We wake up really early in the morning and eat breakfast from our meager provisions. We have learned not to ask the accomodation for early breakfast and truth be told be probably don’t even have the money for it. Our driver is ready, quite nice, and after a 10 minute drive we are at the Sariska gate. Here we learn we have to pay extra because there are not enough people on the jeep, luckily we have enough money to pay that and have 100 rupees (about $1) left. Talk about being poor. And then we wait for everyone to arrive and for the safari to start at sunrise.
The major attraction in the park are tigers. Even though online the chance of finding one here is presented as being low we find out that there were a few more releases which are radio collared which increased the chance to about 80-90%. So we feel good about the chance of seeing one as we make our way on the dirt roads through the preserve. What we don’t feel so good about is the cold, it is really cold, in the open jeep. We have every single item of warm clothing on us and it is helping but not completely really.
On the way we stop a few times to look for animals but none are forthcoming. Even birds are rare in this cold but we see a beautiful Painted Spurfowl which makes up for almost all the cold.
We look for tigers unsuccesfully for some time, even the ranger with the radio transmitter cannot find them. They are near the road but hidden in dense brush and none of the jeeps seem to be able to find them. At least we find a few langurs and our first chitals which are quite cute.
Then we arrive at the rest area in the middle of the park. It is quite a fun area with many birds around and with babblers and treepies searching every jeep for food scraps. None are found but they are still always hopeful. The green pigeons, of which there are plenty, are just sitting lazily in the trees, probably they already learned the lesson.
There are also wild boars here, we are the only people noticing them as the other ones are distracted with the many birds.
There are also other birds here of course we are especially taken by a beautiful Siberian Stonechat overwintering in the area.
Of course the more common birds can be fun too, there is a peacock displaying as we start exploring the area, we cannot decide whether it is more impressive from the front or from the back.
There is a pond nearby which has few birds however on one of the trees we find a spotted owlet which we admire for some time before moving on.
There are sometimes on the way trees filled with a multitude of birds, first we have seen one with green pigeons and then one with red-vented bulbuls which is really quite impressive. Still otherwise nothing else stirs on the road, with no luck in finding either tigers or other mammals.
As we return at the reststop we find one more special mammal, our first Sambar Deer, right where the jeeps are stopping for a break. It is fun to think that we drove for over one hour on a loop to find them right where we started.
And then it is time to exit Sariska after spending a bit more time watching, without success, for the tiger in the dense undergrowth. Our car is waiting for us at the exit and now we are on our way to Jaipur our next stop.
The first part of the drive is on narrow two lane roads passing handmade trucks made from waterpump motors and troops of baboons searching for food.
We arrive in Jaipur, the Pink City, and the traffic starts to pick up and we weave in and out trying to avoid the horses and the camels and the elephants. At least it is not us driving so we can admire the city and the many ruins, mostly modern it seems.
One of the things that are very common in Indian cities, towns and maybe even villages are fruit and vegetable markets. They are everywhere, quite big and very popular. We really enjoy watching them from the car as we pass by trying to guess what the fruits and vegetables are, there are many that we don’t really recognize at first glance at least.
Our hotel is in the the downtown area right next to one of the markets and initially we are a bit surprised by the look, it seems like a prison. We soon understand that all the fencing is against the baboons as they are quite active in the area. Our room is also less impressive compared to the previous day but at least we get a heater and they are quite forthcoming with additional bedding that we are requesting. We also exchange some money so now we are again rich and ready to go into town to explore.
