On the prowl.......

So we arrived late in Bundi and quickly found a cute little room in a slightly dilapidated haveli with no less than 11 windows. Although unlike the Jodhpur palace of dreams, this one had a whole wall of bizzare puzzled windows of varying sizes shapes and sizes with opague filling, rendering the outside unviewable, doubly so as they were all locked tight. We did have a small balcony though, which overlooked a little side street temple caked in draping electrical wires bundled into precarious clusters all buzzing madly. So we looked out happily over the town and snuffling hairy pigs scrounging around below, all the while preparing for possible electric shock. Dinner was served by a lovely aspiring musician in the rooftop restaurant next door effulgent with a blinding glow of a thousand fairy lights.

We slipped quickly into inhebriation after a constant stream of cocktails, also slipping into comfortable recline with the owner who proceeded to serenade us for most of the night. It pains me to say, but not only were his song choices utterly perculiar, they were delivered with forceful vibrance in a really rather disagreeable tone-deaf splurge from a stifling 3 feet away in an empty restaurant. Sweet guy though! There was absolutely no way I could make eye-contact with Jack with the violent eruption of giggles bubbling up fast in my belly so we carefully avoided locking eyes lest unacceptably rude hysterics burst forth mid-shoddy-solo. I later found he was doing exactly the same.

We woke early to scale the precipituous palace and ancient abandoned fort up a long and toilsome stony path through the shrubby mountain, between the inadviseable hours of 11 and 1pm. With the sun at its zenith our sweat runneth bountifully. But the exploration of the overgrown and crumbling 13th century fort and the views of the expansive valley it afforded were awesome.

After lunch, we hopped on a bus to Kota 2 hours South of Bundi where we were to board a 2 hour train to Sawai Madhopurwhich which was not far from Ranthambhore National Park. We headed for a hotel recommended in the Loney Planet as a top budget option, but it looked a bit like a crack den with flickering surgical lights illuminating the entrance foyer, so we opted for a swankier marbled number a few doors down. We ate a weird room service dinner with two attempts at fresh lime soda which were each and progressively utterly disgusting tasting a bit like egg and salt. Conveying our complaint, and as a matter of fact our entire order in the first place to the staff who perplexingly, being stationed in the tourism industry, spoke not a word of English, was an interesting battle.

We woke at 7am to head off on our first safari into the park. Admittedly the drive to its edge was a bit disillusioning. Many hotels with tacky photoshopped images of tigers were displayed brazenly in front and many ill-tempered townsfolk glared at us in our gypsy jeep like unwelcomed guests. But upon entering the park, we were stunned by the early morning sunrise shooting shards of misty light through the dew dropped trees. Nestled in a car with 4 other English people, an older couple from the North and two young and funny girls from London was a nice break from the aforemnetioned animosity of locals and we kept our eyes peeled for wildlife whilst recalling and swapping stories of abberant travel journeys in India. There was loads of beautiful spotted deer, antelope and beautiful birds everywhere. My favourite was the giant Indian tree pie. Much like our black and white one, but bigger, and orange! Simple things. Also, apparently this gutsy species is known for cleaning the flesh out of tigers' teeth, so we were edging closer to the beasts in some way. The babblers who landed about the car with the tree pies, obviosuly expecting a treat from passers by which must be the norm, was another favourite. Its mad, darting yellow eyes alonside it's corpulent spherical figure made it look ruffled and crazy.

The tour was wonderful as we saw reams of animals wandering idly in their natural habitat and the scenery was stunning, edged with lush mounds of mountains and hillocks all around. We ate a more successful meal than the evening previous atop our hotel and chilled until our next ride at 2:30pm. As soon as we entered the park we spotted footprints, and heard warning calls of antelope and deer signifiying some disturbance in the animal kingdom. So we took off after the footprints and scaled a severely bumpy track edging up a steep hill to oversee a giant section of the park from maybe a hundred feet high. No tigers. But a stunning view! We'd seen very little on this jounrey, as the trip to the top had taken so long and we began our descent heading slowly in the general direction for the exit. When we were on flat ground our driver's ears pricked as we heard loud warning calls. A few other jeeps were visible in the distance, so we lay low with them observing the environment for more signs and signals of our target.

What transpired over the following 45 minutes was utterly elating, enchanting, bewildering, distressing and a spectrum other conflicting emotions. By the time we were growing certain a big cat was at least in near proximity judging by the behaviour of the other animals, perhaps 10 other jeeps had arrived. A bellicose bellowing erupted from a cluster of vehicles as someone had spotted a flash of stearked orange in the grass. The sound was deafening and the atmosphere was tense. The idiotic guides were actually arguing furiously with one and other in regards to the location of the beast and the relative location of their jeeps. We were at the back of the whole charade, sat beside our 'spotter' who had done very little but look at his phone for the durtion of the journey so far, but was decidedly more animated at this point and actually leapt from the jeep abandoning us and beelining for the commotion for a better look himself. With our head in our hands, we couldn't help but feel a strong sense of shame and sorrow for the tiger if it was infact near by, and the unscrupulous disturbance to it's habitat and natural behaviour to which we were unfornately begrudgingly complict. And at this moment of silent dispair, not 20 feet from us, a large and beautiful tiger stepped out from the bushes to our left...

The effect of this sighting is indescribeable, I just remember my heart leaping and my eyes stinging with disbelief. I clung on to Jack's back as we both actually gasped in awe, and he raised his camera to catch the moment. All of this happened in a slow-motion split second, as in a flash the other beasts present at this circus hurtled into action. Vying to get their load of tousits as close to the action for a tip as close to their estimations as possible there was a crash of action from all surrounding jeeps. Whilst the gorgeous tiger steped svetly through the undergrowth, holding our transfixed gazes, drivers thrust their vehicles into dangerous manouvers overtaking one and other smashing through the scenery to move closer. Our moronic man had turned on a sixpence and darted in front of a row of at least 5 jeeps bringing us within perhas 15 feet of the tiger, the only time it aknowledged any of our existences, snarling slightly with displeasure at the encroachment.

We couldn't help but feel utterly disillusioned by the fiasco, but at the same time utterly blsssed to be in the company of such a rare and beautiful creature in as near as natural habitat, protected (almost entirely) from humans and their disasterous and deathly desires. It was so incredibly stunning, and so utterly unexpected, we felt unbelievably lucky to be beside a majestic tiger within only 3-4 hours being spent in the park. It's giant formideable muscles moving beneath its infamous fur as it loped through the hot afternoon air amongst the trees was a sight I'll never forget. Its glorious head was so large, and striped with beautiful markings and is forever etched into my memory. It stood beside a low branching tree with its long tail heald high curling perfectly at the tip and enjoyed a deep yawn after a day long nap to avoid the sweltering sun. All this I'll remember, whilst I ty to forget the reaction of the locals, stewards who are suppopsedly entrusted with its protection. Seeing the top carnoivore in India conjoured imaginings of their dominance of the wild over-taken ruthlessly by human beings' blood lust, and recalling hunting images from the tea museum in Munnar made it all the more real how absurd it would have been to respond to such a sight with murderous inclinations. Let alone the ridicudlous response of the exploitative rangers in our company. I guess the tiger is in a safe environment from murderous poachers, and money from tourists is hopefully sidled into preservence of the large park where they're free to roam and hunt. And whilst it's not necessarily the wild and the lush untouched jungles its great great ancestors would've been king amongst, at least it's alive, and well.

The whole experience was classic India. Unbelievable beauty superseded by a pervading lack of common sense. Oh yea, speaking of common sense, I happened to have misplaced my camera prior to this excursion... Symbolic of the mysterious nature of the tiger and its secretive existence perhaps? Well, this is how I consolled myself. (Alternatively, attend Mr Jack Fillery's India exhibition in May for further photographic enlightenment.) 

We fell back into our room completely bewildered and uncharacteristically speechless, stunned by our fortune. We ventured on one more almost perfuntory safari the next morning, still on a high from our spoting the previous day, before heading for the train station bound for Jaipur.

Whoops. This post turned into a whopping essay again... Sorry.