Because of it’s two National Parks and well over a dozen sanctuaries, Rajasthan is known throughout the world as the best viewing of wildlife. That’s why I have book a room at on of Rajasthan Luxury Hotels for a month. I’ve specifically would like to see a tiger in the wild. I’ve only seen them in zoos and they seem so lifeless and sad. I would like to see one in its full majesty.
I heard that Sariska National Park it internationally known for its tigers and I’ve read the latest data confirming that there are now 35 tiger roaming the forest. Of course, there are other predators including the panther, hyenas and foxes. Also there are the animals being preyed on like the chital, the sambhar, the four horned antelope, wild boar, nilgai, civets and the humble hare. I’m not too into birds, but the peafowl, the gray partridge, quails, white-breasted kingfishers, tree pies, grouses and the golden-backed woodpeckers are the forests resident birds.
When I arrived to Sariska, I found the landscape comprised of hills and narrow valleys creating the Aravali hill range. Sariskas topography supports a scrub-thorn arid forest perfect for the tiger. Dry deciduous trees, big rocks with ledges and tall grasses. The climate when I was there, I found to be erratic, it rained early in the morning, but only two hours later it became boiling hot with the sunshine barring overhead.
I didn’t get to see the tigers while I was there, but I did get to see the ruins of a medieval Temple of the Hindu God Shiva. The ruins of the Temple Garh-Rajor which was built in the 10th century and a 17th century castle build on a sharp hilltop at Kanakwari which provided an excellent view of Sariska’s avian inhabitants in full flight. I was disappointed about not seen a majestic tiger in the wild, but I did get to pet them in a tiger enclosure. Still it’s not the same, but then again I wasn’t on an elephant while walking in Sariska and from what I hear it the preferred way to see the tiger.
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