Sariska Tiger Reserve and National Park, Jaipur

	Sariska Tiger Reserve and National Park, Jaipur
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Alwar is the jumping-off point for the beautiful Sariska Tiger Reserve and National Park, a former maharaja's hunting ground managed since 1979 by Project Tiger.

Like its more famous counterpart Ranthambore, the sanctuary encompasses abundant woodland dotted with evocative ruins, including a popular Hanuman temple (only open to the public two days per week) and an old fort.

Wildlife here includes sambar, nilgai and chital, wild boar, mongooses, monkeys, peacocks, parrots and other birds, but poaching has regrettably decimated Sariska's population of tigers and sightings are less frequent than at Ranthambore.

The poaching problem came to a head in the mid-1980s, when numbers plummeted from 45 to 16 in a single year. A local tribesman was arrested and confessed to the shootings, which he'd carried out with an old muzzle-loader, aided by poorly paid Forest-department staff.

The best prospect of seeing a tiger is around the artificial water holes placed along the main road through the park to attract animals in the dry season. Access to the park (closed July & Aug, when the animals retreat to higher ground) is limited to daylight hours (dawn to dusk), to protect tigers from night poaching. Park info