Before our second Ranthambore safari and last chance to see the tigers our driver recommends to visit the Museum of Natural History. It is only ten minutes from our hotel and not really popular with foreign tourists. It is however popular with local school groups and the foreign tourists are very popular with them with white looking females especially being mobbed, but this is more fun than the usual mobbing for money or guiding.
The museum called Rajiv Gandhi Natural History Museum after the former, killed, prime minister starts with an interesting description of all Unesco World Heritage Sites in India before exhibiting the most famous of the mammals in the area. The museum building has two floors but the second one is cordoned off, badly, with the guards yelling at anyone that miss that it is closed and try to climb towards the second floor.
Interestingly most of the exhibits are photos and maybe plastic models of animals which is different from Western Natural History museums where most animals would be taxidermied.
There is a section focused on plants for human consumption and we at least see what some of the grains and spices are that we are eating daily while in India.
Of course the most interesting section for us is the one about birds exploring them across multiple habitats with a focus on the ones in Rajasthan. At this point our driver comes to inform us that the driver of the safari vehicle for our afternoon tour has called and said we have about twenty more minutes and we have to hurry through the rest of the museum.
Exiting our driver is now in front of the museum and it is time for the short drive to the National Park entrance for our last chance at tigers.
