More at http://www.sanctuaryasia.com | In The Field
FACING PAGE Two lion cubs stare at a truck
speeding towards them on a state highway in
Amreli district of Gujarat, while their mother
disappears into the nearby bushes.
BELOW A collared lioness and her male cub
off er their morning prayers at a village temple,
which would soon be bustling with humans.STOTRA CHAKRABARTIwith lions outside their normal refuge,
the protected forests, and my ideas of
their possible hideouts were nothing
but inappropriate. I had been taught
the ways of searching and observing
animals in forests devoid of people, but
fi nding an elusive carnivore among the
hustle-and-bustle of people and roads,
took a lot more than bush-craft, grit and
patience. Presently about one-third of
the total lion population live outside the
formal boundaries of protected forests.
I relied on my assistants who were
familiar with the area since the days the
fi rst lions moved out of Gir to colonise
this densely-human-populated eastern
landscape of Saurashtra in southern
Gujarat. However, this lioness had them
puzzled too. We had planned to start our
day-night monitoring sessions, where we
literally lived with lions while we followed
them 24 hours a day to document
behavioural observations round the
clock. For that, the lioness needed much
prior habituation to our presence and
our knowledge of their frequented
places. But for this, I fi rst needed to
fi nd the lioness.