5.30 am came around VERY quickly, but Mel was glad to get out of the room. I have to be honest, I am not a fan of this place either, but after a quick cup of tea and some biscuits, we were in the canter (a big open-topped jeep which fits 20 people in it) and off to Ranthambore National Park to do the first of our two game drives of the day. I must say the Adventure Company really should look at skipping this drive, and having one the following morning instead, as the kids were in bits. Having said all that, they perked up pretty soon as we encountered loads of monkeys at the entrance and we were off down one of the five trails pretty quickly. The park is very restrictive in how many vehicles can go in at any one time, I think being limited to 5 canters and 5 jeeps to a trail for each 3 hour session. The game drives happen twice a day - 6.30am and 3.30 pm. Which trail you take is determined by a lottery system - which obvioulsy opens the door to corruption! Ved was on the case - paying a little bit extra to secure a decent trail where the chances of spotting a tiger were high. Sure enough, after about 30 minutes we were fortunate enough to come across a tiger, stalking a deer. It was utterly compelling viewing, as the tiger crept within striking distance. Everyone's eyes were peeled, waiting to see if it would lunge...I was on the video camera, filming the whole thing, so took no photos. All of a sudden there was a frantic moment, lots of leaves rustling as the tiger tried to catch the deer, but it was unlucky. Lucky for us, however, was what happened next - the tiger walked directly towards us and strode right past the front of our vehicle - amazing, and so nonchalant. That was the highlight of the drive, as we saw no other tigers, but plenty of other wildlife.
We returned to the "hotel" starving, to the worst breakfast buffet of the trip so far, mainly Indian food, some manky cereals and some toast. We retreated to the pool for an hour or so, but Carrie was falling asleep and I took her to the room for a kip. Four hours later she surfaced for lunch, and they had managed to boil some pasta for the kids.
After lunch we were off again for the second game drive of the day, this was not as eventful, but we did see our second tiger, asleep under a tree, which was great. Having had such an early start, and the two game drives were quite tiring (even though you were sitting down for 3-4 hours each time, you spent a fair amount of time in mid-air due to the bumps), we were not looking forward to the evening meal. So off to the nearby Oberoi for dinner!! Yippeee!!
We had the most amazing meal - it was like going into another world, and a reminder of the brief time we had at the Leela in Goa. Much needed little break from our period of roughing it in 3 star (bless my husband, is so full of rubbish. 3 star my a**e - Ed) places, even if it was for only two hours.
We returned to the "hotel" starving, to the worst breakfast buffet of the trip so far, mainly Indian food, some manky cereals and some toast. We retreated to the pool for an hour or so, but Carrie was falling asleep and I took her to the room for a kip. Four hours later she surfaced for lunch, and they had managed to boil some pasta for the kids.
After lunch we were off again for the second game drive of the day, this was not as eventful, but we did see our second tiger, asleep under a tree, which was great. Having had such an early start, and the two game drives were quite tiring (even though you were sitting down for 3-4 hours each time, you spent a fair amount of time in mid-air due to the bumps), we were not looking forward to the evening meal. So off to the nearby Oberoi for dinner!! Yippeee!!
We had the most amazing meal - it was like going into another world, and a reminder of the brief time we had at the Leela in Goa. Much needed little break from our period of roughing it in 3 star (bless my husband, is so full of rubbish. 3 star my a**e - Ed) places, even if it was for only two hours.
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