Monday 30 January 2017

Jan 30th - Jaisalmer to Sawai Madhopur via Jaipur

The train that left Jaisalmer around midnight finally arrived in Jaipur at around 12.35pm, so quite an epic journey. The reason for returning to Jaipur was that it provided a straightforward connection to Ranthambore safari park, which is located on the edge of a small town called Sawai Madhopur.

By the time I awoke, the red desert dirt of Jaisalmer had taken on a greener hue. For some reason, I hadn't been able to reserve a ticket for the short journey from Jaipur to Sawai Madhopur, but the booking clerk in Jodhpur insisted it would be straightforward to buy a ticket at the counter, and he was right. It felt like a bit of a gamble, as trains can arrive late in India, and I needed to catch the train leaving Jaipur at 2pm that reached Sawai Madhopur at 4pm so there was not a great deal of time.

Reaching Sawai Madhopur, I decided to stay in the Rajputana Heritage hotel due to the glowing reviews of the owner, Mr Vishnu, in arranging jungle safaris and he was really helpful in assisting me with planning my itinerary there. So i booked on the morning safari for the following two mornings; the mercurial Mr Vishnu, a very genial fellow, seemed to have contacts in the national park that deals with booking safaris, and I was able to select which of the 9 or 10 zones of the safari that I wished to tour, which I think doesn't generally apply.  So I picked zone 5, and then after an early evening meal, had an early night.

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