Tiger Seeking Feat. Hyundai Exter: The Road To Ranthambhore

Cats have found their way into popularity for one reason or the other. The ancient Egyptians worshipped them and seemingly so does the modern-day internet. But the one member of this family that’s been a source of inspiration more than the others is the tiger. I remember seeing one the first time as a 9-year-old in a zoo and being rendered speechless by how much a low growl made the ground seemingly vibrate.

But outside of being told the tiger is our national animal, there wasn’t much that was unpacked in school about just how special this animal is to India. From being a victim of man’s unchecked expansion, to becoming the beneficiary of one of the world’s most successful conservation efforts, the tiger’s story in India is one that you could tell time and again and still want more; as did I.

The desire to see a tiger in the wild had Arun and I drive our long-term Hyundai Exter from Mumbai to Udaipur, Udaipur to Jaipur and finally, Jaipur to Ranthambhore. A great opportunity to see how travel northwards has changed over the years (my last drive from Jaisalmer-Mumbai was in 2019) and also see how this city-centric car would fare on a 2500 km road trip across India.

Stepping out of Mumbai, it seems the city’s traffic pattern gets mimicked almost all the way to the Maharashtra border checkpost. Truckers who’ve decided every lane is theirs to lounge in, making it hard to maintain a good average speed but thankfully, the national highways are built well enough to keep things comfortable. The arrow-straight Delhi-Vadodara-Mumbai expressway is nothing short of a cheat code for travellers who otherwise would be anchored in traffic on this stretch. Keeping stops limited, we managed to get to Udaipur in about 10 hours. 

 

 

 

 

 

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Day 2 was a quick sojourn to Jaipur before we made our way towards Ranthambhore; a route that’s both mesmerising and at times boring. But at last, it was time to spot a Tiger albeit by collectively testing out our luck. What do I mean? On this trip was Arun Shenoy, a 3-time Ranthambhore ‘visiting veteran’ who’d managed a tiger sighting on every one of his previous safaris. Contrasting him was our videographer, Gaurav Chandrashekar who’d been on 23 tiger safaris in his life so far and hadn’t seen one EVER! Either one of them would have their streaks broken and we were hoping it’d be Gaurav’s.

The first day had us take canter safaris to zone 2 and zone 3 of Ranthambhore’s 10 designated tourism zones. The safaris were blessed with several spotted deer, sambhars and a few nilgai. But we also had the bad fortune of being paired with unpunctual fellow canter riders who cost us a tiger sighting by a mere 10 minutes. Disheartened but hopeful, we called it a night with safaris in zone 1 and 8 scheduled for the next day.

Luck as it seemed was ready to get on our side. We managed to capture some of the season’s rarest finds, including a hyena, sloth bear, eagles and a long list of flying celebrities that’d have birdwatchers squealing with joy. In this distance, we also managed to spot a leopard! But alas, still no tiger.

Our last safari had us being the showcase for fellow travellers in the canter, as the guide exclaimed to the others that we were on our fifth safari trying to see a tiger. Essentially, he was trying to drive the point home that spotting a tiger isn’t guaranteed. This is after all, a national park and not a zoo. And it looks like I’d have to hang on to the memory of me as a 9-year old in the zoo, as the fifth safari went tigerless as well.

 

 

 

 

 

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Somewhere, I bet a tiger was snacking on some prey, laughing its tail off looking at our attempts to see it. Having packed my hopes of seeing a tiger with my luggage into the Exter, it was time for the long, long drive back home; not that I wouldn’t do this all over again. Like it must be for the tiger, the catch is as much fun as the chase.