Ranthambhore’s New Tiger Cubs
“We had a tiger on the bar…” said Goverdhan Rathore and he’s not joking. He lives next to Ranthambhore National Park and runs Khem Villas. The tiger population has been in overdrive for the last couple of years with at least 10 new cubs. There may now be as many as 35 tigers in the park and sightings have shot up to nearly 90% amongst our clients. The tigers are often heard growling in the night from the hotel but recently Goverdhan came down in the morning to find 2 fresh paw prints on the bar!
Three years ago a poacher was caught and confessed to killing 22 tigers over the previous few years but miraculously things are starting to turn around. Over the last 100 years the number of tigers in India has dropped by more than 95% and Ranthambhore National Park has not escaped the problem. In 1970 there were just 15 tigers left in the park and since then the total has rollercoastered from 60 to 12 to around 35 today.
Since the last major poaching threat at Ranthambhore was thwarted the killing has moved elsewhere and Panna National Park in Madhya Pradesh has recently announced they have no tigers left at all. Sariska was also in the same boat until 2 tigers were relocated there earlier this year. Whether this will revive the tiger’s fortunes in the area remains to be seen.
Ranthambhore will re-open in October after the monsoon, lets hope that there are even more new cubs and that the trend of the last 100 years will be stopped in it’s tracks.
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