The next two places we visited, Ranthambore and Jaipur, are almost perfect opposites. One is a rural town that abutts a national park full of wildlife and natural beauty. The other is one-third of India’s Golden Triangle, the three main cities that bring tourists to the northern part of the country (Agra and New Delhi being the other two). One is famous for tigers, the other is famous for forts and architecture. We throroughly enjoyed both, though it was hard for Jaipur to compete with a tiger sighting (spoilers!).

Ranthambore is consistently referred to by guide books and other sources of travelling knowledge as one of the best places in the world to see a tiger in the wild. We tried our luck at seeing a leopard on a safari in the southern state of Karnataka the last time we were in India in 2009. We didn’t have any luck, but we enjoyed the experience. We figured this would be at least as enjoyable and wanted to take a break from the cities for a few days. Not only that, but we decided to treat ourselves a bit in our accommodations.

Topping off our experience, we were treated to a nightly performance of some traditional Rajastahni music by a family from near Jaipur. The music featured an instrument known as a ravanhatta. I didn’t get a picture of it, but the one below is pretty much the same. I tried to record some of it on my phone but it really didn’t come out well. The voices of the two singers (the mother and the father) were like nothing I’ve heard before. I talked with the father a bit about the music and his instrument but for some reason was too shy to take any pictures.

When we weren’t being seranaded or lamenting the lack of useful wi-fi (something of a habit we’ve developed on this trip), we were being bounced around in the seats of a 20-person cantor, either tearing through local villages on the way to the park or tearing through the forest in search of tigers. Thankfully, the elusive cats aren’t the only wildlife in the park. We were also treated to a few other, less dramatic but still very cool critters.

Of course, the crowning glory of Ranthambore are the tigers that wander around the forest and grasslands of the park. We went on four safaris total. The first three brought us nothing but disappointment. Each time, we heard from a guide or a staff member at the hotel that another group had seen a tiger, either in a different part of the park or during a different time of the day. We were also forced to share our vehicles with crying babies, talkative kids, and gossiping adults every time we went out. It was incredibly frustrating when the guide was listening for warning calls from the deer and the other people in the cantor just couldn’t shut up. I don’t know if it’s an Indian thing or what, but the foreign tourists seemed to have a much easier time keeping quiet.

However, our persistence was eventually rewarded, and in fairly spectacular fashion. We saw a tiger! Not only did we see him, but he walked within 30 feet of our vehicle, giving us a great view. The photos below capture the encounter at an excessive level of detail, but I remind you: tiger!!!

Pretty cool, right? We were vibrating with excitement and probably a little adrenalin. Even though there was no apparent risk of being attacked (it was never even mentioned as a possibility), it is still incredibly unnerving to have a massive, muscly, fang-and-claw-having hurricane of death walking towards you. It was a thrilling experience made all the more sweet by having it denied to us three times before.

Stay tuned for part II: Jaipur, Land of Monkeys!