By Catherine Fairweather

Sariska

This rugged and remote region of Rajasthan was once treated like an extention of the Maharaja of Alwar’s back garden. The area around the lake, Sariska, was his personal Hunting ground – all 800 square kilometers of it – where he used to take his favorite guests to bag a tiger. Now it’s a wildlife sanctuary, off the well-trodden tourist route. It’s a paradise for birds especially in the cooler season between October and April when the forrest is shot through with the neon flashes of coupling parrots and kingfishers, egrets pose in the shallows and bluejays and Indian rollers swoop around the boats. The lake is named after the god Shiva, and is supposed to bestow youth and beauty on anyone who bathes in the water.

Where to Stay.

The gleaming Mogul-style cupolas and archways of the sensational new Aman resort, Amanbagh, are half an hour’s drive away, on the sight of a former hunting lodge, hidden in a lush walled garden at the head of a gorge. The resort organises expeditions to the lake, with breakfast served aboard the romantic shikara boats brought down from Kashmir.