In pursuit of the King of Gir

Aderri&egravere, naked and tantalising a lithe torso, also bare skin show in its primeval form. Hips undulating, she moves in, close, closer&hellipOur gazes lock. &ldquoWanna play&rdquo she seems to ask. &nbspBreath suspended, I&rsquom both hot and cold. &ldquoLook at her size&rdquo My friend&rsquos whisper &mdash &nbspworlds away. &ldquoMedem, Medem&rdquo Altaf&rsquos voice. Shh, I mime.  &ldquoArre, hand me your camera, ne&rdquo our guide demands. The point-and-shoot gadget is, however, useless for night-time photography. &ldquoYou can&rsquot see a thing&rdquo His tone is huffy. I&rsquom beyond speech. Or I would assure him it doesn&rsquot matter no camera can freeze this magical moment, my very first sighting of a lioness in the wild. A miracle, given my abysmal track record with big cats of any denomination. And miracles have a virginal purity about them&hellipthat tempts fate.

A bellow, cannonball-like, splinters the silence of the forest at dawn, shooting out from the open-top safari jeep at the rear of our convoy of five &ldquoOye Move on, morons I need a close-up&rdquo

I fantasise about beating the man senseless. The queen of the jungle, all regal dignity, remains unfazed. My Cinderella moment, though, is over. Concerned about the sanctuary&rsquos peace being further disturbed, the lead jeep&rsquos driver is moving ahead. The rest of us follow. Our glimpse of Eden vanishes into the realm of never-ever-again as we branch off to our assigned routes, the frustration of an aborted experience surrendering momentarily to the exhilaration that it happened at all. Sighting a lion in Gujarat&rsquos Gir National Park is not an everyday occurrence.

Our previous safari here had proved it. As had the news from Imtiaz, that afternoon&rsquos guide, that even VIP guest Amitabh Bachchan had managed a sighting only on his third consecutive try. No wonder, I mutter, pondering our fellow tourist&rsquos antics today. But there&rsquos more to it than that, Altaf now reveals. Every dominant male among the sanctuary&rsquos 400 odd Asiatic lions apparently appropriates nearly 540 sq km of territory for the exclusive use of his pride trespassers are shooed off. With the reserve thus carved up into &lsquofiefdoms&rsquo, spotting a big cat in Gir would have to be predestined.

Inevitably, safaris survive on hope and chance. One of the reasons, perhaps, why the sanctuary staff go all out, if not to ensure a sighting, at least to present their excursions as entertainment. Hence Imitiaz&rsquos high-octave account of a full-maned lion charging out of the forest during a safari and roaring, it seems, with enough ferocity to frighten a tourist into a &lsquobathroom accident&rsquo, as he calls it. Meanwhile, Altaf is bent on stage-managing a sighting this morning. A chital&rsquos alarm call &mdash &ldquoPok-pok-pok&rdquo &mdash prompts him to needle the driver, &ldquoHey, Babu, hang on a sec, ne Can&rsquot you hear the chap calling&rdquo Not a single herbivore or peacock is in sight &mdash a clear indication that a predator is on the prowl. But as the minutes tick by with infuriat-ing lethargy and the sky pales into morning, it becomes increasingly clear that the &lsquochap&rsquo is a prankster and not worth the wait.

Gir&rsquos rich biodiversity seems no big deal, as our jeep heads towards the Kamleshwar Dam &mdash our safari&rsquos avowed highlight. Cutting through miles of unprepossessing, dusty terrain, dotted with termite hills and shadowed with shrub, it is clear that Gir lacks both the lushness of Bandipur down south and the aura of Corbett to the north. Nothing can recreate my one shining moment &mdash neither the fragile, week-old fawn, sheltering between its mother&rsquos legs, nor the cocky jackal cub refusing to give us right of way. But it is here that luck has visited us &mdash and fled. I&rsquom inconsolable, until the waters of the dam appear on the horizon &mdash endless, shimmering, soul-soothing&hellipNot so the pairs of watchful, hooded eyes visible above the tranquil surface. Salt-water crocodiles, we&rsquore told, a reminder of the dangers lurking everywhere.

Yet it is in the shadow of peril that an entire workforce operates with efficiency. Manmade, concrete-lined reservoirs, visible from the road and regularly filled by tankers, ensure that the animals never run out of water sources at the height of summer when their natural waterholes &mdash hollows and nullahs within the forest &mdash dry up. Teams of forest rangers patrol the area, track down ailing or injured animals and transport them for treatment to the Gir Interpretation Zone at Devalia , a restricted, fenced-off area within the sanctuary, where the cats are treated and allowed to recuperate. It&rsquos heartening, too, that most of the sanctuary staff, like Imitiaz and Altaf, are nature&rsquos children, Sidi Muslims, whose forefathers were brought here by the Nawab of Junagadh from faraway Africa &mdash the original kingdom of the wild. Yet despite their affinity for the forest, their daily vigilance, poaching continues unabated. The threat to sanctuary staff from man and beast is real.

As if reading my thoughts, Altaf murmurs, &ldquoIf you let a lion be, Medem, he won&rsquot harm you. But tourists sometimes tease resting lions. What if the animals react&rdquo

Imtiaz&rsquos story, the image of the charging lion, comes instantly to mind. He had told it well and I can hear the roar still, a dynamite-blast of sound exploding in my ears. But it isn&rsquot all in the mind. Babu has brought the jeep to a halt. Altaf has his ear cocked. Menacing guttural grunts tail off into an equally menacing silence&hellip

&ldquoThat,&rdquo stage-whispers Altaf, &ldquois a male, Medem, warning another, &lsquoThis is my territory. Get lost&rsquo&rdquo

The monarch of the jungle remains backstage. But as we head for the sanctuary&rsquos exit gates later, I can&rsquot help wondering if this message isn&rsquot really for us.

The information

Getting there
Fly to Ahmedabad (about Rs 7,000 for a round trip from Delhi) Gir is a 7-hour drive from the airport.

Where to stay
Gateway Hotel Gir Forest (from Rs 6,500 02877-285551 thegatewayhotels.com). Lion Safari Camp (from Rs 12,000 02877-296507 campsofindia.com).

When to go
The best time to sight lions is in Mar, Apr and in winter, except mid-Dec&ndashJan. Closed Jun 16&ndashOct 15.

Safaris
The 6am safari is recommended. Travel agents/ hotels can organise everything for about 3,500 per safari camera charges extra. Online booking available for 50 per cent of issued permits (girlion.in). Valid ID required.