SARISKA: At the crack of dawn on a Sunday morning, 36 km from Alwar, vehicles line up as tourists queue for a trip to the park to spot the tiger. The Sariska Tiger Reserve (STR) that was a "dead" place after poachers completely wiped out the tiger population in 2005, is once again throbbing with activity. Clearly, now Sariska Tiger Reserve, about 160 km north-west of Delhi, is another Ranthambhore in the making.
Soon after the first tiger moved to STR in June 2008 things started looking up for Sariska. The reserve is experiencing a rush like never before from weekend tourists from the NCR and foreign nationals who claim that there is excellent sighting of the big cat, even if there are just five tigers in Sariska.
"The response is amazing. Every day around 35 vehicles go into the park and we are flooded with rush from Delhi and Noida. Tiger sighting is much better than Ranthambhore and almost everyone comes back with tales of prolonged sighting of ST 4 (male) and ST 2 together," said Y K Sahu, DFO, Sariska.
The fact is the sanctuary, spread over 881 sq. km is double the size of Ranthambhore, holds promise for tourism once the momentum gathers pace.
"Ranthambhore also began like this. There were only two hotels and they were also operational in winter. It was only after Rajiv Gandhi's visit in 1986 that a boom is wildlife tourism began in Rajasthan," said Sahu.
However, at the moment Sariska has its limitations. There is limited hotel accommodation around STR and none of these is priced less than Rs 2,000 that makes the tourist's think twice. "If the Sariska Palace is too expensive for a wildlife enthusiast, RTDC Tiger Den offers bad service and food. Tourism infrastructure is abysmally pathetic but tourists have no option," said a source.
According to official sources, in the past week tourism has increased almost by 50-60% despite summer setting in fast. During this time earlier you could never see a car around, said a source, hoping this would only increase. But, heavy traffic, especially trucks plying on the road dissecting the sanctuary is being seen as a deterrent to re-establishing tigers at the reserve with threats of pollution and poaching.
"Some time ago pug marks were seen near the Sariska Palace that is across the road. All night loaded trucks make a thundering noise driving through as there are big potholes in the seven-km stretch and it is a threat to the big cat," said a forest guard.
Yet despite little infrastructure, tourism is booming in Sariska and a lot of new properties are in the pipeline with hoteliers and real estate developers making a beeline to Sariska to pick the best possible piece of land to build a resort to cater to the increasing crowd.
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