Ranthombore national park. Absolutely speech less. No word to explain the unique experience

Watching Royal Bengal Tiger in its natural habitat is a unique experience which can’t be explain in words, I along with my family and little kid had the same in ranthombore national park.

Tiger sighting is not a good experience for me so far, I fail in shariska, pench and Corbett national park, so ranthombore is now a challenge for me, therefore we decided to come in peak summer when sighting chance is maximum.

 zone 4

Safari booking is a troublesome experience, it can be booked through rajasthanwildlife.rajasthan.gov.in, this is only official sight, you need to log in this sight and link with aadhar number, and safari booking starts 90 days in advance, at 12am, and within 2-3 mints all safari passes (gypsy) will be closed, but don’t get panic try next day morning you will find some seats available there (may be due to cancellation). Safari cost is 934 per person including everything. I was able to book two safari in zone 2 and zone 4. Ranthombore is divided in ten zones, 1-5 is core zone, entry gate through swaimadhopur, 6 to 10 is buffer zone has a separate entry. Current record shows 2 & 6 is the best zone of tiger sighting followed by zone 3,4, 5 &1, rest zones (7,8,9& 10) are not advisable to book.

Hotel booking was done in Tiger regency resort online, which is 5 km away from safari gate, and 4km from railway station, the hotel manager Mr syed ali is extreamly helpful, he arrange boarding pass for us, a token amount of Rs 60 was charged per seat, don’t forget the ID proof which was mention on safari ticket.

sambar in water hole

The Royal look of a future queen

 

2years old female cub of noor

 

Tiger in action

Crocodile at waterhole

We did two safari in two days, our 1^st day safari is in zone2, gypsy collect us at 2.45pm from hotel, in the afternoon of end May we feel unbearable heat, we keep our self all covered, hat, sunglasses, musk still feel burning sense on skin. Our guide and driver is extremely knowledgeable a lots of birds was shown, like pigmy woodpecker, Asian paradise flycatcher, bush quail, painted francolin, collared scops owl but 1 hour passed we had seen two water holes full of sambar, wild boar, crocodile, spotted deer and peacock and slowly loosing hope to see the royal look of majestic Bengal tiger, suddenly our guide whisper, “A Tiger”, we could not believe our eyes one fully grown female cub of tigress noor was resting in water hole, it was playing and give us nice view of some unforgettable moments, then it jump out from the water hole come in front of our gypsy, and then slowly disappear in forest, this is not the end, we found one fully grown male cub of tigress sarmili in another water hole, lots of gypsy waiting there suddenly we heard alarm call of sambar, another tiger is coming, this is the brother of 1^st one and both was now in same water hole, we was not believing  our faith and just lost our mind to find such a royal animal in front of us.

 2 years three month old male cub of tigress sharmili

Two brother sharing waterhole 

collared scoup owl

 bush quail

Asian paradise flycatcher (male)

Our guide says let’s try now for another tiger we agreed immediately, our safari time is running out it’s around 6pm we are lucky enough to find another fully grown female cub of tigress noor, it give some nice shot and continue clicking until safari time is over, thus our zone 2 safari ends with a great success.

 2nd female cub of tigress noor

wild bore zone2

Zone 2 future queen

Next day morning safari is in zone 4, gypsy arrive at 5.45am, wonderful cool morning weather and our co-tourist with 1200mm big lance, so feeling thrilled to have a safari with some well knowledgeable experienced person, one foreigner lady also accompany with us, came to know she is a regular visitor of ranthombore. But our hope does not last longer our driver run gypsy as if we are on national highway, zone 4 is rocky bumpy and hilly area so difficult of control ourself in the vehicle, I was afraid my little daughter may get injured, asked many times to run gently but he run by his mind and least bother on our request.

spotted deer

 

leopard (female) zone4

 unidentified female cub in zone4

Green zone

 

In the way we find few gypsy focusing on collared scop owl, my co travellers lough on it,as if this is not a subject of photography, find one oriental honey buzzard, one crocodile, but they does not care to stop. Our 1^st stop is on an empty water hole, one spotted deer moving alone. Again highway driving started and suddenly found a female leopard is approaching on a heel, this is quite far and bushes all around, and I did manage only one good shot. Few minutes back we spotted a female tiger cub in a waterhole, it again under dance bushes, so difficult for photography.  

 tree pie, photography by my 8 yrs old daughter

white belied drongo 

 golden oriole

Deer in waterhole

 great stone curlew

spotted sand grouse

There was a resting place, (toilet facilities available there) where we get down from gypsy and took some photo ourselves to make the place memorable, my little kid did some bird photography too, lots of rufous tree pie around which take biscuit from our hand, enjoyed the place a lot.

 sambar poses for photography 

tigress arion resting

 collared scoup owl

Started return back, find one black tailed mongoose, but gypsy does not give a stoppage as usual, I found two collared scoop owl in a tree, forced to stop for photography,

At the last moment our luck clicked once again, female tigress arion fond slipping in a distance, take some nice shots, we were dropped at hotel at 9:30am, thus our journey end with a total six tigers and one leopard some unforgettable experience.

Nal Sarovar, good place for bird watching, but very unorganised

Nal sarovar good place for bird watching, but very poor management, we spend a cool morning in nal sarovar with family and little kid, starting from ahmedabad we travel through GPS via sarkhej and sanand Nalsarovar road, we started at 4:30 am and reach exactly 6:00 am at the destination.

                                          collard pratincole

                                           purple swamphen

                                          pheasantt tailed jacana

Parking charges, from ticket window to boating point eco van charge and sharing boating charge of two person is 640 Rs, this is a morning of Apr so very less tourist at the place so boat man offer a very discounted price 5000 for longest tour, then they had given option for a medium tour with a jungle safari (safari in our own car, where they offer to show fox, owl and falcon) in 3000 Rs, lastly we settled for 1500 Rs for 4 point boating, but I must admit boating is very enjoyable and the little boy named ramjan (12 to 13 years old) very knowledgeable and good bird watcher, we see lots of birds like jacana, pratincol, purple swamphen, wagtail, purpleheron, kingfisher, gull, rever tern, harrier and may more, but when sun rises up it is heard to enjoy boating so we return back at 9:30.

                                               cetrine wagtail

                                           gull

                                           long billed pipit

Food available on a tapu (island), veg thali is of 170 per head, in morning we did not go for thali option, we rather enjoy bhajiya outside the sanctuary, there I find our guide cum boatman the little boy Ramjan again and ask if he can show us fox owl and falcon, he honestly says fox and owl will not found as sun rises up, falcon can be seen, so if we opted for the 3000 package that will be a total loss.

                                            common kingfisher

                                            purple heron
I had visited the place 10 years before, road condition is better now but the tourist spot is not well developed till now, no food stall available nearby, toilet facility only near counter, no facility near boating point. Gujarat tourism should concentrate on it, also compare to the cost of boating birds are very less, you can see much more in thol wildlife sanctuary.

Thol, ultimate destination for bird lover

Thol Lake is a famous wildlife sanctuary and lake near Thol village this is 20-25 km from Ahmedabad, this is a paradise for bird lover, I had visited the place many times, and my last visit was on 10^th march 2018.

 Lesser flamingo (back side small one)

Lesser flamingo (juvenile)

 GPS does not guide you properly, also road is through forest /village area, boards are there but all are in a quite far distance.

Sanctuary Entry fees Rs 40 for week days, Rs 50 for sat and sun day, no charges for normal camera, professional/ semiprofessional camera charges is 200 Rs, No charges for bike parking, car parking charges is 100 Rs, Some of my colleague is a resident of thol village, and their family runs a refreshment stall inside thol lake, they provide high power resolution binocular, It help me a lot to identify eagles osprey and many more water birds. You can have binocular from refreshment stall on rental basis. Binocular is must need for bird watching as most of the birds are on very long distance.
 Garden inside thol sanctuary

                        Walking tracks                        

  refreshment and garden area

                                              common cuckoo  

Other than bird watcher this is famous for young couple, many of them was found intimate condition behind trees, some of them play louder music, In this way they destroying the habitat of birds and it goes far away. It is pity to find the lack of sense among the young stars,

                                                 Thol lake, plainty of birds every where
From the entry gate there were two walking tracks surrounding the lake, right side is preferable, canteen and toilet facilities are there,  1km from the entry gate there was parking place, a nicely decorated garden and forest guest house which is for forest officer, not for common people. Other than snacks, tea, chips, water and cold drink no food available inside, you have to bring by your own. Beware of monkeys, they can snatch your food.
 White pelican

Greater spotted eagle

                                                 Grey Francolin

Juvenile painted stork

 barheaded goose

Red napped ibis

                                   Red breasted flycatcher 

Thol is a manmade water reserve build in 1912 to provide irrigation facilities to farmers, water source now is used for reserving wild life and agricultural interest. I spend 4 hrs there, captures many species like white pelican, common crane, greater spotted eagle, osprey, different flycatcher, different species of water fowl, common cuckoo and may more. Thol is an wild life sanctuary is not a picnic spot, this is a home of approx. 160 species of birds, once you come to there home, you should not disturb them, keep quiet and enjoy nature.

                                              Green shank

 

Common kingfisher

  Copper smith barbet

Eurasian wagon

                                             Garganey