Neelam By Night - Ghosts In The Dark

Jawai, Rajasthan

In my last post about Jawai in Rajasthan, I ‘d mentioned how Sujan set up in Bisalpur, near the Jawai dam and how they have their own safari area inhabited by leopards (Ref: Chote Kaan and The Leopards Of Rajasthan). Well, they don’t let others visit that area and since they’re extremely exorbitantly priced and selling a product (leopard sightings) that’s so readily available all over the state actually, it didn’t take long for others to get in on the act and now, we have services available at many price points. Fun part is that the others got together and don’t let Sujan’s vehicles into the Sena / Bijapur area and if the rest of the cars catch a glimpse of the cats from Bisalpur from the main road, or from hills that don’t belong to Sujan, well that’s fair game obviously. I doubt the cats know our silly human games over em and neither do they care that those guys in scooters are watching them all day cause the guests at Sujan’s price point want insta tracking as well. What’s the point of paying over 100000 Rs a day if you don’t see what you came for and get your instant dopamine fix? Funnily, for a lot of us, the tracking is half of the fun. Foreplay, so to speak.

Now Sujan has just a handful of tents so while the exclusive crowd saw a Leopardess called Fanella and the others in Bisalpur, the more accessable Neelam and her numerous sightings slowly took over post counts from Jawai on social media. Easily recognisable by the cut on her ear, Neelam was on the Sena / Bijapur side of this human conflict over leopards. Neelam is not people shy at all. Her territory is bang in between all the other resorts and hotels and she never had any qualms about posing for people or showing herself. In fact she seems to rather enjoy it like Machili the famous tigress who made Ranthambore famous. Neelam and Instagram made the Jawai area famous.

Back in 2022, during my first visit to this area, she was all that you saw on social media from Jawai and I didn’t get to see her on any of the days. Yep ! The boldest leopardess eluded me up till my last night there and I finally caught her with two of her cubs and a male, in her territory for the first night photography that I’d done properly till then and I did so many things wrong that night hahahaha. I had no idea what settings to use and everything was happening so fast. It was trial and error on the fly. MP’s car was gunning it past big cats at close proximity and I was fumbling with my settings, trying to get it all right while the car bounced and my camera shook. What Adventure ! Thinking about it now I remember being scared, excited, nervous and elated, all within an hour. Well, I went back in 2024 and this time too, she pretty much eluded me for most of my trip which was longer. We saw her lounging at her cave on my second last day and she wasn’t really doing much so we moved on. Come that night, we got news that she had come down from her hill with her cub and needless to say, we were there in no time, at the bottom of the same hill. This time, she was with a much younger cub. She seems to favor me at night, what can I say?

When we found them, the little narrow road had cars coming towards us while she sat unconcerned on a rock to our left.The cub was a few feet away, chewing on a mongoose in a ditch. As luck would have it, I didn’t get the flurry of activity I got last time with so many cats involved, but with our unique position, I did get to reposition the vehicle as I wanted and direct the light as well. I didn’t get all those wild rushes obviously. It’s a different rush that comes after a sighting now. She looks older. I’d say that she has another one or two litters before she calls it quits. I got my photos and we obviously had to move from the prime real estate, where interestingly, us guys with gear usually get a little more time. She was headed up the granite to the left anyway and there were no roads leading us directly there.

Coming back to the Bisalpur vs Sena / Bijapur human conflict over leopard tourism. Given the rate of expansion of hotels, etc in the Pali region, it’s doubtful that any other leopard will claim Neelam’s territory after her. She’s grown with the change and doesn’t really care. New comers will care and perhaps it’s for the best for all parties concerned. Neelam’s job of ensuring that Leopard tourism isn’t the hegemony of one in the area is done. The free market has won and people with different budgets can try their luck at seeing these wonderful creatures. Our job now, is to keep our muck out of their lives.

As far as my sightings of Neelam go; I’m kinda happy she does the night show for me really. I get her and her cubs in the most dazzling photos that way cause’s she’s not shy. No complaints at all.