Spotted cat spotted

Every Jungle Safari I have done in my life was only about seeing Tiger paw marks or Bear shit or wild boars. Never have I seen a tiger or a lion or leopard in a jungle Safari. This was true until I visited Jawai

Jawai is a place near Jodhpur. It’s popular only for two things. Leopards and Jawai Dam. Both are worth visiting.

We left in the morning at 5am for the safari. I stayed at a hostel where there was none other than me. And the safari was also only for me and no others. I had no expectations and I was perfectly ok if I didn’t spot a leopard. But the leopard had other plans.

At around 7am, a leopard came out of a small cave, climbed a rock and sat there. We were standing about 30 meters from the leopard in the Jeep. He sat there for a good 15 mins, stretched his body and sat back again. He gave a good look at us.

It was an open jeep and there was no protection. However the locals were confident that the leopard won’t attack. It has access to a lot of food, available from the villages by hunting sheep and cows. And so there was no need to attack humans.

The locals in the area were extremely mindful. They made sure that the Leopard’s habitat is not affected. They were against feeding or disturbing the leopards. They were saying that the leopards are migrating away from the area as there are many tourists visiting. Since the Safari is not controlled every person starts off a safari. To show the leopards to the clients somehow, they resort to feeding it disturbing it etc. I felt bad about it. But one solace was that I travelled with locals there and they knew what they were doing. They didn’t even allow me to talk loudly near the leopard.

These were the best photos I could take with my iPhone. While I can sit at home and see wild animals in close up on Discovery or NatGeo channel, there was something about seeing the leopard directly in the Jungle. It was thrilling and it felt like I am in his territory, and he was ok with it.

We saw the sunrise post that and returned to the room feeling contented.

Jawai is also very popular among Gujjus as it’s one of the closest place to Gujarat in Rajasthan where you get alcohol. Apart from that it is popular among some celebrities. Katrina apparently visited Jawai for new years.