From Jaipur: Ranthambore National Park Day Trip with Safari

Four ways to do the same safari, and they are not equivalent

Canter: twenty seats, cheapest, noisiest. On a sighting you are looking past four other people's raised phones.

Shared jeep: six seats, quieter, the driver can position for the group.

Private jeep: six seats and they are all yours. For photographers it is the only real option — the vehicle stops where you want, for as long as you want.

There is also a car-and-driver-only rate if you are arranging the safari yourself.

The park

Once a maharaja's hunting reserve, a national park since 1980. 1,300 square kilometres of dry deciduous forest, grassland and rocky ridge, about 180 km from Jaipur — three hours each way.

Around seventy tigers live here, and Ranthambore's reputation rests on the fact that they are unusually habituated to vehicles. Several of the resident tigresses have been photographed so often they are known by name across India.

Sightings are luck. Nobody can promise one.

What you will see regardless

Sambar standing chest-deep in the lakes eating water plants, chital, nilgai, langur dropping fruit for the deer below, wild boar, and marsh crocodiles hauled out at Padam Talao.

The birdlife is excellent — crested serpent eagles, painted storks, kingfishers, and winter migrants on the lakes.

Ranthambore Fort stands inside the reserve on a 700-foot ridge: tenth century, UNESCO-listed, and still an active temple that pilgrims walk up to on foot through tiger country.

Practical

Zones and permits are allocated by the forest department; nobody chooses.

The park closes 1 July to 30 September. October to April is the season; March and April give the best sightings as the water dries up.

Winter mornings in an open vehicle are cold. Muted colours, no perfume, voices down.