Tiger!

Here Kitty, Kitty

Give me a hug

Ready for our Safari

Nice Antlers

Monkey family

We woke up early and enjoyed taking a nature hike after breakfast. Our guide pointed out flowers, birds, animals, insects and fish we would never have been aware of. He is a naturalist that rescues all kinds of animals. Two female elephants came over to the Hotel as they do every day. They offered to take us for a ride but Cathy was content to just snuggle with their trunk. They are amazing creatures.

We were scheduled to go for an afternoon Safari. Since we are in the North of India, the jungle is a forest jungle, it is covered with trees, it is not a tropical jungle. Most people, actually I guess all people, that stay here at The Oberoi Vanyavilas in Ranthambhore go on at least one Safari during their stay - many do not see a tiger. We had no expectation of actually seeing a tiger.

The open jeep was very dusty as we rode the dirt trails of the preserve. The forest is filled with deer, crocodiles, turtles many species of birds, monkeys, etc. The driver was surprised when I told him we don't have monkey's in America. They are ubiquitous in India. Our jeep stopped and the guide and driver started pointing and say "Look over there by the fallen log, there is a tiger". I look I can’t see any tiger. I say "Where is it"? The guide says "By the fallen tree". I say "I am in the middle of a fucking forest, there are trees everywhere, can’t you be more specific"? He eventually gets me to see the tiger, that blended right in, those stripes come in handy if you want to camouflage your self in a forest.  All of a sudden a deer approaches and heads out into the water. Tiger now has dinner on his mind. I start thinking do I want to see the end of Bambi? This nature thing seems a little in your face at this point. I know this is how pretty tiger gets his food, but I don’t want to see it. We drive off to see some other tigers and I wonder if the deer ever made it out of the water alive.

The Safari was fun, I was glad to see the tiger, in all its majesty, but it was time to return to the Oberoi for drinks before dinner. On a separate notice, We have stayed in many high end hotels on our travels, but we both agree we had never had more attentive staff, they continually performed at a level that was extraordinary.

We have dinner outside warmed by a giant log fire, then return to our tent for the night.