Ranthambore is Rajasthan’s most famous tiger reserve, spread across roughly 1,300 square kilometres of dry deciduous forest, open grassland and rugged Aravalli-Vindhya foothills near Sawai Madhopur. The park is instantly recognisable for the tenth-century Ranthambore Fort that rises above the jungle, along with ancient stepwells, temples and lakeside ruins that make its tigers among the most photographed in the world.
Beyond tigers, the reserve shelters leopards, sloth bears, striped hyenas, marsh crocodiles and large numbers of sambar and chital deer, with the lakes drawing abundant birdlife. The park is generally open from October to June, with the hotter months of April through June offering the highest chances of tiger sightings around the water.