Trip to Sariska Tiger Reserve

It was October 14^th when I got the warm invite from my office colleagues (Jitender & Vikram) to join them for a day trip to Sariska Tiger Reserve.  The trip was planned because next day (Oct 15^th) we had an unlikely off from Office due to State Election in Gurgaon (Haryana).  Initially I was hesitant to join them because the tour was scheduled for next day itself and I haven’t met most of other people in the group except Jitender & Vikram.  However Jitender pushed hard and told me that I should join them.  Since there was off next day, I didn’t have much work at home and most important their invitation, I couldn’t say NO and I decided to join them for this memorable trip to Sariska Tiger Reserve.

We left office at 10.30pm on 14^th October. We had 10 members in our Group. 9 members from Technology team and 10^th one (me) from SEM. We had two cars and we settled as 5 members in each car. This was the first time I crossed Manesar Toll Plaza. Earlier I used to think about this road which takes us to Jaipur (and life in Jaipur/Rajasthan), but I never travelled on it beyond Manesar Toll.

Our first stop on the trip was Old Rao Dhaba (on Bhiwadi Jaipur Road National Highway 8) for dinner. Well, this place is highly recommended if you are feeling hungry and want to eat authentic north Indian cuisines. Food quality is very good, prices are nominal, service is good and ambience is also nice. Remember, TripAdvisor has 5 (stars) rating for this place and it certainly lived up to that expectation. We celebrated Jitender birthday (this was also one of the occasion) before starting the dinner. It was a good get-together and gradually I was getting over my inhibition which was there in the starting of the trip as I haven’t met 7 people before this trip. Someone rightly said “Food connects people” and I realized it is TRUE.

We traveled for the whole night and reached Alwar around 3.30am. On the way to Sariska Tiger Reserve, we spotted one board which was pointing towards a Resort/Hotel. It was completely dark out there in the absence of electricity or road lights. We were tired and looking for 2-3 hours stay before we commence our journey further. We decided to take two rooms for fresh-up.  We drove on bumpy pavement in that remote location at 4am in complete darkness with no sign of light (except car headlights), to reach at the hotel gate and guess what, we were told that all rooms are occupied. We tried another hotel nearby and got the same reply. Different suggestions were floating around of where to stay (some of the suggestions were quite unique), but it was fun as most of us jiggling on the situation we were in. We checked another hotel (which was next to the biggest lake I have ever seen), but again, no luck. At 4am, the rocky mountains and this lake were looking GIANT. We were afraid of the thought of boating there. Quite scary it was at that time. We took U-Turn in search of a place where we can stay for 2-3 hours. Luckily we found one and the location was just PICTURE PERFECT. The hotel was situated in a beautiful place. Important thing to mention here – while you are traveling in group, just keep motivating each other when stuck in this kind of situation and reach at your destination first. We have found one hotel; else we would have also reached at the Tiger Reserve. Here are the snaps of the hotel where we stayed till the 8am:

We checked out from Hotel at 8am and decided to visit that lake. We checked online and the name of the lake was Siliser Lake which is one of the main tourist attractions in the region. Google Reviews rate it as 4.5 stars and it certainly is the place to be at. Highly recommended. Here are the pics:

Siliser Lake

Atmosphere at this place simply GREAT

Haven't seen such big lake ever

Perfect place to have Lunch or Dinner. A highly recommended place to be at.

Sit and enjoy the nature at its best

The lake might seem quite, but from the side view, it looked very very wide

We reached Sariska Tiger Reserve at 9.30am. We got late because we were misguided by the locals that Jungle Safari goes on all the time of the day and we can reach there any time. But when we reached there late, officials told us that we missed the early morning safari and next safari will start at 3pm in afternoon. We missed the chance. Here is the tip: While you can check with the locals, but it is always better to call the authority and confirm about the timings.  Since we were late, we were being advised to visit Bhangarh which is 90km away from Sariska Tiger Reserve and we can easily come back on time. Bhangarh is a major tourist attraction in Rajasthan. We formed the agreement to visit Bhangarh. Will cover Bhangarh in next post.