The Hindu Business Line : Tourism, tribals thrive except the tiger

IT was late afternoon at the Ranthambhore National Park when we heard the first call of the chital (spotted deer). The driver of the Canter, in which we were travelling, switched off the engine as the forest air buzzed with the calls of chitals located at various points under the dhok trees. The chital herds had, probably, turned aware of the stealthy movements of a tiger, as there was talk of the particular forest patch being home to a tigress and two cubs. The loud bell-like notes from the chitals fell silent after five minutes, and the forest became quiet. We did not see the tiger even as we scanned the dry deciduous forest, made up primarily of dhok trees (34 per cent), with binoculars.

Over two days we made three trips into the park with a good monsoon touching up the forest in shades of green. Moving round the Padam, Rajbag and Millik talavs (lakes) framed by the Ranthambhore Fort atop the Aravalli range, we noted a crocodile resting at the Millik talav with its right shoulder torn apart. We gave up the crocodile as dead, when we saw it on the second day at a different spot in Millik talav with the deep red gash still showing. We were a group of seven — Kishor Rithe, Dr Dharmendra Khandal, Dr Rudy Rudran from the Smithsonian Institution, US, his wife, and Nanda Senanayake and his wife.

There was disappointment over not seeing a tiger; there was compensation in watching sambhars and wild boars wading deep into the Rajbag talav eating aquatic plants. One sambhar stag stood neck deep in water chewing lily plants and could have been a prime target for crocodiles or tigers. We also sighted twice the black-tailed mongoose and once a spotted owlet. "We may not have seen tigers but neither did we see pugmarks except at two places. That's worrying," remarked Kishor to this writer.

The architect of the Ranthambhore Park, 70-year-old Fateh Singh Rathore, thought there were around 18 tigers in the area.

An injured crocodile at Millik talav in Ranthambhore National Park. - Dharmendra Khandal

Tiger Watch, an NGO run by Fateh Sigh Rathore, has brought out a study which warns, "The time has come to face the truth or the tiger in Ranthambhore may disappear... . sooner than later." Officialdom is not appreciative. Local papers reported the visit of a team of MLAs saying Ranthambhore was at least not going the way of Sariska. This writer is scared of the number game being played.

In November, international and local experts will tour various tiger reserves to put down a number to the tiger population.

The report of the State Empowered Committee on Forest and Wildlife Management "Securing the Future" (August 2005) has recommended immediate action and fixing of responsibility for the decline of the tiger in Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve from 47 in 2004 to 25 in 2005.

Fateh Singh Rathore contends the base number of 47 is on the high side, and added that at least three to four tigers have been lost to poaching in the August to October phase.

Poaching and grazing are two important reasons for the loss of tigers and tiger habitat in, probably, one of the most pleasurable tiger reserves in the country.

While moving round, Nanda Senanayake and his wife spotted four buffaloes grazing on the heights near the fort. Some 96 villages with a population of 200,000 located outside the park trek the forest to cut wood. A wall has been built around 40 per cent of the park to keep wild animals from straying outside the park, and preventing villagers from going inside. But, we saw the wall broken at many places and people moving in and out of the park.

The 1,330-sq. km Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve comprises Ranthambhore National Park (400 sq. km), the Keladevi Sanctuary, Sawai Mansingh Sanctuary and the Kunawalji Sanctuary.

The report, "Securing the Future," admits to the reserve facing "biotic pressure." There are 42 villages within the boundary of the Keladevi sanctuary and another 190 villages within five km of the sanctuary. There are 60 villages located within two km of the park and 36 villages located within two km of the Sawai Mansingh Sanctuary.

"The grazing problem in the reserve has attained ominous levels, and if unchecked at this stage the Ranthambhore core area might go the Sariska way," admits the report.

The Ranthambhore park is the only area left for breeding tigers in the entire Aravalli range. The Moghiya and Bagaria tribes live by poaching.

According to Tiger Watch, each village has assigned a tribal shooter (Moghiya) for protecting their crops from herbivores of the park; in turn the Moghiyas, who deal in hides of tigers and leopards, knock down the predators to run a mutual benefit operation. There is a famous Ganesh temple in the park, which brings in some seven to eight lakh people during the September mela; about 15 to 20 lakh visit the temple in a year, with a 14-km parikrama built near the temple for pilgrims.

There is a strong view that at least the parikrama should be done away with. Pilgrims walk in the core area of the park; diesel generators and loud speakers turn the nights noisy; and there is littering.

When tourism and the spread of exotic weeds are added on, one realises the Ranthambhore National Park has turned hostile for tigers. In 2001-02, the number of tourists to the park was put at 71,918; in 2004-05, it went up to 130,794 and can only go up. Inclusive of three five star ventures, there are 30 hotels catering to tourists in Sawai Madhopur district in which the Ranthambhore National Park is located.

One hotelier admitted, "If the tigers in Ranthambhore National Park go there will be no business for us. Every business here is linked to the tigers of Ranthambhore." P

rosopis juliflora is an exotic tree species, which has entered the prime habitat of the tiger, and today covers more than 60 sq. km of the Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve. Now, Parthenium can be seen near the gracefully spread out lakes of the Ranthambhore National Park.

Indira Gandhi blessed the Project Tiger strategy with the Ranthambhore National Park at the top of the list in 1973. Today, her daughter-in-law Sonia Gandhi may just about be presiding over the last days of the tiger in Ranthambhore. Ranthambhore National Park is Ranthambhore National Park; everything else follows. It is the best fashion statement for the tiger with the first tiger conservation efforts seeded here by Fateh Singh Rathore. Will we have the grace to take the help of this fine tiger naturalist to restore the Park?

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