The period between early 1990s (after the Second Tiger Crisis) and early 2000s was “by and large” a stable time for tigers in the Project Tiger Reserves. However, during this time tigers of a few reserves, particularly the ones that had insurgency and naxalite problem, such as Manas, Valmiki, Namdapha etc. got decimated. Besides the…
The Project Tiger had a very successful run from its inception to the late 1980s. However, after the heady early year, when the Project Tiger was a great success and it was clear that the tiger population was recovering, the project fell into widespread complacency until, in the early 1990s, tigers disappeared in the famous…
It is estimated that there were nearly 40,000 tigers in the wild in India in 1900. Even if we consider this to be a slight exaggeration there were still a lot of tigers in India at that time. Today, according to the Government there are 3500 tigers but in reality there are less than 2000…
Both Dharmendra and Amit have done their Ph.D. in Botany from Jaipur University, so they were very interested in the flora of southern Rajasthan (that’s where Pratapgarh is). I am not very good with my flora, at least compared to the two of them, so it was a great learning experience for me. I do…
The abandoned hut that we were living in was at the base of the Central Hillock, around which most of the kill had taken place. It was not really a hillock, it was more of a low plateau (called dang in Rajasthan). These dangs rise abruptly from flat ground and have sandstone ridges running almost…
In the first week of December we left for Pratapgarh, in the Chittor district of Southern Rajasthan. This area has some highly degraded teak forests – most of which have been cut down by the local villagers. These forests hardly have any wildlife left but a few leopards do live in the area. We went…
On the 1st of October 2004 the park reopened for tourists – the beginning of a new tourist season for Ranthambore national park. I remember the safari on the 1st morning. The park was lush green (it is like that only in the month of October) and all the waterholes were overflowing. I found a…
Ranthambhore National Park, like all project Tiger Reserves in India, shuts down for visitors during the monsoons. Since Ranthambhore lies in Rajasthan – the driest Indian state – it only shuts down for three months of monsoons, from July to September. This is the most dangerous time for the big predators. Due to the monsoon…
Tiger Watch is an NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) based in Ranthambhore that is headed by Mr. Fateh Singh Rathore. If there is one person who should get the credit for setting up this park, it is this man in the picture below. He came to Ranthambhore in 1960 when it was still the private hunting ground…
Mogiya is a tribe whose members have been hunters since a long time. They mainly inhabit the tracts from Sheopur district of the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh to the Gwalior district of the same state. This is a long tract of forested area along the banks of the river Chambal – the “bandit”…