News Update on 23 August 2022 : Half day and full day safaris have been stopped in Ranthambore National Park

Full Day and Half Day Safari in Ranthambore National Park have been completely stopped in Zones 1 to 5, now full day and half day safari will be only in zones 6 to 10. This is big news about the full day and half day safari at Ranthambore National Park in Sawai Madhopur. The government has completely banned Full Day and Half Day Safari in zones 1 to 5 of Ranthambore National Park, however, full day and half day safari will continue in zones 6 to 10 of Ranthambore Tiger Reserve.

On Thursday, August 8, 2019, the Forest Department held a meeting under the chairmanship of Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) regarding Ranthambore, Sariska and Mukundara Tiger Reserve. Chief Wildlife Warden Arindam Tomar said that the biggest decision in this was taken on full day and half day safari in Ranthambore.

Wildlife lovers had been opposing Full Day and Half Day Safari for a long time. They believe that the nature of tigers has changed due to the tourists moving around all day and their lives remain at risk. Officials also believed that due to more sighting of tigers in zones 1 to 5, there is more pressure of tourists in these zones. Due to this, it has been decided that there will be no full day and half day safari in Premier Zones 1 to 5 from the upcoming tourist season in Ranthambhore National Park. However, it has not been decided to completely close Full Day and Half Day Safari in zones 6 to 10.

Significantly, in Ranthambore, zones 1 to 5 are closed to tourists in monsoon, only zones 6 to 10 are open in monsoon. All safari zones of Ranthambore from 1 to 10 are open to tourists from 1 October to 30 June.

Decision on other safari zones soon

The decision to discontinue Full Day and Half Day Safari in Zones 1 to 5 of Ranthambore has been welcomed by wildlife lovers, but whether it will continue in other zones 6 to 10 of Ranthambore or not. On this, the forest officer will take a final decision in a day or two. Full-day half-day safari can be continued in Safari Zone 6 to 10 of Ranthambore. However, a final decision has not been taken on this as yet. If full day half day safari is continued in zones 6 to 10 then the quota of safari vehicles will be reduced.

Extended the period of model condition of Safari vehicles

In addition to full day and half day safari, the model condition of tourist vehicles in Ranthambore was also discussed in the meeting. The model condition of tourist safari vehicles in Ranthambore has now been extended for one year by the Forest Department, i.e. vehicles will be able to run in Ranthambore for six years from the upcoming tourist season. This has brought relief to the vehicle owners. CCF Manoj Parashar and DFO Mukesh Saini of Ranthambore Tiger Project were also present in the meeting.

Full day and half day safari started in 2016

Full-day and half-day safaris were started in 2016 at Ranthambore by the Forest Department. Earlier the department had the intention of starting it for Wildlife Photographers and Film Makers, but gradually it became common to all. However, last year the Current (Tatkal) quota for full day and half day safari was discontinued.

Demand was rising for a long time

There was a demand in Ranthambore for a long time to stop the full-day and half-day safari and to increase the model condition of vehicles. Apart from Ranthambore, the model condition of safari vehicles is up to ten years in the Tiger Reserve of Madhya Pradesh and many other states.

NTCA also expressed opposition

In a recently released survey report by NTCA and WII, Ranthambore's rating fell from Good to Fair. The reason for this in the report was also believed to be Full Day Half Day Safari. Since then, the demand for the closure of Full Day / Half Day Safari was intensified.

Newspapers had raised this problem several times by publishing news about the side effects of full day half and half day safari in Ranthambore National Park. Due to the full-day and half-day safari, there was a crowd of safari vehicles in the park throughout the day. Due to this, wild animals were getting out of the forest due to disturbance.

Opinion of wildlife experts

Wildlife lovers and experts have termed the closure of Full Day and Half Day Safari in Ranthambore by the state government a good step. They say that this decision should have been taken long ago. Due to such jungle safaris, human interference in the free movement of tigers and other creatures was increasing for almost four years, which was not appropriate for wildlife from any point of view.

Even if it has increased government income, but measuring Ranthambore National Park for wildlife conservation by income scale cannot be considered practical. Recently, Ranthambore Park had also come to Fair from Good in the ratings of NTCA, which is believed to be one of the reasons for this. On the other hand, the fee for this safari was so high that it was out of the reach of ordinary tourists.