Recently we went on a safari in India, and it was amazing!!!
I didn’t know what to expect, flying all the way to India to try and see Tigers.
We went in October when the park had just opened after the monsoon season. This is not the best time to go and I kept on being reminded of that on multiple travel websites and instagram accounts. I even had a company tell me that they wouldn’t organise the tours as it was the worst time to go!
Unfortunately I didn’t have a choice of when to go. It was now or wait a few years at least, and as this has been a life long dream of mine I had to pounce on the opportunity. So I decided to take the plunge and I booked the trip with Abercrombie and Kent, my first time ever using a travel agent like this.
So my 6 year old son and I got ready and after two flights, a hotel stay and a long car drive we got to our destination in India over 24 hours later.
We settled into the hotel, had lunch and got ready for our first safari drive. Excited about the prospect of seeing a tiger in the jungle we soon realised the task that we had to face to get an opportunity to see tigers. The jungle in Ranthambore was lush with thick and dense foliage. This wasn’t going to be easy and after four hours on a very bumpy road we were unsuccessful.
We got back to the hotel and feeling dejected I had to hide my disappointment from my son. I started to think was this the right thing to do? We had some dinner and then went to sleep early to get ready for our next drive the next morning.
The next day we got up early and headed out to our second safari drive. Again it was a very bumpy ride and we soon saw tiger tracks which looked promising but still no sign of a tiger. Then we got word that there was a tiger who had made a kill, so we headed to the area where it was sighted and waited for a sign.
Finally we heard an alarm call and we were off, but we weren’t the only ones there. There was a tigress hiding in the thick foliage, we could just about see her large paw.. We waited and then she suddenly started to move and that first sight was magical.
Over the course of the next few days we had two drives a day and saw two more tigers.
We also saw many other animals including:
Tigers
Crocodiles
Striped Hyena (very hard to see)
Peacocks
Dear
Eagles
Kingfisher
Monkeys
P.S. I did have quite bad back pain due to the bumpy roads, and that is definitely something I do not miss.
Itinerary:
Day 1 fly out to New Delhi from London Heathrow in British airways
Day 2 Fly out to Jaipur and then a car to Vivanta Sawai Madhopur Lodge
Day 3 Ranthambore
Day 4 Ranthambore
Day 5 Car to Jaipur Airport and then flight to New Delhi where we flew to Salalah, Oman via Muscat, Oman
What To Pack:
Neutral coloured clothes
Medicine, such as paracetamol, stomach sickness, plasters
Insect repellant
Nosilife insect repellent clothing from Craghoppers
Water proof jacket
A couple of warm items mainly for early morning drives
Sunscreen, sun hats and sunglasses
Hotels we stayed at:
New Delhi:
A Loft New Delhi airport
Sawai Madhopur (Safari):
Ranthambore:
Vivanta Sawai Madhopur Lodge
Camera Equipment:
Tripod
Travel Tripod/Monopod (3 Legged Thing Punks Corey Tripod System with AirHed Neo (Blue/Orange))
Heavier Tripod (Manfrotto Aluminium 3 Section Tripod with XPRO Ball Head + 200PL plate)
Nikkor 200-500mm f5.6
Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8
DSLR/mirrorless (Nikon Z6 and Nikon D500)
Nikkor 14-24mm f2.8
Multiple battery charger (Hahnel ProCube2 Nikon)
Binoculars (PRAKTICA Falcon 12x50mm Porro Prism Coated Binoculars Black)
Restaurants:
We ate at the Hotel restaurant as it was all included in our stay.
Organised Excursions and Taxis:
All safaris and travel within India were organised by Abercrombie and Kent