Let me show you some ancient architecture from Ranthambhore national park on #WorldPhotographyDay
This building, same as the one in the previous picture, is known as the Choti (or small) Chattri, so called because there is a larger one nearby called (not very creatively) Badi (or big) chattri. It’s basically a elevated, dome-shaped pavilion with a Shivling under it
Then there is this one very close to Choti Chattri. The platform is still there but not the rest.
There is this cool step well called Khemcha Kund. It’s location is such that it’s not easy to photograph unless one gets off the vehicle. Since we are not ‘allowed’ to do that I can’t really share better pictures of this Kund publicly. All I can is the roof of one end of the Kund
Then there is this building called Dharamshala - a place for travellers to rest. There are no doors so technically this is a rest stop only for the brave. Long ago I have spent a night here during the census. Of course there was no sleep
This area has a history of supporting rebels from all religious backgrounds. We have temples and we have mosques like this small one that is at the very edge of the Padam Talao lake
You noticed the mosque but I bet most of you missed an over 4 square km fort in the background - a World Heritage site that the national park is named after
There is a bigger mosque close to the Padam talao lake. This is definitely one of my favourite monuments of Ranthambhore. What a beauty
Then there is this gate - called (again not so creatively) Bada or big gate, just because there is a smaller gate nearby. A long time ago this ‘protected monument’ was the main entrance to the national park.
Yes this gate - amazing isn’t it
Then there is Rajbagh - the palace of the kings. It’s a big palace with a lake nearly surrounding it all. The entrance shown in this picture is a bit shabby due to weathering but the other side of this same palace….
….is absolutely MIND BLOWING
I hoped you liked the monuments and pardon the stripy cat that keeps photo bombing my pictures. The best thing about all these monuments is that they are less than 10 km away from home
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Introduction not a reintroduction. We are not “reintroducing” a species that went extinct recently in India, instead we are “introducing” an alien predator in a habitat where they never ever existed.
I am not convinced that there was a wild population of cheetahs in India, that went extinct recently. There would have been cheetahs in Baluchistan but not in the present day India, at least not in the last few centuries.
Thousands of cheetahs were imported from Central Asia and Africa by the rich in India for over a 1000 years, mostly to be trained as “hunting leopards” for hunting or to be hunted down themselves
Cheetahs - an Introduction or Reintroduction. India’s Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 forbids the introduction of exotic species to India’s wilds, even if they are genetically close to their Indian subspecies. It is illegal to even provide them with wild prey in captivity.
The cheetahs that we are getting are captive bred African cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus jubatus), a different sub species (or genetically different) from the Asiatic cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus). Therefore, it’s being called a “Reintroduction’ because Introduction is illegal
“Assessing the potential for reintroducing the cheetah in India”, a report from 2010 claims that 27 cheetahs could be sustained in the 347 sq. km of Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary. Kuno was a sanctuary at the time and half the present-day size of Kuno National Park.
05:11 pm Ranthambhore 23rd June 2022 - A tigress called Laila in Bhakola valley. We saw her sitting in a pool of water behind some bushes about half an hour ago. They s was the third or fourth picture I took, after she got up and started walking.
She crossed to our jeep’s left to spray mark a tree and then walked into a narrow entrance to a valley that widen up ahead. We drove on to park at where we thought we might catch up with her - a beautiful setting that tigers normally avoid.
Normally avoid - but today was an exception. I love these Rock formations and couldn’t believe she was walking through them.
Been on safaris in Ranthambhore for two weeks now. When I started it was hot & the forest was dry. Hardly an colours except in the few evergreen groves along permanent water sources. Pictures had a brown background
Two days later it rained for a few hours which is a lot for us here. That totally transformed the forest. Water became available all over so the animals scattered across the forest. They now didn’t need to stay close to water holes. Water is everywhere
Once the predominant tree here - Anogeissus pendula or Dhonk as we call it locally - turns green, the number of animals that one sees in the lower reaches goes down drastically but the background becomes very interestingly green.