Description

Travel to India and learn about the Ranthambore National Park tigers where you can see free roaming tigers.

Transcript

Male: This magnificent creature is what brings most to Rajasthan, Ranthambore National Park. Up until the 1970s it was the hunting grounds for the Jaipur Maharajas and these spectacular cats were one of their favorite targets. Now, its part of the country’s system of national parks and tiger preserves, one of the seven in the country. Traveling to the park is either the by a hired jeep or in open air tourist busses. The park, 106 square miles has a wide variety of flora and fauna, the largest and most diverse collection of wildlife in India; 30 mammals, 12 reptiles and over 300 species of birds. It’s become a popular destination in India with over 50,000 visitors last year. Though there are all of those many species of wild life, most everyone comes here hoping to see a wild Bengal tiger. There believed to be 35 in the park and indeed this is the best location in the country and perhaps the entire world to see a wild tiger. While searching for tigers, there are many opportunities to photograph the parks other wild life. These are Nilgai or Blue bulls which are actually the largest member of the antelope family. This is a Chinkara or Indian Gazella. It’s the smallest member of the antelope family. Spotted Deer are abandoned in the park. All of these animals given the right circumstances can be a prey to the tigers particularly the young. The Sambar deer are the most regal of the antelope species here. Our film crew spent three days here looking for the allusive tigers. On a couple of trips they found tiger tracks which certainly heightens the anticipation. [Foreign Language] Male: Everybody can see? The tiger is there on the grasses. Male: Same tiger? Male: No, other one. I’m not confirmed if this is a male or is it female. If it’s fat it seems a male. You have a binocular? Use your binocular to see. Male: The tiger population in India is in crisis. They are less than half the number of tigers now than they were five years ago. The tiger population is now estimated at a little over 1400. Poaching is considered the primary threat to their survival. The lost of quality habitat can also be partially to blame. The Indian government has responded with the plan to establish eight new reserves on 11,900 square miles at a cost of about $153 million.