Trials and Trimphs

Photograph taken by: Dr Sachin Khalane

The forests have been such an integral part of our past, historically and mythologically. Right from the mythological stories that are centred around forests, epics such as Ramayana and Mahabharata that reflect the profound and close relationship of Nature: Gaia (Prakruti) and Pravruti (human nature), forests have remained those sacred and enchanted spaces where biggest revelations were made, knowledge on various spheres of life was received and where ” Van-vas” in true sense was more enriching and rewarding than mere” punishment/ exile”. Forests, to date retain the mystical significance, are those consecrated spaces where you naturally become” ahamshoonya” (egoless bodies), shrink to the actual size of what you are after shedding your “ego”, becoming a ” free being” of millions of possibilities..

Forests are those peaceful abodes that drive you away from the chaos, from familiar threats, unseen predators and from the emptiness of “busy days” of ” jungle called “urban life” and transports you to a place where your ” soul” is set free.. To be in such a “rich” space is a surreal experience by itself.. to be there as a “part” of the ecosystem and “not to be at the top of it”, to learn from the silence of the woods, from the sounds of forest effortlessly weaving the moral fabric and music of the jungle is truly beyond any words can describe.
My first such divine experience was our recent family vacation at “Ranthambhore National Park (hereby referring to as RNP), located in Rajasthan. I couldn’t let this go unrecorded just given the sheer beauty of this being the first time and the loving impressions it left on my soul…just the way somethings are simply memorable for “being the first time, tender and precious”.. this was a love at first sight !!
Honestly, though nature and wilderness have been always inviting , I had never planned visiting RNP and I totally thank my husband to have added Ranthambhore to our Rajasthan trip and that too pretty last minute. The idea of “jungle safari & stay” was so unique that without holding much resistance, I jumped into it. At first , we both tried to check online sources but it was quite crazy and confusing.

Note: If you are planning a trip, there are innumerable counterfeit sites for booking safaris at RNP.

We resorted to take an expert opinion from our good friend, Dr Sachin Khalane who is a travel bug, ace photographer and has done infinite safaris so far, cross country and for whom forests are like second home (btw, you should should check his photography masterpieces: Sachin K: ^{https://www.instagram.com/sachin_k28?igsh=Nm1veWJtMWJkc215} ) for some guidance on how to plan. To my surprise, Sachin was much more excited than us about our trip. He went out of the way to help us plan , how to book, where to stay etc. and cannot let go without mentioning that Sachin has keen interest to help people who want to be closer to nature and he quite often organises many such retreats for doctors .. a wonderful gesture in this busy world where there exist people like him who want to bring people closer to their roots; help them to experience the healing they have received from the mother nature. It’s truly humbling !!
After this trip my ideology about “co-existing relationships, “sahyogatmak ecosystem” .. grew stronger and I now feel that one very important aspect of travelling is to “reflect” , to “acknowledge the work some “people” and “places” actually do that make your journey and experiences so memorable, to let others know about their work.. “giving back unconditionally” is what forests teach you.
Anyways , coming back to the trip… the trip was just two months away, but even on such a short notice , in the peak season of December, we managed to get our travel sorted through Sachin and his travel contacts. Miss Swaroop Gokhale helped us in a big way for this trip. We stayed at Ranthambhore Regency (A fantastic resort in Savaimadhavpur which I ll come to shortly).
They both kept us abreast about the weather to anticipate , the checklist / preps to be ready with, in terms of things to carry, winter gears, etc. literally well taken care of , I would say !!
We were super excited as this was not just our first time but we were travelling with young kids !! it was going to be something adventurous. They were sold out to the idea that they would be able to go in the forest , in an open safari and can closely see animals .. especially the “Tiger” !!

I cannot enter the forests without sharing unique features of RNP. Spread over 1334 sq Km, guarded on both sides by the beautiful Banas and Chambal rivers, has only 20 % of forest area accessible to the masses. It is named after the famous Ranthambore fort that is located within the park. This fort was built in 5th century and in 2013 was declared as a UNESCO world heritage site under the category of hill forts in Rajasthan. It is unique as its name suggests: ” Rana- Sthamba pura” ” City of battles”, uniquely built 700 feet above the surrounding plains and forests for protection for wars and saviour in ” Battlefield”. It has seen the rise and falls, coming and going of eras, rulers, dynasties over centuries and hence has an iconic Ganesh temple (first temple I saw that had deities of Ganesha’s sons”: Shubh and Labh“),a Jain Temple (Sumatinath and Sambhavnath) and a “Shiva” – “Annapurna” temple at the summit. The flora and fauna of RNP is vivid and rich but RNP is most popular for being home to the Royal Bengal Tigers and as per 2022 census, there are around 52 Tigers in the premise. RNPis essentially a natural forest with zero human intervention / interference for maintenance/ feeding. The animals are in their natural environment of “prey- check- mate”.

Not to detour, our journey from Udaipur to savaimadhavpur was as smooth as it could be with the comfort of Vande Bharat train (VBT) as we wanted kids to experience train journey. VBT runs from Udaipur Stn (departure time: 6 am) and reaches Savaimadhavpur at around 10:30 am. What a wonderful train!! We were thoroughly impressed by the train, the service, speed and the cleanliness!! Felt fantastic to have trains that run at 130-140km/hr, have latest coach technology, rotating seats and on board free entertainment access for all ages. We reached Savaimadhavpur around 10:30 am and had Ranthambore Regency (RR) staff waiting for us at the Station. RR, as I mentioned earlier was such a warm place to be in. The hospitality, the food and the ever helpful staff were only a few of the long list of things they offered.

It was the time of our first Safari, same day afternoon (2-5 pm) and we had Mr Yogi as our guide. Funny and intersting, I have to say this, all the guides we met had a unique character, experience to their persona and that spoke for them. Safaris at RNP are very organised with a structured movement and organised crowd travelling through various zones that have been created. Zone 1- 10 as they call it. You cover only one zone through one session.

Everyone there holds the same excitement in their eyes and keep asking other safari guides: “Tiger dekhiyo?” But, apart from the obvious macro element of excitement to see these magnificent creatures, journey through the woods was exhilarating.. Being a first time visitor, I did not specifically know what to anticipate, but the forests had their own way to talk to me..to reach out to my deepest corner.

Entering a forest felt like entering into my deepest self…. Where may be I never ventured too far. It was lush, it was dark, had excitement of a child, curiosity of a young mind, had fear of “what’s next? mate, prey and dilemma of trust vs no trust. It was deep and dark and at the same time abundant in its own way.. different type of plenty, the huge trees standing there from centuries.. who had witnessed the changing times of life and people, rise and fall of generations of kingdoms.

The rays of sun that pierced deep in the heart of those thick woods felt like nothing can be hidden or kept from the forces of nature. The narrow rocky roads, the gentle streams, everything just felt perfect in the way they naturally were..without any landscaping, trimming, no one had redesigned these picturesque forestscapes, yet there was passionate beauty and perfection in the imperfections of the wild..
Just so surreal that my senses felt awakened at different levels, beyond any words could describe, may be felt like strong presence of / element of creator there, the ” aliveness” of the first love and love at first sight ..that sets your heart pacing..

My meditative spells were timely interrupted by the informative talks from the guide about the fauna we spotted on the way. Day 1 was all about how the animals make each other aware of the predators by ” giving alarms”, how monkeys on the trees and birds with the benefit of ” birds eye view”, alarm others about potential threats. Few animals that we spotted on day 1 were Sambal deer, family of wild Boars, Sarus crane bird (the death of this bird led to birth of Valmiki. The unique thing about these birds is that they always live in pairs. If one dies, the other ends his/her life.

Our evenings were busy with cultural activities in the resorts , bonfires , music and listening to stories of the forests from the by standers and staff. Food was absolutely delicious, serving a wide range of buffet including Rajasthani spread and a lot of vegetarian options for us !!

The most exciting part was the morning safaris… at the crack of the dawn, rather even before that, around 5 :30 am, we had to be ready to leave for the morning safari, in the heavily cold winters (temp as low as 5-7 deg) wearing multiple layers but still feeling cold, cladded in blankets to make way through the foggy dark mornings in open safaris to the jungle. To our total surprise, kids were equally excited to be a part of this adventure. The mornings were not just mood elevating but spirutally connected in the forests.

We must have spotted the most beautiful sunrises in the forests.. unobstructed, vivid colours of the wide open skies, as if the sun smiled and send love to the earth in his own ways through the colours he painted the sky with..splendid !!!!

We covered Zone 2 on the first day , Zone 4 the next day and as far as tiger sighting were concerned, we could only spot the paws/ foot print going out of one zone into the other…. and all of us had a feeling that may be we ll have to come back to see the tigers the next time.. but the depth and bounty of the Nature in Zone 4 was amazingly strange and mysterious.. Zone 4 covers a much bigger area of the forests, holds more biodiversity. We saw a “hyena” biggest owl, crocodile on Day 2.

Afternoon, we had a tour to Ranthambore Fort , a magnificent hill fort standing right inside the park. The overlap of glorious past, the structures, the Burj, the breathtaking views from this 700 feet high fort are stupendous and the mystic mythological touch to the forest around. Just like out of the epic tales!! Our visit to the fort had an extra element of surprise and thrill to it as just before we left for the fort, while at RR, one of the staff asked us ” Tiger dekhiyo?” (did you get to see tiger on today’s safari today ?) Frankly, everyone there knew how to spot the joy on the faces and twinkle in the eyes of the people who had sighted tiger.. Looking at the serene expressions on our faces, he very confidently said ” Sir, you ll get to see tiger at the fort today, I m telling you”! Little did we know, that actually, it was not uncommon for the tigers in RNP to climb so high , and spend time with their cubs at the summit , around the premises of the ancient Ganesh temple… Unknown to this fact, we reached the summit and there was a huge hue and cry , excitement and fear in the small hamlet at the summit about the tiger and her 2 year old cubs being there in the bushes around the temple. When the Tiger is in his den, we maintain the discipline and follow the rules, but what happens when you spot Tigers at unusual ” so called civilised “ spaces inhabited by humans-out of the woods? There is a sheer chaos . In the hamlet at the summit; was a huge crowd of all the devotees at the temple that gathered around the garden. Forest officials were at work to monitor the crowd.. Visitors we met on the way to temple kept buzzing the news of the Tigers around. There was sense of fear at the same time thrill that spoke about the presence of the Giant cats. We just got a glimpse of the Tiger and their fierce eyes..looking straight into ours , that too, barely at a distance of a few meters away.

Got back with the trailer of what it really means to be around Tiger just with a glimpse of their powerful penetrating eyes that glow in the dark.

We had only one safari left now .. As a routine now, kids were up before us and we all enthusiastically got ready for the drive to the forests on a foggy morning – it was really cold that day and super foggy with zero visibility. The waiting hall sprang into action with a loud rajasthani energetic voice emerged out of nowhere. None till now had a voice like him. He was in a great rush to start the morning drive as the early hours in forest are precious for sightings. He was experienced , sharp and strategic in his approach ,yes , it was our guide Rajendra Singh , our Saarathi to the forest for the day.

Forests are a premise where we physically distance not just from the rest of the world , but also with the chaos of our “own self” .. the place that’s dark, dangerous , lush and beautiful in the way it is…. The beauty of Wilderness .. A place where u seek what you looking for ..be it silence and peace or freedom from the monotony of life or simply .. letting the “ animal “ wandering and basking in the glory n riches of nature !! You receive what your deepest conscience is tapping in and yearning for !!

Did we accomplish in the task to sight a tiger ? ? How was the experience? Well, I can sense, if your have reached until here, that its a loonnnngg narrative. But ” picture abhi baki hai mere dost!” .. the real adventure is about to begin.. and ll share it in a separate post to not overwhelm you guys.. but stay tuned.. don’t miss the end.. or a new beginning..