As I continued my tiger tourism and photography in Central Indian tiger reserves, I saw the ugly face of commodity fetishism which had converted ecotourism into pseudo ecotourism. I saw how commodity fetishism stricken urban affluent wildlife photographers and ecotourists do not hesitate to perform unethical practices to get their desired tiger images.

Ranthambore National Park is a 1,334 km² (515 sq mi) large national park in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is bounded to the north by the Banas River and to the south by the Chambal River. It is named after the historic Ranthambore Fort, which lies within the park. Ranthambore National Park was established as the Sawai Madhopur Game Sanctuary in 1955, initially covering an area of 282 km² (109 sq mi). It was declared one of the Project Tiger reserves in 1973.

Bandhavgarh National Park is a national park of India, located in the Umaria district of Madhya Pradesh. Bandhavgarh, with an area of 105 square kilometres (41 sq mi), was declared a national park in 1968 and then became Tiger Reserve in 1993. The current core area is spread over 716 square kilometres (276 sq mi).

This park has a large biodiversity. The park has a large breeding population of leopards, and various species of deer. Maharaja Martand Singh of Rewa captured the first white tiger in this region in 1951. This white tiger, Mohan, is now stuffed and on display in the palace of the Maharajas of Rewa. Historically villagers and their cattle have been at a threat from the tiger. Rising mining activities around the park are putting the tigers at risk. The park derives its name from the most prominent hill of the area, which is said to have been given by Lord Rama to his brother Lakshmana to keep a watch on Lanka (Bandhav = Brother, Garh = Fort). The fort was built by a Gond Dynasty king.

What was transformed after witnessing this great Indian tiger show and how? To know that read my book on “Inclusive Ecotourism”