Elusive big cats and humans live side by side in this alien-like landscape
The Godwar region of Rajasthan is home to a landscape so majestically preternatural, you might think you’re in a scene from Star Wars.
It is characterised by the oldest surface rocks in India – 850-million-year-old granite – with what feels like an ancient, pulsating presence. Weather carved hillocks feature deep, dark caves and crevices, and in upper parts, smooth plateaus, in some cases the size of playing fields. At ground level, smaller piles sit swamped by scrub, like little rock huts in disguise.
Our safari vehicle has come to a sudden halt. In one of these “huts”, our guide has spotted a lounging sub-adult leopard. We are so close to him I can see the rise and fall of his belly as he breathes, and I’m able to admire the detail in each and every one of the unique rosettes that pattern it.
Up so close you can see them breathe.
His eyes are wide and unblinking, alert but not seemingly alarmed. We opt to keep it that way and bid a retreat.
From a suitable distance it becomes clear that our vehicle has come between him and his mother and two brothers, who we now spot watching us from about 50 metres away, the matriarch perhaps a little more alert and alarmed than her isolated offspring. You should probably never come between a leopard and her cub, after all.
But these leopards are a bit different to those in other parts of the world. These are the leopards of Jawai, who have existed side-by-side with villagers for many decades with no human death or even an attack on record.
Rare terrain … leopard-watching tour.
And unlike the elusive leopards in other parts of the world – perhaps with the exception of Sri Lanka’s Yala National Park – sightings of the big cats in this region are not just common, but often lengthy, allowing you to observe the animals, rather than just catch fleeting glimpses of skittish and shy creatures that is usually the case elsewhere.
We are near Jawai Bandh (dam), one of the largest reservoirs in India. Since a dam wall across the seasonal Jawai River was completed in 1957, the (also seasonal) reservoir has attracted many migratory birds, including flamingos. And in the surrounding countryside, terrestrial animals, such as leopards, thrive.
We are staying nearby at Sujan Jawai, a Relais and Chateaux safari camp, as part of our Rajasthan tour with the upmarket, Delhi-based bespoke travel company, Banyan Tours.
The camp is simply dreamy in its level of luxury and attention to detail. Sophisticated decor that has recently been redone frames a commitment to meticulous service and intimacy of experience.
Life in the camp is about champagne by the pool at sunset, alfresco dinners by flaming torchlight and talks about wildlife in the library.
And so to sleep … Sujan Jawai Rajasthan.
The suites, a romantic mix between safari tent and high-end hotel digs, have deep bathtubs and huge, sumptuous beds facing out to surrounding bushland.
Local Rabari tribesmen, wearing the red turbans that signify their clanship, walk guests between their lodgings and the camp’s social areas. Sujan director of experiences Yusuf Ansari tells us there was a time, not so long ago, when a couple of leopards were brawling on the pathway outside a pair of suites. Better to be supervised and safe.
Sujan is a responsible tourism company with three luxury wildlife properties in Rajasthan. The other two, Sujan Sher Bagh at Ranthambore is situated for tiger safaris and Sujan The Serai at Jaisalmer is designed for experiencing desert life and legend.
Jawai’s owners Jaisal and Anjali Singh have, at the heart of their business, the aims of benefiting local communities while conserving wildlife and cultivating optimal conditions for it to thrive. (Sujan Jawai is solar-powered and single-use plastic is banned here.)
A tented rock suite.
Having pinpointed Jawai as a place in which to establish a leopard safari camp, Ansari came scouting for land on the Singhs’ behalf a decade ago. What he found was a lot of heavily farmed tracts good for not much. But he also saw remarkable potential.
Sujan set out a rewilding roadmap. That involved a program of buying and/or leasing land to create a continuous wildlife corridor. For the wildlife alone, it has proven successful, with the confirmed presence of up to 60 leopards in the region.
It helps that the locals consider the creatures sacred, their propensity to hang out at hillside temples without harming devotees a large part of that. But they also recognise the symbiotic relationship between the area’s betterment, the animals and Sujan’s presence.
As well as restoring and preserving more than 100 square kilometres of habitat, which has benefited a huge number of other species of animal and bird as well as plants, Sujan imposes a mandatory conservation contribution on guests through its tariff which entirely funds a mobile medical unit, administering free healthcare to surrounding communities. Sujan also runs local sanitation programs.
Guiding lights ...Rajasthan.
For guests, the knowledge that a stay contributes locally in these very tangible ways is a big feelgood factor.
But of course, it is the proximity to wildlife that is the biggest thrill of being at Sujan Jawai and the highlight of every day is the pre-dawn set-off on safari, bookended by sunset excursions.
Across our two-night stay and four game drives we will see the same four leopards, the adult, a female dubbed “Fenella” by the Sujan staff and her three sub-adult cubs as they hang about in the post-monsoonal green, feeding well on other species attracted by the water and vegetation.
It’s such a special experience to be in the presence of these rare and beautiful animals – but to be there with such a considered and big-hearted outfit as Sujan makes it all the more exquisite.
THE DETAILS
Stay
Sujan Jawai from $1700 a night. Jawai Dam District, Pali Marwar. See thesujanlife.com
Visit
Banyan Tours provides bespoke tours for individuals, couples and groups. See banyantours.com
Fly
Qantas flies direct from Sydney to Bengaluru (Bangalore) or Melbourne to Delhi and has a codeshare partnership with India’s largest domestic airline, IndiGo, providing connection beyond Bengaluru and Delhi. See qantas.com
The writer was a guest of Qantas, Banyan Tours and Sujan Jawai.
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