Jhalana Ke Rana Jee - The Rana Of Jhalana

Jhalana Leopard Reserve, Jaipur

The word Rana historically in Northern India is a title that Kings used. They’d place it before their given names. Jhalana reserve forest is a reserve bang in the middle of Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan and that’s exactly where that title was used earlier. It’s a 20 sq km reserve predominantly for leopards like 6 km from Jaipur airport.

I think it’s the only reserve of its kind and a pretty smart idea. As I said in “Chote Kaan & The Leopards Of Rajasthan”, the prevalence of the urban Leopard makes it a necessity in these parts. Interestingly, as more and more Leopards ditch the forest for an urban life given the success of ‘Save The Tiger’ throughout the country and the Leopard’s inability to compete with growing numbers of Tigers in the reserves, we’d all wish we had a Jhalana close to our cities soon unless the guys in the Forest Department have a plan to tackle the exodus of Leopards and their ghost like operations that are haunting so many cities in India now. The conflict with man is bound to escalate in my opinion and is being held off only due to the stealthy and non combative nature of the Leopard cause Man and his Forest Department are doing squat about it in other places in India. Not so the case in Rajasthan though and funnily, they have a replicable model right there. In fact, I learnt that if a Leopard from inside Jhalana starts moving out of the reserve often, the department there ensures that it is taken further away from human dwellings altogether. Here in Guwahati, they’re as clueless about tackling wild Elephants and their growing numbers close to the city as they are about the Leopards snatching dogs out of desperation in the heart of the city and how to go about taking any action whatsoever to prevent any of it.

I had three days in Jhalana planned in September 2023. So that’s 6 trips into the reserve. Rain washed out half of those. I did learn that rain’s not bad though and wrote about it in “The Dazzling Forest”. The Leopards were obviously the main target for that trip and well, although I saw two other Leopards, the only photos I decided to post here were the ones of Rana. The thing with Jhalana is that there’s very limited space to the side of the main road passing through it and it being the rainy season, growth was thick. Given that setting, you’d most always have the best chance if the Leopard is straight up head on, be it straight on a guard tower, or watering hole or straight in front of you on the road. You either have a ditch or a mountain on either side. Not the most ideal for photography if you ask me and perhaps that’s why everyone who visits there has the same kinds of pictures. That said, find me any other city with 4.5 million people where you can get a safari in town itself. This is pretty damn good 6 kms from the airport.

Rana is the current Alpha in Jhalana. Most Leopards are shy, he isn’t. He has no qualms about walking out in front of a convoy of safari vehicles to let the world know that he’s the boss and why should he? He grew up here. His mother abandoned him in Jhalana and he grew up being chased and beaten up by bigger Alphas till he beat em all cause he flipped his knowledge and experience here to his advantage. Not only did he take Jhalana for himself, he’s also put it on the map by being the show stopper that people come to see and photograph in a world when Instagram is at its peak. Just look at the confidence as he walks down the steps in Pic : 2 and there he is taking a dump ( Pic : 4 ) while 7 vehicles watch. Leopards don’t do that. Tigers do. Tigers don’t know fear. The taking of a dump is a vunerable moment . Indian Leopards generally are afraid and wary of Humans. Rana, just doesn’t consider us a threat, period. 

Rana made my trip to Jhalana worth it despite the rain. Yes, I chose that period to be there to catch the green in the pictures but it would have all been bad planning if it wasn’t for this guy who is bolder than his kinds general nature. Needless to say, I got what I wanted thanks to him. Now, will I be going back to Jhalana Reserve Forest? Only perhaps if I have other business in Jaipur or if it’s a transit option. Leopards like Him are hard to come by. They’re ghosts who don’t like attention and that’s what serves their interests the best. We’d have a lot of trouble if more Indian Leopards turned out like Rana. That said, there’s a lot to learn from that little Reserve that I hope, is caught on to by the ones who should be learning from it. If I can see it, Im sure, the writing’s on the wall in bold and underlined.