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Tuesday, January 14th – Kishangarh Bas to Sariska, 16,339 km
Frank has taken to testing the spokes of his back wheel at the start and end of each day. This morning he finds another broken spoke which he had missed last night, unless there is some way it could have broken during the night. He is quite concerned and asks if I have any idea why this keeps happening. My wheels are doing fine so all I can think of is that there is something wrong with the way they have been threaded, but we cannot see anything wrong with them. They feel tight and sound enough and they are still quite new. He takes the first half hour to replace the spoke and true the wheel again.
Today we continue south, skirting the western edge of the mountains to get to the Sariska Tiger Reserve. The route is mostly flat but it winds between hills on either side, the largest being the Aravali Mountains to our left. Our roads today are quiet and scenic. We pass small shrines and even a temple complex in a valley sloping off below us but we don’t pass through any sizable villages. The valleys are very green here, with palm trees scattered around the fields and along the roadsides.
As the day progresses and we move further south, our route takes us into the Aravalis. We pass a couple small lakes and more dramatic outcroppings of rocks and sedimentary mountains. At mid-afternoon we arrive at the village of Sarska, the only settlement in the Sariska Tiger Reserve. It’s main feature is a palace-sized hotel that dwarfs the rest of the village. I presume it existed long before the reserve was established and was probably used for tiger hunts by the rich and powerful, both Indian and British.
The Lonely Planet Guide says there are 21 wild Bengal n the reserve. They are generally solitary and territorial animals unless they are mating. They do not form “prides” or family units like lions. For some reason their hunting and living style is more successful than lions and they have gradually driven lions out of most of India. The last prides of lions in India exist only in the western-most state of Gujarat. Tigers prefer a good hunt over easy prey, so they usually hunt the local sambhars and spotted deer instead of humans or cows.
We know the chances of encountering a tiger are next to nil. They are very discreet, well-camouflaged and not prone to sleeping most of the day, like most cats.
The lodge has a beautiful setting in its valley in the reserve though, so we are very happy to be here. It is the most beautiful and natural place we have encountered in India so far. It is mostly empty, perhaps with a couple dozen tourists, and none of them beings cyclists or backpackers except for us. It has an elegant and affordable dining room, which we splurge to have a meal in. From the top floor of the palace there is a postcard view of the valley. We linger here after dinner to watch the sunset.
After dark the outside of the palace is lit with lights, outlining its frame. It begins to feel a bit like Disneyland without the crowds. Frank and I meet a German fellow named Joel Edelman who has been living in the lodge for the past two months. He is fixated on tigers, which explains his presence here. He asks us to call him Tigerman Edelman. The title probably sounds less cumbersome in German.
Joel is full of stories about tigers. The one the remains as I lie in bed tonight is his encounter with a tiger that charged him. Three years ago (he has been coming here every year for some time) he accidently surprised a female Bengal who had been lying invisibly in tall grass. She let go a terrifying roar and made three huge bounds towards him before veering off. He said the roar was so fierce that it paralyzed him. Tigers, he told us, always make three leaps towards you. Her intent was only to warn him but had be been within the range of her first three leaps she would have killed him. As it was, she was less than one leap away before she veered away. He was convinced he would be killed, and for the next two years he had frequent nightmares about her charge.
PHOTO 1: road south from Kishangarh Bas
PHOTO 2: temple near the road
PHOTO 3: Aravali Mountains and cows
PHOTO 4: moon and rock bluff, coming into Sariska
PHOTO 5: Sariska Palace/Lodge
PHOTO 6: overlooking the valley from the hotel
PHOTO 7: the dying sunset
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