A Little Luck in Ranthambore

Ranthambore, India - April 2010

I took one sip of a Kingfisher beer on the deck at Khem Villas, overlooking the lagoon, and knew immediately it wasn't going to end well. I barely made it back to our villa before I was violently, unmistakably sick, the kind of night that involved a garden, a bed, very little dignity, and not much sleep.

The staff were incredible, delivering rehydration salts, and yoghurt to settle my stomach - genuinely looking after me through the stay. I woke the next morning, still feeling pretty ordinary.

Here's the problem: the park was closing that afternoon for a tiger census, which meant we had exactly one shot at a safari. The vomiting had stopped, and all I had to do was sit in a truck for a couple of hours, so I decided to bite the bullet and join the safari.

Hours in, we’d travelled deep into the park, and hadn’t had any success in sighting a tiger - of course, there are never guarantees with wildlife.

Right as we were making our way back toward the exit to beat the closing time we found our first tiger. We sat with it a while. Then, on the way out, we came across a second one.

They are genuinely stunning animals, and we felt so lucky to see one up close, let alone two. And all on the one chance we had in the park. Somesh, one of the guys from the tour company who joined us that day, had a reputation as a good luck charm: tigers every time he went out with clients. Some of that luck clearly rubbed off.

We headed back at the villas for a tour of the farm.

Following lunch, we then had a road transfer to Jaipur that afternoon, with a quick stop at a local school to poke our heads into a couple of classrooms before visiting the charity gift shop that puts money straight back into the community. I still have, and still use, the tote bag from that stop.

Leaving the school, we hit the road for a colorful 3.5 hr drive from Ranthambore to Jaipur.

Still not feeling 100%, I was more than ready for Jaipur by the time we rolled in.