was a good chance of more Krishna plus cubs, and also because it is a really big zone with lots of varied habitat.  We drove fairly quickly from the gate, heading back towards the last water hole where yesterday we'd seen Laila's thirsty cub.  Of course, we stopped a few places to listen for alarms (none heard); and we took the quick detour to the water hole where we'd seen Krishna yesterday (empty.) 

 

We approached the short loop road (where we'd taken our breakfast the day before) and decided to take the quick loop around before going to the water hole. Well, it was a good thing we did because who was sitting in the grass inside the loop but...

 

 

Wow, leopard! Even Mohammad and Suchil were super-excited as leopards are NOT often seen in Ranthambhore, especially when tigers are active.   They are also very skittish here.

 

So we didn't have much of a chance for photographs. As he started away we noticed that he was limping a bit. I told the guides not to try to follow him as I really didn't want to make him run with his limping foot. It didn't seem like a bad injury, but it was hard to judge.

 

So we left him limping away. A big male

 

 

.

 

Nice start! So, would any one be at the nearby water hole?

 

Hmmm, yes indeed. Laila's cub was back at his favorite spot. Just a couple of other vehicles there at this point.

 

 

Handsome boy! Show us your profile!

 

 

And guess what...he was thirsty again today.

 

 

 

He got up to groom for awhile...

 

 

 

But then got thirsty again!

 

 

 

Needless to say there were many gypsys there by now.  Also, Zone 4 allows canters, so they were coming in too.  Good thing we'd gotten there early enough to be in the front row. At this point we couldn't have even gotten out if we wanted to (not that we wanted to!)

 

He's going to grow into a fine strapping male...hope he makes it. So handsome!

 

 

After about a 1/2 hour at the water hole and several hundred photographs later, (funny, it seemed like much longer, but checking my photos this ran from about 8:00-8:30) he got up and started heading over the hill into the woods. Of course, engines rev'ved and vehicles started to move, trying to anticipate where he might emerge. 

 

Well lo and behold, he emerged RIGHT NEXT TO OUR GYPSY.  I mean, he was standing right in front of me! Staring me in the eyes!

 

 

Hey, he's just a cub, right?

 

The grass was high here, and lots of trees, so as he started to move photography because difficult. But I kind of like this shot anyway. He was still close...only slightly cropped!

 

 

Soon he disappeared into the high grass. We went back into the loop road to have our breakfast in the same shady spot we had eaten it yesterday. Then started heading back to the gate and of course checking for Krishna along the way. Unfortunately, she wasn't home at her water hole and no other tigers had been seen that morning in zone 4. 

 

As we passed the big lake in Zone 3 I was able to catch this Pied Kingfisher on the edge.

 

 

Light a bit harsh midday, but this was the situation:

 

 

Notice the Egret riding the Sambar!

 

Time to go pick up our lunch at the gate. 

 

 

Edited May 31, 2018 by janzin

[xelas]

@janzin after watching all your fantastic tiger photos, my "need for tiger" has decreased substantially; how on Earth we could get anything close to yours?! But please, keep posting them more!!

[janzin]

@xelas no no, your need is supposed to increase, not decrease   I am sure that you and Zvezda could get fantastic photos. You need to go!

 

still more to come....

[monalisa]

Um, wow @janzin!! When I saw the pics of Krishna with her cubs my reaction was also OMG OMG OMG.. 

I was lucky enough to visit Ranthambore NP last month so a lot of the memories are still quite fresh in my mind, but seeing your photos really transports me right back there. Especially seeing certain landscape photos and recalling sitting in the same spot, taking the same photo. Gives me the warm and fuzzies. The park really has some gorgeous, picturesque spots.

 

And gosh you were lucky to see sloth bears!! Why did you get two and I got none?? That is just not fair. Please share next time 

 

Regarding the full-day safaris, I so wish we could have done this!! But also glad we didn't, because we just wouldn't have survived the heat for that long in May (43C/110F). How were the temps in Feb?

 

 

[janzin]

@monalisa the temps were mostly quite comfortable in late Feb/early March (it was actually early March when we were in Ranthambhore.) During midday in the sun it was quite warm but never really unbearable, especially when moving. We were rarely sitting still except for meals (in the shade) and tiger watching (when time disappears...!)

 

I don't know what the temps actually were but I'd say no more than low 90's F.   I don't think I could handle May at all, especially midday! Although I hear that's when its best for tigers.  How did you do with tigers???  I hope you will be doing a report!

 

I'll have more to post tomorrow...busy the last couple of days...still more tigers to come!

[janzin]

Day 4 (still pre-lunch)

 

So after pickup up our lunch at the gate, we headed back into zone 3, to look for a shady spot to have our lunch.  But we didn't get very far because just inside the gate, not five minutes, we started hearing alarm calls! This was actually one of the first times we heard alarm calls in Ranthambhore. Needless to say, lunch was quickly forgotten as we tried to figure out where the calls were focused.

 

Well we we are driving along when I yelled...Tiger!! I was the first to spot him as he was off to my side of the vehicle, and that in itself was a bit of a thrill! It was a big male, the first adult male we'd seen.

 

He was moving fast and so were we, so I couldn't even pick up the camera until he approached this wall and started sniffing around. Maybe a female had marked there....

 

 

We were told he was T-86 but that he didn't have a name. Well it turned out that he does have a name...for some reason our guides just didn't know it. I found him easily enough on the Tigers of Ranthambhore page I linked to earlier. He is Chirico, son of Ladali and at this time was almost four years old. So still a relative youngster.

 

He sniffed around this wall awhile and then started heading towards the lake.  We followed....

 

 

 

We watched him pull up alongside us and it was clear he would cross the road in front of us to get to the water.

 

 

 

He really needs a bath!

 

He went into the water in exactly the same spot we'd seen Arrowhead in the water a couple of days prior.  Not easy to shoot as it was down below and behind many trees, but this time we were the only ones there so could pick our spot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

He got out of the water after a few minutes and started to head across this small isthmus of land that stretched from one side of the lake to the other...water on both sides.

 

 

There was a family of Boar right in front of him, including some little ones, and we thought he might go after them, but he paid them no mind.

 

 

 

He made it all the way across...almost to the other side.

 

 

There was a building here, ruins of the old hunting palace. 

 

 

Mohammed told us that sometimes tigers would sit inside or right on one of the window ledges, so the hope was that Chirico might do this.  As we could no longer really see him, we drove around to a point where we were in back of the building.  We waited for awhile hoping that he might appear in the window...but no luck. He had probably gone the other way around behind the building and there was no vantage point for us.  We drove around a bit more listening for alarm calls, but no luck.

 

There was no other vehicle present for this entire sighting.

 

I guess we could now go eat our well-deserved lunch! 

[janzin]

Day 4 (afternoon)

 

After our lunch, we decided to try a new zone, #5.  This might be a good time to post a rough map of the zones. I couldn't really find a true map, but this is a photo of the map that is at the main entrance gate, so you can get at least some idea. Its the best I could find.

 

 

You can see that Zones 1-5 are north of the town of Sawai Madhopur, and zones 6-9 are south.  Zones 1-5 are definitely the premium zones and where you want to be.

 

The zones are the areas more or less between the lines. More or less!

 

Anyway, we decided to try zone 5 and then work our way back to zone 4 later. Zone 5 was the zone of Lightening, Arrowhead's sister, and apparently she also had cubs and had been seen that morning.

 

As we got deeper into zone 5 we could see that the terrain was a bit different. it was in a bit of a valley and it had some wetter, greener areas.

 

We tried one water hole for tiger, but all it held was a nice Sambar buck.

 

 

 

It was very hot and more humid in this area. We came to a narrow gorge with a stream. A very pretty area, more lush than we'd seen so far. Stopping for a bit in a shady spot we found this Brown Fish Owl!

 

 

He was quite calm and not bothered at all by us so we stayed with him awhile and took many photos. He was concentrating on fishing.

 

 

We weren't seeing much else though, and we moved on after a cold drink. Eventually we got to the point where we there was a locked gate crossing over into zone 4.

 

No worries, we had the key!

 

Or did we? Hmmm, the key wouldn't work. Mohammed and Suchil both got out of the vehicle and tried to find a way around, but it was a narrow point, with thick trees and brush on either side, no way for a vehicle to skirt the gate (which obviously was the intention, lol.) It seemed we would have to go back the way we came, which was a real bummer, as it was a long way back and this zone had been really quiet...and hot.

 

We sat there a bit pointlessly wondering what to do. Just as we were about to turn around, luck came our way in the form of an official vehicle which contained some researchers (I'm not sure what they were researching, I don't think it was tigers, but something to do with plants.) Anyway, they didn't have the key either, but they knew another way around into zone 4! They told us to follow them and they would lead us back into zone 4.

 

So we followed them a long, long, long way. It seemed like we went miles and miles out of our way and I asked Mohammed where the heck we were and all he would say is that we were no longer in the tourist zone and technically we shouldn't even be here, but it was okay as long as we were with these researchers. Not sure how true that was! Meantime I don't think Suchil and Mohammed had ever been back here. A few times I thought we were lost but luckily the research vehicle would be waiting for us up ahead. It was really nice of them to wait. I was a bit nervous we would get lost out there with tigers roaming

 

After what seemed like forever Suchil indicated that he knew where we were! And lo and behold I started to recognize it, we were coming out way at the end of zone 4, not far from where we'd  been at the water hole that morning with Laila's cub.  Soon we even saw another gypsy, and I breathed a sigh of relief The researchers left us with a wave and our profuse thanks!

 

So now we were back in Zone 4 and we worked our way back towards the entry gate. Stopping to chat with a few other gypsy drivers, we learned that no tiger had been seen so far that afternoon, but we were still hopeful.  We headed to the water hole where we'd seen Krishna and the cubs and while there was no one there (except a few other gypsys) we decided to wait, as she might come in for her afternoon bath.

 

We waited quite awhile. Not much happening so I took some photos of the birdlife.

 

 

 

And some really strange vegetation growing right out of the cliff behind the water hole.

 

 

Our guides really knew nothing about birds. There were some shorebirds at the edge of the water hole but they could not ID them. Luckily, there was a vehicle next to us that had what sounded like a very knowledgeable guide.  He was giving his clients a lot of information about the shorebirds and you could just tell he really knew what he was talking about. This was one of our other issues with our two guides...they  rarely volunteered any information about anything, it was pulling teeth to get them to give us info...even about the simplest things...and even about tigers! We were constantly having to ask "what zone are we in?" "what tigers are in this zone"? "how old is this tiger, what's her name, does she have cubs?" And forget about anything to do with history or other background information. It wasn't a language issue, at least with Mohammed, as he spoke English quite well.  They just seemed more interested in chatting among themselves, (in Hindi of course) and showing each other photos on their phones. I can't complain too much as they DID find us a lot of tigers! But it was frustrating at times, especially when we heard other guides (mostly, I noticed, from the high-end resorts like Sher Bagh or Vanyavillas etc) giving a lot of detailed information and generally being more responsive.

 

Anyway, we sat for awhile but no action at the water hole, and now it was time to head back.

 

We stopped at a high point and some other vehicles said they had seen a tiger down below. But we couldn't find anything. It was a long way down!

 

 

Not much to report on our way out. We stopped for a moment at the lake where we saw this large turtle..

 

 

And said good night to a Sambar and his strange assortment of friends...(Painted Stork and Little Egret)

 

 

 

An adventurous afternoon, even if no tiger. And depending if you count Chirico as having been seen in the morning or in the afternoon---it was pre-lunch but post-noon!) then we HAD seen a tiger this afternoon too.

 

Just one more morning drive to come...

 

Edited June 3, 2018 by janzin

[janzin]

Day 5

 

Our last morning   On this morning we would just have a regular safari drive, so that meant 6:30-10 and no choice of zones. At least in theory! I am pretty sure that our guides chose the zone as we ended up with zone 2 and it seemed very, highly unlikely that we would be so lucky to get zone 2 on BOTH our both our first and last 'regular' drives. My guess is that the drivers do have some pull on what zones they are assigned.

 

Anyway, we were happy to have 2 as that was the zone of Noor and her cubs, as well as a possibility of Arrowhead and some others.

 

Time was short and we headed straight to the area of Noor.  It wasn't long before we found this.

 

 

And it wasn't too long after that that we found the owner of the foot

 

 

It was one of Noor's female cubs. At first the guide thought it was Noor herself, but as she got closer he realized it was too young.  Too bad, because Noor would have made our 11th tiger of Ranthambhore!

 

But we were happy with the cub

 

 

Unfortunately the light was against us at this point.  She made her way to a rocky stream to drink.

 

 

Turned around, still the light was bad.

 

 

Bit of a skinny looking kitty from this angle.

 

However, she soon started moving again and headed straight at us! And afforded me some fantastic photos!

 

 

 

 

 

Needless to say by this time there were plenty of other vehicles here. Luckily at least in zone 2 no canters are allowed!

 

She crossed right through the line of vehicles. The vehicle directly behind her is actually one of the vehicles from the photo tour that was staying at The Bagh when we were there.

 

 

At this point, with all the vehicles, it was getting hard to maneuver. But Mohammad and Suchil had an idea of where she was heading and we managed to get a pretty good spot.

 

She parked herself on this wall.

 

 

 

We couldn't stay too long at this one spot as the rangers were now here to handle the crowds, and telling drivers to move after a few minutes so all would have a turn.

 

 

During this time she was almost continually calling for her mother and sisters. 

 

I saw where the photo group was parked and figured they might have a good vantage point. I told our guys to move up there, and we ended up right behind the photo tour. It wasn't a bad position, although the light wasn't as good as where we'd just been.

 

 

I tried a video just to get the sound.  Be sure to have your sound turned up, and wait for it! (hope this works, never uploaded a video directly before!)

 

UPDATE: The sound doesn't seem to be available. Not sure why.   I will try to upload it to youtube.

 

 

What a sound!

 

 

Believe it or not, it was almost time to leave.

 

Noor's cub seemed sad, and do did we

 

 

 

Edited June 5, 2018 by janzin

[Botswanadreams]

Janet, thanks very much. Your pics a so beautiful. You really had very, very lucky days in Ranthambore. We had two times with the normal safaris zone 2 and non tiger were found on this days.    

[penolva]

Amazing absolutly amazing! I have never heard a Tiger call before. I imagined it would be like Bahati the leopard calling her cubs in the Mara last year but no, so completely different. Now I understand how you got so many 'growling' photographs. I must keep fingers and toes crossed for next year.  

[janzin]

I uploaded the video to youtube so you can hear the roar.  It starts close to the end at around 45 seconds.

 

 

[janzin]

8 minutes ago, penolva said:

Amazing absolutly amazing! I have never heard a Tiger call before. I imagined it would be like Bahati the leopard calling her cubs in the Mara last year but no, so completely different. Now I understand how you got so many 'growling' photographs. I must keep fingers and toes crossed for next year.  

 

@penolva you were able to get sound from the first version?  I see the video embedded, but the sound icon x'd out in Firefox and I can't un-x it.  

 

No matter, the YouTube version works!

 

And yes, growling/roaring is so very different than other cats! Now, she was calling for mom. I don't know if the sound is different say, when a male roars for territory.

 

 

 

 

Edited June 5, 2018 by janzin

[penolva]

Yes loud and clear on the first version !

[janzin]

Just to finish this up with a few words about our lodge, The Ranthambhore Bagh.

 

The Ranthambhore Bagh is actually owned by the brother of our tour operator. However, WWI did not in any way push us to stay there, in fact, Vikram "warned" me that the place was rustic, with simple food, and offered to put us someplace more lux if we desired. But actually I was keen to stay at the Bagh, knowing that Aditya Singh, his brother and the owner, is a top-notch photographer and that the lodge attracts many serious photographers and photo tour groups.

 

We found The Bagh quite adequate, with some pluses and a few cons. The whole place is decorated with Aditya's photos, which was cool.  We stayed in one of the "safari tents" in the garden, which Vikram said were more comfortable than the rooms.  Well, I'm not sure about that They were okay but a little cramped with no place to really put camera gear (which ended up on the floor) and quite dark at night, with dim lighting. There was an "air cooler" which is essentially a fan blowing over a pool of water. Yes, it cooled but honestly after a few minutes I shut it off because all I could think of was "Legionnaire's Disease"! Atomizing stagnant water in this hot climate and blowing it into the air....ug who wants to breathe that in??  Luckily there is also a regular, standing fan which sufficed to keep us cool enough.

 

The tents (and the general property) were also noisy in the evening as there was some kind of club playing pop music right across the road. Luckily there seemed to be a curfew and the music stopped at around 10 p.m. nightly, but if you were an early-to-bed person, it might be an issue. I never go to sleep before 11 or 12 even on safari so not a big problem.

 

On the plus side, wi-fi was really excellent and reached into the tent.

 

The food was simple but good, albeit a bit repetitive even just being there four nights.  But another downside, there is no alcohol served in the dining area. Due to some weird permitting, they can only serve alcohol in the garden, maybe a certain distance from the dining area. So there was a firepit way in the back of the property where you could get a beer or drink before dinner, but unfortunately we didn't discover this until our last night! Otherwise, no drinks with dinner

 

On the plus side, they had Diet Coke! I can't even tell you how happy we were to be able to get Diet Coke with our lunches.  The cook made a special point of including them when we expressed our happiness. He also put some chocolates and other candies in our afternoon basket.

 

So, if I returned to the Bagh, I think I'd stay in the rooms in the main building. I never got a chance to look in them, but I noted that the photo group was staying in the rooms. Doing full days, we really weren't in the tent THAT much, but if one is doing 1/2 days or regular safaris, I'd strongly consider the rooms. Some folks on TripAdvisor and I believe  @vikramghanekar had advised to take the rooms. Maybe we should have listened!

 

However, if I was feeling flush I would probably go for one of the higher end properties, that might be quieter, have real a/c, and more interesting food. My big concern would be the quality of the guides, I am not 100% sure if guides work specifically with one property or float. But as I mentioned previously, we observed several guides from the more expensive lodges that seemed excellent.

 

So in summary---our time in Ranthambhore was successful beyond our wildest dreams! 10 individual tigers with multiple sightings every single day! When can we go back??

 

Stay tuned, eventually I will post Part 3 of this divided report: Gujarat. But I'll take a break for awhile  

[michael-ibk]

Really fantastic stuff, @janzin, you had wonderful sightings, the whole day passes absolutely paid off for you. Love the pictures, all excellent, and the "roar" is very intersting. Thanks about the info about the Bagh, good to know. It seems Ranthambore is the place to go nowadays.

[penolva]

7 hours ago, janzin said:

 

@penolva you were able to get sound from the first version?  I see the video embedded, but the sound icon x'd out in Firefox and I can't un-x it.  

 

No matter, the YouTube version works!

 

And yes, growling/roaring is so very different than other cats! Now, she was calling for mom. I don't know if the sound is different say, when a male roars for territory.

 

 

 

 

Very different from a male lion I think. That sound reverberates through your whole body. 

[Zubbie15]

Thanks so much for sharing, you had a great set of sightings.  You’ve really got my hopes up for next year, my big fear is we won’t see any tigers at all!  I made the mistake of showing one of your Jeep pictures to my wife, I thought she’d be concerned since she’s very fair skinned and there’s no cover.  She didn’t seem to care about that, but was concerned about being in an open vehicle near tigers!  I had to convince her it would be ok.

[madaboutcheetah]

Thanks for the report @janzin - im leaning towards Ranthambore for mid January next year.

[janzin]

34 minutes ago, Zubbie15 said:

Thanks so much for sharing, you had a great set of sightings.  You’ve really got my hopes up for next year, my big fear is we won’t see any tigers at all!  I made the mistake of showing one of your Jeep pictures to my wife, I thought she’d be concerned since she’s very fair skinned and there’s no cover.  She didn’t seem to care about that, but was concerned about being in an open vehicle near tigers!  I had to convince her it would be ok.

 

 

Thanks, I'm sure you will come back with some fantastic sightings too. Ranthambhore is rocking with tiger cubs. Its funny, I was never scared even when tigers approached closely....until moments after the fact.  I was always too thrilled and too busy taking photos...then afterwards I was...omg that was close!!

 

RE: sun, a parasol/umbrella might be useful. And definitely safari hats. And don't forget dust cloths for camera gear, very very important!

[Atdahl]

@janzin, just an incredible report with mind blowing tiger pictures.  Congrats on such a successful trip and thanks for sharing.  I am sure that a tiger trip has now gone up everyone's list after reading your report. 

 

I am looking forward to the next part when you have time.

 

Alan

[Atravelynn]

Post #37 is absolutely the cat's meow!  You had 4 days of non-stop tigers, plus that leopard, and some lovely birds, even if the guides were not attuned to them.  Your rhyming report title is highly accurate.  Whatever happened the rest of the trip, Ranthambhore made it a success.

Edited June 6, 2018 by Atravelynn

[janzin]

9 hours ago, Atravelynn said:

Your rhyming report title is highly accurate.  Whatever happened the rest of the trip, Ranthambhore made it a success.

 

ha, I didn't even realize it rhymed! A happy accident 

 

Thanks to all who have read along and commented, much appreciated! I only hope I've convinced a few holdouts that Ranthambhore is worth a trip (or two...or three...) Already plotting how to return, maybe next time add more cultural stops in Rajasthan and then maybe Corbett too for some new birds!

 

 

[Soukous]

Wow! 

I somehow missed this when you started @janzin so I've just devoured it all in one go. Wow and Wow again. You certainly had some good fortune.

This year has been amazing for tiger sightings in Ranthambhore. 

Your photos are superlative , the lighting seemed to be excellent, without too much dust.

The premium for an 'all day' permit is certainly steep, but it really worked for you.

A really informative TR. Many thanks. I enjoyed it all.

[Soukous]

I may have missed it somewhere in your report, but what equipment were you using for your India pix Janet? 

Any particular pp procedures?

[janzin]

2 hours ago, Soukous said:

I may have missed it somewhere in your report, but what equipment were you using for your India pix Janet? 

Any particular pp procedures?

 Thanks @Soukous for your comments.

 

For our time in Ranthambhore I was using the Nikon D850 with the 500E FL F4, and the D500 with the 70-200E 2.8.  Scenery was with the Fuji Xe-3 with 18-55 lens.

 

All Nikon RAW processed with Nikon NX-D and then final adjustments made in Picture Window Pro. Most of the pp was simply cropping, contrast adjustments etc. although for a few photos I finished up with Nik Color Efex. For the monochrome conversions, Nik Silver Efex.  Love that free Nik Collection! (It probably won't be free for long as it was recently bought from Google by DxO.)