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Sariska - The Tiger Reserve which lost all its tigers

On a hot summer day, one thing which you can do, apart from sipping an equally hot cup of tea, is to visit Sariska. It’s a big ‘Tiger Reserve’ in India’s biggest state, Rajasthan. Its close to Alwar city and is at a 4.5 hrs driving distance from Delhi. So that’s what a group of young software engineers did on March 31, 2007.

Day 1/2 – March 31’ 2007

We started early, in 2 cars, a total of nine people viz. Sachin, Nandan, Ashish, Vibha, Vaishali, Vijay, Ankur, Sourabh and Saurabh. We were cruising on NH8’s newly opened flyovers and reached Dharuhera in about an hours time. From there we took a left towards Rewari and then you need to take a right towards Alwar. The right turn in Rewari is not very apparent so be a little watchful. We missed it and had to see more of Rewari. Once you get the right turn, you get on to a Toll Road and after about 2 hrs drive you reach Sariska. We reached Sariska at 1100 hrs.

Sariska is a Tiger Reserve and is best known for a national park which lost all its tigers. I had visited the park few times about 6-7 years back and at that time there used to be wild cat sightings but over time, they have all gone away or rather all poached away. Sad but true. Off late government is doing things but then its too late now. Unlike some of the other national parks like Corbett, Sariska also houses few villages which add more problems. There is a famous Hanuman temple, more on this later, as well which attracts lots of devotees and this was not truly a jungle-jungle reserve. But I personally know folks who have sighted a tiger.

Sariska, essentially has one long tar road which is flanked by dry-rocky forest on both sides. There are tracks which fork from the main road, travel inside the jungle for a mile or two and then again join the main road. You can only drive on the main road in your own car and you don’t miss much if you don’t venture inside. But it’s a good idea to rent a jeep which can be had at RTDC office at the gate which will take you inside these tracks. At the gate, you car is frisked to check for any liquor so be warned and have the right preparation. After about 10 KMs the road reaches a point where one end goes to Pandupole, the Hanuman temple, which is the traditional or more common road, the other goes to Kali Ghati. Apart from Pandupole, the other big milestone within Sariska is the fort, which is an old ruined structure and it can get scary since you don’t find any one there, but an ok adventure to have. You can go to fort only in a rented jungle jeep, its not permissible to go from your own car, bad roads and the track is from inside the jungle.

Pandupole is 21 KM away from the main gate and there is a big Hanuman temple. The story goes like this

In the 13^th year of Agyatwaas (live in disguise, don’t get identified else you get to repeat the 12 years exile) Pandavas were moving through Sariska when they encountered a big rock. Bhima used his gada to destroy the rock (and there is a still a small stream of water, 1 KM away from current Pandupole) to make way for himself and his bros. And in the process got a little high on that. Hanuman noticed that new-found-pride and decided to teach a gentle lesson to mighty Bhima on Never-get-too-proud-of-your-powers and stationed himself on the way with his tail coming in way of Pandawas , disguising as an old monkey. For non-initiated-ones, Hanuman is the monkey god. When Bhima along with his other brothers encountered a monkey sitting with his long tail on the road, he got upset and asked the monkey to get his tail off. Hanuman told Bhim that he is now too old to move this tail and requested him to move it instead. And there comes the magic, Bhim with all his might in the world could not move the tail a bit and then just like all mythological stories, monkey changed into God Hanuman. Bhim got the lesson, we got the temple.

It’s a large enough temple, has few rooms. If you go on a saturday then the entry is free to the park for the reason that you get quite a few devotees here. I shot a video so let me see if I can find a way to upload that.

We reached Pandupole with great leisure and restraint, driving very slowly courtesy real bad road (which I don’t mind, after all it’s a tiger reserve and not marine drive) as well as the undying interest of fellow travelers in any and every thing. You can spot cheetal (spotted dear), deer, langoors (ape), neel gais, peacocks etc. We also sighted a couple of foxes and if you are lucky you might run into a leopard. By the time, we were out its was already 1400 hrs and it was time for lunch.

There are not too many great options to eat, infact only two options. First is at Sariska Palace where you pay through nose so we avoided that. The 2^nd is at RTDC run Tiger Den. You can have a vegetarian buffet at Rs 145 and a non-veg at Rs 195. These are not elaborate buffets but good enough. There is a small bar as well which is not well stocked but you can find typical Indian whiskies and rums and of course beer.

Day ½ - Mar 31 ‘ 2007

We headed towards Silisedh, which is on the way to Alwar, about 15 odd Kms away from Sariska. Watch out for a sign as you would need to take a left exit. We reached Silisedh at about 1530 hrs and drove in. It’s a RTDC property which has few rooms in Silisedh Palace and then there is this real large lake which must be having a area of few KMs. It’s a really huge lake housing shadows of large rocks which act as embankments. You have to climb down quite a bit to reach to lake so while you are in palace area, you get a fantastic aerial view of the lake, surrounding mountains and everything else. It was all brown owing to terrain its in but really very soothing to see so much water around esp on a hot summer day.

On a good weather day, it would be real bliss to have few pints of beer on the silisedh palace sitting atop this lake. You can take a peddle boat (Rs 80, 4 people, 30 minutes) or a hire a motor-boat (Rs 400, 8-10 people, 15 minutes) which can take you around the lake. We took the motor boat. There is a small restaurant which offers light snacks and beverages. No bar. There is a cover charge of Rs 30 to enter the palace which can be set off against snacks. All in all , a great lake and a good resting destination in this area.

We started at about 1700 hrs and after chasing a Delhi bound bus and in the process leaving the main high-way and getting stuck in the town (Kishangarh) we finally got close to Delhi and reached our homes at around 2200 hrs, after a brief snack halt at Haldiram’s in Gurgaon.

3 hrs at Sariska, 3 hrs at Silideh and 10 hours behind the wheels clocking close to 500 Kms. A hot summer saturday well spent.