India’s Supreme Court lifted its interim ban on tiger
tourism on the 15th October – so is everything back to normal for
tiger watching trips? Absolutely not!
Most Indian states took little notice of the Wild Life
(Protection) Act, 1972, which rather vaguely said that tiger reserve ‘core
zones’ should be ‘inviolate’. States made their own definition of what this
might mean – some decided that any number of visitors could go provided they
didn’t stay overnight; others decided the State could built tourist lodges in
the core zone and others ignored it completely & left it as a free for all.
Community activist Ajay Dubey instigated the ban, because he
was appalled at how the Wild Life (Protection) Act was being ignored. In
lifting the ban states have been given six months to respond to the 69-page
document of guidelines drawn up by the National Tiger Conservation Authority
(part of the Ministry of Environment and Forests). A number of states, like
Karnataka, recognise they don’t comply – so they have maintained the ban on
tourists visiting their tiger reserves.
So if you’ve got a tiger watching trip booked - you might
not get to see any tigers.
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