We made our way to Sariska Nature Reserve after spending a couple of hours at Amber Fort. This was our one last hope to see tigers in the wild in India. Unfortunately, in 2007 it was reported by undercover journalists that there were no tigers left in this park. They had all been poached. Since then the government has reintroduced 11 tigers back into the park, but no-one is sure how successful it has been. With an area bigger than Ranthambhore and with only a small population, we would have to be very lucky to see anything.
Our lodge was on the edge of the park and despite the odds we were still very excited about the safari. I had booked a small jeep online for the next morning but our hopes were further dashed when I showed the hotel manager the booking; he had never seen someone book a safari online before and didn’t know the procedure for confirming a seat – something we knew we had to do beforehand. All rather strange, but not unexpected. India loves nothing more than extra bureaucracy and changing of rules. Not that anyone ever follows any of the rules…
With no hairdryers and some of the coldest weather in India, Adrie resorted to the small heater to dry her hair…
Fortunately our driver, Raj, decided to stay overnight at the same lodge to help us decipher the new arrangements. He was going to go back to Jaipur for the night but decided to stay when he saw our frustration. The hotel had no wifi either so we struggled to get any information on how the safari trip worked.
We got up at 5.30 to be at the park gate by 6am, still none the wiser how this safari would work – or if we were going out at all! The ladies behind the ticket counter couldn’t be bothered to explain things either. It turns out that the safari I had booked online only accounted for all the government and park fees. It did not actually include a vehicle or indeed a driver or guide. This had to be paid for in cash this morning.
And this is where it got worse. We only had a limited amount of cash left after our last week travelling around and with no ATMs nearby we could not pay for the whole vehicle. Fortunately there was an American family of three in exactly the same position. They too had booked online only to discover the same issues. So we teamed up.
By 7am, with much discussion in Hindi between Raj, a safari guide and the ticket office, we were on our way. On our way to see a lot of bushes and trees it seemed. Not only were there fewer tigers in Sariska, there were fewer of everything. While it was actually a comfortable drive and the sunrise was beautiful, it seemed quite futile.
Sunrise in the park was beautiful
We started taking pictures of ourselves just to have something to show! It was the coldest we’ve been in all of India.
We saw a few paw imprints in the sand where some tigers had wandered the night before but at this stage I was more convinced that these tracks were simply man made by the rangers to fool unsuspecting tourists.
The 5-year old in our car voiced loudly exactly what I was thinking: “Please wake me up when you see a tiger and show it to me.” At the end of our safari we did see some deer, wild boar and wonderful extravagant Indian peacocks but sadly no big cats.
We got back to the car park only to be told by our driver that a leopard had killed a cow the previous evening right next to the car park and was spotted this morning near his kill. Indeed, he was not lying – there was certainly a dead cow with a leg missing in the middle of the car park. But the leopard was nowhere to be seen.
It was time to get back to Delhi and our flight to Malaysia at 11pm this evening. The drive from Sariska was uneventful until we hit a traffic jam. It was then that the true genius of Indian driving came to the fore. There are simply no rules and anything goes. So with the quote from Raj; “In India, anything is possible”, we set off down the wrong side of a highway flyover and into the oncoming traffic. To be fair to Raj, he did cut about 30min off our journey time and after 10 days of driving in India we were not even too surprised or bothered. Driving on the wrong side of the road did seem to be the most logical thing to do at that stage.
Oncoming cars on a one-way. Pretty standard for India really.
We said our goodbyes to our car and driver. It felt very weird – a bit like Stockholm syndrome – you don’t really like the car or the driving but when you get inside it feels familiar and safe because it is what you know. Our car felt like a haven protecting us from the outside and the odd bits and smells of India. I was going to miss Tossel!
Saying goodbye to our expert driver, Raj, at the airport.
We got to the airport about 7 hours before our flight – this must be a new record. But once we went in to the terminal, for security reasons, we were not allowed to go outside again. And there were very little in the form of restaurants and coffee shops on this side of security! So we passed the time doing puzzles and sudokus until we could check in.