A video that went viral earlier in February showed how an SUV, carrying a group of tourists in the Jaldapara National Park in West Bengal, was toppled after it was attacked by a rhinoceros.
The incident took place during a wildlife safari when the tourists in the two jeeps were clicking photographs of the rhino. Seven tourists were injured in the incident.
The video was shared by Akash Deep Badhawan, an Indian Forest Services (IFS) officer on the microblogging site, Twitter – calling for guidelines for governing wildlife safaris.
What can national parks do? What should tourists keep in mind while on a safari in terms of their behaviour?
The Quint reached out to Anish Andheria, president of the Wildlife Conservation Trust, a not-for-profit organisation invested in wildlife conservation and tackling climate change, to understand better.
Explained: Why Is There a Demand to Regulate Wildlife Safaris?
1. What Actually Happened in West Bengal?
In Jaldapara National Park, a scared rhino, who was trying to cross a road with her calf, charged at a tourist jeep after it came too close, causing the vehicle to topple over. After the incident, the West Bengal government has started screening drivers and guides of vehicles that take tourists inside the Jaldapara National Park.
Last month’s incident follows close on the heels of another similar incident where a one-horned rhino was seen chasing after a group of tourists at the Manas National Park in Assam.
In November last year too, a video, tweeted by Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer Surender Mehra, showed a tiger charging towards a group of people aboard an open jeep during a jungle safari.
Expand2. Is Wildlife Tourism Growing in India?
The National Wildlife Database of the Wildlife Institute of India indicates India’s network of 981 protected areas including 566 wildlife sanctuaries, 106 national parks, 214 community reserves, and 97 conservation reserves. These cover a total area of 1,71,921 km or about 5.03 percent of the country.
Anish Andheria told The Quint that most national parks only open up about 20 percent of their land area for safaris.
Andheria is of the view that wildlife tourism should not be looked at from just a singular lens.
"Whenever an incident (like the one in Jaldapara) occurs, there is a hue and cry for banning wildlife tourism. But one must understand that it is a very microscopic view. Wildlife tourism is the only industry that goes hand-in-hand with conservation," he told The Quint.
"Most other industries are profit-making that harm nature more than tourism does. There are far more road accidents than accidents/incidents in forests but it does not stop us from driving does it?" he added.
Expand3. 'Wildlife Tourism Helps Build Local Economies'
He pointed out how wildlife tourism is responsible for local economies.
"For instance, the Ranthambore National Park, which lies in the Sawai Madhopur city, earns about Rs 23 crore as entry fee (gate money) every year which goes to the government. Think about the money that the guides in the park, drivers, the hotels, and the owner of these vehicles earn then. Because of tiger tourism, Ranthambore must be making around Rs 500-600 crore every year," he said.
Similarly, he pointed out that in Tadoba National Park, there are 22 safari gates of which four are in the core zone and the remaining 18 are in the buffer zone and they are all managed by villagers. It is providing livelihood to about 27-28 villages, in addition to their agricultural income.
Even for those not involved in agriculture, they are either working as guides in the forest, or are driving a car, or have taken a car on a loan and are driving it, thereby pumping money into the local economy. This is the story around most of the tiger reserves in the country, he added.
"The towns/cities around these reserves are better developed than towns/cities that are even around 15-20 km away from these areas," he added.
Expand4. Need For Regulation Of Mobile Phone Usage
Andheria, however, said that the tourism that is taking place nowadays is not risk-free.
"A major factor responsible for such attacks is mobile phones. What happens is that most mobile phones have wide angle cameras where zoom shots are a little tricky to achieve so people end up going too close to the animals. For instance, if a tourist wants to take a picture of the animal, he/she may end up asking the driver to move closer to the animal. The driver may end up listening to the tourist as he/she may end up getting more tips. Drivers should discourage such behaviour," he added.
Andheria said that national parks/reserves could follow in the footsteps of Tadoba National Park in Maharashtra, where mobile phones are not allowed.
"At the entrance of Tadoba, there is a metal box where cell phones from visitors are collected, kept locked, and placed inside the safari vehicle. However, the keys of the box are with the forest department," he said.
Expand5. Tourists to Be Sensitised
Andheria added that sensitisation programmes for drivers as well as tourists are needed to address these issues.
"Tourists need to understand why certain rules need to be followed. For instance, those visiting Kaziranga need to understand that the topography there is different as the grasses are so tall that is makes it impossible to see animals (thereby camouflaging the animals). The tourists therefore should not force the driver to go too close to the grass as there may be an animal hidden there and increase the risk of an attack."
He added that tourists have to make it a point to follow regulations specified for all national parks and reserves like not feeding animals, not getting down any and everywhere, and not throwing garbage.
"But in some states the regulations are strict, in some they are not. For example, in places where the revenue from such tourism is high, (the authorities) generally are strict about the guidelines."
There should also be regulation of vehicles.
"In the Kanha National Park, an exercise is being carried out where a speed limit is being imposed on safari vehicles. The vehicles are fitted with GPS to record the speed of the vehicles and track their movements so that the forest control room gets to know when a vehicle is going off track, which places it has visited etc. This has led to the drivers being more vigilant."
"Any violation on the part of the drivers results in a ban on their entry for a certain period of time. This experiment is also being carried out in Pench National Park. Parks and reserves can adopt this policy," said Andheria.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)
Expand
What Actually Happened in West Bengal?
In Jaldapara National Park, a scared rhino, who was trying to cross a road with her calf, charged at a tourist jeep after it came too close, causing the vehicle to topple over. After the incident, the West Bengal government has started screening drivers and guides of vehicles that take tourists inside the Jaldapara National Park.
Last month’s incident follows close on the heels of another similar incident where a one-horned rhino was seen chasing after a group of tourists at the Manas National Park in Assam.
In November last year too, a video, tweeted by Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer Surender Mehra, showed a tiger charging towards a group of people aboard an open jeep during a jungle safari.
Is Wildlife Tourism Growing in India?
The National Wildlife Database of the Wildlife Institute of India indicates India’s network of 981 protected areas including 566 wildlife sanctuaries, 106 national parks, 214 community reserves, and 97 conservation reserves. These cover a total area of 1,71,921 km or about 5.03 percent of the country.
Anish Andheria told The Quint that most national parks only open up about 20 percent of their land area for safaris.
Andheria is of the view that wildlife tourism should not be looked at from just a singular lens.
"Whenever an incident (like the one in Jaldapara) occurs, there is a hue and cry for banning wildlife tourism. But one must understand that it is a very microscopic view. Wildlife tourism is the only industry that goes hand-in-hand with conservation," he told The Quint.
"Most other industries are profit-making that harm nature more than tourism does. There are far more road accidents than accidents/incidents in forests but it does not stop us from driving does it?" he added.
'Wildlife Tourism Helps Build Local Economies'
He pointed out how wildlife tourism is responsible for local economies.
"For instance, the Ranthambore National Park, which lies in the Sawai Madhopur city, earns about Rs 23 crore as entry fee (gate money) every year which goes to the government. Think about the money that the guides in the park, drivers, the hotels, and the owner of these vehicles earn then. Because of tiger tourism, Ranthambore must be making around Rs 500-600 crore every year," he said.
Similarly, he pointed out that in Tadoba National Park, there are 22 safari gates of which four are in the core zone and the remaining 18 are in the buffer zone and they are all managed by villagers. It is providing livelihood to about 27-28 villages, in addition to their agricultural income.
Even for those not involved in agriculture, they are either working as guides in the forest, or are driving a car, or have taken a car on a loan and are driving it, thereby pumping money into the local economy. This is the story around most of the tiger reserves in the country, he added.
"The towns/cities around these reserves are better developed than towns/cities that are even around 15-20 km away from these areas," he added.
Need For Regulation Of Mobile Phone Usage
Andheria, however, said that the tourism that is taking place nowadays is not risk-free.
"A major factor responsible for such attacks is mobile phones. What happens is that most mobile phones have wide angle cameras where zoom shots are a little tricky to achieve so people end up going too close to the animals. For instance, if a tourist wants to take a picture of the animal, he/she may end up asking the driver to move closer to the animal. The driver may end up listening to the tourist as he/she may end up getting more tips. Drivers should discourage such behaviour," he added.
Andheria said that national parks/reserves could follow in the footsteps of Tadoba National Park in Maharashtra, where mobile phones are not allowed.
"At the entrance of Tadoba, there is a metal box where cell phones from visitors are collected, kept locked, and placed inside the safari vehicle. However, the keys of the box are with the forest department," he said.
Tourists to Be Sensitised
Andheria added that sensitisation programmes for drivers as well as tourists are needed to address these issues.
"Tourists need to understand why certain rules need to be followed. For instance, those visiting Kaziranga need to understand that the topography there is different as the grasses are so tall that is makes it impossible to see animals (thereby camouflaging the animals). The tourists therefore should not force the driver to go too close to the grass as there may be an animal hidden there and increase the risk of an attack."
He added that tourists have to make it a point to follow regulations specified for all national parks and reserves like not feeding animals, not getting down any and everywhere, and not throwing garbage.
"But in some states the regulations are strict, in some they are not. For example, in places where the revenue from such tourism is high, (the authorities) generally are strict about the guidelines."
There should also be regulation of vehicles.
"In the Kanha National Park, an exercise is being carried out where a speed limit is being imposed on safari vehicles. The vehicles are fitted with GPS to record the speed of the vehicles and track their movements so that the forest control room gets to know when a vehicle is going off track, which places it has visited etc. This has led to the drivers being more vigilant."
"Any violation on the part of the drivers results in a ban on their entry for a certain period of time. This experiment is also being carried out in Pench National Park. Parks and reserves can adopt this policy," said Andheria.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)