Tiger Tourism A Rethink

Breeding Trouble Skeptics at Work

Those skeptical about tiger tourism being an elitist indulgence need a rethink. The skeptical included are a few of those in the service who wish to do away with the men on the jeep entering into the tiger's domain for recreation.

Atithi Devo Bhava!

Absolute inexpressive continence and no respect for senior and foreign tourists on safari is a very sorrowful saga that degrades our cultural inheritance. A more condescending approach is expected from the department, and I believe no inculcation of values takes place here unlike the respected sentinels at the borders.

Restrictive Conservation Initiatives

The attitude is restrictive and conservative in spite of seventy years of independence. Banning regulated tourism in the park will not enhance the big cats breeding, albeit some are hell-bent upon this belief that regulated tourism impacts breeding. This is a lame excuse since there is ample evidence of robust breeding and cub survival in the tourism zones. Kanha National Park is a fine example.

Tigers are dying in our reserves due to poaching by snares, electrocution, poisoning, and whatnot. There are no solutions in place and obsession with well-regulated tourism is not going to help either. Remember the infrastructure burden on the forest department as regards tourism is minimal and even those involved in the field supervision of tourist jeeps are able to conduct their conservative initiatives without much hindrance.

Forest Guides Inadvertent Sentinels

The burden of day-to-day management is reduced by the ever-vigilant forest guides who are anyway temporary employees and their remuneration comes from tourism. Few department employees committed at the gate are totally involved, and infrastructure buildup inside the tourism zone is often on a contract basis with an official designated for supervision. Anyway, any official movement in the park is much warranted since that helps keep an eye! The revenue earned from tourism is plowed back into the parks and this reduces the burden on the state exchequer.

Organizational Dilemma

There are a few organizations that have no faith in the protected area concept they believe that intrusion into inviolate zones is for the survival of the locals. Paradoxically, on the other hand, increased inviolate breeding grounds are a must for other life forms. Such a pathetic approach denouncing the PAs may prevent other life forms from securing their safe heavens. There is immense biotic pressure on these badly exploited resources and there is no relenting.

Wild animals as coinhabitants of the Earth need greater space, and the increasing man-animal conflict is a clear sign of ingression by humans. Humans have literally all the places on Earth to migrate, settle and live, wild animals have no such privilege they are constricted in small corners of this Earth and face immense biotic pressure, space constraint, and extreme threat to their survival. Waves of extinction are not a new phenomenon and more are impending perhaps till complete exhaustion.

The only ban required - well short of - is to limit tourist vehicular movements so there is no crowding. Hesitation in enlarging tourism areas is encouraging the crunch. Limited tourist vehicle entry into a larger area is not going to impede tiger breeding nor is it going to impact the survival rate. This is applicable to all life forms in the core area. Following a conservative approach towards tiger tourism is not going to dramatically increase the population nor it will help stop poaching that is taking place in almost all our tiger reserves. Sporadic cases of poaching are being reported the sad state could be due to administrative neglect or advantage taken of areas in isolation. Tourist vehicle movement will help mitigate this problem. There are immense benefits to expanding regulated tourism in our reserves without threats to the big cat. This is obvious, I repeat since ongoing tourism at Kanha National Park has not adversely impacted the breeding of wild animals in any manner. If we are restricting tourism to a certain limit there should be a rationale behind it. There should be adequate proof of the benefits that accrue from restrictions that are being advocated. This is managed tourism and optimum expansion is advocated.

Enhancing the Buffer for Survival

A large portion of most of the tiger reserves comprises the outer ring with tree cover and some small grasslands, aquatic bodies, settlements, cultivations, livestock movement in the forests, and small commercial establishments. Ousted big cats and mammals move here for succor and this is where they are most susceptible to inconsiderate humans and many are killed.

Tigers and other animals need this area now more than ever as populations in the natal rise. The answer is to translocate populations and rewild the area. Now, this idea may seem highly improbable since uprooting is not just but then these are precisely the grounds that belonged to the wilderness and minuscule population of tribal. With the large-scale incursion of humanity into the sink, the burgeoning human population cannot be accommodated here anymore. Another solution is to delink the forests and grasslands and make them completely inviolate with trespass being punishable. But even in this rare case adequate compensation to those somehow affected by delinking should be made.

A just solution is to translocate and connect with the mainstream with appreciable compensation and jobs as well. This will also discourage ultra movements in these domains. This area can then be developed into time to come for tiger tourism and thus reduce pressure on the core. This is literarily increasing the core not only for the survival of the species but for tourism as well. An increase in tourism will lead to increased employment for the locals and boost small trade. This could be a win-win solution?

Creating robust employment and small-time trade are the futuristic conservation initiatives though quite obvious these have never been accounted for except in a few write-ups. Locals impact tourism and this is nothing. If they make living they will be all for inheritance.

What Sells Live Survives!

This seems to be a bit off the cuff saying but then in life, there is a commercial angle to everything. If the wilderness has to survive it has to pay back and create equity.

Even those who resent the idea of translocation of settlements should understand that the young generation is already migrating to larger towns in search of jobs and business opportunities. Keeping tribes in isolation because of historical empathy is a purely emotional concept and impractical. These places are away from the mainstream with no adequate infrastructure for survival in modern times. Let us be thoughtful and create more and more inviolate space for other life forms including the tiger.

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Uday Freelances as Naturalist in Central India. He is an avid birder and tiger enthusiast. He blogs on tigers, wildlife, and birds. He also writes on the environment and conservation.