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Safari
tourists reignite Ranthambore
RANTHAMBORE: Showing a tigress
and her two cubs walking freely for a good 15 minutes in her video camera,
20-year-old Manyata, a student of Lady
Shri Ram College, Delhi,
was visibly thrilled. "We watched the tigress and her two cubs for good
15 minutes, as she entered the bushes after drinking water at Malik Lake,"
she said.
Her companions on Canter
No. 91 in Zone-4 of Ranthambore National Park on Monday were equally ecstatic.
"The tigress was spotted after a gap of 10 days as big cats had stopped
emerging from the bushes these days and tourists used to return disappointed,"
said Bhagmal Singh, a forest guard at Bakhola chowki in Zone-4 of the national
park. Bhagmal says that he takes care of the T-4 tigress, which is often
seen in the area.
Braving the economic slowdown,
domestic tourists have been visiting Ranthambore Park in droves as it was
the most preferred destination in Rajasthan during the three-day break
starting from this Saturday to Monday. The domestic tourists, meanwhile,
were found to be a cause of worry for the hospitality fraternity in Ranthambore.
"Indian tourists aayega to tamasha to hona hi hain," (Problems are bound
to occur when domestic tourists come here)," said Satish Sharma, a hotel
employee, pointing towards the mess witnessed at the safari booking window.
Sharma was unhappy over the
recent incident of fisticuffs among the tourists queued up for the safari.
Even on last Sunday, there was a brawl among tourists and Park authorities
had to seek police help and bookings were stopped for more than four hours.
Sunday's was third incident in the season when tourists clashed among themselves.
"Foreigners come with a planned itinerary, but Indian tourists never follow
the pattern and want us to manage things as per their demand," said a clerk
at the safari booking window.
"The irony of Ranthambore
is that every tourist wants to visit the core area and see the tiger, which
is not possible," says RS Shekhawat, district forest officer, Sawai Madhopur,
who looks after the administration of Ranthambore Park. "There were 20
canters with 20 tourists each and 20 gypsies, with a capacity of six tourists
taking a safari every day. These vehicles, however, can together manage
only 520 tourists on a day but the number of tourists during the peak season
is many times higher."
Shekhawat also said that
75% of the bookings for Ranthambore are done online and only 25% are left
for window booking. "So the tourists reaching here should also think about
other natural habitats in the area with beautiful landscapes, lakes etc.
We can't increase the carrying capacity to the protected area as it will
disturb the animals. So tourists should understand the constraints with
us and cooperate," he added.
The forest department was
promoting eco-tourism in the surrounding areas including recent initiatives
like boating in Chambal river, Banas river and safari to Kandal zone in
the sanctuary area. "People are going to these places but they should come
out of tiger obssession and try watching the beauty of nature," he added.
Although authorities cite
the constraints and blame it on tourists, commoners at Ranthambore said
that the local forest officials are in collusion with the hotels and their
agents. "Most of the online bookings are done by the hotel agents, who
are seen queued up on windows," said Sikha Sinha, who had managed the safari
through an agent by paying double of the fixed charges. Sinha was more
upset as she could not sight a tiger even after taking two safaris.
Besides, forest officials
don't depute a guide during safari and tourists are made to rely on the
"wild" speculations made by the drivers, whose apparent interest is to
manage hefty tips for themselves. "There are fresh tiger droppings," says
canter driver Munir during one of the trips to the tiger den. He continues
showing the pug marks, creating curiosity among the tourists. A few of
the serious nature lovers, however, were distraught at the poorly managed
safari with none to explain things properly. As tiger remains out of sight,
most of the travellers stop lending an ear to what the driver says.
Ranthambore
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