I had a chance (planned trip would be more appropriate) to visit Rajaji National Park in mid April 06 and thought of sharing my experiences with others who would be interested and would care to read this review.
Rajaji NP unlike Corbett or Ranthambore or even Sariska is unfortunately not a widely publicised national park and I had practically never come across any advertisement in the Travel section of Times of India for it. I came to know about it by virtue of being an amateur member of Delhi Bird Group. During mid of April, I and my husband had a short break and we thought of visiting this lesser-known-to-common-public-like-me but obviously very-popular-with-wildlife-enthusiasts national park.
Much to our delight, it turned out to be a very refreshing and satiating experience, in terms of the expanse and diversity of the area, it's rich Flora and Fauna, the serenity of the whole area and very well within budget of a middle class couple like us.
Some of the basic facts about Rajaji NP can be found at it's official web site https://rajajinationalpark.org.
More details can be searched on net by typing ''Rajaji National Park'' in google and you are bound to come up with many options. All of them, mostly talking about more or less similar options for staying/lodging and describing Flora and Fauna as does the official website. Some sites which I found useful in my research are https://haridwar.nic.in/rajaji.htm
https://gmvnl.com/newgmvn/districts/dehradun/rajaji_park.aspx
I will still describe some of the basics in here to arouse your curiosity.
Rajaji NP spreads approx. 820 sq km across the Shivaliks in three districts of Uttaranchal- Haridwar, Dehradun and Pauri Garhwal. The vegetation includes broadleaved deciduous forests, riverine vegetation, grasslands, and pine forests in the upper reaches.
Entry to the Park is from various gates. Since we were travelling by Road from Delhi, Chilla gate was the closest to us.
You can reach Chilla from haridwar which is exactly 234 Kms from N.Delhi and it took us approx 6 hrs with a stopover midway for Breakfast.
As for directions, there's nothing you can do to get lost. NH56 leads you straight from N.Delhi to Haridwar with sign boards all along the way, guiding you till Haridwar. Upon reaching Haridwar, avoid taking left turn for Dehradun and keep moving straight. You'll come across a crossing (Gol Chakkar) with a Ghat on your left. You have to circle the Gol Chakkar and turn right for Chilla. Trust the Traffic Policeman here as the sign board is faded and in small font which can be missed easily.
Inside the park, there are Forest Rest Houses, which I have heard are not very comfortable and have only basic amenities.
But there is an option to stay at GMVN guest house inside the park itself. It has 6 Gujjar huts (cottages) and some AC rooms and some options for cheaper dormitories too.
We stayed in a cottage which was well furnished with a double bed, 2 bed side chests, a stool, 2 arm chairs and a table, a room cooler, long dressing mirror and attached Toilet/Bathroom with facility for a Geyser.
What more could anyone expect in the midst of a national park.
You can stay at Haridwar in many of the hotels but I wouldn't recommend that, as taking an early morning safari would be cumbersome then.
For GMVN options, you could find more details by clicking on ''Chilla'' on this page.
https://gmvnl.com/newgmvn/TOURISTBUNGLOWS/
There is also a Govt colony inside the Chilla range which was surprising to me as I kept seeing families taking their pet dogs for a stroll on the road. There is a Dam inside the range and very close to GMVN rest house but not disturbing in any way to tourists and neither to the nearby forest. It's a very peaceful feeling to stand and watch water flowing out of Dam at twilight.
It looked like a beautiful symbiotic arrangement between man and nature.
The road I just mentioned, runs through the park and ultimately leads you to Rishikesh, in case you are interested in extending your trip.
We went for jeep safari early morning at 6:00am. These can be arranged by the rest house people. They are a very helpful bunch of people and you can trust them (I wish they were reading this and give me a discount next time :)
Elephant Safari was not possible because both elephants were unwell at that time. Yes, there are only 2 elephants for the purpose. You got to pay 40/- per person in addition to 600/- for the jeep. If you have more people, cost of jeep can be shared but that would also limit your options of stopping to spot, say a small butterfly or a teeny weeny birdie in case you are interested in birds or even a beetle (I could go on and on).
Rajaji boasts of an impressive list of animals and birds that includes tigers, leopards, elephants, deer, jungle cat, wild boar and sloth bear and 315 species of birds.
We could spot at a very close range - Foxes (2 of them), spotted dear(countless), jackals (howling at night behind the cottage), lots of macaques, langurs and 1 wolf (on the dimly lit boundary of rest house) but no tiger or leopard or even elephant.
But that's all luck.
If all my description of wolf and jackal has made you doubt the security within rest house, don't worry. It's safe and the cottage is made of metallic frame all around. Only an earhquake of magnitude 6 can bring it down.
There was a lot of elephant dung all along the track as if we were following elephant herd and many uprooted trees along the way, but apparently the tusker had moved away to another area. Another family that had visited night before, had been lucky enough to get close to a group of elephants. There was the alarm call by barking deer twice with a very distinct reciprocal from another deer. If you can kill your early morning hunger pangs and wait for about an hour or two near a water body, you have high probability of spotting leopards and even tigers. Alas, our tummy got he best of us and we started back to rest house for breakfast.
Peacocks all around and herds of spotted deer are very common. Lots of interesting birds too. Highlight for me was Egyptian Vulture and a close second was a pair of Pied Hornbills.
Adjacent to Rest house is a shrubbery and some tall sal trees which had a family of Grey Hornbills.
After the morning jeep Safari and tasty breakfast (did I tell you they serve really tasty food within their limited resources), you could sit quietly near the river bank or simply stroll around the dam or even to the nearby jungles on your own. Just be careful not to venture out too deep without any guide. We strolled a little into jungles and spotted a very large herd of deer on our own (without guide and without any safari). Be careful not to try and get too close to animals or birds for the purpose of photographing them. Enjoy them from a decent distance. Enjoy the fresh and clear river water. Sit on the boulders and feel the rushing water over your feet. Word of caution : It doesn't look deep, but IT IS for any human to drown. So, keep to the banks.
Evenings are mystical and nights give a eerie and mysterious feeling owing to the sounds of various nocturnal creatures. An occasional alarm call and then frantic calls of a deer at night reminds you, that, out there, the circle of life is getting completed and we the humans are nothing but a part of it.
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