Tiger Dikha Kya?

As we got off the safari-canter at Sawai Madhopur and walked in – all disheveled and dusty – into the hotel lobby, the manager greeted us with a beatific smile – “Aur? Tiger dikha?”

“No,” I said, “But we saw lots of animals and the forest is beau…” I trailed off as I realized that the man had walked away, obviously not interested in any further news of our safari.

And that remained the chorus line for the rest of our trip to Ranthambore, as though this sighting of the magnificent cat was a karmic achievement. From the dhobi at the hotel to the bartender at the Sawai Madhopur Lodge – “Tiger dikha Kya?” seemed to be the clarion call of this little town at the edge of a beautiful forest.

No, we didn’t get to see the tiger and I am really not surprised nor disappointed. Ranthambore is a beautiful sanctuary and if one does not obsess about seeing tigers there is much to see and enjoy. Of course, if you do see one, be convinced of good karma in previous births.

The safari arranged by the local government is the only way to see the interiors of the forest. The sanctuary is divided into five zones and in an attempt to decongest the forest, each vehicle entering the forest is assigned a zone through a draw of lots. If that zone happens to be the tigers’ trail for the day you could get lucky. Otherwise you can also see beautiful craggy hills, an eerie fort, and dense forest land abundantly populated by tentative deer, shy neelgai, showoff langurs, skulking wild boar and a whole host of birds including the peacock, kingfisher, parrots, woodpeckers and owls. But not many of us cared for them.

We took the morning safari which started at 7 am and was a 3 hour ride through the forest terrain in biting cold weather. But we had muffled up sufficiently and once we got into the forest the sights and sounds kept us enthralled. The forest is dotted with small and big temples, chhatris and fort walls built by the royal families, which lend a charm to the forest that I have not seen in other sanctuaries. Neelgai and sambar deer graze happily in the grasslands – obviously not expecting any feline attackers. The peacocks and parrots carpet the ground – they are in such abundance. But the shy tiger remains reclusive and appears only occasionally. And there’s a reason for that.

The sheer numbers of vehicles entering the forest everyday is astounding. Each canter is loaded with excited cheery faces eager to catch a glimpse of the tiger, all urging their respective drivers and guides to ensure that this coveted sighting happens. The smaller jeeps with personalized guides are invariably filled with foreign tourists or officious looking bureaucrats with families in tow – which made me really suspicious of the whole internet booking system that one has to go through to book safari seats. It’s next to impossible to get a booking on a jeep and all hotel staff told us surreptitiously that the large resorts were still managing bulk bookings of the jeeps, despite the online-booking system, so that these vehicles are never shown as available on the booking website.

Moreover, if you are unfortunate enough to plan a spontaneous trip to Ranthambore and land up there happily hoping to hop onto the passing safari, you can bid your happiness goodbye. For it means, you need to stand in queue at the booking office along with at least a hundred touts and travel agents and in the end, when you are facing the holy grail – namely the oily looking booking officer, he will, in all probability turn his back to you to attend to Man-in-a-suit-in-nationalpark-who-is-using-his-governmentdesignation-to jump-queue-and-book -20 tickets -for –family-friends- and-in-laws.

Anyway, the net result is that every morning and afternoon the forest crawls with vehicles sending up clouds of dust, with their engines making noises that can send the mighty tiger whimpering into its cave. Ninety percent of the visitors have little or no interest in any other type of flora and fauna and if a tiger does not make an appearance they return cursing the whole place as a setup, forgetting that it is hugely unpleasant for a shy forest dweller to encounter diesel-beasts full of unruly human beings.

As long as the current format continues treating the forest as a zoo for insensitive, peanut spraying rowdies and the local zamindari of every bureaucrat and his extended family, Tiger nahin dikhega. The national parks have to be treated as sensitive ecosystems and tourists have to be educated to treat these as such. While its all very fine to promote Tiger Tourism, surely we cannot do that at the cost of totally destroying their peaceful habitat? With tiger numbers dwindling not just due to poaching but also due to poor environment conditions we need naturalists to protect them and not the tourist department.

www.saveourtigers.com says that only 1411 of them are left in India. I believe them because I did not see any.