Nature and people stories from India

Gir National Park, the land of lions – in fact the only abode of the Asiatic lions. The pride of the state of Gujarat in India, to an extent that every time a plan is drawn up to shift some lions to another park, to prevent in-breeding, political battle lines are drawn. 3 of us - Dev Anand Paul, Vaithiya Nathan and myself planned a visit to this pride of India, in Nov 2012. This trip was one hell of a roller-coaster, right from the planning to the safaris. The planning began in July, between Dev and me, who till then were only facebook friends, knowing each other through a common friend. The plan was to visit Bera to see leopards, as I am yet to see a leopard after 15 yrs of wildlife trips. A lot of gathering info and talking to people and we decided to drop it, for reasons we were not comfortable with. What then? At that time the Supreme Court had banned all tiger safaris and nobody knew when they would start if at all. Nov first week is too early for birding trips as well.....w

Day - 16th Aug 2012. Place : Desert National Park, Rajasthan More than 3000 sq km of desert, a unique ecosystem of the Thar desert,a vast expanse comprising of rocks, sand dunes, salt lake bottoms, patches of grassland...some green, some dried and golden. Supposedly one of the largest National Parks, a fragile ecosystem, home to varied forms of wildlife. And in this miles and miles of desert with its inhabitants there were only 4 more living forms of life on that day - Anjali, myself, the driver and a so-called guide.  Yes, unbelievable but true....this treasure trove of wildlife remains largely untouched by tourists and visitors. Considering the hordes of tourists and the mania surrounding other popular wildlife spots, it is a mystery that this place remains largely unexplored and not much talked about. It is of course true that we went there at a time when you wouldn't expect tourists or wildlife enthusiasts, but from what we saw of the presence (or rather absence) of an