The Hindu Business Line : The famed citizens of Gir forest

A 10-DEGREES chill, a feeble wind and a shady darkness brightly touched up by a full moon high in the skies were with us as the open Gypsy started out on Route 6 in the Gir Sanctuary at around 6.45 a.m. in search of the famed Asiatic lions (Panthera leo persica) to be found only in Gir.

Our driver Bharat Dhanji Vaja and guide Janak Kumar Kantilal Dhariya warned us at the start, "Saab, Lion ko dekhna kismet ki bat hai; kismet mein likha hai tho milega (Saab, sighting a lion is a matter of what's written in your fate)." We were not fated to see the Asiatic lion in the first round of three hours and hoped for better luck in the evening round starting at 3.30 p.m. It was hot and dusty driving down Route No. 2 with the fine dust from the forest path sucked in by the moving vehicle smearing us, binoculars and cameras a rich brown. We did hope to see anything as afternoons are siesta time for lions and for that matter the entire jungle.

At around 5.45 p.m. we were on the last stretch when a three-year-old lioness, cut across from the left of the dry, teak forest and stood across the forest track. The driver braked and shut off the engine. The female cub flopped down some 15 ft. away from our Gypsy and looked at us steadily as Paul started clicking desperately. Perhaps, the cub was used to the click of the camera in the forest stillness and did not bother to move.

For about five minutes it rested and yawned before deciding to walk towards us. The driver panicked a bit, started the engine which failed. The female cub walked towards us and when some 10 ft. away changed direction and turned right into the forest. Apparently, it had spotted some kill as it softly moved hunching its shoulders before lying down again to stalk its prey. The female cub had given us 10 minutes of viewing. We waited for some more time for its next move before driving off as it was getting late and we had to be out of the forest by 6 p.m. That was on the evening of January 7.

The Gir forest and its famed citizens offered us a bonus on the evening of January 8. We had taken the same route and were cruising along spotting sambars, neelgai, spotted deer and two wild boars when a Gypsy with tourists coming from the opposite side asked us to move fast to sight three tigresses. Our driver pressed the accelerator and in about five minutes we turned a corner to watch with tingling senses a mother with a radio collar and two cubs on our left some 20 ft. away.

For some 15 minutes we noted the movements as the two female cubs rolled on their backs with one falling over the other and the mother watching the proceedings with some satisfaction. Through the binoculars one noted the twitch of the ears which had two distinguishing black spots on the back of the ear lobes and the tail with a long tassel of black hair at the end like a small braid.

At regular intervals, the tail tapped the ground and after some time the beasts did not bother about us deciding to squat on the ground with their backs to us. The coat is a light yellow merging with the dry grass around. The best moments were the huge yawns showing off their powerful teeth and tongue.

Going by S.H. Prater in the Book of Indian Animals, the Gir lions mate between October and November with the young produced between January and February. The period of gestation is about 116 days. The male stays with the family protecting the young. The ordinary litter numbers two, sometimes three and may go up to five. The average length of the Asiatic and African lions is the same, a few inches over 9 ft. The largest recorded measurement of an Indian Lion is 9 ft. 7 inches. Unafraid, the forest guard stood on the track describing them as he had seen many in his regular forest walks over years. He placed the mother's age at around 6 years with the two females being about three years old each. The Wildlife Institute of India, Dehra Dun, is doing a project radio collaring a few tigers and leopards and the mother in front of us was one of them. The radio collar looked a bit like a dog collar or the cervical collar which humans use and one thought something more easy to use needs to be invented by modern science to track animals. "Ye log public ko marthe nahin hain (They don't attack humans)," informed the forest guard, who was armed with a thick stick, and that was confirmed by the many maldharis (milkmen) who live in the forest. The show had lasted for about 15 minutes.

Out of four trips we sighted lions twice and the general opinion among the forest guards was our sight rate at 50 per cent was good. We were in the off-peak season and good rains had pushed the predators (lions) deep into the forest and they would come out to the water holes only in the summer.

At Sasan-Gir, the peak tourist season falls during Deepavali, Christmas and the summer vacations in from April to May with the sanctuary closed for four months from June 16 to October 16 every year.

The Gir eco system is semi-arid with dry deciduous teak, babools and bamboo clusters forming the vegetation. The Gujarat Government has declared an area of 1421.1 sq. km. as protected area comprising 258.7 sq. km. of National Park and 1153.4 sq. km. as sanctuary.

Besides, 470.5 sq. km. of forest area constitute the buffer zone as reserve, protected and unclassified forest. Thus, a total area of 1,882.6 sq. km. forms the Gir forest. As we ended our last round, Bharat, our driver and Janak, our guide, told us in no uncertain terms: "Lion hamare hain aur hamare rahenge (The lions are ours and will ever remain so)." It was said in as much pride as the lions have.

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