Jawai: the Land of the Leopards

The Aravalli Mountain Range runs through Northwestern India beginning in Delhi and ending in Gujarat. It is the oldest range in India and divides the State of Rajasthan into an arid western region and a fertile eastern one.

Nestled in this range between the cities of Udaipur and Jodhpur is Jawai.

Jawai dam (bandh)

Jawai boasts of stunning granite rock formations offering picture-perfect views of a large water body, the Jawai dam or bandh. It’s also a great place to sight both resident and migratory birds as well as mugger crocodiles.

Granite rock formations in Jawai

All that apart, the true USP of Jawai is its high density of leopards that has earned it the well deserved nickname of “The land of the Leopards”.

In the past I’ve had great sightings of leopards both in India as well as Africa. The image below was taken a few months ago in Zambia on a superbly curated wildlife tour of Zambia and Zimbabwe by Ventours.

Leopard ‘Lucy’, Zimbabwe, April 2025

In many instances the animals were so close that I could almost count the number of hairs in each rosette. In Jawai, on the other hand, I was told that the leopards are up in the mountains and at a considerable distance away. When I heard that there were spots (no pun intended) available on a trip to the region I was a bit sceptical.

Looking back I must admit that it proved to be a unique experience!

These leopards reside in caves high in the granite hills. Safaris are conducted in Maruti Gypsys and that in itself was quite exhilarating, at times even bordering on nerve-wracking! It was obvious that the drivers were highly skilled and familiar with every inch of the mountainous terrain and my opinion of these highly underrated 4WDs has gone up considerably as they zipped across the mountains, negotiating seemingly impossible inclinations with consummate ease.

Maruti Suzuki Gypsys off-roading on the granite slopes of Jawai

Sightings of these leopards are restricted to daybreak and dusk when they come out of their caves.

Contrary to the popular saying this trip began with a whimper. On Our very first safari our vehicle drove up to join a couple of others that were already parked at the foot of a hill.

A leopard had been sighted on the hill in front of us that, for the life of me, I simply could not see. Our guide had to resort to using his phone video camera to indicate the spot. Even then that I needed the full 500mm of my 100-500mm lens to spot the leopard’s head peeping over a boulder.

A heavily cropped image of our first leopard ‘sighting’ barely visible at the centre.

I remember thinking at the time that for the next couple of days I would try and make the best of a bad situation and concentrate on the bird life.

That thought lasted all of 10 minutes.

The leopard got up and stretched with all the grace and poise that only a feline is capable of and for the next half hour she put on an incredible show against the awesome granite backdrop.

From here on there was no looking back and over the next few safaris and I had accumulated a hard drive full of incredible images that have given me the not unpleasant headache of deciding which images to include in this piece.

The Indian leopard (Panthera pardus fusca) is found across the entire Indian Subcontinent. Its coat is beautiful and consists of so called ‘spots’ that are actually rosettes or clusters of black spots on a tawny background.

The white tipped tail is constantly twitching and seems to have a personality of its own!

It has a long tail that can measure unto 40 inches whose white tip seems to have a mind of its own. On several occasions the leopard sat perfectly still with only the tip of the tails constantly twitching. In fact someone mistook it for a small bird hopping behind the animal and I must say it really did look like that!

In our area there were a few females, some with cubs, and one dominant male. The locals had given them names like Padma, Jeevda, Fenila and F2 and the male was dubbed 6B.

The local population belong to the Rabari tribe. They are semi-nomadic herders of goat, cattle and other livestock. Some believe that they are originally from the Iranian Plateau and came to the region way back in the 4th century. They have a traditional attire with the men dressed in white vests and dhotis but it is their bright red turbans that make them stand out of the crowd.

A rabari tribesman flaunting the traditional red turban

Another heartening feature of Jawai is the fact that leopards and the Rabaris live in peaceful coexistence.

I’ve no doubt that the livestock must be fairly staple in big cat’s diet. And yet the Rabaris seem to accept the fact as a natural occurrence in the wider scheme of things.

If it is leopards that you are after then I guarantee that you will get your fill. The guides and vehicle drivers are blinkered to deliver the maximum sighting possible in the limited time available. I tended to cramp their style a bit by insisting they stop for other stuff like birds, butterflies and plants.

An Indian eagle owl on one of the granite boulders stares curiously at us

Our party was distributed between 3 gypsys and after the first safari our driver would discreetly allow the first two vehicles go ahead so that my frequent requests for a quick stop to shoot a bird or plant did not disrupt the others.

Grey francolin

Occasionally we’d park our gypsy at a spot that offered a good vantage of a cave that was know to be frequented by a particular leopard. During these periods there was enough happening around us to keep me busy. The image of the grey francolin above is a case in point.

A wooly-necked stork takes flight from one of the village ponds

When I showed an interest to know more about the entire ecosystem, as opposed to only the leopards, our guide was more than happy to oblige and I must say he was very knowledgeable.

A bhraminy starling take a sip from the runoff from an irrigation canal

Laughing dove

Indian palm squirrel on one of the slopes

This was my second trip curated by Ventours and, as in the first one, this too was outstanding. We flew into Udaipur from Mumbai and then did the 170km drive to Bijapur Lodge that took a little over 3 hours. The lodge was very nice. It had 6 large rooms arranged around a central courtyard and our party of 10 had the entire property to ourselves.

A tawny coaster butterfly on othe stone floor at Bijapur lodge

I especially liked the use of local stone used in much of the decor. The meals were great with pains being taken to give us a nice mix of international and local cuisine.

Apart from the living arrangement, scattered around the property is a swimming pool, a large library and a dining area each separated by a natural forest and landscaped greenery. between safaris and meals I enjoyed walking around the grounds photographing birds and butterflies.

Black rajah butterfly feasting on the sap of an Indian cherry tree (iPhone image)

There was this tree (I’m told it is the Indian cherry tree or Cordia myxa) just outside the library on the way to the dining hall whose sap seemed to be a magnet for butterflies, wasps and bees. The black rajah image above was taken with my IPhone camera. It was so intent on feasting on the sap that it allowed me to get within a few inches to record a full frame image.

We spent three nights here and on our last day Vanessa and I had had our fill of chasing after the leopards of Jawai. We opted out of the final safari and decided to do one of the nature treks instead. I’m so glad we did. It was a quiet leisurely round trek of around 4Km. We walked up a gently slope in a ravine following a babbling brook fed by a spring higher up in the hills.

Along the way our guide would stop at regular intervals to impart titbits of interesting facts. Like the mahua tree that reminded me of one of my dad’s favourite shikar stories involving drunken sloth bears feasting on fermented mahua fruit.

The beautiful Mahua tree

Or the tendu tree whose leaves are used to make beedies, the economical alternative to a cigarette. On the trek did see a number of birds including the crested serpent eagle below.

Crested serpent eagle takes flight

Vanessa is dwarfed by one of the massive granite boulders of Jawai

The stream had religious significance and we passed a number of temples along the way. On our way back we made a small detour. Our vehicle stopped in front of what appeared to be a small forest. I took a few moments to dawn on us that it was in fact a single, massive, and I do mean really massive, banyan tree!!

It’s not a forest… it is in fact a single, massive banyan tree supported by an arial prop root system!

Long-tailed shrike

Wire-tailed swallow

On our last day Ventours arranged for us to see the Ranakpur Jain temple. Speaking purely for myself, architecture is not high on my list of sightseeing preferences. Having said that, this 15th century, multi-level structure was pretty awesome with its magnificent marble carvings and 1,444 intricately carved marble pillars.

Ranakpur jain temple

One of the many marble carvings inside Ranakpur Jain temple

All in all it was a fabulous trip.

The ‘Land of the leopards’ certainly lived up to its reputation and the fact that the Rabari tribe co-exist in perfect harmony with the animals is a lesson that the rest of India and indeed the world can take a page from. We got exceptional sightings and images of leopards and birds and enjoyed the trek on the last day. Bijapur Lodge was the icing on the cake with its incredible facilities and exemplary hospitality.