About Last Trip: Sariska | June 2017

In the jungle the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight...

Remember the famous song from The Lion King? (song still playing in my head)

Sariska Jungle

In my case, there was a mighty jungle for sure. No points for guessing, I went on my first real wildlife safari. What do I mean by real? Well, Hyderabad's Nehru Zoological park had these Safari rides in Tiger and Lion enclosures within the zoo. I also drove through the National Highway 766 which runs along Bandipur Forest range during my road trips, not in absolute wilderness but covered supposed Tiger reserves in three states - Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. All I spotted during my drives through the highway; elephants - yes, deer - yes, langurs and monkeys and peacocks - yes, tiger - no. Anticipation levels were high because Sariska, my next road trip expedition, is home to fourteen Royal Bengal tigers and about hundred leopards.

The preparation back home for my first safari was pretty intense, I picked up clothes which would be a perfect camouflage. The prospects of seeing a tiger in the wild overpowered everything else on that trip, including common sense. Mr. M, the seasoned traveler, said color theme - dull - colors of wilderness - clothes I understand, but shoes? I gave up my new, comfortable hot pink sports shoes for dull grey ones - the same shoes in which I tripped and twisted my feet on my Triund Trek, because what if the tiger gets intimidated by my bright shoes and runs away. It is not like I would go and pet the tigers in the middle of a safari, for all I know, it could be illegal! A more realistic scenario: What are the odds of spotting a tiger? And even more practical scenario - your shoes are safely hidden from your own view (And yes, getting off the Gypsy safari in the tiger reserve is illegal).

Decision making process

Sariska: Sariska is about 3.5 hours from Gurgaon, provided you don't take any detours or stop for snacking. For a south Indian who is accustomed to June monsoons, North Indian summers were pretty intense and the drive to Sariska was not a pleasant one. My cranky mood must have moved the rain gods, it began to rain as soon as we hit Alwar and those showers lifted my otherwise dampened spirits. We reached Sariska just in time for lunch on a drenched Saturday afternoon. Sariska has an ancient Pandupole (Hanuman) temple, so the reserve is open to locals and civilians who can venture into the reserve in their private vehicles from 2:30 pm.

Tiger trails I: We set off at 2:30pm from our resort and once in the reserve I was training my lazy eyes to notice any slight movement, hoping with every passing second to spot a tiger. My lookout for tiger does not equate to apathy towards other animals, I rejoiced sighting every animal I came across - jumping like a little kid - I enjoyed the full display of peacocks dances, the spotted deer, sambhars, nilghais, those colorful birds, langurs, wild boars, mongooses and monitor lizards. Sariska is home to countless number of peacocks, chasing a peacock at the resort during lunch for snapping a photo seemed silly, then. There was a long waiting time to reach the temple owing to the crowds, so we skipped visiting the temple. We did not spot the tiger that evening, probably because of the rampant vehicles and movement in the reserve, with the hope of spotting one the next day, we headed back.

Royalty perched everywhere

Trial II: Waking up at 4:30 am was never this exciting - I totally pictured being the first set of people to dash to the ticket counter, hop into a gypsy and enter the jungle. We dressed with such stealth - to totally blend with the surroundings.

When we hit the Tiger reserve, there were more people than I anticipated waiting in the queue. We booked our safari tickets online, but some technical glitches and the fact that we didn't print them out left us waiting in one such long queue. When in doubt - Jugaad! Mr. M stood in the queue and asked me to check with men in uniform (Safari guides) if anyone is ready to share a ride with us? (You could explore the safari either on a canter which can hold up to 20 people or on a gypsy that holds 6. We opted for a gypsy, for a quieter spotting experience.) I went and asked the first person, and voila! He knew a family who were looking for a couple to share their gypsy ride. Good luck was smiling on us because it was their turn in the ticket counter too - we split the ride costs and were on our way into the jungle, for the second time and with what felt like good luck in our kitty.

Once the driver and the guide were assigned, there was nothing stopping us, except for the fact that the drivers were assigned serial numbers. Aargh! Once we were in, we were in! We began to enter into the jungle – into the wild - into the paths which were not accessible during previous evening, and rightly so. We spotted the usual suspects - more peacocks, langurs, deer and animals - from last evening, but tiger was nowhere to be found. We enjoyed the performances from peacocks – dancing as if to pacify us - the hopeless tiger seekers.

I swear I saw a black panther on one of the high rocks, but guide insisted there were only tigers and leopards in the reserve. While in the wild, we had 2 close - could have been potential encounters - one in the form of fresh pug marks and the other when a peahen was sending out warning signs (according to the guide) while it kept a steady watch from a branch on the tree glaring at a rock couple of meters away from her - the dramatics were worthy of a award winning performance, we waited patiently for over 15 minutes, and resumed our lookout for another big cat a few minutes after the peahen went away.

We spent 3 hours in the jungle - the tiger was a no show. A reserve which boasts of fourteen tigers, and a hundreds leopards - and not spotting either – shows how stupid human expectations are (don't stop hoping or expecting, though). You just can’t drive into their territory and expect them to show up, you spot one only when it pleases them. Hope, is a good thing, and I was hoping to catch another safari either in the evening or next morning when I remembered that there is a core area near Bhangarh.

One of the maps outside the Tiger reserve had a map of the reserve area. And one of the core areas was our next stop, Bhangarh more for spotting tigers, than for being one of the most haunted historic places and a preferred tourist spot, especially for those who love their dose of paranormal.

Bhangarh:After a quick breakfast at the resort, we hit the road again. As we drove through this part of the desert state, the word deserted look became more and more obvious, I don’t know what Bhangarh fort had in store yet, but the drive gave me spooks and set the mood for the notorious fort. Such waste abandons, ruins, and haunted landscapes – driving on this stretch made us realize that there is no core area in Bhangarh.

 

We reached Bhangarh fort – the place had eerie vibes about it and as you enter you have to walk along what might have been a marketplace.

With lots of monkeys and overgrown banyan trees to company, this stretch of walk till the main entrance to the fort scared me the most.

A heritage site now, the fort has temples inside and outside the main entrance, and is well maintained till you reach the palace.

The anticipation of being in the hub of paranormal activities was met with tourists making spooky noises – what a buzzkill! Only when you venture into the inner segments of the fort/palace do you realize why this place holds its reputation for being the most haunted place – absolute ruins, the kind nightmares are made of – I have been to a lot of forts none of them were in such state of abandonment. Juxtaposing the legend with the ruins, you may begin to believe the stories these local guides offer on the tours.

Our stay in the fort was cut short by the merciless sun – a lot of tourists joked about sun driving the people out of this town and leaving the fort to rot and ruin – you may want to add this version to the legend as well, and this one seemed legit.

Sher aya: We reached the resort at 3 pm, we clearly missed out on our evening safari, what we did not miss out on? A good nap. We woke up just in time for my magic potion, the evening chai. People returning from the safari made a beeline to the chai point, in the midst of the usual ‘Did you spot the tiger?’ discussions and tiger encounters the hotel staff were sharing, a family claimed that they spotted a tigress and we should try our luck too. The evening safari folks had a no-show too, but a few lucky folks returning to the resort spotted a confused tigress who has taken refuge near a tree. (Some commuters spotted her crossing the road and this lead to crowds gathering around to catch a glimpse.) I ditched my chai and we ran to the car, praying that the tiger was still around when we reach the spot. Folks from the last pair of cars, ready to leave, told us that the tiger has gone deeper into the woods. I am an optimist, and was rationalizing the fact that the tigress has to go back home, so she has to return in the same route and then we can spot her. We saw a sambhar, tiger’s favorite meal, go in the direction where the tigress ventured, and I was anticipating a hunting session – we waited patiently only when the sun sank completely and night sky began to takeover did my common sense dawn on me – the same mind told me about animal instincts – the tiger would not return so soon and expose herself to humans, and a sambhar wouldn’t go to the tiger as a bait. 

Home-bound: We did not try our luck the fourth time, by now we realized that venturing into tiger reserves during long weekends is a bad idea for the obvious reasons – number of tourists entering the reserve, the furor from Saturday Pandupole temple visitors. A hotel staff mentioned about an ancient Neelkanth temple - so we set out in search of that temple along the way we had a lot of sambhars, deer and peacocks for company, just 8 km away from the resort, the stretch seemed never ending and about a kilometer on a kachcha rasta we gave up. The road or lack of it scared us, more than the unknown terrain - we were worried about a flat tyre and zero network coverage in the middle of nowhere. This mini adventure marked the end of our Sariska episode and were home bound.

The stories on the road are never ending – they bring back old memories, or promise new adventures. We took a quick detour to a destination wedding venue Mr. M attended a few years back to Kesroli fort palace, a heritage hotel. We could definitely use some virgin mojitos in this hot summer drive, but the service was limited to the guests in the property. We were allowed to explore the fort though,  Mr. M did a walk-the-talk recalling events from the wedding. The hotel was a perfect oasis in the middle of a desert. Wishlist updated!

The Eid weekend getaway in the desert state was full of surprises. Rajasthan is a place that needs to be explored with an open mind, it definitely breaks the stereotype of desert state. I ventured into green expanses of lands with Aravallis by the side, thick-dense jungles, witnessed arid haunted towns, and experienced royalty – all packed in my 3 day getaway. What if I didn’t spot a tiger? The hope and the promise of another trip keeps the quest alive – if not for a tiger, some other adventure.

Tips:

• We drove tigers to the point of extinction – expecting to find them on a safari ride is ambitious – keep an open mind, and an active eye.
• Respect animals territory while in a forest range/reserve.
• Sariska is shut during Monsoons – Typically, July – September. This is the mating season for animals. Their webpage is dated.
• At your own discretion: I shared my Bhangarh Fort’s rather non-scary experience with a friend. He mentioned that you can venture into the fort during night time and experience the spooks, firsthand, if you can get in touch with the right locals who can arrange a night tour. *Entry into Bhangarh Fort is banned after sunset. I haven’t or don’t intend to explore the fort, so can’t vouch for a second hand account. Reader discretion is advised.