2025: Northern India

3. Ranthambore National Park

The next morning at 6am we boarded the vehicles that would take us to our safari in the Ranthambore National Park. The reason for the early start was that we hoped to see a tiger, and the best time to do so is just after dawn. We were told that we had about a 20% chance of seeing one in the distance amongst the trees, and we were all very excited as we bounced along the bumpy tracks in the cold morning air (the photo above was taken later in the day). Our guide was excellent, stopping to point out to us the various animals and birds that we spotted - including deer, macaque monkeys, mongoose, crocodiles, wild boar, and numerous different birds (including a magnificent kingfisher) - but no tigers.

We returned to the hotel for a delicious lunch and a short rest, then boarded our vehicles again and returned to the Park. Once again our guide was excellent, pointing out to us various other creatures such as antelope and peacocks. It had been a fascinating day and then suddenly, just as we were about to turn back towards the hotel, a tiger stepped out onto the road and turned to face us head-on from about 50 yards away. Enthralled, we all held our breaths as she slowly strolled up to about 20ft away from us and paused to see our reaction. The jeep driver slowly backed away, and as he did so the tiger kept the same distance away. Our guide made noises similar to a frightened animal, explaining that not only would this help the tiger to feel that she was in control, but also the sound would let the other vehicles know that we had found her. The guide recognised her as a 7-year old tigress called Siddhi who is extremely powerful - especially as she now has 3 young cubs to protect! She is renowned for being clever, calm, and dangerous, and her ancestry includes most of the fiercest and legendary tigers of all Northern India. After a few minutes, Siddhi turned away to go down to the river for a drink. Backing up, the driver went around another path so that we could continue to observe her, and then when she had finished drinking she gave us a contemptuous look and strolled away.

It had been a fabulous encounter, and our guide told us that it had been in his opinion up there amongst the top 5% of sightings. Happily we turned around, thinking that the day couldn't possibly get any better, but there was yet another surprise in store for us as we headed back towards the park exit. As we were pausing to observe Peacocks and an Antelope, suddenly there in the trees was an example of the other apex predator of the park, a Sloth Bear. These are a really scary animal, and suddenly we felt very glad of the protection afforded by the jeep! Our guide reckoned it was a chance in a thousand to have seen crocodiles, tiger, and a bear in this way - and what an amazing birthday it had been for Debbie!

A peacock proudly displays his feathers	An antelope strolls away through the trees	A sloth bear watches us from a distance	Important advice to remember

It had certainly been the most amazing day. As we returned to the hotel, I knew that the image of Siddhi the tigress, just 20ft away from our jeep, would remain vividly in my memory for ever.

After a long and exciting day we retired early to bed, knowing that we would have another early start the following morning to catch the train to Agra for our visit to the Taj Mahal

All pictures on this site are © Allan Jones unless otherwise stated.