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My first day in Mumbai

I was very excited when we landed in Mumbai arriving from Singapore. Mumbai is quite different from Australia and Singapore. We arrived at around midnight at Mumbai airport and it still was very busy, almost like the rush hour in Australia. At immigration we saw lots of policemen and army personnel.

Some of them smiling, others not. It went fairly smoothly through costumes and immigration. In less then one hour after arrival we entered the airport lobby, which was not accessible to the public. A large number of taxi and limousine drivers waited outside of the fenced area showing signs with names on them to pick up these people.

It was still very warm and there was a mix of smells ranging from dust, sweat, food, faeces and smoke. We quickly identified our driver who took us to our hotel within 15 minutes. We were very tired and fell asleep easily.

A nice breakfast buffet was offered the next morning however I couldn’t take any ice with my juice. You are not advised to drink juices with ice and food that hasn’t been cooked before. After we had breakfast we went outside for a walk.

Surprisingly there are no traffic lights but lots of traffic. This meant that I had to be on the hand of my mum all the time and we needed to be quick to cross the road. I saw lots of stray dogs that looked like having rabies among a crowd of people. Some of them watched me but less then expected because I wore Indian clothes.

The street looked very dirty and dusty, different smells everywhere. I was surprised that especially women had very nice clothes most of them saris and where smiling even though they appeared to be very poor. My first day in India was very exciting; India is a land of huge contrasts.

In April this year our family visited Singapore and India. In India we spent almost 6 weeks in Mumbai. In Mumbai we undertook many day trips and noticed there is unfortunately not much nature left which concerned us.

In the morning of the 10th of may I read as usually “The Mumbai Times” and saw an article about leopards in Mumbai roaming in suburbs close to the Sanjay Gandhi National Park. We went straight to the reception to book us a driver to the national park. The driver arrived at our hotel in the morning of the next day.

It was a 1 hour drive from our hotel to the Sanjay Gandhi National Park. During the ride I asked our driver if he had ever seen or encountered a leopard, but to my surprise he didn’t know of and leopards in the national park.

When we came to the entrance of the park it was very crowded so we had to wait a few minutes till we could pay our entrance fee for the car and passengers. The driver took us through the park which was short ride. Unfortunately we only came across a group of small monkeys sitting on the side of the road watching passbyers and hoping they might give them something to eat. I know that leopards prey on monkeys.

Traveling up road there were walking trails that would lead you to the Kanheri caves, a very popular attraction to tourists and locals. I saw two backpackers walking alone and thought that this could be dangerous because it was already late afternoon and because of the wild animals around.

On our way back we passed by a large fenced off forest claiming to hold lions and tigers however , we were not interested to visit because of long queues. On the other hand we prefer to see animals in their natural habitat, but for the Indian people it is a special attraction. My mum told me about the national parks in Namibia where lions and leopards are roaming in large numbers.

I still think that leopards live in the park because of many attacks on villagers and disappearing livestock in the area.

In the meantime it was getting darker the taxi asked us if we wanted to take a walk, but we preferred to go straight back to the hotel. On the way back directly outside the National Park we saw lots of stray dogs and people. We asked ourselves why Indians don’t seem to appreciate nature and wildlife. Instead they value urbanization without any compromise.

When we returned to our hotel I asked staff if they knew of places nearby where leopards have been seen. Some of them replied that there had been a few encounters with leopards at the student campus in Powai which is only a few minutes away, but they disappeared afterwards. In another situation one leopard jumped over the hotel fence but, was chased back over the fence and disappeared into the mangroves.

In summary I believe that leopards will come across human beings more frequently in highly populated areas. This will lead to a conflict between human beings and wild animals that need to be resolved peacefully. In April this year our family visited Singapore and India. In India we spent almost 6 weeks in Mumbai. In Mumbai we undertook many day trips and noticed there is unfortunately not much nature left which concerned us.

I still think that leopards live in the park because of many attacks on villagers and disappearing livestock in the area.

Leopards in Mumbai

I still think that leopards live in the park because of many attacks on villagers and disappearing livestock in the area.

Mumbai Leopards: Killers or Victims?

Wild leopards are estimated to be fourteen thousand in 2007 in India (Mumbai : The Forest Department). Between 2004 and 2005, thirty-three Mumbai residents were killed in leopard attacks. Some thirty-five leopards are estimated to live in the Sanjay Gandhi National Park where most of the attacks are originated. It is believed that the leopard numbers increased by the inflow of leopards in captivity from other areas into this park. Locals fear that rapid expansion of the city’s boundaries could mean another series of big cat attacks.

Are Leopards now killers or victims?

There are a few more statistics that help to answer this question.
The area around the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Borivali, gives a major relief to the city’s bad air. There are two lakes, too, Vihar and Tulsi that provide Mumbai with drinking water. For centuries this area is known as the natural habitat of leopards and of the tribe: Warahi. The tribe has seven hundred families that are legally allowed to live together with some thirty leopards (census of April 2007).

In the census of 2001-2002 it was documented a total of eight thousand two hundred and three leopards but as no numbers were available for 12 Indian states in the census one may assume that a grand total could have guessed only for 2007 and that the population of leopard seems to be relatively stable.

The number varies from the three thousand tigers that people think are able to survive in India.

Geeta Seshamani, co-founder of the Wildlife SOS, believes that the conflict of leopards and locals is due to the drastic rise in the population of Mumbai, which has increased by almost 100% in the last twenty years to twenty-one million.

On the other hand, the population of leopards living in the national park decreased to twenty three in 2009 from forty seven in 1990.

Between the years 2002-2007, eighteen human beings were injured whereas thirty six died inside Borivali, twenty three injured and twenty one killed outside. Most victims were children aged between 5 and 6 years old (80% of all incidents). Other incidents were related to adults camping away from their homes or with their doors not closed. One exception relates to a lawyer who visited the park to practice yoga and who relaxed on the grass while being attacked.

Wildlife experts believe that the problem sits with human beings, not within nature. Current reports show that at a minimum 200,000 people built dwellings on the national park’s fringe on the flight. Urban construction requires approval in India, indeed, slums are in many cases protected by local politicians who need votes of residents. So, it really appears that leopards are the victims as all the problems came with the urbanisation in and around the Sanjay Gandhi National Park reducing the leopard’s natural habitat to a large extent.

Between the years 2002-2007, 7 leopards were captivated in the park, 61 outside, and 5 or 6 were killed. Of the 30 leopards disappeared in Borivali in 2007, 10 had been classified as danger to humas leading to life in cages only with a slight chance of being relocated into another national park at a later date.

The Borivali conflict between leopards and people has contributed to a strong reaction from both: defenders of urban settlements and of animal wildlife. After some effort 55000 people have been relocated to a different area, but about the same population still living in the park.

Unless more people will be relocated and therefore increasing the habitat for leopards, I think, more attacks will occur with more and more leopards losing the battle against humans.

But why should the politicians increase the natural habitat for leopards? They don’t get any support from the leopards. The pressure and support needs to come from the international community.

In summary, I believe that the leopards in Mumbai are victims rather than killers because their natural habitat has been reduced quite significantly over time and encounters with human beings apparently occur more often.
The international and local communities need to work together to provide sufficient space for the leopards to help them to survive in this area and to reduce the number of attacks with man.