[sach.sri]

After a deluge of TLs on wildlife and tigers in recent months, there is a lul - maybe due to the fact that it is monsoon time and no jungles are open during monsoons.

I am writing this TL on SAriska - as seen during my visit to the park last week of June. Just before the jungle closed.

So here goes - i hope you guys like it, it is my first TL.



Sariska - a "jungle" near Alwar city in Rajasthan under the wings of project tiger. It is a tale of how tigers faced the brunt of unscruplous elements and man-animal conflict.

A jungle that had a healthy tiger population pre 2003 - became devoid of any tigers due to poaching by the (in) famous Sansar Chand among other factors.

I had been to Sariska in 2004 Dec - and it was my first visit to a "jungle" and love at first site. A beautiful jungle with lots of wildlife.

Now after such a long time - reading GD sir's TL about Sariska - decided to visit Sariska again. I must say - that the place has not changed a bit since i was there in 2004.

The Ride

Scorpio m-Hawk 2010 vintage.


Route:

Gurgaon - NH8 - Bhiwani - Alwar - Sariska.
Good "chikani" metalled roads all through, some places widening of road is ongoing - but can make good time.

I clocked - 3.5 hrs from Gurgaon to Sariska. Including a short stop enroute.

Sariska - gate and cover pic.

[sach.sri]

wow - this last post marked a landmark for me. I have now become a "BHPian" from a newbie. Yippeee.

Ok, to continue on the TL:

It had been 2 weeks since my last trip to Sariska and I was getting antsy again to try and visit the park once before it closes for monsoons.
On a whim called Harisingh (GD sir's guide) while returning back from office to check with him about sightings.

There had been a couple of good showers in recent days and Harisingh told me that the jungle is green with a lot of water for the animals.

Sariska and Ranthambhore jungles have a lot of "dhok" trees (dont remember their zoological name) and they dont need a lot of water to turn green. Slight showers, enough to drench their barks turns them green.

So the jungle is green and there was also a tiger sighting on thursday. Harisingh told me that he will call me on saturday morning and inform me further.

Discussed the plan with missus while driving back home and then with dad/mom at home. Missus was down with some viral infection and it was decided that i will take my 5 yr old along for the trip.

A watershed decision for me - have not taken my son for an overnight trip till date.

Looking forward to the trip with my son - boys only trip father and son.

[sach.sri]

Woke up early (by my std on a weekend). Got a call from Harisingh at around 10 - confirming that ST3 and ST4 are together and there is a high probability for a sighting.


Working quickly - son and me get ready and we are out by 11 am driving to Sariska. I am glad to be out, love the drive and the thought of being in the jungle very shortly.


The plan is to be in Sariska in time for the evening Safari and then do another Safari on Sunday morning and drive back to Gurgaon to be home at around 3 pm.


I take the Gurgaon-Bhiwani-Alwar-Sariska route - and it takes me around 3.5 hrs to reach SAriska usually - today is no different. We make quick time, son and me - chatting and in general enjoying the drive. Stop at a dhaba to get some colddrinks and chips to munch on and continue driving.


Have booked Sariska Palace this time - last time had stayed in Tiger Den - reached hotel at around 2.30 pm. Called Harisingh and fixed with him that he will pick me up at 3 pm from Hotel gate.


I was expecting pretty deserted place (on account of this being June end) - but to my shock and dismay i see a lot of tourists and some police wallahs on entering the hotel. The guy at reception tells me that they have 50 rooms booked for the weekend!

Dump my stuff in the room and goto grab quick lunch to be ready in time for Safari at 3 pm. It is already more than 2.45 pm.


On reaching the dining area - another shocker - it is a regular fish market with all the people around and no place to sit! Quickly grap some grub, feed my son and we are ready to roll.

We put on our jungle gear (hats from Ranthambhore basically ). Meet up with Harisingh at the gate - he is going to be our driver also today - no driver available because of the rush! It is past 3 pm when we enter the park.

The weather is hot and humid - making it oppressive if the vehicle is standing still.
Chatting with Harisingh - he tells me that this is the first time that ST3 is roaming with ST4. We go to the manmade waterhole where the erstwhile ruler of Alwar also had a machaan built for this shikar purposes to check out the scene. There is a square waterhole full with water and the machaan on one side.
Some pics of langurs, wild boar family drinking water and enjoying the cool slush.

Black Drongo - picture perfect


Boar family - going to swimming pool


Boar family - in the swimming pool


Afternoon stroll?






Cute little piglets


white dove


Patridge


Patridge


Langur drinking water


Neelgai - lucky charm (?)

[gd1418]

So the travelogue starts at last. Glued.. Some very nice pictures. The blue of the Neelgai is very evident.

Eye contact with the Neelgai would have made the picture a stunner. And please try to frame the full animal. The 'chopped' legs are a bit jarring to the eyes.

[sach.sri]

Originally Posted by gd1418

So the travelogue starts at last. Glued.. Some very nice pictures. The blue of the Neelgai is very evident.

Eye contact with the Neelgai would have made the picture a stunner. And please try to frame the full animal. The 'chopped' legs are a bit jarring to the eyes.

Thank you sir, i was debating whether to start here or not as i already started a blog. But then i decided to go ahead - for the audience that it gives

Thanks again for the comments - i will keep in mind. Yes i agree that a "eye contact" shot would have made a stunning pic, sadly that was not to be.

[sach.sri]

some jungle pictures

checkpoint inside jungle




jungle lanscape


lanscape from a previous visit - before rains

[sach.sri]

It was hot and humid and the jungle is silent, but we had fun catching some animals, enjoying the scenary trying out my new camera.
Harisingh wants to goto Kalighati - a forest guards' checkpost some 10km from the jungle gate to chat up with the forest guards and enquire about tiger movement.

We reach Kalighati, Harisingh goes into the checkpost while we wait in the jeep. Have a drink of water and wait.





Harisingh comes out after a while and informs that there is a reported movement of ST3 and ST4 on the road towards pandupole - we load up in the gypsy and off we go.
Spottted beautiful sambhar deer couple drinking water from a puddle along the road.





Also this spotted deer stag with awesome antlers..

[ravibhat]

Thats good one and interesting Tiger reserve. Waiting for more.Thanks for sharing.

Ravi.

[sach.sri]

Sorry for the delay in updating this thread - i was sidetracked these days with my mind on Mahindra Thar.

Anyways - back to the TL.

So, the mood is upbeat and we are looking forward to sighting Tigers in Sariska

Reach the spot with reported tiger movement - there are already a lot of gypsys there waiting. The guides on the gypsys make gestures for us to be quite - looks like we will get lucky after all.

We are waiting - and it is progressively looking like rain - the sky is darkening and the humidity is oppressive.
Lo and behold - it starts raining, and what rains - it is pouring. We quickly draw the covers on the gypsy and wait. My son is getting restless and playing around with the covers, I am getting anxious about the cameras. Dont have water proof covering for the cameras.

The light is very low and I am worried - guess anxious for my first tiger sighting in Sariska.

Rain gradually slows down and we lift up the covers from the sides - dutifully waiting.

I get the tightening in my stomach and in general a heightened feeling of "something is going to happen".

Rain stops - we lift up the cover and wait. I get the camera out - and start fiddling. Trying to setup for the low light. I shoot in shutter priority mode - and to accommodate for low light have to slow it down considerably. Still very dark pics :(

Suddenly a movement from behind the trees - see a yellow stripes lying down in distance.





Gradually it lifts its head – someone or something has disturbed his rest





Coming out of the thicket



Same pic in b/w


with flash and teeth bared


the stare


king shaking his head - slow shutter speed!!


out on stroll - shaky


Disappearing into jungle again - shaky


Then the twosome get back inside the bush and we dont see them anymore. There is some roaring going on and we are excited - hoping to see them again.

It is a regular circus with a lot of jeeps and even private vehicle! yes! it is saturday and private vehicles are allowed inside the park for visting pandupole temple.

Some people are also getting out of the vehicles and roaming around. This disturbs me - and i ask them to get back in the vehicle. One of them tells me - "kucch nahin hota, usko to ghumna hi hai, kuchh nahin hota". I resign myself to be a witness to this blatant flouting of rules and the feeling of not being able to do anything.

It is 6 pm and we have to be out of the park by 6.30. Harisingh is getting anxious to leave as late exist means that the vehicle, driver and guide are barred from entering the jungle for next 15 days. I manage to convince him to stay for 5 odd mins more as there are other vehicles also waiting. More on this later.

by 6.05 - we decide to leave sure that the tigers will not come out again - disturbed by so many vehicles and such commotion.

My first tiger sighting in Sariska and what a sighting - 2 tigers - a male and a female together . Indeed lucky (neelgai effect? )

We head back towards the gate - we are around 18 km from the gate and have less than 30 mins to cross. On the way - skies open up again, and it starts pouring heavily. Very little visibility infront.

We reach the gate in time and Harisingh drops up at the hotel. He will pick me up again in the morning for the morning safari.

Get in, had some snacks (tea and pakore) - got some milk for my son. He now wants to have a bath in the bath tub - realised that there is no hot water! no bath foam! quite mismanaged and bad service. Tried calling up the reception, noone will pick up. Disgusted with the hotel service.

Anyways, son had a bath in the bath tub while i looked at the pics on my laptop.

Kicked myself when i saw the EXIF of the tiger pics. I had set ISO to 100 when starting for the safari and had forgotten to boost it up!

Went to sleep early - to get up for the morning safari.

[sach.sri]

It had been raining quite a bit through the night and there was a doubt whether the jungle would open for tourists in the morning.

It does. We were ready at Six and i called up Harisingh to check - he told me that the jungle is indeed open for tourists.

So we were happy and we went into the jungle at around 6.15am.

As it had rained quite a bit in the night - the jungle was all green and slushy and all the waterholes were filled up with water - water water everywhere.

Spotted this lone jackal - managed to get some decent pics (ISO set to AUTO and WB to cloudy)







There were reports of movement of ST6 and we went to track him. A lot of VIPs in the jungle and we tag along

The jungle today had a surprise for us










Yes - this monitor lizard. HAve never seen one so close and so clearly.

No ST6, came back to Kalighati and again tried to track ST6, failed - it was getting to 9 am and we had to be out by 9.30 am. So decided to call it a day.
A couple of peacock dancing pictures





Came out - paid Harisingh and tipped him.

Did not like the driver Jagdish - looked like he was just passing time and was not interested in showing us the jungle. On the way out - asked him to take us from a jungle track instead of the metalled road so that we might get to see some animals, but he said that due to the rains all jungle tracks are very slushy and it might create an issue. Issue on a 4x4 gypsy???

Anyways - thus ended by second safari. Had breakfast, checked out and were back on road by 11.15. Again made good time and were in Gurgaon by 2.20pm. Stopped at the MacD drive in - and had some lunch. Kiddo wanted a "Kunfu panda toy" with happy meal.

Wanted the tigress model - but it was not available so he had to make do with a panda model only.

Started again and was back home by 3 pm.
Thus ended my exciting trip to Sariska with my first tiger sighting in Sariska.

[gd1418]

If only you had pumped up the ISO and shot in aperture priority mode opening the aperture to its max...!

[fazalaliadil]

Sach.Sri,

Great sightings and good captures.
Happened so many times to me that I was on the wrong settings and realized it much later, we all are learning and it never stops.

Thanks for sharing, looking forward to more.

Regards,

[sach.sri]

Originally Posted by gd1418

If only you had pumped up the ISO and shot in aperture priority mode opening the aperture to its max...!

How true! I was literally kicking myself that day

Originally Posted by fazalaliadil

Sach.Sri,

Great sightings and good captures.
Happened so many times to me that I was on the wrong settings and realized it much later, we all are learning and it never stops.

Thanks for sharing, looking forward to more.

Regards,

Thank you sir for the kind words. Right now i am looking forward to TATR visit with Dr. Abheek. Will do a TL for that trip also - my first tBHP trip

[sach.sri]

The action begins again after a hiatus of 3 long months. The national parks have opened after monsoons and it is Safari time again yipppeeee!

After 3 months of very little action (had just been to Tadoba during August) I was itching to goto jungles and safaris. Planned a 3 days trip to Sariska.

As usual checked and confirmed with Harisingh for the vehicles and bookings, etc. This time stayed in Club Mahindra camps at Thana Gazi. Have just returned yesterday, not been able to process the pictures yet, will post shortly.

Some teaser pics including my first macro (shot with my DSLR, 75-300 mm lens)

Beetle with flower


Beetle with flower


Jungle Entry Gate


Habitat shot - spotted deer

[Night_Hawk]

Originally Posted by sach.sri

.
Thus ended my exciting trip to Sariska with my first tiger sighting in Sariska.

Very Interesting narration and good pictures. After going through your TL i am eagerly planning to visit Tadoba, Pench and Bandhavgarh. But, general advise i get is to postpone the trip to summer for better sightings. What say ?