Jawai, where leopards live among the herders

A country of granite and fields

• Ancient rock: the granite is hundreds of millions of years old, worn smooth by sun and wind into domes, towers and piles of boulders.
• Between the rocks: fields, thorn scrub, village tanks and the wide waters of the Jawai Bandh reservoir. It is beautiful at any hour.
• The secret of Jawai: the hills are riddled with caves, cracks and overhangs, giving leopards everywhere to rest, hide and raise cubs.
• Prey close by: those caves sit near villages where livestock, dogs and peafowl provide food.
• Old neighbours: the farmers and herders have lived with these animals for generations, and many of the caves hold shrines.
• The heart of the area: the villages around the reservoir, Bera among them. Lodges and camps are spread across the farmland between them.
• No fence, no gate: Jawai's leopards are not in a reserve you drive into. They live in a working landscape, and the way you behave in it matters to the people who live here.

The leopards of Jawai

• Visibility is the magic: in a forest a leopard melts into the shadows. Here, in the early morning and late afternoon, leopards come out onto the granite to warm themselves or look over their territory.
• Long sightings: they can be seen clearly against the rock, sometimes for a long time.
• Scenes to hope for: a mother lying at the mouth of a cave while her cubs play on the boulders, or a male walking a ridge at sunset, outlined against the sky.
• Odds: sightings are never guaranteed, but two or three days in good hands usually bring several.
• How drives work: open jeeps on farm tracks and rough roads, with a naturalist who knows the individual animals and their caves, and usually a local tracker who hears every village rumour.
• When: most drives last about three hours, at dawn and in the late afternoon, when the leopards are most active and the light is best.
• Read more: our journal piece on the leopards of Jawai tells the stories of the best-known cats, and Jawai or Ranthambore helps you choose between leopards and tigers.
• Light for photographers: Jawai is generous but demanding. The best light comes in the first and last hour, when the granite turns orange and the coat glows against it.
• Kit: distances are often long, so a lens of 400 millimetres or more helps, and a beanbag on the jeep's rail is steadier than a tripod.
• Go wide too: the finest pictures are often a small cat on a huge rock, with a village, a temple or the reservoir below. Our photography tips cover the rest.

The Rabari herders

• Life on the move: for centuries they have moved with their herds between grazing grounds, some families travelling for months each year.
• Around Jawai today: many now live in settled villages but still graze their animals on the hills and on the fields after harvest.
• The men: dressed in white, with a long gathered jacket, a dhoti and a large red or white turban, often with thick gold or silver earrings.
• The women: black or dark woollen skirts and veils, heavy silver jewellery and, among older women, tattoos.
• Reading the land: a Rabari herder can often tell you which leopard passed on a track by its pugmarks, which cave it used last week and where the mother keeps her cubs.
• Never take it for granted: the herders' tolerance carries real losses, and it is what keeps the leopards here.
• Walk with them: our experience with the Rabari herders is a morning with a family and their flock, at their pace and on their terms.
• Their story: our journal piece on the Rabari tells more.

Jawai Bandh, the great reservoir

• The biggest in the west: it is the largest man-made reservoir in western Rajasthan.
• Water for a dry land: it holds water for the towns and fields of the region, in a land that depends on every drop of the monsoon.
• Crocodiles: a large population of mugger crocodiles basks on the banks and rocky islands, especially on cool winter mornings.
• A quiet pleasure: watching them from a safe distance with a flask of tea.
• The meeting place: fishermen work the water from small boats and cattle come down to drink in the evening.

How to watch leopards ethically

• Our rules: we choose lodges and naturalists who share them, and we ask our guests to follow them too.
• No baiting, ever: leopards are never lured with food or tied animals so that guests can photograph them.
• No chasing: if a leopard moves away, we let it go. We stop at a distance, switch off the engine and wait.
• No crowding: if several vehicles are already at a sighting, we hold back or move on, and we never block a leopard's path.
• No spotlights or drones: night lights dazzle animals and disturb villages, and drones frighten wildlife and herders alike.
• Quiet in the jeep: stay seated, keep your voice low and let the naturalist decide where to stop.
• Respect the fields and the shrines: we drive only on permitted tracks, never through crops, and never use caves or temples as viewpoints without permission.
• Respect the people: livestock losses fall on the herders, so we choose camps that support local communities, employ local people and pay fairly for the land they use.
• Tip fairly: pay your naturalist and tracker directly, and buy milk, ghee or crafts from local families when they are offered.
• Tell us honestly: if anything on a drive made you uncomfortable, say so. That feedback decides which camps we keep working with.
• The wider picture: our ethical animal encounters guide sets out what we will and won't book anywhere in Rajasthan.

Temples, villages and the life around the hills

• Feel the reverence: whatever you believe, you will sense it on every hilltop.
• Farming villages: Rabari, Rajput and many other families, with wheat, mustard and pulses around the wells.
• Market towns: Bera, Sumerpur and Sheoganj.
• A village walk: a morning with a local guide is the best way to understand the place.
• What you will see: houses painted with welcome symbols, women carrying water and fodder, children off to school and old men discussing the season under a tree.
• Manners: ask before photographs, and accept every cup of tea you are offered.
• Sundowners: many camps arrange drinks and a fire on a granite outcrop, with the reservoir below.
• Night sky: on a clear night the stars over Jawai are extraordinary.

Where to stay in Jawai

Eating in Jawai

• Ker sangri: the dried desert berries and beans, a Marwari favourite that appears often.
• Millet and butter: bajra rotis with white butter.
• Classics: gatte in yoghurt curry and dal baati churma, with laal maas for meat-eaters.
• The Rabari table: simple and built around milk, with buttermilk, yoghurt, ghee and rich, sweet tea, plus millet rotis and seasonal vegetables.
• Tea in the fields: walk with a herding family and you may be offered tea made with fresh milk over a small fire.
• More dishes: our Rajasthani food guide explains the region's cooking.

When to visit Jawai

• Bird season: November to February brings migratory birds to the reservoir.
• April to June: very hot, often above 40°C. Some guests come anyway, because dry vegetation and scarce water can make leopards easier to find near shade and water.
• Summer drives: kept to the coolest hours.
• Monsoon, July to September: the hills turn green and the reservoir fills, but rain can cancel drives.
• Closures: some camps close in the hottest or wettest months.
• Month by month: our best time to visit Jawai guide goes into detail.

Getting to Jawai

• To the south: Mount Abu is about two and a half hours away.
• Close neighbours: Ranakpur and Narlai are each about an hour to an hour and a half away.
• By train: Jawai Bandh and Falna stations, on the main line between Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Delhi, are the nearest.
• Once here: your camp's jeeps and naturalists take you everywhere, so you won't need your own car.
• On a journey: Jawai is one of three stops on our big cats and birds journey, with Ranthambore and Bharatpur.
• On a southern route: it fits beautifully between Udaipur and Jodhpur, with Ranakpur on the way.

Two or three days in Jawai

Who Jawai is for

• The curious: nowhere else in Rajasthan shows so clearly how people and wild animals can live side by side.
• A contrast: two or three days of fresh air, open skies and early nights after the palaces and cities of a classic journey.
• Not for you if: you want tigers, dislike early starts and dusty tracks, or want to tick off a leopard and leave after one drive.
• Stay to see more: sightings are good but never certain, and the best ones come to those who stay.
• Want tigers too: pair Jawai with Ranthambore.
• Prefer temples and villages: stay at Narlai and take a single drive.
• Still unsure: tell us how you like to travel, and we will tell you honestly which suits you.

What we tell friends before a Jawai safari

• Dress for the jeep: neutral colours, and warm layers in winter. Mornings in an open jeep can be very cold until the sun is up.
• Camera second: a long lens helps, but don't let it decide your behaviour. If a leopard is relaxed, sit and watch.
• Never walk the hills alone: and never at dawn or dusk without a local guide. These are leopard homes.
• Ask before photographing: Rabari herders and villagers are not part of the safari.
• Choose your camp carefully: in Jawai the operator's ethics matter as much as its tents, and we are happy to explain our choices.