Tiger Spotting Industry
I just want to talk a little more about the "tiger safari" industry.
You sign up with your hotel to get in on a canter ride through the park. This costs about 450 rupees, and includes the 200 rupee park entrance fee. Alternatively you can rent a private jeep for 1050 rupees, plus 150 for a guide and 200 park entrance fee for each passenger. I chose the canter.
A canter is a school bus with the roof sawed off. Slightly bigger tires. But in terms of noise, number of passengers, smoothness of ride, the two are identical.
At this point I should pause and emphasize what it is that the tiger spotting industry does. They do not sell tiger spottings; you go to a zoo for a guaranteed tiger spotting. Instead they sell the possibility of tiger spottings, in a context unconstrained by zoo bars. So really the 450 rupee fee we pay does not reflect the utility to us of a tiger spotting. It reflects the expected value of a tiger spotting, E[x]--the tiger spotting utility times the probability you'll spot one. Its the probability where they get you. In theory, I could set up a tiger safari in New York City; I'd make no money because anyone can see the location make the probability too close to zero. In a place like Ranthambore park, on the other hand, the location is supposed to be good, but the probability is still pretty low because of the way they operate.
Every morning 15 canters and 15 jeeps line up outside the gate of the Ranthambore national park. At 7:01 the gate is opened and everyone goes tearing into the park, fanning out to look for tigers. You then spend the next 3 hours on dirt roads winding through the park, while your guide points out all the wildlife that isn't tigers. When you meet another canter or jeep, rumors of sightings are exchanged and you then go tearing off in the direction suggested. Invariably you meet three or more canters going in the same direction, which results in so much dust and noise than any tiger which might have been there has long since left before your arrival.
What you don't do is stop near a source of water and sit still. Nor do you put out tiger bait of some sort. Nor do you play recordings of tiger mating calls, make sounds like an injured animal or do pretty much anything else which might entice a shy tiger out of its well-adapted concealment. Why we didn't do this was never clear to me.
In fairness, perhaps it would have been pointless. I will acknowledge that there was no way that we would be able to sneak up on a tiger; I'm sure both the canter and people smelled too much, never minding the noise that the people talking made. At the same time, however, the Maharajahs used to hunt tigers on elephants, which I'm sure in size, strength of smell, noise level and speed over rough terrain are similar to canters. I'm not sure how they did the hunt, but I believe they were successful--whole hunting lodges attest to this. But then again, maybe all they did was wander around listening for tiger rumors.
You sign up with your hotel to get in on a canter ride through the park. This costs about 450 rupees, and includes the 200 rupee park entrance fee. Alternatively you can rent a private jeep for 1050 rupees, plus 150 for a guide and 200 park entrance fee for each passenger. I chose the canter.
A canter is a school bus with the roof sawed off. Slightly bigger tires. But in terms of noise, number of passengers, smoothness of ride, the two are identical.
At this point I should pause and emphasize what it is that the tiger spotting industry does. They do not sell tiger spottings; you go to a zoo for a guaranteed tiger spotting. Instead they sell the possibility of tiger spottings, in a context unconstrained by zoo bars. So really the 450 rupee fee we pay does not reflect the utility to us of a tiger spotting. It reflects the expected value of a tiger spotting, E[x]--the tiger spotting utility times the probability you'll spot one. Its the probability where they get you. In theory, I could set up a tiger safari in New York City; I'd make no money because anyone can see the location make the probability too close to zero. In a place like Ranthambore park, on the other hand, the location is supposed to be good, but the probability is still pretty low because of the way they operate.
Every morning 15 canters and 15 jeeps line up outside the gate of the Ranthambore national park. At 7:01 the gate is opened and everyone goes tearing into the park, fanning out to look for tigers. You then spend the next 3 hours on dirt roads winding through the park, while your guide points out all the wildlife that isn't tigers. When you meet another canter or jeep, rumors of sightings are exchanged and you then go tearing off in the direction suggested. Invariably you meet three or more canters going in the same direction, which results in so much dust and noise than any tiger which might have been there has long since left before your arrival.
What you don't do is stop near a source of water and sit still. Nor do you put out tiger bait of some sort. Nor do you play recordings of tiger mating calls, make sounds like an injured animal or do pretty much anything else which might entice a shy tiger out of its well-adapted concealment. Why we didn't do this was never clear to me.
In fairness, perhaps it would have been pointless. I will acknowledge that there was no way that we would be able to sneak up on a tiger; I'm sure both the canter and people smelled too much, never minding the noise that the people talking made. At the same time, however, the Maharajahs used to hunt tigers on elephants, which I'm sure in size, strength of smell, noise level and speed over rough terrain are similar to canters. I'm not sure how they did the hunt, but I believe they were successful--whole hunting lodges attest to this. But then again, maybe all they did was wander around listening for tiger rumors.
posted by Linton at 10:55 AM
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