[Aditya]

Jungle Safari Vehicles in India

In India, we have a wide variety of terrains and forests. The land is home to a number of innumerable species of animals including some of the rarest and most beautiful big cats and wild dogs among others. The number of wildlife enthusiasts in and out of the country is also growing. Whenever there is a chance, these enthusiasts pick up their cameras and make their way to a wildlife sanctuary / national park where they can watch and photograph or film their favourite animals.

Once they get to a sanctuary, there are special vehicles that will take them inside the forest. These vehicles are mostly open (with no roof) and have raised seats behind the driver so that the occupants' view is not obstructed. Here are some of the vehicles. Here are some of the vehicles that we get to see in wildlife sanctuaries.

For 6-8 passengers:

The most popular jungle safari car remains the good old Maruti Gypsy. It is small and rugged which makes it easy to maneuver on difficult terrain. It can negotiate steep climbs and descents without a problem. Being a small safari vehicle can take you into the dense forest, increasing the chances of seeing wildlife. The Gypsy's has a proven engine and is very dependable. Besides, it runs on petrol, which makes it less noisy than diesel SUVs. This means it is less of a disturbance to the wildlife. Jungle safari Gypsys are designed to carry 6 passengers. This works out best if you have a small group of people.



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Some national parks use Mahindra Boleros & Getaways or Tata Sumos & Xenons. These can carry up to 8 passengers. These are not as popular as the Gypsy because of their relatively noisy diesel engines and larger size.





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A recent addition to the list of jungle safari vehicles is the Mahindra e-Supro. This little van can be used for up to 100 km / 4 hours. Being an EV, it is almost silent and has no tailpipe emissions. It can accommodate six passengers.





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For 12-20 passengers:

Generally based on an SML, Eicher Canter, there are open safari vans designed to carry from 12 to 20 passengers. You sit much higher in one of these compared to an SUV which makes it easy to see wildlife amidst the distant forest. It provides better views of the national park. This vehicle is recommended for large families or groups who want to travel together instead of taking multiple smaller vehicles. These vehicles are mostly referred to as Canter safari.



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Some parks also offer closed and even air-conditioned buses. These are suitable for those who have problems with heat and dust.



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Boats:

Some safaris, are best experienced by boat. Kerala, Karnataka, West Bengal, Assam and Chhattisgarh are some of the states where you can travels through vast areas of forest using waterways. Motorboats of various sizes are used for these safaris.





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[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line.

[Vishal.R]

I feel that over longer period of time, EVs are best suited to take over this responsibility due to following reasons.

Easy to install solar panels to charge.
Distance need to cover per day may not very high.
Very less noise and zero air pollution.

Need specialised vehicles and ideally one country may not have enough market.

[InControl]

Originally Posted by Vishal.R

I feel that over longer period of time, EVs are best suited to take over this responsibility due to following reasons.

Easy to install solar panels to charge.
Distance need to cover per day may not very high.
Very less noise and zero air pollution.

Need specialised vehicles and ideally one country may not have enough market.

Only worry due to very less/0 noise, what if the animals do not notice the electric vehicles which may end up in injuries. We all know how these are driven rashly when a big cat is spotted in another area. Hopefully, pedestrian warning sounds can be extended to these like other mainstream EVs.

[Sankar]

Innova, Bolero and Xylo are used as closed safari vehicles in Bannerughatta National Park with their glass protected under metal grille.

[gadadhar]

My general observation is South India prefer noisy diesel vehicles while other parts of India uses Gypsies . Vans or canters are four wheel converted diesel vehicles across all parks. I am yet to get an EV ride to meet the animals.

[AdityaDeane]

Force Motors has also just launched a special vehicle for the Forest Safari duties, it can seat 6 and has 2 rows of Air Conditioning along with 2 Sunroofs. This will be in the 6-8 passenger luxury category, I think.



Link to the article:- https://www.rushlane.com/force-trax-...-12482736.html

[zalaps]

Here is latest entry in to Gir stable. Gir Sanctuary has opted Bolero Neo as Gypsy's replacement. Almost 90% of fleet is Bolero Neo now.

[aks812]

In my recent visit to Bandhavgarh, the drivers there told that the next replacement to Gypsy would be Jimny as told to them.

[airbus]

Last year during our trip to Kaziranga National Park, we got this Gypsy for safari:



Gypsy in action inside Kaziranga National Park:

[streetfighter]

2 years back, the Nexon EV was featured in an advetorial -

https://youtu.be/Snqc9e2e8hM

Would love to see EVs in our National Park Safaris.

[jungleroars]

Open and low sitting vehicles are the best options for Forest Safari (not talking about zoos or safari park like Banergatta) especially for photographers as it provides flexibility to shoot and low angle opportunity.

[arjab]

Cannot comment on how popular the Force model will be.
With respect to all the jungles that we have visited, my observation is that almost all jungle safari operator's swear by the Gypsy.
All terrain capability with the added advantage of low range 4x4, silent gasoline engine which can take an eye-watering amount of high mileages, simple leaf spring-beam axle suspension combination that accepts substantial abuse and overloading without complaining.
The Ye Old Gypsy is largely mechanical with very few electronic nannies to enhance or keep its performance in check. No wonder it is the darling of the Safari operators of Corbett National Park, Ranthambore, Kanha and the default option of almost all the wildlife parks in the Eastern and NE part of the country.

The core tenet of a jungle safari vehicle has to be a no frills, lithe, agile, light and abuse friendly vehicle with 4x4 capability. The old Gypsy's fulfill that. No wonder it is still so widely used.

Let's "roar" to that!

[aviator1101]

The Bengal Safari near Siliguri in North Bengal uses these Force Motor mini buses installed with revolving seats for the safari.




The only exception here being the buses are well protected from all sides and not open like the jeep/gypsys.

Image courtesy : Bengal Safari website

[BudgetFailure]

Though EVs sound reasonable for the duty, they will not be preferred as animals would be caught by surprise due to less sound and could either startle them and make them aggressive and result into injuries, either for the wildlife or the tourists.

Possibly artificial noise could help here, but still EVs could be a risk from the perspective shared above.