Weekend Getaway -Ranthambore
For people who office for a living but travel for passion an extended weekend is the right opportunity. Being based out of Gurgaon the vicinity offers so much to be explored & last Oct’ 17 beginning after scourging the internet from mountains to plains off course we applied the ~300 km filter that makes it 7 hr. drive unless you are off-roading we decided on Ranthambore a neat 7 hr. drive from our place
While early morning drive is always refreshing waking up especially when you plan to leave a tad too early is always fraught with risk we were planned at 5 am but it was almost 6.30 am when I was behind wheels & as for us Indians a morning cup of Tea Coffee is a definite
One sad part of shared holidays especially if you use the popular expressways like NH8 is the traffic - Everyone out there seems to share your enthusiasm
While there is a shorter route through Alwar we decided to use most of NH8 partly coz of our familiarity & also coz the highway is broader & is safer to speed on occasions.Once you take a left after Manoharpur Toll on NH8 for NH148 which takes you to Dausa right through middle of Aravalis,this drive is breathtaking, you hardly see any vehicle movement or population, the landscape is arid with occasional sand dunes just the way we like,
Sighting these desert ships is fairly common & what we realized throughout is every few kilometers they had these open water tanks for obvious reasons
While deciding on accommodation we really did not have any choice coz of the last minute decision to travel the only place which had one was RTDC while Ghoomar Baori Ranthambhore is classic & more picturesque & reason it was full we managed a slot at Vinayak it was budget but decent & comfortable
(The pic below is from Internet since in the two day melee we forgot to click a proper one)
The place had not so well stocked bar & which was predicted so we carried our own but their rates were pretty economical therefore we decided to use it ,for a person who loves classics like railway cutlet pouring soda from a glass bottle was appealing together with the pleasant Oct. sunset over an arid landscape
It is recommended you get the safari bookings online, In India the process varies from state to state we managed the offline route since in rush we forgot to check for one & had to shell out few hundred rupees extra. We decided to go for an open bus (Canter) instead of the typical jeep rides since we had tried the latter on previous occasions at Jim Corbett & Sariska the former is economical but less private
Wish I could get you the smell of the morning air it was so fresh of forest scent & vegetation together with the morning cup was simply soulful
& the morning cup is a perfect way to soak in nature
We took the Safari on 1st Oct’ i.e. the day park opens & being an extended weekend the rush was expected in-fact one of hotel staff quipped that it seemed like a new year tourist flow
The Safari lasted approx 2-3 hrs.& there was this constant struggle & demand from fellow tourists to sight a tiger to which I guess most of us who have had prior Safari experiences will be familiar with & as expected there was none except the dramatic finger pointing by the driver,infact on one such occasion when the driver mentioned a movement behind some distant bushes a guy on the canter jokingly mentioned that at best it could be a deer or worst a langur
Unlike Corbett, Ranthambore does not have a Tourist canteen within the park which is appreciated
While I’d still love to see a tiger but not seeing one is not particularly frustrating to me personally, well I feel the different breeds of Deer that the park had can more than compensate & let us give all animals an equal share of respect
The day was unusually warm for Oct & by the time we were through with Safari we were both tired & hungry so after inquiring we were directed to this restaurant named Noon to Moon serving the best Lal Maas in town we validated this on Zomato & true it was , the place was pretty basic but the food is strongly recommended by us too
What more in this short time we managed to squeeze in some reading time followed by post lunch nap
Evening was Bar time as usual & the option for beer for Kingfisher that I love ,it is the drink that I fed on since college days but I feel is loosing out to the Bira’s of the world it has this old world charm though & I love it
The next morning & the final one was this quick sojourn to Ranthambore fort while waking up again at 5 a.m. was tough I could still motivate myself for this last leg of the trip driven by the excitement of driving through the forest , you need to register your car number at the entrance & you are done
As we came out of the parking lot & close to ascending the Fort we were immediately greeted by this post card perfect scene -A group of peacocks/hens nestled on this huge decaying tree. This one is my favorite
Nestled amidst the forest is Ranthambore fort very green, surrounded by small gorges & lakes, not many are aware that this is the 2nd biggest in India after Chittorgarh fort & it took many dynasties across 5 centuries to finally complete this. Only one gate is open for public use (Forest’s buffer zone) while the rest are closed since they fall within the core jungle
Within the premises there are quite a few temples our Guide took us to one Shiv temple which is less popular but we also also visited the Ganesh Temple (Trinetra) which gets flooded every year on Ganesh Chaturthi this is also supposed to be the oldest Ganesh temple in Rajasthan
Best Shot we managed of the Shivling in low light of the cave
We recommend this place as a quick getaway from Delhi NCR & believe the place has lot of offer other than the wildlife Safari
Thank you, this is my virgin travel blog hence might not have the OMG feel but hope you find this useful to plan a sojourn to this inviting place
P.S. - Special mention to Mrinalini my wife for helping me complete this project
