eye on the tiger: india tiger safari

8/2/2019 Eye On the Tiger: India Tiger Safari

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116 robb report may 2007

AN AUSPICIOUS HEADLINE RAN

on the ront page o the Times of India on my rst

morning in the country. Three new Bengal tiger

cubs had been spotted in Ranthambhore National Park,bringing the total number o tigers in the reserve to

36. The discovery was welcome news considering

that the parks tiger population had plummeted rom

46 in 2003 to only 26 the ollowing year. Beore I let

or India, the travel outtter who arranged my trip

had warned me not to expect to see a tiger; at best,

she said, I would have a one-in-three-game-drives

chance o a sighting. But the propitious report in the

morning paper oered hope that the long journey to

the subcontinent would not be in vain.

Ater two days o recovering rom the journey

and a our-hour drive over bumpy back roads and

through dusty desert vi llages in the northwestern

state o RajasthanI arrived at the gates o

eyeon thetiger

In the former hunting reserves of maharajas,

new game lodges are attempting to replicatethe African safari experience in Indiaand

protect the spectacles elusive star.

by sc o t t g o et z

setting up camp

The Oberoi Vanyavilas opened in 2001 as the frst high-

end saari lodge at Ranthambhore National Park.


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Eye on the Tiger

Ranthambhore. The 155-square-mile park lies within the

Aravalli Range, one o the oldest mountain chains in the

world, and is part o a contiguous series o protected wildlieareas. The parklands steep sandstone clis and rugged peaks

orm a natural rampart that or centuries protected Rajput

warriors rom invading tribes. The mountains also serve to

concentrate wildlie in Ranthambhores valleys and plateaus.

Ranthambhore is home to large numbers o lemur mon-

keys, sambar deer, marsh crocodiles, and other exotic spe-

cies. However, rampant poaching and, beore the 1970s,

legal hunting o tigers has decimated the once-thriving

Bengal population. From the mid-18th century through

the mid-20th century, Ranthambhore served as the shikargarh,

or private hunting reserve, o the Singh maharajas o Rajas-

than, whose ormer ort still presides over the park rom itsperch atop the clis. During this era o the great hunt,

Indian royal amilies believed it to be good luck to kill 108

tigers in a lietime. Their superstition, however, did not pre-

clude them rom slaying many more.

By the time I set out on my third game drive at

Ranthambhore, I had grown accustomed to the monkeys

trampling around Rajput ruins and the deer grazing near

marsh lakes. But the only signs o tigers had been a ew

paw prints in the parks dirt roads. Then we heard a gun-

shot. Shankar, our guide rom the Aman-i-Khs wilderness

resort outside Ranthambhore, inormed us that the parks

wardens were tracking a large male in an attempt to relo-

cate him. Better to see a tiger under anesthesia than not atall, I gured, as we sped toward the sound.

The shot had missed its mark, and we arrived to nd track-

ers walking in a semicircle through the bush. When they dis-

covered the cat hidden near our vehicle, they ordered us to

leave, or saety purposes, beore we had a chance to glimpse

the animal. I had struck out again, or so it appeared until,

while we were driving toward the parks exit, a monster-sized

cat, gloriously regal in her orange and black coat, strutted out

o the tall grass. Behind her bounced three young cubs.

The tigress appeared nervous, worried about the roam-

ing male. I he ound the cubs, he would kill them in an act

o dominance. While she scouted the area, her cubs rol-icked around a allen tree, as i posing or our cameras. But

I could not take my eyes o o their mother. I had seen

hundreds o lions and leopards in the wild and expected

tigers to be about the same size as their Arican cousins.

This Hummer o the eline amily, however, made lions

seem like house cats.

despite their splendor and size, tigers have long lagged

behind lions on the priority lists o saari-goers. The Arican

cats popularity owes partly to its abundance; tourists have a

Trained naturalists serve double-duty as both drivers and wildlie guides at Mahua Kothi, outside Bandhavgarh National Park.

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Eye on the Tiger

greater chance o spotting a lion than they do a tiger. Perhaps

equally signicant, however, is that lions are the stars o an

extravagant, entertaining, and sophisticated show.

Nothing in the world compares to the experience o an

Arican saari. Dozens o game lodges in South Arica,

Tanzania, Kenya, and other sub-Saharan countries pamper

guests in rst-rate acilitiesoten in implausibly remote

locationsthat contrast sharply with the raw beauty o the

bush. Ater sleeping in a $4,500-per-night suite, one might

nd himsel the next morning witnessing a lie-and-death

struggle between a lion and a Cape bualo while sitting in

the comort o an open-top Land Rover manned by expert

trackers and guides.

Recently, however, wilderness lodges such as Aman-i-Khs

have begun creating an equivalent to the Arican-saari expe-

rience in India. The most prominent push is coming rom one

o Aricas largest saari rms, Conservation Corporation o

Arica, which plans to have ve new Indian game lodges by

the end o this year. By bringing its show to the subcontinent,

CC Arica hopes to lure saari-goers to the land o the tiger

and, quite possibly, postpone the cats extinction.

cc africa opened its inaugural Indian lodge, Mahua Kothi,

near Bandhavgarh National Park last November. But the Johan-

nesburg rm was not the rst company to build a high-endsaari camp in India. Oberoi Hotels & Resorts, a Delhi-based

chain, opened the Vanyavilas tent resort near Ranthambhore

in 2001. In 2003, Singapore chain Amanresorts ollowed

Oberois lead with Aman-i-Khs, a sleek tent resort modeled

ater the camping grounds o maharajas.

At Aman-i-Khs, the guest experience bears a close

resemblance to those o Arican saari camps. Butlers wake

you up beore dawn or morning game drives, which are

ollowed by decadent brunches. Ater the evening saaris,

you return to your suite to nd that your butler has drawn

a bubble bath and surrounded the tub with candles. Later,

you gather with other guests around a large campre or

cocktails beore dinner, which is served in a tent and accom-

panied by native perormers.

The entertainmentwhich at Aman-i-Khs may consist

o Rajasthani olk music perormed by opium-eating Su

mysticsis one o the eatures that distinguish the Indian

saari experience rom that o Arica. Other dierences are

less amusing. Arica has ar more speciesand in greater

numbersthan India, so spotting big game is virtually

assured on a sub-Saharan saari. Moreover, most lodges in

Arica have control over the rules and protocol within their

concessions. Indian parks, on the other hand, are managed

by the government and burdened by outdated policies.

Rules at Ranthambhore hold that only two game drives

are allowed per day, with schedules set by park ocials

who can and do change them with little notice.

Vehicles must be driven by park rangers, who

have varied naturalist knowledge and guest-

relation skills. The routes they ollow, which

are divided into seven tracks, are predetermined

and cannot be changedeven i a signicant

sighting is taking place on a nearby track.

Since opening, Aman-i-Khs has worked with

Ranthambhore authorities to gain more reedom

o access to the park. Guests now can ride in the

resorts custom-built, open-topped vehicles, and

Aman-i-Khs has hired naturalists who have an

average o 15 years experience in the park. Still, as

the saying goes, The British created bureaucracy,

but the Indians perected it. So to skirt some othe red tape, CC Arica, which operates some 40

camps throughout its home continent, aligned

with Indias largest hotel chain, Taj Hotels Resorts

and Palaces, as it prepared to enter the country.

Mahua Kothi is the rst in a series o lodges the partners

plan to open in the Indian states o Madhya Pradesh and

Uttaranchal. Named ater a tree that plays a role in local

estivals and rituals, Mahua Kothi borders Bandhavgarh

National Park in Madhya Pradesh, approximately 350 miles

south o Ranthambhore. More than a century ago, Rudyard

Kipling selected what is now Bandhavgarh and the nearby

Kanha National Park as the setting or the adventures oMowgli and Shere Khan in The Jungle Book. At the time, the

region belonged to the Maharaja o Rewa.

Like the Rajasthani Singhs at Ranthambhore, the mahara-

jas o Rewa used their jungles as private hunting reserves.

Bandhavgarh, however, proved more bountiul than its coun-

terpart to the north. In 1936, Maharaja Gulab Singh o Rewa

claimed a world record by killing his 501st tiger. Perched in

a machan (a wooden platorm high in the trees), Singh would

sit and read a book while as many as 5,000 villagers, known

as beaters, advanced through the orest beating tom-toms to

Spotted and sambar deer are common sights at Bandhavgarh; their predators prove to be more elusive.

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Eye on the Tiger

scare the tigers toward him. When a cat appeared, a tethered

rhesus monkey would sound an alarm, and the maharaja

would look up rom his book and shoot the beast.

Ironically, Maharaja Singhs determination to protect his

tigers so that only he could kill them helped ensure their

survival. Bandhavgarh is now more densely populated with

the cats than is any other park in India, and it is said to be

the best place in the world to spot the Bengal tiger. The

Rewa orests also hold the distinction o producing Mohun,

the white tiger cub, captured by Maharaja Martand Singh in

1951, rom which all white tigers o the world descended.

Tigers came under protection in India in 1973, when

Prime Minister Indira Gandhi launched Project Tiger, a

conservation plan that set aside nine reserves or the animals.

The government prohibited cattle grazing and oresting in

the protected areas, and it relocated

entire villages. Censuses showed that

tiger populations increased rom

approximately 1,800 to 4,000 dur-

ing the initiatives rst 11 years, but

ater Gandhis assassination in 1984,

investigations revealed that orest

ocials had infated the numbers to

ensure continual unding.

Today, the Indian government

claims to spend $75 million per year

on the tiger reserves. Still, most o

the parks have only skeleton stas,

who are underpaid and ill-equipped

to prevent illegal hunting. Poachers

slaughter on average one tiger perday to meet the demand or the ani-

mals bone, which is an ingredient in

a number o Chinese medicines.

Government ocials now esti-

mate the countrys tiger population

to be about 4,000. CC Arica intends

to help sustain those numbers. The company has had success

protecting wildlie in Arica by employing local villagers and

demonstrating to them how they can prot rom preser-

vation. In India, the rm is working with Bandhavgarh

authorities to build ences to shield local villages rom

predatorsespecially tigersthat kill cattle, and it is intro-ducing a version o its WildChild program, which teaches

community youths about the preservation o native species.

Through successul and sustainable ecotourism, live tigers

will have more value to them than dead tigers, says CC

Aricas marketing director, Nicky Fitzgerald, whose hus-

band, Steve, serves as the companys CEO. This does not

happen overnight. First a lodge needs to be built, lled, and

run protably so that meaningul opportunities are made

available to the neighboring communities. Only when this

happens do we believe we can then infuence the way in

which the community views the conservation o biodiver-

sity in Indias beautiul wilderness areas.

CC Aricas preservation plans may help explain why the

company partnered with a hotel chain that is well-versed in

local customsand local bureaucracy. Still, There is no

quick x, no magic wand, says Fitzgerald, just a hard grind

toward tangible results.

like the partnership between Taj and CC Arica, the site

or the companies rst lodge combines elements o India

and Arica. Set between the Vindhya and Satpura Ranges,

Bandhavgarh eatures tropical orests and woodlands, steep

rocky hills, and fat grasslands that resemble those o the

South Arican bush. Sal trees dominate the orest, creating a

thick cover that limits undergrowth. Twenty-two species o

mammals have been documented in the 41-square-mile

park, including langurs, spotted deer, sloth bears, jackals,

oxes, and leopards. Tigers, however,

are the main attraction.

I know, I know. You want to see

a tiger, says Kartkeya Singh Chauhan,

a jubilant CC Arica naturalist serv-

ing as my guide. Beore the sun has

peeked over the horizon, we jump

into a nine-seat Tata (similar to a

Land Rover) and drive through a

tiny town where cows sleep in the

road and villagers carry baskets o

vegetables on their heads. Last

night, the park ranger called, says

Chauhan, an Indian who sports a

proper Englishmans derby. A tiger

made a kill up in the ort yesterday,and the ort just opened to the pub-

lic without the need o a permit. I

think we should hike up there.

The idea o tracking a tiger on

oot is both exhilarating and terriy-

ing. My ears are not quelled when I

mention my desire to see a sloth bear. You know, the sloth

bear doesnt move as slowly as a sloth, says Chauhan, as he

tugs at his mustache. They can outrun a human and kill you.

But I will show you a sloth bear, I promise.

The Tata shits into low gear as we ascend the mountain

to the ootpath. Bandhavgarh Fort, which dates to the rstcentury, looms above us on a virtually unassailable plateau

at an elevation o 2,625 eet. Halway up the mountain, we

park in ront o a 36-oot-long statue o Vishnu, the Hindu

god o protection, reclining on a seven-hooded snake.

Created in the 10th century, the statue lies in a pool ed by

an artesian spring. Chauhan says that in the summer you

can see tigers resting on top o Vishnu, cooling o in the

water that cascades over him.

During an hour-long trek, we hike through dense vegeta-

tion while scanning the jungle or tigers. When we arrive at

the orts gate, with its giant spikes that kept out the elephants

o raiding Mogul warriors, we discover tiger scat and paw


Poachers slaughter on

average one tiger per day

to meet the demand for

the animals bone.


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prints. Vishnu appears again once we enter the ort, this time

as 10th-century rock images depicting his incarnations as a

hal-man/hal-lion, a giant boar, a sh, and a tortoise.

We search the area or the killand or the killerbut

Chauhan concludes that the tiger has consumed its prey

and moved on. Our guide does, however, deliver on his

promise: As we leave the park, he points to an image o a

sloth bear painted on a large map at the entrance.

before cc africa and Taj opened Mahua Kothi, ew visitors

to Bandhavgarh explored the parks ruins. Most people

received only a brie and renzied glimpse o the park as

participants in what is known as the tiger show.

The show consists o tour operators stacking people into

tiny jeeps, racing to the center o Bandhavgarh to grab tokens

or elephant rides, and then driving around maniacally in an

attempt to locate trackers who have ound a tiger. Jeeps speed

past each other to be rst in the sometimes 20-vehicle-long

line o operators waiting so their guests can mount the ele-

phant or the allotted our-minute-long viewings.

At Bandhavgarh, a park-hired guide must lead the game

drives, but the operator supplies the driver. For guests o

Mahua Kothi, CC Arica has enlisted Chauhan and other

naturalistswho are more knowledgeable about the local

fora and auna than are the parks guidesto do the driving.

The day ater our hike to the ort, we set out with

Chauhan in the Tata. While other drivers speed around rom

elephant tracker to elephant trackerwho are having no

luck locating tigersChauhan slowly searches or other

game, spotting or us a rare jungle cat and a hard-to-nd

shrew. Eventually, we pull up to the center station, and

Chauhan sets o to collect our tokens.

They ound a tiger a hal hour ago, he says on his

return. The Jeeps speed o, but we take our time, nishing

our coee and continuing on our game drive. An hour

later, we arrive at the site to nd six vehicles in line. I we

had come straight here rom the station, says Chauhan,

there would have been three times as many.

We wait about 15 minutes, and then it is my turn to

climb a ladder or my our-minute ride. Once atop the

elephant, I am transported. Suddenly, I am Mowgli lumber-

ing through the woods on my pet pachyderm. Then I spot

him. Shere Khan, the tiger, 20 eet away, lits his sleepy head

and locks a golden eye onto mine.

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Eye on the Tiger

Staying on Safari


aman-i-khsSet within the Rajasthani wilds near Ranthambhore National Park,

Aman-i-Khs eatures 10 air-conditioned tent accommodations

with rooms separated by cotton drapes. (The bathing areas oer

showers and soaking tubs.) In addition to game drives, highlights at

the resort include the nightly cocktail hour around a massive campfre

and organic treatments at the spa. Amanresorts oers a package that

includes three nights at Aman-i-Khs and three nights at its equally

stunning sister property, Amanbagh, near Arwal in northern India.

+91.7462.252.052, www.amanresorts.com(rom $750)

mahuakothiNo one travels all the way to Mahua Kothi, outside Bandhavgarh

National Park, or the ood, but you would not be disappointed i

you did. Bullock-cart breakasts in the baghiya (traditional garden) and

campfre dinners o curries and tandoori are essential to the experi-

ence at this new Taj/CC Arica saari camp. The camp includes 12

guest rooms built in the mud-hut style common to central India, with

modern accents o wood shutters, tapered walls, and open raters. Large

verandas look out over mahua trees and open grassland. In February,

Taj/CC Arica opened a second saari camp, Baghvan, near Madhya

Pradeshs Pench National Park, and the partners plan to open three

more wilderness lodges by the end o this year.

+91.11.2680.7750, www.indiasafaris.com (rom $600 per person)

oberoivanyavilasVanyavilas has more o a typical resort ambience than the other bush

camps in India. The 25 accommodations have solid wood and glass

walls and canvas tops, and the interiors are richly decorated with

colonial-style urnishings and embroidered canopies. A tiled pool sits

at the center o the 20-acre, lushly landscaped property.

+91.11.2389.0505, www.oberoihotels.com (rom $700) s.g.

indiaisdifficult to negotiate, and travel between destinations can be arduous and time-consuming. It is thereore wise to plan your tripthrough a well-established tour company such as Micato Safaris (800.642.2861, www.micato.com), which can provide suitable transportation

and guides to ensure a smooth journey. Micato can arrange stays and saaris at each o these new wilderness resorts in India.

Aman-i-Khs

eye on the tiger: india tiger safari

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