Asiatic lions in Gujarat

If you need a living example of the destruction wreaked by humanity on our wildlife neighbours then look no further than the plight of the Asiatic lions. A creature that once roamed across the Arabian Peninsula and Indian subcontinent from Greece to modern-day Bangladesh is now, thanks to intense hunting at the start of the 20th century, confined to the 258km² Gir National Park (Sasan Gir) and its surrounding wildlife sanctuary in southern Gujarat, India.

Gujarat’s lions are a source of state-wide pride, and Gir owes its success to the forward-thinking ruler of the princely state of Junagarh, the Nawab Saheb Sir Muhammad Rasul Khanji II who declared Gir a protected area in 1890, the ongoing conservation efforts of the Gujarat Forestry Commisison as well as the tolerance and acceptance of the lions by their human neighbours. However, this success has come at a cost and it is estimated now that around 30 percent of Gir’s lions are living outside the protected area, roaming further into lands dominated by people. Perhaps this is the Asiatic lion starting to reclaim its former territory, but the result is that human-lion conflicts in these outlying areas are on the increase.

Visitors hoping to spot the Asiatic lions on safari in Gir National Park need to be aware of these problems, not only to ensure they travel in a way that can benefit impacted communities, but – as the Gujarat Tourism Board says – so we can all start to re-evaluate how we as a society coexist with nature: “Wild natural environments are confined to extremely limited areas, and human civilization, industry and economy has overtaken everything else. The problem is not, in fact, that the lion population has grown “too big for the park,” but that the park is far too small for the lions. As a visitor, let this be an opportunity to spark your imagination on the question of shifting the priorities of humanity towards re-integrating ourselves with the rest of life.”

The Gujarat Tourism Board spells out how visitors are compounding the pressures on Gir National Park: “Tourism itself is a growing threat to Gir. Clearly, the genuine visitor is beneficial, but tens of thousands of people visit the park every year simply as an afterthought to their trip to Somnath or Junagadh, stopping in for a few hours to snap a photograph of the lions in captivity. These visitors create a huge demand for infrastructure but do little of benefit to the park or the lions, not even staying long enough to really experience it or learn much at all”.

As they say, the genuine visitor is beneficial – and this is something that Kashka Lantis, Gujarat expert at our small group vacation specialists Exodus Travels, echoes. “Just visiting, paying your entrance fee, ensures you are helping conservation. More money coming into the park means more rangers can be educated.” And these rangers include teams of India’s only female park guards, who patrol daily to check on the lions’ health and behavior. Kashka adds “This is the last refuge for Asiatic lions and their numbers are increasing here. The conservation strategies are working, so it needs your support to continue to flourish. By choosing Gir National park, you’re also supporting a state that is less visited and receives less income from tourism to India than other areas.”

Gir needs tourism which supports the farming communities surrounding the park, giving economic value to protecting rather than fighting against the lions, and providing alternative sources of income so any livestock killed by lions is a less devastating blow. The Tour Operators for Tigers (TOFTigers) network is working to do this – by training local guides, setting up handicraft cooperatives, running environmental education programmes for example – and many of our Gujarat specialists are either members themselves, or use accommodations in Gir National Park which are part of the network.