21 Jan 2017

On safari in India

From The Weekend , 11:06 am on 21 January 2017

Lynn Freeman heads out on safari in central and north-western India, joining the hundreds of thousands of people who hope to see rare one-horned rhinos, leopards and especially tigers in the wild.

The wildlife tourism sector is strongly controlled in many areas. In most of the key tiger reserves you have to book and pay months in advance, because there are a strictly enforced restriction on the number of vehicles and visitors that can enter the parks.

Lynn went to Bandharvgh and nearby Kanha - a short flight and a few hours drive south of Delhi.

Drive north of Delhi for five or so hours and you come to Corbett which has the highest density of tigers in the country- though even that's no guarantee of a sighting.

While in Corbett, Lynn talked with veterinarian and animal rights campaigner Dr Naveen Pandey from the NGO The Corbett Foundation.