Tigers & the Taj

When we had been planning our trip to India, I had pulled Ranthambore National Park off our itinerary because it’s a bit out of the way and also because I was under the impression that the chances of seeing a tiger were fairly minimal.

However, when we were offered this driving tour, Ranthambore was a part of it and even though I still thought our chances of seeing a tiger was nil, I was still looking forward to seeing the other animals in the park.

The safari was about 3 hours in the back of a really noisy truck that had been converted into an open top bus, over a dirt track that could never be described as a road!  The truck bounced over rocks and roared up hills and took off around corners when a jeep in front heard about a tiger in the bushes in the area.  We all sat in complete silence, sweating, peering into the scrub, straining to see anything that looked remotely like a cat.  We saw plenty of deer and antelope who all just stood close by looking at us curiously as we roared past.

As we headed for the gate, I was glad I hadn’t got my hopes up of seeing anything exciting.  However, after 3 hours of crashing through scrub and peering endlessly – we saw something…  Check out our photos to see what we saw 10 minutes before leaving the park!

After our exciting trip to the park, we headed for Agra the next day to see the Taj Mahal.  It is obviously the most famous tourist attraction in India and you would never guess that by the numbers of street vendors, camel wagons, cyclos, etc etc who accost you at the front gate. 

There is a large area around the Taj that is off limits to motorised vehicles, due to the pollution and the effect it has on the marble.  Subsequently, you have to walk about a km from the gate to the entrance and every one and his camel wants you to pay for a ride rather than walk.  (This is one thing that has continually made us wonder and laugh since we left home.  All through Asia and India, we were constantly harrassed by taxis, cyclos, tuk tuks etc.  When we say we want to walk, they look at us like we’re nuts!  They must think all westerners are fat, non-walkers!)

Paul just about went into meltdown when he saw the entry fees for Indians into the Taj.  For us it was 750R ($20) each but for locals it was 10R (25 cents).  This has been his pet hate at every place we’ve been. 

Subsequently, the whole place was crammed with Indian tourists, everyone jostling to get  photos of their families in front of the reflecting pond or holding the Taj by the roof etc etc.  The complex is sort of in it’s own valley and there wasn’t a breath of wind and with so many people wandering around, it was absolutely stifling.  By the time we had pushed our way into the mausoleum (there is only one door to get in and out(!), the kids were over it.

It was right on sunset and we wanted to watch just a little bit longer, so we found a bench to sit on and quitely ponder.  Big mistake!  Indian tourists suddenly started to surround us and the kids were inundated with babies and small kids shoved at them to have their photos taken.  They had already posed for about a hundred photos with tourists in front of the Taj and they were hot and definately not in the mood.  One woman insisted that they all stand up and pose with her family.  I told her if she wanted a photo, she had to arrange her family around ours, as they were not going to stand up and pose.  She looked at me like I had just denied her life saving surgery but then hurriedly arranged her kids around ours and snapped away.

I’m still wondering why they wanted photos of red-faced, sweaty, pouty, blonde children.  They never smiled and looked like they were having the worst day of their lives.   They have all decided that they never want to be famous!