NDTV: Ranthambore wildlife safari suffers

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http://www.ndtv.com/environment/WILDLIFE.asp?id=97949 & callid=1

 

Ranthambore wildlife safari suffers

 

Rajan Mahan

 

Friday, December 15, 2006 (Ranthambhore):

 

Tourists to the Ranthambore Tiger Reserve are fuming these days.

 

A ban on the entry of vehicles to the National Park by the Rajasthan

High Court has put a virtual full stop to Wildlife safaris at the

tiger reserve.

 

Ranthambore has suffered losses of over Rs one crore in the past five

days.

 

" All my life I wanted to see tigers. But now I can almost smell them

here and still I can't see them. I am not at all happy here, " said a

tourist from Denmark.

 

" We came here specifically to see tigers. But now we are really

disappointed and we feel a lot of our time and money has been

wasted, " said another tourist.

 

Daily losses

 

The ban implies daily losses of Rs 20 lakhs in Ranthambore.

 

Normally, the 60 hotels here generate 30 per cent of their annual

income in the month of Christmas and New Year festivities. But now,

as tourists here remain sullen and others cancel their bookings, the

travel trade is anxious.

 

" We have already received 80 per cent cancellations of all our

bookings and others are canceling everyday. Tourists keep calling but

we cannot give them any assurance about tiger safaris as the court

has not given any verdict, " said S R Sharma, Manager, Vinayak Hotel,

Ranthambore

 

The High Court hearing on the Government's plea to revoke the ban has

been postponed to December 19. And the fate of the 20,000, who earn a

living from this park, now hangs in balance.

 

With ten tiger cubs being born recently in Ranthambore, and their

playful presence a huge attraction, everyone here was hoping for a

major boom in tourist arrivals. But given the ban on vehicles, an air

of gloom now prevails over India's finest tiger reserve.