Ranthambore Safari – Seeing Wild Tigers In India (Bucket List Experience)

Last Updated: March 1 2021

Ranthambore National Park is one of the biggest national parks in Northern India, and is known for its famous tigers! Ranthambore is a national park in Rajasthan and is known as one of the best places to go on a tiger safari in India, if not the world.

When we made a spontaneous decision to visit India on our first backpacker trip, it was our dream to see tigers in the wild so we booked a Ranthambore safari. India has up to 70% of the worlds wild tiger population which is huge and makes it a popular destination for wildlife lovers.

Seeing wild tigers in Ranthambore Tiger Reserve was one of our most incredible experiences to date, and we will never forget it! Sorting out a Ranthambore safari can be quite difficult so we want to give you all the information we can including where to book your safari, which zones are better for tiger sightings and where you should stay.

Ranthambore Safari – Going on a safari in India

Ranthambore National Park is known the world over for its wildlife; as mentioned before it is one of the best places to see tigers in the wild. If you are wanting to see tigers in India, then going on a Ranthambore wildlife safari is definitely worth it!

Where is Ranthambore National Park?

Ranthambore National Park is around 400km away from New Delhi and is located in the state of Rajasthan. The national park is located in the Sawai Madhopur district with the closest town being Sawai Madhopur itself.

We stayed in Sawai Madhopur during our visit to Ranthambore National Park.

How to get to Ranthambore National Park?

The closest train station is located at Sawai Madhopur, which is where people stay to reach Ranthambore National Park. Trains run to Sawai Madhopur from Jaipur, Agra and other destinations in India. The trains sell out very frequently; often days in advance so it is best to book early. You can also reach Sawai Madhopur by bus from Jaipur.

Ranthambore safari booking information

We won’t lie about booking a wildlife safari in India; we had an absolute nightmare! First of all, we tried to book a safari in Tadoba Andhari National Park, and then Jim Corbett National Park. We couldn’t book either due to not being an Indian resident or just not being able to get in contact.

We then looked at tour packages, and they were far too expensive for us! Some of them made up different rules for tourists and charged extra fee’s which is something to be wary of if you are looking to book a safari in India.

The owners of our hostel in Delhi suggested to us that we should go to Ranthambore National Park, and so we started looking into it.

We started to look at different websites offering Ranthambore tiger safari’s and tried sending emails to different companies but still couldn’t get in touch with anyone.

Any of the companies we did get in contact with were offering deals far too expensive for us, so we kept looking. It was our dream to see wild tigers in India, so we weren’t giving up that easily!

After looking at booking.com for accommodation in Sawai Madhopur, we came upon some hotels which organised safaris upon request. We looked through the reviews and decided to book with Travel Soul Bed & Breakfast as they had the best reviews.

We got in touch with them by WhatsApp and asked whether they would be able to book the safaris for us. They agreed, asked for our passport details and then booked us two safaris as requested. We paid in advance, and then received confirmation by email and that was that. We were so excited that we might get the chance to see tigers in the wild!

Ranthambore Safari tips

• When it comes to Ranthambore safari vehicles, you have a choice of a gypsy or a canter. A gypsy is a 6 seater jeep, whereas a canter is basically a big truck which is a 20 seater.
• There are different Ranthambore safari zones you need to know about. In total Ranthambore national park consists of 10 zones. Generally, the best zones are 1-6, with other zones seeming to have fewer sightings. If you are wanting a good chance of seeing tigers, it is best to try and get in these zones.
• When it comes to Ranthambore safari timings there are two safari’s daily; one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Morning safari’s run from 7 am-10:30 am, with afternoon safari’s running from 3 pm-6:30 pm. These are rough timings, but your safari should generally last about 3-3.5 hours.
• The Ranthambore safari season runs from the 1st October – 30th June every year. Ranthambore national park is closed from July to September due to the rainy season.
• We noticed safari prices tended to differ throughout different websites and tour companies. Make sure you don’t end up paying extra fees for no reason.
• Be careful of bribes – we didn’t encounter this ourselves but have heard some stories of tour companies offering to change zones for you for an ‘extra fee’.
• Often the animals can be quite far away so if you have extra money it may be a good idea to purchase a zoom lens. We got a cheap zoom lens for £100 before we left to go travelling, and every photo in this blog post has been taken with that lens.

What are the prices for a Ranthambore tiger safari?

The price will differ depending on whether you are an Indian or foreigner. The prices also vary depending on whether you want to be in a gypsy or canter. The price you pay is for your seat, as all options involve sharing. You can not book a jeep to yourself, as only a certain amount of vehicles are permitted to enter the national park daily.

We only know the safari prices for foreigners through our accommodation, as that is what we asked for. However, we do know prices for Indian nationals are a lot cheaper.

Foreigner Prices: 6 seater Gypsy; 2600 INR (about £29 each)  20 seater Canter; 1800 INR (about £20 each)
(These were the Foreigner prices we were offered through Travel Soul Bed & Breakfast)

What other animals can you see on a safari in Ranthambore?

Ranthambore has a variety of Indian wildlife including the royal Bengal tiger, leopard, sloth bear, hyena, wild boar, deer and plenty more. Obviously, as these animals are wild, it is impossible to guarantee sightings. Here are some of the incredible wildlife sightings we had during our Ranthambore safari.

Our Ranthambore National Park Safari experience 

We are going, to be honest here, and say we had two completely different experiences. We had one of our most frustrating moments in all of India here, and we also had one of the best moments of our lives. Our morning and afternoon safaris were night and day experiences and the day was a roller coaster of emotions.

Our 1st Ranthambore safari

We had booked two seats in a gypsy for a morning safari. We weren’t told which zone we were in until we arrived at the zone entrance. Upon arrival, we were told that we would be placed in zone 8, and we had already read reviews about how bad this zone was. Instead of having a driver and spotter, 7 tourists were put in the ‘6 seater gypsy’ instead.

As we drove through the zone our driver told us to exit the jeep on multiple times to look at the viewpoints. By this point, we knew there would be no tigers, leopards or bears in this zone.

He then proceeded to tell us we wouldn’t see anything in this zone as the water had dried up so he parked up and we sat in his jeep for over 20 minutes.

He pretended to look for ‘clues of tigers’ on the way back and then decided to exit the zone. Any animals we did see such as monkeys or deer, he drove straight past and we were back at our hotel by 9 am and this included him changing a tyre. Our safari wasn’t even meant to finish until 10:30 am.

On the way back to the hotel, he drove as slow as possible to increase the time. He then looked surprised when we didn’t give him a tip; we left frustrated and upset.

We knew how difficult it could be to spot tigers in the wild here which is why we booked two safari’s to improve our chances. Not surprisingly we were a jeep full of tourists, and the only jeep to be placed in zone 8. To us, this seemed to be a ploy, with him then asking if we had booked any other safari’s.

Booking.com

After arriving back at our hotel, we spoke to one of the guys in charge. He was appalled by our experience and rang to complain. He managed to change our afternoon safari to zone 6 at last minute, and during this safari, we had the most incredible experience.

Our 2nd Ranthambore safari

Our afternoon safari was on a canter, and we were expecting it to be super busy. However, as we travelled through India when it wasn’t peak tourist season there were only 8 of us on a 20 seater canter. We had a driver and a spotter who were both friendly and knew what they were talking about.

Within 5 minutes of entering zone 6, we had already spotted a female tiger sleeping in one of the stone gates. We were there for around 20 minutes watching in amazement. We then revisited her again.

Then proceeding through the park we saw dozens of deer, plenty of colourful birds and a vulture. After about 2 hours our driver got a tip-off, and we headed for another spot.

As we arrived two other jeeps were waiting there. We could just make out the stripes of a tiger way in the distance; too far for us to even get a photo with our zoom lens. Then slowly but surely he started moving and made his way to us.

He took a few steps and paused. Everybody was so silent. Then he just kept coming, and he walked straight towards us. He walked in front of us and the other jeeps and settled into a small watering hole right near us.

We sat there watching him for about 20 minutes, and we were totally ecstatic.

We captured some beautiful images of him, and he just sat there not even fazed. Tigers are Jacks favourite animal and we had waited so long for this moment. Honestly, we both cried a little, we were that happy!

We both still can’t believe we actually saw wild tigers in Ranthambore National Park, and just like that, we had accomplished our dream of seeing wild tigers in India!

As you can see both completely different experiences. This is why we must tell you to find out which zone you are going in first, and if things don’t go right make sure you stress that to your hotel staff. They can help you, and change one of your worst days travelling into your best!

One other thing we suggest would be to just go in a canter if it is off-peak season because the canters tend to go in the best zones due to zones 8,9 and 10 being quite hilly. If it is off-peak season, you may get quite lucky like us with the canters being quiet!

Where to stay in Sawai Madhopur?

Hands down we would recommend staying at Travel Soul Bed & Breakfast; they totally 100% made our experience. They pre-booked our safari’s for us, and our train to Sawai Madhopur as we couldn’t get certain tickets. After an awful safari experience, they then changed our booking last minute and we had one of our most beautiful moments to date.

They then didn’t stop trying to get a refund for us, before then arranging onward travel to Agra for the two of us. Honestly, we can’t recommend this place enough!

If you are looking for other Ranthambore hotels, you can find more options here.

Thank you so much for reading this post! If seeing wild tigers in India is on your dream bucket list, then we hope this post has given you all the information you need to know!

Also if you have visited any other national parks in India or been on an Indian tiger safari, we would love to hear about your experiences so please drop them in the comments below!

We’ve read so many reviews on other national parks in India such as Jim Corbett national park, Bandhavgarh national park and Tadoba national park. We would love to hear reviews on these national parks, to know which other safari’s to put on our list.

P.S If you want to follow our journey, why not follow our Instagram here.

Thanks,

Jack & Abbie

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