Friday, March 16: Ranthambore National Park

Today we made the long (4+-hour) drive to Ranthambhore National Park.  It wasn’t that long in miles, but two hours into the trip were learned we’d gone 60 miles, which is typical- a function of mixed road conditions (sometimes well-maintained highway, sometimes speed bumps and potholes) and traffic.  The occasional camel and cow slowed things down too.  It was again a study in contrasts- leaving our luxury hotel and seeing the villages we passed, thinking about everyday life there. 

 Our next hotel, the Nahargarh Ranthambore,  was stunning.  I was afraid I’d get thrown out when they found I was a peasant.  

I took the optional hike at the Ranthambore Fort, which sits in the middle of the Ranthambore Sanctuary.  It was a steep gain in elevation but the steps were gradual, with many stops for the guide to tell us about what we were seeing.   The fort was built over 1,000 years ago.  At the top of the hill there’s a Hindu shrine that’s a pilgrimage site.  We met a newly-married couple from Jaipur who had come there (accompanied  by the groom’s parents) for a blessing.  The area outside the temple was filled with vendors’ stalls selling every kind of imaginable souvenir, including stuffed versions of the god Ganesh.  A less-reverent monkey grabbed a garland of flowers from a tray someone had brought as offerings and proceeded to eat it.  (Attempts to thin out the monkey population have met with resistance because the monkey resembles another god in the Hindu pantheon.)