Bandhavgarh tigress death

The last week came the news that a tigress had died at Bandhavgarh due to internal injuries which were probably caused due to being hit by a vehicle.  There are stories abound that it was caused by either a tourist vehicle or a vehicle taking VIPs for a safari.

In my various safaris I have seen the jeep drivers at safaris drive at very high speeds across the terrain in their zeal to ensure that their guests see a tiger.  Nothing wrong in the driver and the guide taking all steps to ensure that their guests see the king of the jungle.  However, it should not be at the cost of safety of the guests and the animals.  In my trip at ranthambore over the last weekend (yes I know trip report is due!) I had jeep driver who almost drove into sambar deers, peacocks and langurs.  The older sambar deers generally were able to make it past, but on a couple of occasions, we passed right between the herd separating the junior members of the herd from the older ones at high speed.  In the hot weather, the sambars were anyway seemed tired due to lack of water in the forest, the last thing they need is to have their stress levels increased by on rushing jeeps.  On multiple occasions, we almost treaded on the beautiful tail of the peacock.  The problem is that the drivers of the jeeps assume that the animal will move out of the way.  This should never be the case.  The animals should have the right to way in their own jungle.

Speeding is just one of the problems in our safaris.  In their hurry to ensure that their guests see tigers, I have often seen that moment a jeep figures out that a tiger is in the vicinity, signals are sent to all the other jeeps in the zone.  The tiger is then completely encircled and not permitted to move.  I experienced this first hand at Bandhavgarh in April beginning.  A tiger (named Kalua) emerged from the cliffs and instantly it was surrounded by at least 14 jeeps and 2 canters.  It was clear it was looking to cross the road across to the other side of the forest.  However as it got no space at all, it was forced sit and stare at the jeeps.

Above is the picture at Ranthambore taken sometime last year, where the tiger was expected on the bushes on the right hand side.  Again there were some twenty jeeps, canters which had surrounded the area.  This time around, the tiger was nervous enough not to make an appearance.

I am in no way suggesting that tiger tourism be banned.  However, it needs to be regulated.  The zone system implemented at Ranthambore and Bandhavgarh are a great idea.  However, it is not exactly serve the purpose as the no. of jeeps are too high and also there are no ways to monitor the movement of jeeps to ensure that they are following the allotted routes.  In Ranthambore, the jeeps had originally been affixed with GPS trackers, but now I understand that the GPS tracking systems have been taken off.  This problem is very acute in the "peak" winter season, when the parks are full with tourists.

A way out of this could be to add more time zones between the morning and evening time zones for the safari and reduce the number of jeeps permitted for each safari.  However, this is a layman's observation, not sure whether it will actually work.

While it may be easy for me right now to blame lack of regulation of jeep safaris in the park, the thing is it is the guests like me and you who push the safaris guides and drivers to cut corners, rush from one place to another in search for the tiger.  In this often people miss out on the other attractions of the.  I met a gentlemen at a national park recently.  He had followed a leopard for ten minutes of the road had great pictures but was cursing the driver for failing to show him a tiger!

We desperately need to educate people that while tiger being the national animal is of couse the more prominent resident of our forests, the Indian wildlife is very diverse and there is a beauty even in a 'common' neelgai.  It is true that beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder! To be continued!