The cellphone ban inside tiger reserves like Corbett, Bandhavgarh and Tadoba may hit tourism, but it will restore space, dignity, and safety to the country’s most harassed predator, the ‘large-hearted gentleman’
What does a cellphone has to do with tiger sighting, you may ask? A lot. The question is not for the serious or even amateur photographers inside a forest. They still swear by their cameras, whether ageing DSLRs or newly acquired mirrorless masterpieces (God bless them, because I belong to their tribe). This shrinking tribe treat photography with the respect it deserves.
But for majority of visitors and picnickers to our national parks, whose main purpose in a forest is to somehow capture a selfie with a tiger in the background — or even foregound, if conditions permit, for instant posting in the social media — their cellphone becomes an indispensable weapon of choice. And they generally do not hesitate to cross any line to achieve their goal.
But not anymore. With at least three tiger reserves, including the big boy Corbett Park, prohibiting the use of cellphones by tourists in the safari zones, this particular brand of visitors are now being deprived of the sole pleasure which drives them to the tiger reserves in the first place. It’s like snatching a lollypop from a kid. How awful!
‘Large-hearted gentleman’ loses its cool
But let’s look at the scenario from the perspective of the beleaguered tiger. At most popular tiger reserves, the big cat has been running helter skelter, for better part of the day, trying to ward off the army of selfie seekers. This I find to be the dark reality of tiger tourism, now peaking in states like Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.
Also read: A tiger too many? The big cat in India walks into unchartered territory
To be honest, I saw the ‘mobile ban’ coming a few years ago. When tiger numbers rose impressively in most parts of India, coupled with the corresponding rise in visitors to these places. In an earlier piece for The Federal, I had mentioned about how the rise in tiger numbers brought windfall to the motley crowd of resort and hotel owners, guides, Gypsy drivers and all those involved directly or indirectly in this particular sector of tourism.
More national parks and tiger reserves are likely to extend the ban on mobile phones.
But I didn’t realise ֫— at that time — the kind of pressure the so-called tiger tourism would put on the ‘large-hearted gentleman,’ as Jim Corbett had once described the Indian tiger. Of course even a gentleman is bound to lose its cool if harassed day in and day out by battalions of mobile photographers.
Of late, there have been reports of the tigers snapping at the tourists in some national parks — and that’s a disturbing sign. Some of the videos circulating in the social media, often showing a tiger charging at a Gypsy, are AI-generated. But some are real.
In the interest of the tigers
The ban on mobile phones during tiger safaris is a direct offshoot of an earlier Supreme Court in this regard. The idea behind the direction was to control tourist’s unruly behaviour and prevent overcrowding of vehicles around the tiger.
Also read: Why do tigers venture hundreds of miles into the unknown?
A mobile phone causes overcrowding of Gypsies and other tourists vehicles (such as canters, often used in Corbett Park and Ranthambore) around the tiger. Once a vehicle spots a tiger, the driver, guide or tourists in the vehicles inform the other vehicles an in tome dozens of vehicles come and surround the tiger.
I have viewed scenes when, corralled on all sides by the vehicles, a tiger finds it difficult even to walk properly. Such kind of sightings have become a norm in almost all tiger reserves. Besides the tourists, even guides and Gypsy drivers are now prohibited from taking their cellphones in the forest. Apart from Corbett Park, Bandhavgarh (in Madhya Pradesh) and Tadoba Andhari (in Maharashtra) have also implemented the ban on mobile phones during safaris.
The move will have some negative effect on tourism, no doubt, but will benefit the tiger. The dilemma now faced by the cellphones-toting tourists whose main objective to visit a park is to click the tiger is understandable. The only option for them will be to purchase a camera and lenses.
But it will be a costly affair and photography is not everybody’s cup of tea. I am expecting more national parks and tiger reserves extending the ban on mobile phones. That would not be such a bad thing, from a tiger’s point of view.
