Travel Guide Sasan Gir

This is the home of the last remaining Asiatic lions(Panthera leo Persica), of which there are currently over 400. The reserve is also home to leopards, foxes, wild boar, hyenas, peacocks, monkeys, gazelles, fallow deer, antelopes, parrots and more. In the early 19th century, aristocrats were passionate about lion hunting. From the 1920s onwards, the Syrian lion began to disappear; without the intervention of the Mogul of Junagadh, the Asiatic lion was doomed to the same fate. In the 1900s, he decided to ban hunting in his territory, when only a dozen lions remained. The idea came from an English lord, who suggested that he should "preserve them rather than kill them". Many travellers rightly return disappointed from these safaris, which are more akin to a 4x4 ride through the forest than a true approach to the animal world. And all for a crazy price!