Ranthambore Roundup

It’s been a while since I wrote about Ranthambore & therefore this post. Almost 20 days have passed since the park opened on October 1st and the striped wonders of this most famous park in India seem to be doing fine. Rainfall this year was sufficient though lesser as compared to previous years as there was no rains post-mid-August. The usual dry deciduous forest has turned emerald green bringing a new lease of life to every object. Park administration has massively curbed VIP tourism at Ranthambore evidence of which is visible in the form of a lesser number of jeeps in each zone except for a few rush days where in the number of vehicles is increased to accommodate the heavy influx.

Here is a small update on some of the individual tigers from RTR.

T16- The grand old lady has survived yet another monsoon & she seems to be doing fine. This old lady made a grand appearance on fort road on 10th October & 11th October and obliged visitors with her darshan(sighting). While initially people were a little surprised to see her here but her broken canines reconfirmed her identity.

T19- The current queen of Ranthambhore and resident tigress of lakes seems to be in full control. All three cubs are safe and healthy. With mother T16 having vacated her home for past so many years, she has been frequenting to Lakkad Da area in zone IV and in the absence of any challenge has further expanded her territory to the Bhut khurra area in zone V.. After obliging visitors initially this family took a break & was not sighted for almost 9 days by tourists except a brief glimpse of mother only to be sighted on zone 5. Perhaps a polite message to those who thought they had a license to see her if they had managed to book zone 3 for all safaris. 
She can be sighted in any zone except zone I, after all this female's territory is bigger than any male in Ranthambore.

Noor- This devoted mother & her two cubs are doing fine under the able protection of T24.  While the male cub from the previous litter -sultan still continues to share territory with her esp. zone 1 she keeps the young ones at a safe distance from their elder sibling.

Sultan- The current heartthrob & most promising star of gen next continues to bask in the limelight. While his contemporaries like T64, and T65 have set out in search of their own land, this one continues to hold ground in his parent's territory. While he had moved out in search of his own area last year, he now seems to have settled in his parent's territory & they seem to tolerate him. Till when would his luck continue only time will tell.

T6 & T41- The soul mates of zone IV were reported mating on day 1 of park opening, with their sub-adult daughter now ready to live a life on her own they seem to looking forward to welcoming new arrivals. However, they need to watch out for Dollar aka T25 who definitely wishes to take her fling with T41 last summer further. He was sighted deep inside their home territory in zone V.

T73, T74 & T75- While their absence for the first few days had raised doubts about males having moved out of the park given the space crunch, they seem to hold the fort. While sister T73 prefers to stay alone both the boys are still hanging out together.

T34 & T8- This couple with their two cubs from zone 6 are the surprise package of this season with their regular sightings. Zone 6 is now more or less counted as a premium zone in RTR like 1-5 and regular vehicle movement in this zone has helped in tracking this otherwise shy pair.

T13 household- Heavy rush ensured movement of safari vehicles on zone 10 as well, little did visitors know that they were in for a grand treat. They were obliged with sightings of T43 the resident male and also got a glimpse of T13 her cubs from the current litter as well as male cubs from the previous litter as well. Have been to this zone much before it was opened for tourists as a part of the anti-grazing drive in monsoon & was pretty impressed.