Gir Forest Trip (May 11-14, 2010)

The highlight of our trip was the lion safari in the Gir forest. This is the last abode of the Asiatic lion. We took open jeep trips into the forest area and watched the Lion pride play around. We were amazed as this was a live and resonably close viewing. I feel it is even better (cost effective) than flying to Africa. In spite of all this cozing up to the lions I felt it is also a disaster waiting to happen, with more and more tourists poruring in and pumping money into the local economy somebody is bound to trigger the lions sometime.

The forest is shared by the lions and the villagers who have refused to move away, they have their livestock and are in the milk production business, plus some local agriculture. It is beyond me why one would want to stay soo close to the lion's den. Everytime we felt that we were in the dense jungle we would be surprised by some villager riding by in a motorcyle with his kids. The other community were people from Africa who had settled in this region for generations and had adopted Gujrati language and customs, all this is a byproduct of the trade with the coastal towns of Africa that has been going on for centuries.

The tour guides are local people who earn meagre wages, they have no forest service job, but they just don camouflage and try to be as authentic as they can, then they track the lions by their footprints in the sand to give the eager tourists a good sighting. Most tourists are not patient, and they want their money's worth, but in reality the lions have a mind of their own and sometimes one can totally miss a viewing.

Our camp was really a a hotel with a tent top, it had all the comforts one can ask for with some limitations. Our meals were coordinated and we could not always ask for anything off the menu.

The parks had different rates for foreign toursits which was baffling to us, as if the foreigners were seeing something more than the rest.