A leopard safari park will soon come up in Surat and Dangs in south Gujarat to boost tourist footfall in the districts. The safari parks will add to the lion safari already being offered to tourists by the state Forest Department at Sasan Gir. The Central Zoo authorities have recently given the green signal to the proposal, which also seeks to set up rescue centres in the two districts. The safari park and rescue centres will come up in Khodamba village in Mandvi taluka of Surat district, while in Dangs it will come up at Vaghai taluka. In Surat, the safari park and the rescue centres will be built on 50 hectres of forest land. The same will be built on 32 hectares of land in Dangs. Sources in the Forest Department said that both the leopard safari parks will be made in such a way so that the big cats can be kept in open areas and not in cages. The aim is to let the leopards live in natural habitat. The parks will be fenced from all the sides, the sources said. In both the safari parks, five-metre-wide roads will be constructed to take tourists for a tour in bus. Sources said that a veterinary hospital, an administrative building, watch towers near the safari parks are also in the pipeline. Forest staffers will explain to the tourists about leopards’ behaviour during the tour, sources said. According to the figures of the last Census on leopards in 2016, Surat has 35 leopards, while Dangs has 54 big cats. Deputy Conservator of Forest, Surat, Puneet Nayyar said, “This is for the first time in Gujarat that two leopard safari parks will be developed in Surat and Dangs. A detailed project report of both these parks will be made soon and in the next couple of months work on the projects will begin. Tourists will travel in buses at these parks.” Nayyar said that leopards suffering from old-age ailments or those with permanent disability due to accidents will be kept in the safari parks. “The injured leopards caught by Forest officials from any part of the state will be given medical treatment in both these parks by veterinary doctors. If they recover, they will be released into the wild and if not they will be kept in these parks.”
