Udaipur to Beri Safari Lodge and Leopard Safaris

Today is April 15, 2022 - tax day (although this year I think that falls on April 18….). After breakfast which was the same as yesterday’s but inside the restaurant (Masala Dosi, Masala Chai, fruit) at 9:30 we set off for the Bera Safari Lodge, about 86 miles via NH27 with a stop off at the Ranakpur temples.

This is a very old Jainism temple complex, built in the 14th century. It is located near Sadri in the Pali District of Rajasthan. A local businessman started construction after he had a divine vision. It is one of the largest and most important temples in Jainism. Hindus think Jainism is an offshoot of Hinduism, Jains think that Hindus have adopted some of their believes. The main beliefs include non-violence, asceticism, and non-absolutism. They follow a very strict diet so as not to eat anything that might be alive. Also, they are limited as to what clothing they may wear.

I am getting ahead of myself as we didn’t get to the temple until about mid-day. We left the Udaipur city limits through a pink gate and entered a hilly wild area almost immediately. We drove most of the way through the wild Aravali Hills. The road was initially a nice dual carriage way and then we turned off and drove through many agricultural villages. It wasn’t so unusual to see cars coming down wrong way of dual carriage way, but, hey, I’m in India. Along the way we were able to see interesting views of village life, water buffaloes being brushed along by their minders, men driving along packed into a Jeep. Women in beautiful colorful saris packed into a tuktuk.

Manoj pointed out that the local people use a waterwheel system to bring water from well and they use buffalo to work the system. I also saw a manual plow, probably to be hooked onto a buffalo to do the actual furrowing.

Here it seemed more prevalent for women to be walking with goods balanced on their heads (wood, pots, baskets of clothing).

The last part of the journey was difficult as we kept getting lost. To be fair there were no signs and it was very remote. We drove into and by the Jawai area. It is known for a very large Dam and a very large Jawai Bandh train station. The water from the dam is one reason the leopards are still in the area - that and they are rather used to people being around the area.

So now I will start my rant about the Bera Safari Lodge which was underwhelming. It is owned by Shatrunjay Pratap and is relatively new (less than 10 years). He is has a degree from UC Davis as a vintner and came back to India to work in a vineyard. when he came back home for a visit he saw that mining was coming into the area and destroying the granite deposits. He came back to fight to get the land park status which was granted in 2013 and is a local leader in conservation of the area. So very noble mission which was successful - cudos. He’s done a lot with local wildlife photography and published several books on the local leopards and area.

The safari lodge is an extension of his home and is billed as a boutique hotel. This is the second experience I’ve had with home extension boutique hotels in India and it will be my last. Also, this is the last time I compromise because there are no other choices. (It was the fall back after the Darjeeling wasn’t possible and the other safari place was closed for the season). Writeups and reviews have it as an amazing luxury safari experience (to be fair, not on his website). I think people calling this a luxury jungle safari experience a)haven’t been to a real jungle and b) haven’t just spent 2 nights at the Oberoi in Ranthambore. I’m not sure what has put me off most about this place, and I take responsibility for some of it. I wish the owner hadn’t said repeatedly that the only thing to do was go on safaris, and otherwise sleep or read because it’s too hot to do anything else. He also said several times that he’s closing for the season in a week because it’s too hot. I admit the room is big and clean and bright. Yes, the air conditioning works. The food is great. You will definitely see Indian Leopards here. I feel awkward and missing out on things because i don’t speak Hindi. I can’t adequately communicate with my driver. I didn’t have enough knowledge of the area to suggest where else to go and we ended up coming back to the hotel because he thought all I wanted to see was the leopard. The remoteness is fun. The door with the bottle opener and interesting door lock are fun. You have to keep the outside lights on at night for safety. Also fun. You will see Leopards - also fun.

It would have been nice if I had been offered options to see the area - there is a UNESCO fort about 65 miles away, but by the time I asked about it I was told I would miss my evening safari (I’m getting into my experiences of 4/16). I get the feeling of being tolerated instead of helped to see the real uniqueness of the area. Later I thought that he could have offered I go to see the Fort and do a safari in the morning instead - wasn’t offered and I didn’t think about it until later. Another missed opportunity. Ok, most of rant is over.

The evening safari was about 3 hours - what I expected. The area selected was a granite quarry - not sure if it’s still in operation given the new status of the area. We were one of about 15 Jeeps in the small area. At least my guy (never told me his name) did drive around (a lot) looking for different views and venues to see one of the leopards. The drivers really know the abilities of their Jeeps and they were going all over the place - up and down granite outcroppings that were definitely an e-ticket ride

It might have been better, since all the drivers communicated, to have them stake out different areas and call the others when they find something instead of my driver driving over the same bumpy territory 10 times. Since I didn’t understand what they were saying, I had no idea what the process was they used or what was going on.

One of the areas we drove along about 7 times was along the dry Jawai river. This River goes by one of the “cow retirement homes/shelter” and there were abo

ut 20 cow carcasses you could see (and smell) decaying in the river bed.

While waiting for the leopard at one area we did see a Lapwing.

Under the heading of no idea what’s going on, these safari companies are similar to others in that there’s mindless driving around until someone spots something and then it’s Mr Toad’s Wild Ride as everyone drives over really fast. At one point it was like keystone cops as everyone was in everyone else’s way stirring up dust.

Finally at sunset 2 leopards were spotted on the top of the hill and were visible via the back lighting of the sunset - very romantic. Too far away for my camera, but visible with my small binoculars.

(Photo here)

After the sun went down the flashlights come out to catch the eye reflections in order to see the leopards. We saw one reclining on the side of the hill. Too dark for a good photo, but visible when the light was on him via binoculars. I was able to get some photos from the driver which are a bit clearer.

Finally we saw 2 juveniles playing on top of the hill via the flashlights and watched them for a little while.

Net/Net - too much driving not enough viewing. They’re going to lose the leopards they have left if they continue to push large numbers of Jeeps into a single viewing. If the guy is really interested in conservation, he might try doing something to limit tourist traffic in the area to lessen the stress on the animals that are actually visible. (See morning drive on 4/16)