A Den of wilderness

Its vacation time and also plan some quick trips. Besides regular beach and hill station trips, national parks, especially the tiger reserves are the most preferred ones. For two reasons precisely- it is time to go to tiger reserves before they close for yearly four month monsoon vacation period. Secondly, in this sweltering heat, chances of wildlife sightings around water bodies is more likely.

(Read: Some wild moments in Sariska!)

Had done quite a few posts about Sariska Tiger Reserve and places around it of lately. Now it is time to look at places of stay.So here is the review of the place, where we stayed- RTDC’s Tiger Den, located at the Sariska Gate of the Tiger Reserve. I have stayed in these government tourism properties at various places across North and had mixed experiences.

(Also read: Birding in a Tiger reserve)

There can be no denying to the fact that when you are visiting a jungle, you will certainly like to stay at a place closest to the jungle, which can give you real feel of it. Tiger Den is definitely one such place near Sariska Tiger Reserve and National Park. Obviously, when you are there for a jungle trip, least you should expect is any luxury. Tiger Den is a property of Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation (RTDC). Hence, it has all the pros of a government property and it also has all the cons of a government property. But despite all the cons, I will still always love to stay here, whenever I visit Sariska. Ever since, I went to Sariska for the first time, may be roughly thirty years back, I had dreamt of staying in Sariska Palace, but this time I felt that apart from luxury, Tiger Den is better in all other respects.

Biggest positive is the distance. This RTDC hotel is just about 100 metres before the entry gate to the tiger reserve. In this respect, this is the closest place to stay near Tiger Reserve. As with all government properties, they have the best locations and are the most spacious. Hence, being close to jungle means that its wild around and you feel like staying inside the jungle. Peacocks and monkeys are around everywhere to give you some wild company. But this also means that you are discouraged to walk out of the hotel on foot, once its dark outside.

(Want to go around Sariska? Read: Khajuraho of Aravalis: Neelkanth)

This hotel is also close to the booking office for the safaris inside the park. SO, when you are staying here, you have an added advantage of reaching booking office in less time and thus get early in the queue if you don’t have an online booking. Its helpful mostly for spot booking for early morning safaris, when you need to be as early as 4.30 or 5 in the morning at the queue for a 6 am safari. Being close means, you don’t have to take whole your group to booking office, as just one early riser can go and stand in queue, by the time others get ready.

Hotel has two wings and two floors. Only the front wing has two floors. Back wing has only rooms on ground floor. These rooms have beautiful, big, lush green lawn in their front. Nice place to relax and for young ones to enjoy. These rooms also have balconies.

(Enjoy forts? Read: Kankawari: A fort and a history in deep jungle!)

Biggest con of this property is the general apathy towards maintenance of the property, which is common to perhaps all government tourist properties, barring few exceptions. If at all they give some effort to maintenance, these government run tourist rest houses can give a run for money to all private players. But since that’s not going to happen anyway, so better to keep prepared. Its not messy, but furnitures, beds, cupboards etc seem to have not been refurbished for ages. They need to bring in some professionalism, but honestly speaking it seems very unlikely having heard all the inside stories from the department and within the government.

Food is normally buffet here, with no menu of choice, but it is still good and tasty. I would have preferred some local dishes in the food. But there are non-veg items as well as sweet dishes included in the meal. Best thing is that buffet breakfast and buffet dinner are included in room tariff. That makes it a bit easier to manage daily routines. Otherwise, there are very-very limited options of eating out anywhere nearby. As for day time, you will normally be out visiting nearby places, where you can get food. If in any case, you are still in the hotel during day time, you can order food, for a charge ofcourse. Besides, you can get tea, and other snacks, pakodas etc at any time of the day.

(Looking for some thrill around Sariska? Read: Haunted fort of Bhangarh: Nothing spooky about it!)

Staff here has been generally helpful and courteous. Two winter nights, when we were here, they arranged separate campfire for us. They were also accommodating in our choice of room, though unfortunately they had limited options in their inventory. Despite that, it was a nice stay overall.