Jaipur was not as nice as expected..it was very busy, most of the shops were closed and the Palace of Winds had a nasty new paint job. However the fort was nice and we had a lovely, pretty genuine tasting, Italian meal. We did not make it long stay though and took a train then bus to Rathembore national park. We stayed in a beautiful hotel with a very refreshing pool. At six the next morning we were picked up in an open top bus jeep thing, which was going to give us a tour of the park. After an hour of driving around picking up the other passengers, including some rich, drunk, Indian business men we finally arrived at the entrance. Our driver picked route number 5 from the bag, we had heard 3 was the best, and proceeded through the gate. However there seemed to be a problem and the business men got out of the car. And we waited...the weather was getting hotter, and the sky lighter, and we were becoming more irritated..all the wildlife would be disappearing! There seemed to be a problem...and we drove back out of the park! We waited and finally everyone piled back into the bus, the business men looking very smug. We later discovered the route had been mysteriously changed to 3...in India they call it Baksheesh..bribery.
Finally into the park we go, chances of seeing wildlife greatly diminished and all a bit skeptical of seeing anything. Not 5 minutes into the park we see a tiger coming towards the bus. Freaking awesome. It just stalked down the road for about 40 metres before heading into the underbush. We were amazed. Unfortunately I had the camera and was so excited that all the photos are shaky! It got better though. We had about an hour and a half solid of seeing tigers...and some got really close to us. We could have spat on them. We saw four in all and saw them multiple times.
We also saw crocodiles, parrots, peacocks, monkeys, birds, deer, coyotes and a black tailed mongoose. Inside the park was also an old fort, a perfect back drop for the animals. It fulfilled one of my lifes hopes...seeing wild tigers up close.
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