Ranthambhore: The Tiger's Realm

Spread across 164 pages of a mega-sized coffee-table book are photographs from the personal archives of Anjali and Jaisal Singh, who run a chain of luxury hotels, and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s daughter. The three have been travelling to, and photographing tigers at, Ranthambore, in south-eastern Rajasthan, for many years now.

The medieval ruins of Ranthambore, some of which date back to the 14th century, provide a picturesque backdrop for the big cats. The park stretches over 1,334 sq. km and, with the Aravalli hills forming a natural citadel around it, Ranthambore is said to be the finest place in the world to observe and photograph the magnificent big cats in their natural habitat.

Jaisal’s association with Ranthambore started when he was a child and accompanied his uncle Valmik Thapar, a tiger conservationist, on safaris. Vadra’s relationship with the tigers goes back many years as well.

In her essay in the book, titled My Family and Other Animals, Vadra says she first went there as a 13-year-old. “I think it was my father’s love for nature that spirited itself into my being. I take photographs because he taught me to; no other reason at all really,” she writes. The book is dedicated to her late father, former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.