I feel a sense of relief when the bright lights, the shoulder-to-shoulder houses and congested traffic slowly grow smaller as our aircraft takes off from Mumbai airport. An hour later when it lands in Rajkot in Gujarat, the vast open spaces and empty stretches of land are a distinct contrast from the city I have left behind. I already feel energised for the trip up ahead, to India’s only forest that is home to Asiatic lions.

Gir, a deciduous forest filled with acacia and teak wood, is spread across 1,412 sq km and is home to around 410 lions, apart from 38 mammals such as sambar, nilgai, deers, monkey and 300 species of birds. (Right) A lionness roars to its cubs