Safari in Bandipur and Nagarahole to resume with fewer trips

Safari operations in Bandipur and Nagarahole Tiger Reserves, which were suspended for more than 100 days following rising tiger attacks, will resume once again.

Environment Minister Eshwar Khandre said safari operations in Bandipur and Nagarhole Tiger Reserves will resume in a phased manner, after an expert committee submitted an interim report on Wednesday.

The Karnataka State Wildlife Board in January had recommended the setting up of an  expert committee to study the carrying capacity of the safari vehicles in the two tiger reserves.

Expert committee

An expert committee was formed which was headed by the Additional Chief Conservator of Forests comprising officers of the Forest Department, a scientist from the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun (WII), and a professor from the Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal (IIFM).

“Safari operations have been suspended in the two tiger reserves since November 7. Following the report submitted by the expert committee, we have decided to remove the ban. We will resume safari operations by reducing the number of trips. Earlier, the safari’s were operating for eight hours in a day which has been reduced to five hours,” Mr. Khandre said.

Similarly, in Sunkadakatte, safari will be allowed only for six hours and in Nagarahole it wil be allowed only for four hours in the first phase.

In first phase

“During the first phase only 50% of the safari vehicles that were in use before November 7 will be operated; the remaining vehicles and staff will be used to increase patrolling near the villages around the forest areas to prevent wild animals from entering human settlements,” he said.

He added that all safari vehicles would be fitted with GPS tracking systems and dashboard cameras in the next two months to monitor the movement of the vehicles and ensure that the safari vehicles are not operated beyond the stipulated hours.

“The total area of Bandipur Tiger Reserve is 1,036 sq. km, out of which only 8% (about 80 sq. km) is a tourism zone. Similarly, Nagarahole’s total area is 844 sq. km, and eco-tourism zone is only 63 sq. km (7.5%). The experts have noted that there is no scientific evidence to claim the tigers are coming out of the forest area and entering the human settlements due to the safari operations,” he added.

Mr. Khandre also said that one-third of the total income generated from eco-tourism will be used for skill development of communities living near forest areas, growing fodder for livestock and environmental development works.

Personnel deployment

“Safari will be resumed only after we have ensured adequate personnel will be deployed in sensitive areas to prevent human-wildlife conflict,” Mr. Khandre said.

He also said that all tiger capture operations have been conducted as per National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) approved Standard Operating Procedures.