The Journal
Dispatches from Jawai — the leopards that share these hills, the Rabari who herd beneath them, and the long, unhurried light that falls over Rawla Bankli.
Meet the Rabari — the pastoral herders whose white turbans, indigo and crimson dress, and quiet tolerance of leopards have shaped the Jawai landscape for centuries — and how to spend time with them well from a stay near Bankli.
What an unhurried day feels like at our heritage homestay in the village of Bankli, near Jawai — slow mornings in the garden, a dawn drive into leopard country, and the deep cool of an old Rajasthani manor through the heat of the afternoon.
Jawai in Rajasthan is one of the only places on earth where leopards live freely among people, temples and grazing flocks. Why the granite hills are such extraordinary cat country — and how to see them well from a base in nearby Bankli.
