Today I drive the same distance as yesterday, but I still spend 2 hours longer on the bike and that's because today half of the route is not a highway. The speed on good country roads does not exceed 70 km/h. And then I catch up with everyone. It is that I drive on the left side of the road, otherwise I would imagine myself in the Netherlands in terms of landscape: flat with many green fields and trees.
The hotel in Ranthambhore is on a main road so I found it quickly. The village is teeming with Safari buses and jeeps. Every day they transport hundreds of mainly Indian tourists to the neighboring Ranthambhore National Park where everyone wants to be lucky enough to spot the Indian tiger.
The open safari bus stops right on time in front of my hotel and I am the first to board. We drive to the next boarding point where a 19-member family is already waiting and within 20 minutes we drive into the park. I expected open plains but it looks more like a jungle. The entire ride goes through a forest, interspersed with rivers and we even see a crocodile baking in the sun.
Occasionally the bumpy ride is interrupted to listen for animal sounds that indicated the presence of a tiger. The park houses 74 tigers in an area of 20 hectares. The chance of encountering one is now, in the winter months, only 20 percent and in the months of April to June 90%. The guides do see tiger tracks that are from today, but for our group it remains with the spotted hinds, antelopes, monkeys, birds and a crocodile.
At sunset we leave the park and together with the guide I transfer to a jeep with guides going home. This way I don't have to make the detour to take the family that was on safari to their hotel. On the way we stop at the guides' favorite street food place to have a cup of cay, after which they drop me off at my hotel. Unfortunately no tiger seen today but still a nice experience richer.
