India is the only country with tigers and lions in the wild. Ranthambore has risen to popularity with the famous Machli and Sitara. I got a chance to visit this place on a company outing
Ranthambore National Park is 5 hours away from Delhi and 3 hours from Jaipur airport. You can stop by Chand Baori on the way from Delhi and also take a small detour to Chambal Gharial National Park. Winters are a better time to visit as tigers tend to remain in hiding amidst heatwaves
The Delhi- Mumbai expressway made me proud. The roads were excellent, with nice view of Aravallis on the edge, wheat fields on the sides and bright bougainville flowers in the middle, on the dividers. The eight lane road made a 5-6 hour journey smooth. It was a perfect blend of progressing infrastructure with rural India right beside. There are rest stops with eateries like Bikanerwala, Starbucks, McDonalds to grab a bite, and clean washrooms
Chand Baori
One of the best step wells in Abhaneri about 3 hours away from Delhi. Built by Raja Chand Raja of Pratihara dynasty, has 3500 steps with beautiful carvings. It is one of the deepest wells with 13 floors. One slide has rooms and carvings, while other 3 sides are steps built in geometrically symmetric fashion
The well is next to a simple and nice Harshad Mata temple. The temple is still worshipped. The outer layer is in partial ruins- you can see broken parts of beautifully carved pillars
There is a small women’s craft society and Stepwell restaurant nearby serving authentic Rajasthani, simple home cooked type delicious meals. Try out Dal Bati Churma Thali
Chambal Gharial National Park
The sanctuary is 75 minutes away from Sawai Madhopur, lying across the Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh border. Take a boat ride across the river to see crocodiles basking in the sun. The boat rise costed INR 748 per person in March 2025, and took an hour to cover the round trip. The location is right below Pali bridge. You will have to wait 30-45 minutes for a boat to fill up. The boats seem to be operated by forest department, so prices are flat
The river is home to gharials and mugger crocodiles. Gharials are endangered, quite shy creatures, slipping into water on slightest of sounds. Gharials survive on the fishes in the river. Marsh crocodiles are quite used to boats, basking in the sun on river banks, sometimes close to buffaloes bathing in the water. The crocodiles are aggressive and known to even prey on sheep and goat on the banks. River Parbati and Chambal meet here, with protruding land mass which is resting place for most crocodiles
I could see 4-5 crocodiles in near proximity and another 5-6 swimming in waters. The entire river was covered with yellow colored water lettuce, quite a nice sight. The crocodiles coming out of water had these yellow plants on their heads, looking like flowers on a lady’s head. The bridge had multiple honey combs with buzzing bees
Visiting the sanctuary was the best decision since we had limited luck with tiger spotting, coming later
Ranthambore National Park
We went to zone 10 which had limited sighting possibility begin with. We booked quite late, so had limited options. Zone 1-6 are the better zones in the region. Sighting is pure matter of luck. It is better to take morning safari in summers and evening during winters. You can see monkeys, peacocks, deers- Nilgai, Sambar, Spotted deers in the forest. The two female tigers of this zone are said to live across the mountains and the male tiger strolled into Zone 6 the day we were there
Bookings get filled up 2 months in advance. You need to take multiple safaris to increase your chances- so plan well in advance. The official site for booking is run by the government. If you are booking late, there are many agencies in the city who can get you a spot at a much higher price depending on the Zone, time and how far ahead is your request. There is a tatkal option opening 7 days in advance, another window to try your luck
Where we stayed
Taj Sawai Madhopur, thanks to corporate booking- One of the best properties in India, with the famous Taj hospitality. The Taj group had recently taken over the management
Each room had a nice balcony opening to view of trees with weaver bird nests. One of the unique flowers I saw here was Calico flower, native to South America. It almost felt like cloth prints. The buds are bulb like, somewhat like pitcher plant, but filled with air and more transparent.
Many birds like Rufous Treepie play around with the beaver bird nests. You can spend hours looking at these birds and hearing their chatter
The hotel had organized guided star gazing at night. Ranthambore has one of the clearest skies in Rajasthan. We were able to learn a lot about stars, planets and see mainly the moon up close with all its craters. I was literally on the moon after seeing the moon. Jupiter was visible with two stripes and two moons. Mars seemed to small, similar to what you see through naked eyes