The forest that lost its tigers
A royal forest: Sariska was the hunting forest of the rulers of Alwar, and like Ranthambore it owed its survival partly to royal shikar.
Protected: a sanctuary from the 1950s, and a tiger reserve under Project Tiger in 1978.
Close to Delhi: for years it was the nearest place to the capital to see a wild tiger, and its small population seemed stable.
- Once
- Hunting forest of Alwar's rulers
- Sanctuary
- From the 1950s
- Tiger reserve
- 1978, under Project Tiger
- Tigers gone
- Confirmed early 2005
- Response
- Tiger Task Force, then the NTCA
- It wasn't: through the early 2000s poachers working with local networks killed Sariska's tigers one by one, for skins and bones sold into the illegal trade.
- Missed in time: the decline was not noticed, or not admitted, soon enough.
- The 2005 surveys: official counts confirmed what field naturalists had been saying. There were no tigers left at all.
- A national scandal: the government set up a Tiger Task Force, and soon after the National Tiger Conservation Authority was created to oversee every tiger reserve.
- Counting changed: censuses based on pugmarks gave way to camera traps and scientific monitoring.
- The lesson: many conservationists say it was when India realised that a tiger reserve on a map was not the same as tigers in a forest.
How the tigers came back
To see a tiger here is to see a story that very nearly ended. Sightings are rarer than in Ranthambore, partly because the forest is denser and hillier, and partly because the population is still young.
The plan: capture tigers in Ranthambore, fit radio collars, fly them to Sariska and release them into enclosures before letting them into the forest. Bold and controversial.
ST-1: the first, a male, arrived in 2008, and females followed.
- First tiger flown in
- June 2008
- First male
- ST-1
- Source
- Ranthambore
- Tracking
- Forest staff and Wildlife Institute of India
- Today
- Tigers in the dozens, breeding
- Watched daily: every animal was tracked by forest staff and scientists from the Wildlife Institute of India.
- Machli's line: some founders came from the line of Ranthambore's famous tigress, though the exact family trees are best left to the researchers.
- Hard early years: the tigers took time to settle and breed, and the first male was killed by poison in 2010.
- The critics: they argued Sariska had not fixed what emptied it, with villages in the core, cattle grazing, a busy road through the reserve and mining on its edges.
- Slow improvement: some villages were resettled outside, protection was strengthened, and the first cubs were recorded a few years after the relocation.
- Wider gene pool: more tigers have been moved in over the years.
- The full story: our journal piece on Alwar and Sariska.
The landscape of the Aravallis
Ancient hills: the reserve lies in the northern Aravallis, among the oldest mountains on earth, worn down to rocky ridges.
The forest: mostly dhok, the dry-country tree of Ranthambore too, with salar, khair and bamboo in the valleys.
Dry months: the hills turn gold and grey, and life gathers at the springs and small reservoirs, such as the lake at Siliserh on the northern edge.
- Hills
- Northern Aravallis
- Main tree
- Dhok
- Most likely cat
- Leopard
- Water
- Springs, small reservoirs, Siliserh
- Leopards: more common than tigers. Sariska is one of the better places in north India to see one.
- Other mammals: striped hyenas, jungle cats, jackals and the occasional sloth bear, with sambar, spotted deer, nilgai, wild boar and the small four-horned antelope.
- Around the temples: rhesus macaques and langurs, and peafowl everywhere.
- For birders: crested serpent eagles, grey francolins, painted spurfowl, owls and, in winter, migrants on the lakes.
- A working landscape: herders and buffaloes live in villages inside the reserve, pilgrims walk its roads to ancient temples, and a public road crosses it.
- Not a closed park: you'll pass a shepherd and his flock minutes before finding a leopard's fresh tracks. That coexistence, difficult as it is, is part of the place.
Kankwari Fort, the prison in the hills
The fort: compact walls, bastions and a handful of rooms, perched to watch every approach across the plateau.
The story: local tradition says Aurangzeb imprisoned his elder brother, Dara Shikoh, here during the war of succession, before Dara was taken to Delhi and executed.
- Built
- Seventeenth century
- Credited to
- Raja Jai Singh I of Amber
- Legend
- Dara Shikoh held here, late 1650s
- Access
- By safari route, when open
- Fact or tale: historians debate how long, if at all, Dara was held here, so we tell it as the story people here tell.
- Wildlife: the Kankwari plateau is one of the best areas of the park, with open grassland where sambar and nilgai graze and tigers have often been seen.
- Getting there: the forest department controls access, so we plan it into a drive when the route is open.
- The best hour: late afternoon, with the walls glowing above the grass. It's the most romantic scene in Sariska.
Neelkanth, Pandupol and the forest of temples
- Pilgrims first: dress modestly, remove your shoes, and remember that for most people on these roads this is a pilgrimage, not sightseeing.
- Etiquette: our guide to temple etiquette covers the essentials.
The Neelkanth temples
Rajorgarh: remains of an old Bargujar Rajput capital, on a high plateau at the edge of the reserve, up a steep and winding road.
Ruins in the grass: dozens of temples, usually dated to between the sixth and tenth centuries, with carved pillars, doorframes and sculptures. Tradition says there were once hundreds.
- Neelkantheshwar Mahadev: the Shiva temple still stands, still in worship, and its carving is superb.
- Naugaza: a colossal seated Jain figure nearby, as local people call it.
- Empty: very few travellers make the climb, and you may have the plateau to yourself.
Pandupol
A legend in a gorge: linked with the Pandava brothers of the Mahabharata, said to have spent part of their exile in these hills.
- Bhima's passage: the story says he broke through the rock here.
- The temple: a reclining image of Hanuman, with a waterfall pouring down the cliff in the monsoon.
- Crowds: large numbers of pilgrims on its weekly pilgrimage days and at its annual fair, so we visit on quieter days.
Bhartrihari
Where: on the road between Alwar and Sariska.
- The king-poet: legend says he gave up his throne in Ujjain to live as an ascetic in these hills. His verses on love, wisdom and renunciation are still recited across India.
- Today: a busy local pilgrimage place, with a fair in the monsoon.
How a Sariska safari works
Fixed routes: drives follow set routes, as in every Rajasthan reserve.
Easier permits: Sariska is less famous than Ranthambore, so permits are usually easier and you share the tracks with fewer vehicles.
Work for it: the forest is thicker and the terrain steeper, so animals vanish quickly into the hills.
- Run by
- Rajasthan forest department
- Vehicles
- Six-seat Gypsy jeeps, canters
- Times
- Early morning, late afternoon
- Permits
- At the gate or booked ahead
- Book
- Three or four drives over two nights
- A good naturalist: reads alarm calls, fresh pugmarks and the behaviour of the deer, and positions you near water or the plateau edges at the right hour.
- Leopards: often seen around rocky outcrops.
- Tigers: seen regularly by patient guests, but we never promise one.
- Etiquette: stay seated and quiet, never ask the driver to leave the track or crowd an animal, and never use flash.
- Kankwari: take one drive towards the plateau and fort when the route is open.
- Bring binoculars: Sariska's leopards and birds reward the patient.
- Dress for the season: warm layers for winter dawns. In summer, a hat, a scarf for dust and plenty of water.
- How we plan: our page on tiger and leopard safaris explains how we choose naturalists.
Bhangarh, the ruined town down the road
Kachwaha town: built by the rulers of Amber, traditionally for Madho Singh, a younger brother of the great general Man Singh I.
What survives: a walled bazaar street lined with stone shops, finely carved temples, a step-terraced palace and gardens below the hill.
- From Sariska
- About an hour south
- Built
- Late sixteenth century
- Built for
- Madho Singh, brother of Man Singh I
- Best time
- Early morning
- The sorcerer: one story tells of a tantric who loved a princess of Bhangarh and cursed the town when she refused him.
- The ascetic: another says a holy man allowed the town only if no house cast a shadow over his retreat.
- The real sign: the ASI rule is routine for unguarded monuments, not a ghost warning, but it has fed the legend for decades.
- The real interest: how complete a sixteenth-century Rajput town still looks.
- Read more: our Bhangarh guide and the journal piece on Bhangarh, the haunted fort.
Alwar, the forgotten royal city
A lavish state: founded by a branch of the Kachwaha Rajputs, whose rulers became known for their extravagance, hunting, horses and spectacle.
Bala Quila: the hill fort looking down on the old town.
- Founded
- Eighteenth century, Kachwaha branch
- Hill fort
- Bala Quila
- Cenotaph
- Moosi Maharani
- From Sariska
- About 45 minutes
- City Palace: government offices, and a museum of manuscripts, miniature paintings and arms.
- Behind it: a sacred tank framed by temples and the marble cenotaph of Moosi Maharani, with its graceful domed pavilion.
- Siliserh: a nineteenth-century lake palace above a long reservoir, built by a ruler of Alwar for his queen.
- Tea on the terrace: Siliserh is now a state-run hotel and a pleasant stop.
- Worth a morning: it adds real depth to a wildlife trip. Read our Alwar guide.
What to eat around Sariska
Kalakand: Alwar's famous milk cake, grainy and caramel-brown, known across north India.
How it's made: fresh milk and sugar boiled down for hours until it sets into soft, crumbly slabs, golden at the edges and pale in the middle.
- Family loyalties: everyone has an opinion on which old sweet shop makes it best.
- Between regions: the food here sits between Dhundhar and the plains of Haryana.
- A milk table: herding villages keep buffaloes, so curd, buttermilk and white butter come with millet and wheat rotis, dal, kadhi and seasonal vegetables.
- Winter: bajra rotis with jaggery and ghee, and sarson ka saag, mustard greens, brought down from the north.
- Special evenings: dinner on your hotel lawns, or a picnic among the Neelkanth ruins with a family cook and lanterns.
- More dishes: our Rajasthani food guide.
Where to stay near Sariska
Sariska Palace
A maharaja's shikar lodge: built by a Maharaja of Alwar as a hunting lodge, now a heritage hotel close to the park entrance.
- Look and feel: a long facade, domes and old gardens. Grand rather than polished.
- The joy of it: stepping from a safari jeep into a royal hunting lodge.
- Ask for: a room in the main palace.
Amanbagh
Where: near the village of Ajabgarh, between Sariska and Bhangarh.
- The design: courtyards, pools and gardens in the Aravalli hills. Peaceful, private and beautiful.
- Perfect for: slow days of Bhangarh at dawn, a Sariska safari and long walks in the hills.
Forts within a drive
- Between Delhi and Jaipur: Neemrana Fort-Palace to the north and Alila Fort Bishangarh to the south-west, each about two hours from the park.
- Compare stays: our page on wildlife lodges covers the best near Rajasthan's reserves.
When to come to Sariska
October and November: fresh and green after the monsoon, with water in the streams and waterfalls fading on the cliffs.
December and January: cold at dawn but beautiful, with clear air, soft light and good birding.
- Main season
- October to June
- Favourite months
- February and March
- Best sightings
- April to June, above 40°C
- Core closed
- About July to September
- February and March: warm and comfortable, among our favourite months.
- April to June: hot, often above 40°C, but water is scarce and animals gather at springs and waterholes. The best sightings, if you can take the heat.
- Summer routine: very early drives and long midday rests.
- The monsoon: core safaris are suspended. The hills turn vivid green and Pandupol's waterfall runs, but it isn't the time for wildlife.
- The wider picture: our page on the best time to visit Rajasthan.
Getting to Sariska
From Delhi: timing depends on traffic through Gurugram and the highway towns.
From Jaipur: through Amer and the Aravalli hills.
- From Delhi
- About four hours
- From Jaipur
- Two and a half to three hours
- Nearest station
- Alwar, about 45 minutes
- Airports
- Jaipur and Delhi
- Bhangarh
- About an hour
- By train: Alwar is on the Delhi to Jaipur line, with fast day trains.
- Combine: many guests see Bhangarh on the same journey.
- Further: Agra and Ranthambore are each a long half-day's drive.
- On a journey: Sariska fits our short escapes, and makes a wild interlude between Delhi and Jaipur.
Two days around Sariska
- The wider region: Sariska is part of our Wild Rajasthan region, with Ranthambore, Jawai and Bharatpur.
Day one, arrival and the forest
Morning: drive from Delhi or Jaipur, with tea at Siliserh if you come via Alwar.
- Afternoon: lunch and rest, then a safari.
- Evening: dinner on the palace lawns.
Day two, Kankwari and Neelkanth
Morning safari: towards the Kankwari plateau and the fort.
- Afternoon: after a rest, drive up to the Neelkanth temples, with a picnic tea among the ruins.
- Dusk: back at your hotel.
Day three, Bhangarh and onward
- Dawn: leave for Bhangarh and walk the ruins in the cool of the morning.
- Then: continue to Jaipur, Ranthambore or Delhi, or take one last safari first.
Sariska or Ranthambore, and who will love each
Talking to people on both sides, the herders and the forest guards, gives a far more honest picture of what it takes to keep tigers in a crowded country than any brochure.
Choose Ranthambore if: a tiger is the main reason for your trip. Its tigers are more numerous and used to vehicles, and the open forest around the lakes makes sightings easier.
- Ranthambore's lodges: among the finest in Asia.
- The catch: it is busier, and in high season you share sightings with other jeeps.
- Choose Sariska if: you have limited time from Delhi, value quiet over certainty, or love history as much as wildlife.
- Sariska's gifts: more dramatic hills, more varied forts and temples, and surprisingly reliable leopards.
- It suits: travellers who have seen a tiger elsewhere and want a different forest, and anyone wanting two peaceful nights out of the city.
- A living lesson: herding families, many of them Gujjars, still live inside the reserve, and some villages have been resettled outside with compensation.
- Do both: see our big cats and birds itinerary.
How long to allow, and what most visitors miss
One night: enough for an afternoon and a morning drive, but not for the temples or Bhangarh.
Two nights: the forest, Kankwari, Neelkanth and Bhangarh without ever feeling hurried.
- Stay
- Two nights
- Safaris
- Three or four drives
- Add
- Bhangarh at dawn, Alwar for a morning
- Skip
- Pandupol's pilgrimage days
- Three nights or more: add Alwar's palaces and tanks, or one last safari before you go.
- The Neelkanth plateau: very few travellers make the climb to Rajorgarh's ruined temples, so you may have it to yourself.
- Kankwari in late light: the fort glowing above the grass, with sambar and nilgai grazing below.
- Tea at Siliserh: the lake palace terrace on the Alwar road, an easy stop most people drive past.
- Moosi Maharani's cenotaph: the marble domed pavilion behind Alwar's City Palace.
- Bhartrihari: the king-poet's temple on the Alwar road, busy with local pilgrims.
What we tell friends heading to Sariska
Come for the whole forest: the forts and temples too, and treat a tiger as a gift rather than an entitlement.
Avoid Pandupol's busiest days: if you want quiet roads, ask us to plan around them.
- Respect the residents: ask before photographing herders or their homes.
- Don't stop on the public road: to feed monkeys or photograph animals. It draws them onto the road.
- Bring cash: for temple offerings and tea stalls. Phone payments work in Alwar, less reliably in the hills.
- Visit Bhangarh early: weekends fill up by mid-morning.
