esides an Everest tour, one of the most exciting adventures in India is to explore its wildlife.
Animals are never far away in India. Even common house pests could include such exotics as a red-rumped monkey or a mongoose, besides the geckoes flexing on the wall or a scorpion hiding inside a shoe. Mynah birds and an occasional cobra in the garden come as no surprise. Camels and elephants wander in the street traffic and humped cattle sometimes outnumber the vehicles on the road. Water buffalo loll beside the dhobi ghats, where laundry is done. Huge birds of prey - vultures or pariah kites - spiral overhead.
Lions, tigers and bears - savage and shy - inhabit South Asia from Himalayan cloud forests to desert scrub. Land-clearing has encroached on much of the former hunting grounds, and without the game reserves and sanctuaries many more might disappear. There’s no chance of spotting a cheetah now; the last of these died in 1994. The government of India continues to permit the destruction of big cats which are proven man-eaters, and so-called “cattle lifters” are often gunned down for revenge as well. These can be leopards, panthers, or tigers, though snow leopards and the daintier clouded leopard are often spared.
Hundreds of stocky Asiatic lions prowl the Gir Forest Reserve in Gujarat, the only place in the world where they thrive. Unlike African lions, these cats don’t have much mane, but carry most of their shaggy hair on the tip of their tails and elbows. In the 1990s some young males strayed outside the park and were neutered by rangers, who were anxious that local cattleherders shouldn’t start shooting the lions if they dared put a paw outside their sanctuary. Striped hyenas feed on the lions’ leftovers and there are more panthers visible in the Gir - pronounced “gear”, not “Grrrr” - than at any other Indian park.
Bears are more aloof. Himalayan brown bears are heavy-set and larger than their black cousins, who live below the tree line on Himalayan slopes. Sloth bears, found over much of India, are mostly nocturnal. All three varieties can climb trees and swim if put to the test. The sloth bear grunts with pleasure or anger, and digs for termites and other grubs. It gobbles bees, but prefers honeycomb or sweet fruits and berries. The bears are hunted for their gall bladders, sold for Chinese fertility medicine. Miserable sloth bears can be seen in cities, shuffling along in chains and a muzzle, and earning a few rupees for their captors. In the forests of the northeast red pandas, resembling slim, auburn raccoons, are found.
