Prelude
I frequently go on solo trips for a couple of reasons. One is that I seldom find anyone who supports my non-conventional ideas for trips. Second is that, although I love travelling with family, scheduling becomes an issue.
I simply do not love the idea of travelling during long weekends (due to overcrowding) but then sometimes that remains the only choice. A similar opportunity presented itself sometime back, so we decided not to let go of this.
For most of the trips, I do the planning bit as I consider myself good at it (solo travelling teaches you a lot of such skills). The first thing on my to-do list was to look at destinations that should not be too far from my place (Delhi NCR). We kind of had a rough idea of where we wanted to head to. The first destination in mind was the Ranthambore National Park but could not find any seats for a safari. Dejected, the next one closer to our home was the Sariska Tiger Reserve.
Although I knew that spotting tigers was quite difficult at Sariska due to its low density and dense forest, I still decided on it. I see people expressing disappointment not sighting a tiger on a safari, but I have never felt that way. I just love the experience of going into a natural place undisturbed by human presence.
The logistics
The dates frozen, the destination fixed, and the next thing on my list was to look for accommodation. Travelling with family is very different from going solo as several things need to be planned in advance, accommodation being one of them. I started going through the hotel list from popular sites and I could see a similar trend. Hotels were either concentrated near Alwar City or there were higher-end resorts closer to the reserve. If I stay closer to the city, then I will have access to places of interest other than the reserve, but I will have to travel close to 40 km on my safari day. If I stay close to the reserve, then I may have to sacrifice visiting other places.
After a quick chat with ourselves, we decided to keep it light and only visit the reserve. With that confusion out of the way, I started narrowing down the places of stay. I found the resorts quite expensive and after spending some time, I narrowed my search down to one, The Sariska Retreat. The cost was decent with good enough reviews, so I went ahead and booked it for two nights. If you want to read the detailed review of The Sariska Retreat, then click here.
The next thing to do was the route planning. There are a couple of ways to reach Sariska, one is through the old route which goes through Gurugram and Manesar and the other one is the new Delhi-Mumbai expressway (NE 4). This was a no-brainer for me as NE 4 is wider, faster and will cause less fatigue. We still need to cover some distance after exiting the expressway, but I still went for it.
The night before, all our bags were packed, and we were all set to leave the following morning. The mode of transport was going to be our car (yes! I love to ride and drive). The total distance as per maps was going to be close to 200 km and roughly 4 hours away.
Day 1: Afternoon
Sorry if you were looking for something that we did in the morning. I had some work to be taken care of in the morning, so we started around 11 AM. After leaving our house, we quickly got onto the Faridabad bypass which also acts as the link to the NE 4. This link road was recently opened so not many people were aware of it. I could see many vehicles still using the service roads that run parallelly. Since I was aware of it, I got onto it and was cruising at 80 till the point it connects to the NE 4.
This was my first experience of driving on the NE 4, and I was looking forward to it. As soon as we connected to the expressway, the road widened up and became ultra-smooth. The NE 4 is one of the latest ones coming up in our country (still under construction at several places at the end of 2024). Even though the speed limit is 120 on this expressway (as well as on the newer ones), I never feel comfortable pushing it to the limit. My car has the adaptive cruise control which takes away a lot of stress from the driver. I set the speed limit at 100 and was on my merry way.
I stopped for a snack break just before exiting the expressway. There are restaurants and fuel stations at adequate intervals though the options to eat are not very extensive.
Once I exited the expressway, there was a state highway that then connected to NH248A, and this led to Sariska. This distance is approximately 70 km and takes around 2 hours, so you can imagine the state of the roads. As I reached closer to the forest area, the quality of roads declined considerably. Broken and narrow roads made the experience not so pleasant. Just when we thought this was all over, the final 5 km took the cake. There were deep craters on the roads filled with mud and though I was driving a car with good ground clearance, I still had to be careful.
Finally, at around 2:30 PM, we reached our resort.
Day 1: Evening
After checking into the resort and settling into our room, we headed to the dining room to have our lunch. We then decided to explore the resort and its surroundings. The resort has beautiful settings with a backdrop of the Aravali mountains. You can watch the walkaround video on my YouTube channel or read the detailed review under the “Review” section.
A private farmhouse is just ahead of the resort belonging to the same owner. We took an evening walk through the farms to the foothills of the mountains. The experience was amazing. Since it was a winter evening, and the sun set early, we came back to our room. The overall evening ambience was great with a slight chill in the air, cold enough to get the light jackets out but not cold enough to feel uncomfortable.
We had brought our badminton kit, so we put them to some use and spent some playing. We then had an early dinner and ended our day.
Day 2: Forenoon
We got up at our leisure as our safari was in the afternoon, so we had an entire morning to while away. The first thing we did was to have our breakfast, the spread was decent but nothing out of the ordinary. The next thing was to spend some time by the pool. Although none in my family knows swimming, the pool was shallow enough to spend time splashing around, it was fun. The remaining time we spent playing badminton again.
Day 2: Safari time!
Our safari was in the afternoon slot which starts at 2 PM (winter time) and the reporting time an hour earlier. Since our resort was around 10 km away from the Sariska gate and considering the bad roads on the way, we decided to leave at 12:45 PM. I forgot to mention earlier that we made the booking for the safari online.
We reached the gate at around 1:15 PM. We parked in the parking area and went to the booking confirmation counter. There is a strange process of getting the tickets confirmed at a physical counter. We reached that counter and got our canter number from the window.
The jeeps/gypsys are parked inside the gate and the canters are outside. We located our assigned vehicle and boarded it. The canter took a long time to get filled and the driver does not move unless it is full. So, we waited for another half an hour and finally got moving at 2:30 PM.
For the uninitiated, there are five zones in Sariska Tiger Reserve. Zone 1-3 are through the main gate and the rest are through Tehla Gate which is another 30 km away. We had booked Zone 2 but the guide in the canter said that it would cover the other zones as well. Our priority was to book a jeep since it can venture into tracks where the bigger vehicle cannot. Since the seats were full, we did not have any other option.
As our vehicle entered the park, excitement was palpable in the air. The canter trudged through the dusty trail and entered the deeper end of the forest. As mentioned somewhere earlier, tiger sightings are very rare in Sariska as the density is less whereas the area is huge. The afternoon was filled with sightings of various animals – sambar deer, chital, wild boar, and a variety of bird species. We also managed to catch a glimpse of a crocodile along the banks of a water body.
As the time was getting closer to an end, I could see the energy of people in the vehicle dropping. Many had resigned to the fact that there wouldn’t be any tiger sightings for the day. I did not go with any expectations and thoroughly enjoyed the stroll through the park. It would have been great to watch the majestic beast, but everyone should also understand that it is not on our payroll. To end the safari, we witnessed a beautiful sunset over a hill.
Day 2: End of the day
The canter left us near the main gate, we collected our car and returned to our resort. We again spent the evening just lazing around the beautiful laws and spending some time in the games room.
There was a huge group of people having a bonfire party, so all the attention of the resort staff was on them. The ones staying at the resort had a hard time getting serviced. The remaining time was uneventful, we had an early dinner and went back to our room and slept.
Day 3: End of trip
The mood on the final morning is always sombre. Who likes to go back to their boring routines? I have not been any different.
It was the same routine of having our breakfast and spending some time near the pool and in the games room. We decided to check out at around 11 AM and begin our journey back home. As we drove away, we felt grateful for the wonderful experiences we had shared over the past couple of days.
Conclusion
The Sariska Tiger Reserve was more than just a wildlife safari but a chance to reconnect with nature. The reserve’s pristine landscapes, diverse fauna, and rich history make it a must-visit destination for nature enthusiasts and adventure seekers alike. It may not be as popular as some of the other reserves in our country, but every nature lover will find something to cherish. Our family left Sariska with cherished memories and a renewed sense of awe for the wild, eager to return someday.