 Welcome to Blue Ocean Studios  Around the World
We headed out into the park and drove around some of the roads we had visited yesterday. I was in the very middle of the 5 people and so really couldn't see much of anything. I was pretty much counting that the other 19 people would be able to spot something if there was anything of interest. It was pretty comical at some points, as the ride in the canter was much rougher than the jeep. We were all bouncing around, bumping into each other and sometimes lifting off of our seat. Once in a while we'd get attacked by swarms of small mosquitos or flies that hit us in the face. I had to make sure to laugh with my mouth closed :)
Breakfast was waiting for us when we returned at 10am, and we traded stories with some of the other guests while we ate. No one that morning had seen a tiger. We went back to the room and took a nap, exhausted from another early morning and bumping around in the canter.
Back at the hotel, we had another delicious Indian dinner. The hotel here has an immense rose garden, and Mario arranged to have them pick some of them to make a beautiful bouquet for my birthday, which is tomorrow. He also had them arrange 8 separately, since this is my 8th birthday which we have spent together :). We're lucky the hotel doesn't mind us checking out extra late, because our train doesn't leave until after midnight tonight. We'll spend all night on the train (in the 2nd class sleeper again) and then we'll spend the next 2 days in Udaipur, the lake palace city. View Sawai Madhopur Photo Gallery Day 91 - Sawai Madhopur < | Index | Photo Galleries | > Day 93 - Udaipur © 2007 Blue Ocean Studios, LTD. All rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Services | About | Contact Prints | Return Policy | View Cart World Travel Galleries | World Travel Blog | Links |
We got to sleep in this morning, until 5:50am :) Our morning safari left at 6:30am. This time, all of the jeeps were already reserved, so we had to ride in what they call a "canter". The canter is a large open roofed bus that fits about 20 people. Unfortunately, we were the last ones out of our room, and the only seats left were 2 middle seats in the back row (5 people total) - and this back row is not really suited to hold 5 adults! We had to turn and squish our shoulders together to fit in. 
We drove back and forth in front of one of the water holes about 5 times going up and back on the same road. We would then sit in front of the water hole for 10 minutes before doing another circuit. Although we didn't end up seeing any tigers, we did get some proof that they actually exist - we saw footprints in the dirt near the watering hole. Also, while we were sitting there, we heard 2 distant roars of the female tiger (perhaps calling to her cubs). A short while later, we heard warning sounds made by the summer and spotted deer, meaning that a tiger was close by. They sounded like they were coming from up in a densely wooded area near a rocky cliff. We waited and waited, but no sign of the tiger. Finally, it was time to go and we left the park disappointed. 
When we woke, it was time for lunch at 1:45. We found out that we had a jeep secured for the afternoon ride (sooooo happy about that!). I didn't know if I was going to be able to make myself go if we had to ride in the canter again! Our jeep pulled up at 2:30 and we had 1 other couple from Germany riding with us. Thankfully, we had a new guide and driver and immediately upon departure, he started giving us information about the park. We entered the park and our driver spotted an alligator and turtle almost immediately, followed by several birds, a baby alligator, and even a white mongoose - all of this while driving. We were so excited that these guys were actually spotting things and stopping to let us see them - 100 times better than our guide and driver from the last 2 drives. Even if we didn't see a tiger today, we decided we were at least going to be satisfied that these guys were trying their hardest. 
There are 7 different routes in the park, and you are assigned one when you enter. Our driver broke the rules (at the risk of getting suspended) to search high and low for the tigers, as our hotel person who booked it told the driver (when he picked us up) in Hindi that we better see tigers as it's our last time out (no, we don't speak Hindi, but we guessed at the tone of voice and were right :)). We were assigned route #6, but we actually covered routes 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6! We drove by all 3 of the lakes, and 2 watering holes. At the 2nd watering hole, we parked the car and waited about 45 silent minutes, hoping for a tiger to come and drink. It was getting late, and the sun was lower in the sky - the perfect time for them to come out and get a drink. Several other vehicles stopped as well, but no tiger. 
It was getting late, and we needed to be back at the park gate by closing time, so reluctantly, we started driving back very slowly. About half way back to the gate, we saw a congregation of other vehicles up ahead and got really excited. We pulled up and sure enough, everyone was looking at a tiger that was off in the bushes. It was very crowded with people in their vehicles, and all the drivers moving around, trying to get a good spot. We couldn't even see the tiger at first, as it was very far away (and no binoculars). The driver kept pointing and trying to get us to see it, but it was impossible. Even with Mario's telephoto camera lens, we couldn't pick it out. We were very lucky that the tigress decided to get up and move positions, and we finally could see her. She got up and walked about 15 feet and then sat back down, settling into the grass. We could still see her though, and enjoyed a few minutes just watching to see if she might move closer. Unfortunately, it was time to get back to the gate, as the drivers get fined if they are late getting back ($10 / minute!). We were just so thankful we had finally seen a tiger after all of the effort! It was fantastic! Since we had used up all but a few minutes of our time, our driver sped as fast as possible down the bumpy dirt road. We were reaching speeds of around 40 mph, and with no sides on our jeep to keep us inside, we were holding on for our lives! It was scary and fun (fun after you make it back alive, scary when you're fearing for your life :))! Our driver and guide told us we had to pretend to look sad at the gate and tell them we hadn't seen any tigers, as we weren't supposed to be on that route. If we had stuck to only our assigned route, we would have seen none!