INDIA 2025: RATHAMBORE NATIONAL PARK DAY 1- KHEM VILLAS AND OUR FIRST TWO SAFARI DRIVES

 November 26-27 (Thanksgiving Day in the United States), 2025

Five or six hours after we left Keoledeo National Park, located approximately mid-way between Jaipur and Agra, we finally arrived at Rathambore National Park, It looks like a short distance on the map below, and it is--just a little over 150 miles--but we were driving through lots of small villages and the pace was agonizingly slow.

Ranthambore NP is large--515 square miles--and was established first as a game sanctuary in 1955 at about 1/5 of its current size, but then was declared as a Project Tiger reserve as part of a wildlife conservation program in 1974. In 1980 it was named a national park.

The tiger population in India has doubled since the early 1970s, but at about 3,700 tigers, it is still woefully short of the estimated 40,000 tigers that roamed the country at the end of the 19th century. Without Project Tiger, tigers would likely be extinct, at least in India, which has almost 75% of the world's wild tiger population.  Today there are 57 protected areas in India that have been designated as tiger preserves.

It was getting to be late, so our driver took us directly to our place of residence for the next few days, the Khem Villas, located ten minutes from the reserve. The place consists of eight luxury cottages, ten tents, and four double rooms. Our group of three couples had tents, but not exactly the kind of tents you think of when you hear that word.

The approach to the Villas is a long, private drive flanked by the property's gardens where they grow much of the food they serve to guests in the all-vegetarian meals. There is a lot of fencing around the gardens, which I assume is to keep wildlife scavengers out.

And here is the local bakery--but I don't think you want what they are baking . . . 

Cow dung cakes, stacked five high after they are dried out and sold as fuel for cooking and heating.

Upon our arrival, we had a two-stage welcoming committee, a gray langur monkey and what I think was an Indian flapshell turtle who didn't have very good people skills.

And there is our "tent," a structure with as much square footage as about half of our house.

Here is the bedroom:

Marigold blossoms were placed like jewelry on the bathrobes folded tidily on our bed:

The indoor sitting room:

Our outdoor seating area:

Two showers, one inside and one outside:

Double sinks:

Lots of nice touches:

There is also a swimming pool:

Definitely NOT the tent camping I'm used to, and if Bob will make a few adjustments to be more in line with Khem Villas, I will be more than happy to go camping more often.

We got an early start the next morning so that we could be one of the first vehicles into the park. Ranthambore NP has ten zones, each with its own gate and road, and tourists are assigned one zone at random. 

There are opportunities for two safaris each day, and vehicles entering and exiting the park are closely regulated. Our morning safaris began at 7:00 AM and lasted three-and-a-half hours. It was still pretty cold when we started, but it warmed up as the sun rose higher in the sky. Besides, we were crammed into a Jeep with just two rows for six passengers, and "snug" does not adquately describe how tightly packed we were.

We were fortunate to have the same guide (left) and driver (right) every day, not something that is always possible.

After being reminded of the rules, we headed out.

The entrance to the park includes a memorial to Machali, aka "Tigress Queen of Ranthambore," "Queen Mother of the Tigers," and "Lady of the Lake," a legendary tigress who prowled around Ranthambore NP between 1997 and 2016 (at least 7 years longer than the usual lifespan of a tiger) and is thought to be the most photographed and documented wild tigress in the world. She was a key figure in regenerating the region's tiger population. Her name, which means "fish" in Hindi, came from the fish-shaped markings on one side of her face. She is known for killing a 14-foot crocodile (losing two canine teeth in the battle) and for birthing 11 cubs that in turn bore more cubs, growing the park's tiger population from 15 to about 50.

One of my favorite birds that I actually got a picture of myself in India is the rufous treepie, a member of the crow family. Like crows in my area of the world, they are bold and raucous. 

We were finally given the go-ahead to begin our bumpy, dusty journey into the forest  of Zone 1.

The sun's rays were just beginning to penetrate the gray sky.

The first animal we saw was a spotted deer. Its body looks way too big for its little head and spindly legs. These deer are famous in Tiger Land for giving a loud warning call when they spot a tiger. 

We would see a lot of spotted deer in Ranthambore.

What are all those black things in the tree? Some weird kind of fruit or fungus?

They are flying foxes, a kind of fruit bat we had seen before in Sri Lanka. 

I stole this photo from Bob's blog.

We saw a lot of gray langur monkeys. Sometimes we saw their long, ropy tails before we saw them!

Monkey in the tree, spotted deer on the ground:

Not as good as Bob's photography with his big camera and lens, but this cellphone picture of a red-wattled lapwing is not too bad!

It was still early, and I was still very cold. The hotel had given each of us a wool blanket that we kept wrapped around us our shoulders or covering our laps and legs.

Where there is water, there is often a tiger, and our guide kept a sharp lookout. Sometimes we would sit in one spot for long periods of time, waiting for signals like bird calls or warning calls made by deer. 

Beautiful lake with tiger food pecking the ground along the shore.

Peacocks are actually native to India, as is the great stone-curlew. Either of these would make a delicious meal for a tiger. Here, kitty kitty kitty.

Below are a female and male sambar deer, the largest deer species in India. In fact, of all the deer species, only moose and elk are larger. Sambar deer are listed as "vulnerable" on the endangered species list, and we felt fortunate to see some. Their size and majestic bearing made me think of the White Stag in C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia.

We saw a lot of other animals, but I left it to Bob to take most of the pictures.  You can see his beautiful photos here.

Everyone has to leave the park after the morning safaris, so we headed back to our hotel for some lunch. I mentioned earlier in this post that the meals are all vegetarian. Food was served buffet-style, and we could try everything if we wanted to. Delicious!

One safari down. No tiger. No worries--we had a lot more safaris to go.

After lunch, we headed back to the park entrance a little early so that we get close to the gate when it opened. There is mad jockeying for position, and I'm not sure what difference it really  makes to be early in line.

We had been assigned to Zone 4, and to get to the entrance, we passed through this gate--a part of Ranthambore Fort, a massive complex built in the 10th century that I'll cover in a later post.

Looks like we are in the right place!

We started with an obligatory sighting of the ubiquitous spotted deer:

We had our first sighting of a wild boar, known for their matriarchal societies. When you see a solitary boar like this one, you can almost assume it is a male as the females live in groups with their young.

Here are two hanging out with a spotted deer.

 If you look very closely, you'll see a little blip of turquoise just to the left of center in the photo below.  That's my cellphone photo.  Bob's photo of the same bird, a white-throated kingfisher, gives a lot more detail.

At the end of Route 4 is Forest Chowki Lakarda. I think it is a rest stop now, but it must have served another purpose at one time. A weather-beaten sign notes that "This area is rich in wild life with grasslands. This is a ideal habitat for carnivores & herbivores. We can see large herds of Wild Boar, Sambhar, Chital and Nilgal etc. with Tiger, Leopard, and Sloth bear."  Leopards and sloth bears are hardly ever spotted, according to our guide.

We were allowed to get out of our vehicle and stretch our legs.

Whew! Bathrooms! A sambar doe marks the women's room and a sambar buck marks the men's.

Dusk was approaching, and all vehicles must be out of the park at a designated time or the guides have to pay a fine. Our driver made good time as we headed for the entrance/exit.

Another delicious vegetarian meal was waiting for us back at the lodge.

But it was Thanksgiving Day in the United States, and I couldn't let the day pass without some turkey. I had brought some from home for each of the three couples. 

The day was complete.