Is wildlife tourism sustainable in India?
I am a wildlife enthusiast, and I have spent considerable time visiting various national parks and tiger reserves in India to enjoy the tranquillity of nature and cherish the memories of “Tiger Sightings”.
I visited Jim Corbett National Park, Kanha Tiger Reserve, and Bandhavgarh National Park more than once in the last few months. I felt incredibly blessed and happy, and the trips were memorable.
Yet, I couldn’t help but wonder how long we would have this luxury. How long before we can continue this sustainable tourism and pass on this luxury to our next generation? We must pass on this piece of nature, that I was sure but whether we would be able to do was a difficult question.
I interviewed forest guards, guides and drivers of these national parks. I read a lot of articles, books, and interviews about wildlife conversation, poaching, and man-animal conflicts around the world but mostly in India.
I could see the following themes:
Positives
Huge economic gains of local communities due to wildlife tourism
Local participation in preservation
Negatives
Poaching — External threats to the local ecosystem
Man-Animal Conflict due to encroachment
Lack of access to animal migration
Deforestation
Next-generation interest in preservation (Mixed Bag)
Economic Gains
The average number of safari entries to each National Park is estimated at 200 vehicles per day. Generally, we see around 100-125 vehicle entries in the morning and 85–100 in evening safari slots. (Estimation taken from Corbett, Kanha & Bandhavgarh vehicle entry permits.)
Avg cost of renting a full vehicle is ₹3000 (Average of 3 parks)
The total number of people in one safari, on average from observation, is between 4–6. Taking the lower side, we will have four people per vehicle in one safari.
40-50% of people take a safari in the morning and again in the evening. In this case, I will assume that out of 200 vehicles; only 150 are non-repeating. So, around 150*4 = 600 people will stay for the night around that National Park.
Rooms needed = 300 per night who have a booking.
Many people reach a day before and stay in hotels. I will let 150 people stay the night either they have the booking the next day or are done with safari but would travel back the next day.
Total rooms required = 450 per day. Avg cost of a hotel is ₹4000 per night per room.
Revenue generated towards hotel industry = 18 lakhs per day
In Kanha, there are approximately 30 properties around Kanha National Park that allow online booking and a few others.
Each property employs around 12–30 employees on average, including cooking, cleaning, guards, gardeners, receptionists, managers etc.
Total employment = 15*30 = 450 people
5 people get indirect employment per property — milkman, butchers, fisherman, part-time electricians or plumbers associated with hotels.
Total 5*30 = 150 peoples indirectly employment.
200 drivers & 200 guides are engaged every day.
We estimate that around 300 drivers, 300 guides, and 400 safari vehicle owners survive in National parks as guides & drivers of safari vehicles.
Total (450+150+300+300+400) = 1600 people get employment solely due to national parks.
15–25% of guides in Kanha National Park are females. Members of the same families are also employed in this business. Tribal art minor forest produce is sold in designated government-owned or cooperative shops. [I bought some neem honey from Kanha national park cooperative store — It was the most authentic and tasty honey I have tasted in my life.]
Estimated income source for 30–50 families.
If we reduce 200–300 people from being employed from same families, then 1000 families earn their earnings from wildlife tourism around National Parks.
At least 100–150 forest guards are employed from adjoining villages as permanent government employees.
These are rural India, so each family generally consists of 5–6 members.
So, one national park positively impacts around 7000–8400 people’s live when people like you and me visit National Parks.
The general travel within the park is around 90 -100 km per safari trip. Fuel charges per km are ₹10. The cost of fuel is ₹1000. Driver Charges ₹700 per safari
Profit of owner of the vehicle = ₹3000 — ₹1000 — ₹700= ₹1300 per trip
Monthly Income of Vehicle owners = ₹1300*15= ₹19500
Guide ranges between ₹500–₹700, monthly Income of guides = ₹600*30=₹18,000 [Many get two safari’s per day and some days maybe they don’t get anything]
Exception: In Corbett, Dhikala guides make ₹1500 per day, translating to ₹45,000 per month.
Local Participation
As you can imagine, some people involved in the business of wildlife tourism get a good source of income, consistent and most enjoyable with relatively stress-free working environments.
However, the permits for vehicles and allotment of guides are from villages adjoining the national parks — mostly, the village name is the gate name or the zone name you are visiting.
So others act as drivers or get employment in hotels around these places. But, many people whose villages are adjoining the national park do not get the option to participate in this wildlife economy.
Some of these are least bothered — if deforestation happens, poaching happens or are pissed off when a tiger comes and kills their livestock.
Poaching
When you visit, you won’t get to hear about it, but if you poke around, you will see that people don’t deny it.
But you can guess from these news reports — Wildlife poaching in India more than doubles during lockdown
If you read this sad story of the terror of the Bahelia gang, you will know the state of poaching in India.
I feel sad to write this, but I have to — read this extract from the wonderfully researched article by ThePrint.
Usually, they prefer full moon nights to study the tiger. A jaw trap is laid and the tiger is caught.
In pain, the tiger can either roar or be quiet. However, what happens next is unbelievable, redefining the meaning of cruelty itself. After the tiger is captured, it is attacked on the nose to anger it. The tiger bites the spear, and there is no damage to the skin. The spear lodges itself inside the throat of the tiger and it inevitably dies. If the tiger does not die on the first try, the spear is used again and again.
The trauma that a tiger endures cannot be compared to any modern torture method.
Poaching in Africa?
Do you know how poaching used to happen in Africa?
People used to take trucks, go inside the forest and come back loaded with tusks. Can you imagine how many elephants would have been killed to fill up truck loads of tusks ?
Man-Animal Conflict
Sometimes, leopards or tigers are poisoned since they frequently attack livestock. Example — I heard this from locals in Bandhavgarh National Park. If a tiger kills cattle (one female tigress with 3 cubs was particularly attacking cattle from nearby villages — one cow or buffalo is a good meal for many days, and it is easy to kill), then the forest guards make a camp and protect the tiger/tigress since there is a good chance that it might get poisoned.
Why poisoned? The money that government pays when cattle are killed is 1/3 of its market price. Often these buffalos generated excellent income for their owners through milk production. It causes immense pain for cattle owners when tigers kill their cattle.
Wild boars create devastation in fields of farmers.
Wild elephants are a nightmare as well.
Animals have historically migrated to escape dry seasons or winters, and these days they don’t have anyway but pass through populated places in case they want to migrate to places their ancestors went.
How is India doing in comparison to other countries?
We are doing pretty good in terms of our tiger conservation projects. The whole world is looking at us. We are at the epicentre of our success in conserving tigers and their ecosystem.
Tiger Count Map from the article written by Gayathri Vaidyanathan for Nature.
Next Generation:
Will next-generation support wildlife conservation?
People, who work on the grounds and people who spend money to see wildlife in nature?
If wildlife tourism vanishes, local communities’ economic gains will vanish, and so will their will to support this cause, at least for a few persons.
What we will leave for the next generation will be a function of our generation and some interest from the next generation.
The average age of tourists on all my trips to national parks was pretty high, but there were many kids. Really small kids. I have so much hope for them.
Two interesting books that you can read are:
