A tiger safari in Goa?

It’s difficult to imagine going to Goa for, of all things, a tiger safari. A tiger safari is associated with places like Tadoba National park in Maharashtra, Corbett or Dudhwa national park in the Terai belt of Uttar Pradesh. Yet if the people of Goa had their way, the Mhadei Wildlife in North Goa could be the country’s 56th Tiger Reserve. But the government is yet to notify the area as such despite demands of the state’s environmentalists and the fact that the National Tiger Conservation Authority which does tiger censuses, has asked the state government to declare Mhadei as a tiger reserve based on the numbers of tigers seen.

The Mhadei sanctuary is located in Valpoi village, 40 km from Panaji, the state’s capital. Spread over 208 sq. km. It plays a key part in the preservation of the biodiversity of the Western Ghats.

So to support the people’s wishes, it appears the tigers themselves made an unexpected appearance recently. Reports suggest that a tigress and three cubs were seen at Chorla ghat. Their presence was confirmed through night vision cameras installed by the forest department. A local news report suggested that tiger faeces were seen. This is, therefore, credible evidence that the Mhadei sanctuary is located in a tiger belt that connects the animal’s habitats in neighbouring states.

Any environmentalist would tell you that these magnificent creatures respect no state or human-made boundaries. Yet, it remains to be seen why the authorities are dragging their feet on declaring Mhadei reserve as a tiger sanctuary and preserving for generations, India’s national animal.

This writer had the privilege of meeting Billy Arjan Singh as a young Reader’s Digest researcher way back in 1992 at Dudhwa national park which itself was set up thanks to the efforts of Singh who was once a hunter but turned to conservation. He did his best to save the tigers from, ironically, human predators, and won international accolades for his work. Singh wrote many books on his experiences trying to save the tiger, and among his most popular is Tiger Haven,

It is not as if declaring Mhadei as a tiger sanctuary will mean tourists will start to make a beeline for the area. It’s still the beaches that largely draw visitors to this state. Yet by declaring Mhadei as a tiger reserve, we give our national animal a chance to live longer on the sub-continent, and enthral us for many more decades to come. Under Project Tiger, the numbers of this animal are estimated at over 3600 tigers in the wild. We need to do everything to preserve the tiger’s habitats, and give them a chance to live in peaceful co-existence with humans.

(The author is a senior journalist based in Goa. Views personal.)