Rajasthan HC bans 'guaranteed leopard sighting' tourism around Jawai Reserve

Hotels and other tourism establishments can no longer lure customers of guaranteed leopard sightings around Jawai Dam Leopard Conservation Reserve, as per Rajasthan High Court’s order.

This is a unique conservation reserve dedicated to free roaming leopards dominated by rugged granite hills, caves and scrub forests.

The order prohibits all new commercial activities, including hotels, and industrial activities, including mining, within one kilometre of the notified boundaries of the specified protected areas. It also prohibits conversion of land by the revenue authorities within the said one-kilometre zone.

“No tourism establishment shall advertise or operate on the premise of guaranteed leopard sighting from rooms, camps or private premises, or undertake feeding, baiting, lighting or habitat alteration to attract wildlife,” the order said.

Speaking with The Tribune, wildlife activist Gaurav Bhardwaj said, “The damage done to Rajasthan’s Jawai Leopard Conservation Reserve by these hoteliers and greedy operators is equalled only by the harm caused by those tourists who have no real connection with wildlife. In this reserve hemmed in by granite and the Jawai Dam, matters have reached such a point that tourists are being given a guarantee of leopard sightings or their money back.”

Bhardwaj said he raised the issue with the Rajasthan Forest Department thrice, but no action was taken.

“It was also found that these hotels serve chicken and guinea fowl to leopards so that the tourists can enjoy the spectacle of leopard sightings. What if leopards attack humans? In this context, the High Court’s ruling is important. In this order, the court has laid down that no hotels or illegal tourism activities shall operate within a 1-kilometre radius of the leopard’s ecosystem. Likewise, no permanent construction for tourism purposes shall be allowed within 1 kilometre of this area,” he said.

Schools, panchayat buildings and other government offices will continue to function as before, and farmers can continue with agricultural crops on their fields without obstruction as per the order.

Senior Indian Forest Service officer Mohan Pargaien on X said, “Guaranteed leopard sighting or your money back” is not wildlife tourism. It is wildlife being reduced to a commodity. When carnivores are fed, baited or their movements manipulated for tourists, we are not showcasing conservation — we are commercialising wildness. A leopard is not a performer. A tiger is not a spectacle. A lion is not an attraction. Wildlife tourism must sell the experience of being in nature, not the guarantee of seeing an animal. If we do not delink tourism revenue from guaranteed sightings, the very success of wildlife recovery could become its undoing.”