It's been a week since we left Ranthambhore National Park during which time we clocked up our 100th Ranthambhore game drive, spread over 7 visits. We were quite lucky this year as the light was very good, key to that I think was that the atmosphere was not too dusty, and we were also a month earlier. We again had regular, good sightings which is not down to luck. The key here is to enter the park with a good guide, and we have always used one of the very best - Mahesh Chaudhary.
While we did not experience a wide range of behaviour this year, I managed to capture some nice portraits. We did get to see some small cubs for the first time, although the setting and environment was not conducive to good images. We also watched and listened to a tigress tearing meat from a carcass and crunching bone, which was quite something.
I'll be posting some of the images in a gallery soon. The above image is T28 or Sitara (Star) an old, dominant male tiger from the beautiful lake area of the park. He's been the boss here for the last 7 years and was the first tiger we ever saw in Ranthambhore. In this image he is embarking on a territorial patrol at the end of a hot afternoon. We were lucky enough to follow him for quite some distance and saw him charge a small herd of deer, unsuccessfully I must add.