Ranthambore offers two types of safari vehicle: the jeep (seating six) and the canter (an open truck seating about twenty). The jeep safari is considerably better — quieter, more flexible, and easier to photograph from — but canters give access to the same zones at roughly half the price. Budget travellers and school groups pile into canters; serious wildlife watchers book jeeps.
Both vehicles enter the park at the same time (dawn and mid-morning) and leave by mid-morning and dusk respectively. Safari slots are divided into ten zones numbered 1 through 10. Zones 1–5 cover the core area around the lakes and fort; zones 6–10 are newer buffer zones, wilder but with lower tiger density. Permit allocation is officially random via lottery, so you cannot choose your zone — you can only choose your vehicle and time slot, then hope for the core zones.