Tiger (captive), Bannerghata National Park, India

This picture is of a captive tiger at Bannerghata National Park. Although there is no substitute for the satisfaction of photographing a wild tiger, this images does raise a pertinent question on how best to handle visitor traffic and visitor expectations to certain Asian national parks. Yala National Park in Sri Lanka is another park for which a safari park type of area has been advocated for handling pressure from visitors.

Bangalore City now extends almost all the way up to Bannerghata National Park. Entrance to the park as far as I could ascertain was only by buying a ticket to the zoo with a ticket for the Grand Safari.

The park has a number of Jurassic Park type double gated enclosures. The first has the herbivores. The next has a large number of Sloth Bears. Followed by enclosures for Lions and Tigers. The animals are easy to see and the coach ride allows one to see the terrain of the national park. One of the tigers we saw slipped into a pond and allowed me to take a photograph. The coaches carry about 40 plus people and are not very good for photography. The windows are covered in mesh with just a few holes for a camera and the drivers are not attuned to serious photographers. It may not be a bad idea to have the option of a more expensive private ride for photographers and birdwatchers.

The safari park experience does demonstrate that for Asian wildlife parks, a controlled environment like this is useful for managing visitor expectations, whilst carrying out a rehabilitation or captive breeding program whilst also reducing visitor traffic to the actual park.

(c) Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne www.jetwingeco.com