Delhi-Sariska-Ranthambhore-Bharatpur-Delhi wildlife circuit

Peak of summer in Rajasthan. An angry sun looking down in contempt for the scars human folks had etched on mother earth, letting the temperature soar above 45 degrees. The barren landscape, generally devoid of green, appears more desolate. I was on my annual pilgrimage to Ranthambhore, located near Sawai Madhopur, driving down almost 450 km in these conditions from Delhi. The searing heat will boil the tin box you are travelling into an oven. At times you will barely feel the existence of the air conditioner. One needs to get out of the car to feel that the AC is actually working. I had done this trail for last three years without fail. Every time I did it, I said to myself that this is the last time. But the tigers of Ranthambhore keep bringing me back.

Emergence : A tigress from zone 7 in Ranthambhore

Summer is the best time for watching tigers in the wild. More and more people are braving the sun to travel in summers, even to hot places like Ranthambhore. Demand for safari seats have gone up drastically over the years. Booking a safari online in your desired zone is tough, in fact near impossible these days. The controversial online safari booking process has grown in notoriety this year. Supply is as short as just 18 seats as against a train full of crowd clamoring for it. There is sheer madness for booking. Thanks to a friend’s coaching, I could acquire special skill to crack the booking conundrum and manage full days booking for zone 3 and 2. Therefore I am back in Ranthambhore again.

Despite the convenience of trains, I prefer driving down to Ranthambhore. Reason number one is that carrying my heavy camera gear is easier with car. Having a car at disposal also helps you get safari permits released by self or get a chilled beer from shop at half rate than your hotel. Of all the combinations of routes out of Delhi, the Gurgaon-Dharuhera-Bhiwadi-Alwar-Sikandara-Dausa-Sawai Madhopur is the shortest route from Delhi. From my residence close to East Delhi, the distance via this route is about 400km. Most part of this is tolled highway and hence drive is generally pleasant. However hold up is common on NH8. The perpetual road work on NH8 was seen creating long jams on opposite carriageway at two places. Fortunately it was not our carriageway and we were spared with a 15-20 min hold up at Manesar toll both.

As my first safari was scheduled for a Sunday afternoon, I had a Saturday to spare. I decided to utilise it to take a small diversion en-route to Sariska. Besides sparing me the pain of driving down 400 plus km on a single day in this heat, this diversion would also allow me to explore the recently opened Sterling Tiger Heaven Resort. I have a Sterling Holidays membership, and Sariska at 200km is the nearest resort from Delhi. Thus on day 1, I drove around 200km to Sariska via Alwar and then next day, I covered about 250km from Sariska to Ranthambhore (via Sikandara). I had started from Sariska around 8am after breakfast, yet I had reached Sawai Madhpur well on time for my afternoon safari at 2pm. Road condition is mostly excellent, and at worst drivable. The drivable section referred to is the 38 km stretch of Alwar-Sariska road.

My three nights stay at Ranthambhore this year has been my longest till date. Ranthambhore was rocking this time of the year. Baring the first safari on Sunday afternoon, which was actually booked to fill the spare time, we had ‘photographic’ tiger sighting. As a wildlife photographer, and someone who had seen many tigers in wild, a ‘photographic’ sighting is all that matters. Even one photographic sighting out of 4 or 5safaris, which I generally do in a trip, sooths the soul. Here we got super sighting in 5 out of 6 safaris this year.

On the day of my return, I did morning safari that would end around 10am and hence was not expected to check out before 12am. This means that I would be reaching Gurgoan around 6pm and then would be meandering though peak office hour traffic all the way to Ghaziabad. That would be too much taxing after driving 350km for 5-6 hours. The perpetual road work on NH8 and possibility of jams was also a deterrent. So the idea of trying out a different route dawn on me. The alternate route is via Bharatpur-Mathura-Yamuna Expressway-Noida. This would complete the full cycle of Delhi-Sariska-Ranthambhore-Bharatpur-Delhi wildlife circuit. With this route, I would emerge at Noida, close to my residence in East Delhi, thereby avoiding traffic nightmare via Gurgaon.

Keeping the new route in mind, we started from Sawai Madhopur around 12 noon. In any case, we had to travel 150km to Sikandara before taking the call. The attendant at the Sikandara toll both on Jaipur-Agra NH11 estimated the distance to Bharatpur as 60km. I had done 150 already, plus 60 more, and Bharatpur to Delhi via Yamuna Expressway is about 200km. This comes about 410, almost the same as that of Alwar-Gugaon option. Therefore I decided to continue straight to Bharatpur, instead of turning left for Alwar. But the very next road sign I came across announced the distance to Bharatpur as 85km. This added 25km to the journey to make it almost 435km. I was already in a state of no return, and hence only option was to continue driving ahead. However the saving grace was the excellent road condition and very little traffic. Unlike NH8, which is always full of trucks, there were very few trucks on NH11. On reaching outskirt of Bharatpur, we exited NH11 and took the Mathura by-pass to avoid the town. This road is familiar to me as I have been to Bharatpur many times. Passing through Mathura, we reached Yamuna Expressway without any held up. Soon after crossing Jewar toll plaza, we took a break, the only one of the trip, after 5 hours of non-stop driving. Being a weekday, traffic on expressway was also low. We hit Noida almost on the stroke of evening. The drive of almost 400km upto Noida was very pleasant, mainly because of very low traffic en-route.

Finally we got stuck in office hour traffic at the Akshardham junction to NH24. But it was nothing as compared to what I would have to endure via Gurgaon at those hours. Thus the decision to return via Bharatpur turned out to be a prudent one. The extra 35km and additional Rs.120/- toll paid was worth it. In fact, if one is travelling from East Delhi / Ghaziabad / Noida, then I feel that this route should be preferred. Those living around South or West Delhi and Gurgaon, have only one option via Alwar. Total toll via Alwar route was Rs.280/- and via Bharatpur was Rs.400/- (including 240 paid for Expressway use).

With this trip, I had completed the full cycle of Delhi-Sariska-Ranthambhore-Bharatpur-Delhi wildlife circuit. Total distance covered was about 950km. I had now explored all possible routes to Ranthambhore viz. via Jaipur-Dausa, via Alwar-Sikandara-Dausa and via Bharatpur-Dausa. You can explore my blog for my earlier write up on these other route options.

Delhi to Ranthambhore by road

I have been toying with the idea of driving down to Ranthambhore for some time. But the easy availability and comfort of train had prevented me from taking this 450km journey. Driving down also means two additional days. Hence train had always been the preferred route for Delhi photographers. Finally I found companions this time who were willing to drive down. Thus my longest road trip from Delhi becomes a reality in May 2013. I had earlier driven down to Ajmer which also is 400+. I enquired with fellow friends who regularly drives down to Ranthambhore and was advised to take the familiar Delhi – Jaipur – Dausa – Sawai Madhopur route. My research on the net also yielded similar results. But I found an alternate route which I had planned to use on return after enquiring about it at Ranthambhore. In fact the alternate route turned out to be a fabulous route. This is how both the route are :

My starting and end point for the trip is Kaushambi, opposite Anand Vihar ISBT in East Delhi. The general zero point for trips put of Delhi at Dhaula Kuan is about 20km from my home. We started at 0530 in the morning to beat the rush at Guragaon and Manesar toll gate.

Route 1: Delhi – Jaipur – Dausa – Sawai Madhopur

Kaushambi – Gurgaon : 36 km

We used Kaushambi – NH24 – Sarai kale Khan – Barapulla Nallah elevated road – Moti Bagh – Vasant Vihar – Gurgaon. Beat the rush by starting early. You should aim to cross Manesar before 7am. Toll : Rs.21/-

Gurgaon to Jaipur : 247 km

Continue on NH8 via toll gates at Manesar (27rs), Shahjanpur (107rs) and Manoharpura (51rs). Though the road condition is good, there are at least 15 flyovers under construction resulting in slow diversions and hold up on these sections. This can easily add upto 1 hr to your travelling time. Total Toll is Rs. 185/-

Jaipur to Dausa: 50km

Leaving NH8, continue to Jaipur city by following road signs. Once you reach intersection for Amer, continue straight (or slight left). The right goes to Jaipur via Amer. Couple of KM down the line you will reach a flyover which has two carriage way. Take the leftmost carriageway for Dausa. The right one goes into the city. Almost immediately at the end of the flyover turn left to find the road for Dausa. This is the Jaipur – Agra NH11. There is a toll palza. Private cars are toll free at this plaza. To avail this use the leftmost gate. Soon you enter a tunnel and gets out to an excellent four lane highway. You will have to pay toll at Rajadhok. Leave the highway at Dausa by turning right. Toll: Rs.50/-

Dausa to Lalsot: 35km

Once you leave NH11 and enter Dausa continue straight, cross a zig-zag flyover and then turn right al the end of the flyover. Once you leave the town, you will find true country side. The condition of road upto Lalsot is decent. About 10km of this stretch is bumpy and potholed. Keep your speed low to avoid potholes that appear out of nowhere. No toll on this section.

Lalsot to Sawai Madhopur: 75km

Maneuvering Lalsot town is a nightmare. The 1 km stretch has literally no road with potholes as big as small ponds. To compound it, the stretch is jam packed with buses, jeeps, tractors, etc. Can’t think of how one would drive in monsoon. The town seems to exists on this 1km. Once you manage to leave the town, you are back on a fabulous stretch of tolled road. It passes through beautiful country side. We found two decent places to eat on this stretch. Toll: Rs.40/-

Traffic nightmare at Lalsot town

Finally on reaching Sawai Madhopur, cross the flyover and take a left turn at the end of it to enter the Ranthambhore road. All hotels / resort are located on this 10km stretch. The journey took us almost 11 hr as we took healthy breaks en-route amounting to almost 3 hrs owing to breakfast, lunch and a puncture repair. We also drove leisurely only occasionally touching 100kmph.

Total distance: 445km

Total Toll: 296

On return we deiced to use the following route.

Route 2: Sawai Madhopur – Dausa – Sikandara – Rajgarh – Alwar – Bhiwadi – Dharuhera - Delhi

Sawai Madhopur to Dausa : 110 km

We started very late around 9am planning only one break journey. On return from Sawai Madhopur to Dausa, route description is same as onward journey. On reaching Dausa, drive upto the point where you turned right (at the end of a flyover). Now turn right to get onto the Agra road. Continue straight through it to come onto the Jaipur-Agra NH11. Almost close to the highway was a barrier preventing heavier vehicles entry. They have to take a detour to get onto the highway. But we followed other smaller vehicles and went through the barrier to get onto the highway. Toll: Rs.40/-

True countryside

Dausa to Sikandara : 26km

Tolled highway with excellent condition of road. On reaching Sikandara you pay a toll which is very high for using it for only 26km. Toll : Rs.50/-

Sikandara to Alwar : 71km

Now you are on a single carriageway state highway. But the road condition is as good as the Jaipur-Agra highway. This is a tolled road. Traffic is very low. Sikandara to Rajgarh is 35km. Toll: Rs.50/-

Alwar to Bhiwadi to Dharuhera : 95km

On reaching Alwar turn right to get onto the bypass to avoid city traffic. Continue on this till you reach the circle with Ashok Leyland insignia. Turn right here. Now you are onto the Alwar –Bhiwadi tolled state highway via Tijara. It is an excellent 4 lane highway. There are occasional dhaba type eateries on this stretch. In case you are hungry then you should fill your tank in any of these. There is no decent restaurant. Toll: Rs.55/-

Dharuhera to Gurgaon : 50km

This is where we faced traffic for the first time on return. Two flyovers under construction, diversions and Manesar toll gate ensured heavy jam. Fortunately traffic was moving and we got away with about 40 min of additional time as compared to our onward journey. Toll: Rs.27/-

Gurgaon to Kaushambi: 36km

It was around 3pm when we had reached the toll plaza. There was long queue at each gate. Yet we were out within 10 min. Despite all the bad publicity. I was impressed with speed of toll processing. Toll: Rs.21/-

The return journey took us about 7 ½   hrs despite of additional 1 hour from Dharuhera to Kaushambi. It was one break journey and we drove leisurely around 80-90 kmph. This route turned out to be at least 55km shorter – only 388km as compared 445km. The total toll was also lower – Rs.246 as compared to Rs.296. To add to it we beat all the traffic hold up, diversions on Dharuhera – Jaipur stretch constructions. On the entire Dausa to Dhrauhera stretch there was hardly any traffic and road condition was out of the world. I failed to understand why people are not talking about this route. One reason may be the tolled state highways have been constructed / completed recently. I highly recommend using this route.

Total distance: 388km

Total Toll: 243

(Note: Journey described herein was undertaken in May 2013)