We landed at Jaipur around 7'O clock in the evening, the little breeze it had when we were in taxi it completely re-energized us from all jet lag. Their are pretty good hotels in Jaipur with complementary breakfast and free wi-fi for cost around 3000-5000 bucks. we stayed their for two nights.
On the dawn of next day after breakfast, we hired a zoomcar as driving self is always a pleasure, though this city has lot of traffic which might frustrate travelers sometimes, but when you have a great playlist, slow driving will be fun. First thing that was on our list was Amer fort sometimes also referred to as Amber fort.
Their is a facility of taking your vehicles up to the entrance of fort, their are many private owner taxi owner or guide that will persuade to hire their car with driver, don't be fooled by them. The uphill driving is around one kilometer long and it flawlessly test your driving skills. When your are at the entrance of the gate you can park your car in parking zone which has some charges for it. The entrance of the gate is known as Suraj Pol, Pol in hindi refers to vast entry gate and Suraj is Sun. The main attraction of the fort is it's location and architecture that it is still their completely vivid. If you love to hear instances of King's bravery and what happened to Royal family than you must hire a guide which are usually outside the fort, though this are only in talks their is no written history of it. From outside the fort you can have spectacular view of another fort Jaigarh Fort and Nahargarh Fort, which were built for army base to protect the main fort. During the visit you will find mention of world's longest cannon with range of 30 km. With magnanimous building and splendid views throughout the hills, we move for Jal Mahal.
Why only King's have all the fun? Understood by the queens of Jaipur, they also had a palace of their own, for all leisure. It is popularly known as Hawa Mahal. But the less know fact is that it 365 windows for queens to sit and ponder for 365 days in a year. It is made in such a way that different window will offer different feel for different seasons in a year.
It was on our way to Amer Fort, as it's name suggest it is located at the center of the lake. Their is facility of boat to near Jal Mahal but it is only taken by few people as the Mahal is crumbling state. It was made King's leisure time but now it is thing of past.
Why do King's have all the fun? Understood by the queens of Jaipur, they also had a palace of their own, for leisure. It is popularly known as Hawa Mahal. But the less know fact is that it 365 windows for queens to sit and ponder for 365 days in a year. It is made in such a way that different window will offer different feel for different seasons in a year.
The next in the list was Jantar Mantar, it is much of a scientific place, you must need a guide to understand the working of different time measuring machines. They will show us how to calculate local time of Jaipur and how other astronomical tools works and more wonder is that they still are in working condition. It was built by Maharaja Jai Singh II who was scientist himself and had keen interest in numerology and astronomy.
It was just start of evening and was time for official residence of King of Jaipur, City Palace. It is a place to see the luxury life of King and time to listen for some eccentric acts done by them. The main attraction is Sheesh Mahal or palace of mirror. it is wonderfully decorated by lakhs of mirror and looks so aesthetic in nature that one can't believe in their eyes. It is a place in Jaipur which one can't simply walk away from.
The last place before we move to hotel was Albert Hall. It is a museum created during the time of Britishers after the name Prince of Wales, Albert Edward in 1876. It has old reminiscence of world war and British era. The best thing in the museum is that it has mummy of Tutu. Yes you get to see mummy without visiting Egypt.
We returned to our hotel around 7'O in the evening and had a spa for hour and than we had an sumptuous dinner. Though this was not late at night but we preferred to sleep as our next plan is for Ranthambore safari. It is located in Sawai Madhopur which is at a distance of four hours from Jaipur which we had to cover in the morning.
We had pre-booked a taxi for Sawai Madhopur State and around 4'O clock in the morning we drove off from Jaipur. It is advisable to pre-book your tiger reserve safari in advance from government site to avoid middleman at last moment and sometime you don't get ticket at last moment. Their are two timings for visiting the reserve: one after breakfast and another after lunch.
I would advise you to go after the lunch time to the park because in the different zones of the reserve by the time morning people return from the park, you can make sure in which zones tiger was spotted. It would be help you in locating the tigers easily by selecting that zone.
Their is option of Jeep and Canter (something like open truck) for travelling inside the reserve. If you have group of four-five people jeep will be best and if you are alone and some sort of professional photographer who needs his own space for photography, than must opt for jeep.
With highly rich vegetation and lush green environment there are chances that you spot tiger in vicinity. Nilgai, gray langur, sambar deer can be easily spotted. So make sure you take a good camera with battery backup.
If you take my advise and book for afternoon safari than you must visit Ranthambore fort which located in National Park in the morning. Though it is crumbling position, the location is a perfect scenic beauty with couple of lakes around the fort and their are few temples that you would like to visit.
This is a part of a once in a life long journey in Raja-sthan or Place of Kings. Though beauty is yet to come. Stay updated for the next part.
