India wildlife travel guide

The movement to start saving these precious creatures began wholeheartedly in the early 1970s when India’s Wildlife Protection Act and Project Tiger were put in place. After this date many national parks were created in India protecting precious habitats, tigers, and hundreds of other species. There were only five national parks in 1970; today there are over 120. This was thanks to the Prime Minister of the time, Indira Gandhi, who not only banned tiger killing and the exporting of animal skins in 1969, but also created the Tiger Task Force. At this time it had been predicted that there would be no more tigers by the end of the century.

From hunting to honouring
The tradition of royal hunting, also known as shikar, began in the 16th century, when the Mughal Emperor discovered the ‘highs’ or ‘heroics’ of hunting. This opened up an elitist pastime that continued until the dynasty died in 1857. The British Raj took over this bloody baton as did the Maharajas who ruled the various ‘Princely States’. And a princely price was paid too in terms of animal loss. It is believed that over 80,000 tigers were killed from 1875-1925. Famous stories of these times include one about British King George V and his followers killing 39 tigers in 10 days. Or a Maharajah converting a red Rolls Royce with all the right guns on board to take him into Rajasthan’s tiger terrain and claim his trophies. Meanwhile, the elitist fashion of wearing animal furs created an unprecedented demand.

One person to wake up to the destruction being caused was Jim Corbett (1875-1955), a Colonel in the British Indian Army who was given the task of killing tigers that were notorious for being ‘man eaters’. He always claimed to only kill tigers for this reason, and not for trophies. However, over the years, he turned his skills of shooting tigers in the flesh to shooting them, and many other species, on film, including early cine film. He lectured children in local communities about protecting India’s wildlife, he founded the All-India Conference for the Preservation of Wildlife and he played a major role in founding the country’s first national park, first named Hailey National Park and renamed Corbett in his memory in 1957.

Project Tiger
As well as the national parks, there are over 500 wildlife sanctuaries in India, which include tiger reserves managed by Project Tiger. These have been created with an aim to protect habitats and prevent poaching with the help of the Tiger Protection Force as well as to encourage migration of tigers from one to another. Today, Project Tiger is managed by the National Tiger Conservation Authority and the good news is that finally, after decades of decline in tiger populations, the numbers are on the up. Government research released in 2015 showed that 2,226 tigers had been counted in the wild; an increase of 30 percent since 2010.