The Tale of the Tiger

Ranthambore is the quintessential Rajasthan wildlife park. Dominated by a 1,000-year-old fort, the landscape is dotted with cupolas, temples and memorial stones all bearing
witness to a varied and fascinating history. The mighty Mughal Emperor Akbar fought a battle here for control of the fort but today the tiger rules the thick forest gorges that surround it.

This magnificent feline, the national symbol of India, is represented in art, literature and folklore. Tales abound of the tiger’s prowess, elegance and glowing amber eyes. To hunt the tiger was against tribal beliefs but as hunting for sport became big business, to bag a tiger was considered the greatest challenge. With the invention of firearms the odds were stacked in favour of man and the tiger population was decimated. This was the ‘Sport of Kings’ and when Queen Elizabeth II visited the park in the 1960s it was to participate in a royal hunt organised by the Maharaja of Jaipur.

When President Clinton came here in 1990s it was to admire one of the world’s most successful conservation projects. Almost too late India had realised the very existence of the tiger was in jeopardy and with numbers becoming perilously low, government intervention was needed to curtail hunters and poachers alike. The tiger is still an endangered species but Ranthambore, the smallest of the nature reserves, gives the visitor a good chance to glimpse this elusive beast in the wild.