Jaipur: Wild Leopard Safari in Jhalana or Amagarh by Jeep

Leopards, twenty minutes from the City Palace

Jhalana is a 23-square-kilometre patch of dry forest inside Jaipur's city limits, and it holds one of the densest leopard populations anywhere in India — somewhere around thirty to forty animals in that small area. Amagarh, opened more recently on the other side of the city, is the second reserve.

That is genuinely unusual. Most big cats need space and avoid people; these ones live alongside a city of four million.

The safari

An open 4x4 on forest trails with a naturalist and a forest department guide. Two slots a day, morning and afternoon, and the reserve you get is confirmed at booking rather than chosen.

Sightings run at roughly 60 to 70 percent in the good months, which is high for a wild leopard anywhere. They are not fed or baited — the density is simply that high, and the animals are used to vehicles.

What else is in there

Striped hyena, jackal, desert fox, nilgai, chital, Indian hare and porcupine. The birding is strong: Indian pitta in the monsoon, paradise flycatchers, owls, and raptors over the ridge.

The ruins of a stepwell and a small temple sit inside the forest, and the Aravalli ridge gives you the city skyline from an unexpected angle.

Two options

A shared jeep, or a private gypsy — which is worth it for photographers, because a private vehicle stops where you want and does not have five other people's cameras in the way.

Practical

Three hours including the drive in.

Morning slots see more. October to June is the season; the monsoon closes the trails.

Wear muted colours, no perfume, and keep your voice down — this matters more here than in a big park, because the forest is small and sound carries.

Permits are limited per slot and released in advance. Book early, particularly for the private gypsy.