Even though the canter driver called our driver telling him and us to be at a certain time near the gate, of course he is late. Now compared to the morning safari they do not let cars in which reduces the craziness in the parking lot but increases it tenfold on the main street where a long line of cars waits to be able to go to the fort and temple inside the national park.
Even when our canter arrives, and we get a better seat today, we still have to wait for one more person. And we wait and wait and the person never appears and they give up and on we go. We pass with difficulty by the fort, the people going there almost blocked the road to the restricted zone completely.
After a short shared drive with Zone 3 we veer towards Zone 2 with a few adventurous water crossings and sambar sightings.
Of course everyone is here for the tigers and when we see a big number of canters stopped by the side of the road we know what it means. There is a tiger here but it takes some time to see it, it blends very well with the grasses and ground while it is sleeping lazing not minding the hundreds of people taking photos.
Inch by inch our car moves closer to a better viewpoint but there is no perfect one. Everyone awaits the tiger to do something so when he moves everyone holds their breath in anticipation…and….he goes back to sleep in a different position.
Our driver tells us there is one more tiger sighting and asks if we want to try for that one too? Why not really. So on we go for about 10 minutes and we are one of the first canters here but is the tiger still here?
Yes he is and we get better photos and he even seems a bit more awake and amused. And really does his best to mess up any photos the people are taking.
After these two sightings, where we spent quite some time, it is time to drive back and enjoy the other wildlife on the way especially spotted deer. There are lots of them here and they seem quite unconcerned by the tigers, playfighting and just lazing around.
Our guide tells us that the preferred food for tigers are sambar deer because, as the guide tells us, they are quite dumb and easily caught. The one we see doesn’t seem that concerned about anything and I would think twice before going after him I would be a tiger.
As we make our way back a canter decides to stop in the middle of the road for some photos in the middle of a dangerous road which leads to a traffic jam for about ten minutes as everyone waits for them to leave. And then we are back at our car and enjoy a beautiful sunset while driving back to our tent.
The food is good again and again we are the only people in the restaurant that early (8PM).
We even order a couple celebratory gulab jamun, we finally saw the tigers! And then it is time to sleep in blessful silence this time as tomorrow we make our way to Bharatpur for the famous bird sanctuary.
