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Where is Jhalana Leopard Safari Park?
Jhalana Leopard Safari Park, or Jhalana Leopard Reserve, is located right at the heart of Jaipur. It is extremely unique in its close proximity to such a busy and populated city. Jaipur is home to around 4.3 million people, and Jhalana is located directly adjacent to the chaos.
It is India’s first leopard reserve and was only established in 2017. Since then, this 23 sq km park has become one of the best places to see wild leopards in India. And it is only a 15-30 minute drive from the centre of Jaipur.
The boundary between city and nature is extremely abrupt here. There is no gradual transition from city life into nature. Instead, the park boundary lies directly next to the hustle and bustle of the city itself. This makes the leopards of Jhalana quite unique in their proximity and ability to adapt to urban life.
So much so that leopards will often leave the reserve for the city streets; there, under the cover of darkness, they search the streets in the hunt for stray dogs and domestic pigs – an easier source of prey than the wild antelope and deer within the reserve.
On the odd occasion, leopards can find themselves in very unexpected places. This is no more evident than in 2019 when one ventured into a local school, wandering from classroom to classroom and making its home in one of the old buildings for over a week before being tranquillised and relocated back to the reserve. Imagine that – your school being temporarily closed due to a leopard taking residence inside.
Getting there from central Jaipur
Getting there from Jaipur is really simple – Uber and Ola both operate in Jaipur so you can always order a cab or rickshaw via the app. Otherwise, it is pretty easy to find a rickshaw on the street or ask your hotel for transport.
We actually organised our morning pick up via our hotel for 300Rp (~£3.00) for the 15-minute ride from the C-Scheme area (we didn’t want to risk being stuck unable to book an Uber at 5:15 AM).
We ordered Ubers for the morning return trip, and also for our evening pick up and drop off. This cost us around 150Rp (~£1.50) per trip, so was our preferred option. See the directions from Jaipur Junction Railway Station to Jhalana below:
What can you see at Jhalana Leopard Safari Park?
As the name suggests, leopards are the primary focus at Jhalana. The reserve is a stronghold for leopards and there are estimated to be around 45 individuals in the reserve, including around 5 cubs.
Other species that you can see at Jhalana include other carnivores such as Striped Hyena, Golden Jackal, Desert Fox, Jungle Cat, Desert Cat, Rusty-spotted Cat, Indian Civet and Mongoose. In addition to ungulates such as Nilgai, Spotted Deer and Sambar Deer. As well as a whole host of reptiles and birds. Most notably the gorgeous and iconic peacock and some beautiful owls. Unfortunately, the last tiger in this area was shot in 1948.
We were one of the lucky ones who were fortunate enough to see a hyena during our safari at Jhalana. The Striped Hyena (Hyaena hyaena) is highly nocturnal and usually much rarer to see than the leopards. There are only around 20 individual hyenas in the reserve and we managed to spot this mother sleeping at the entrance of her den – an amazing experience!
Jhalana is home to a total of 32 mammals species, over 150 bird species and 20 species of reptiles. Below is a list of some of the highlight species found there.
| Carnivores | Ungulates | Other Mammals | Birds | Reptiles |
| Leopard | Nilgai | Porcupine | Indian Pitta | Monitor Lizard |
| Striped Hyena | Spotted Deer | Desert Rat | Dusky Eagle-Owl | Snakes |
| Golden Jackal | Sambar Deer | Spotted Owlet | ||
| Rusty-Spotted Cat | Black-Winged Kite | |||
| Jungle Cat | Shikra | |||
| Desert Fox | Serpent Eagle | |||
| Indian Civet | Paradise Flycatcher | |||
| Mongoose | Nightjar |
Side Note: If you are interested in Wildlife and Nature and have never seen a Slender Loris, then don’t forget to also check out our Sri Lanka night safari guide on How to see Slender Loris in Sri Lanka at Popham’s Arboretum!
What is the best time to visit Jhalana?
Seasons and Climate
Jhalana is located in the North of India, and so has a subtropical climate. There are three main seasons, Winter, Summer and Monsoon. Winter runs from November to February, before the heat begins to increase with a hot Summer from March to June. Then a warm monsoon season runs from July through to October.
| Season | Date | Climate (Low / High Temp.) |
| Winter | November to February | Cold and dry. 8°C – 26°C |
| Summer | March to June | Hot. 24°C – 39°C. |
| Monsoon | July to October | Hot and wet. 23°C – 34°C. |
Winter is a great time to visit due to the manageable heat and dry weather. However, summer months are often very productive for leopards due to the greater need for them to visit watering holes to drink.
Time of Day
Safaris are available as Morning or Evening sessions. The times of these slightly vary depending on time of year and sunrise/sunset times but roughly they will be a 2.5 hour safari at sunrise or at sunset.
| Date | Morning | Evening |
| 1st November to 31st January | 7:00 AM – 9:30 AM | 3:15 PM – 5:45 PM |
| 1st February to 31st March | 6:15 AM – 8:45 AM | 3:45 PM – 6:15 PM |
| 1st April to 31st May | 5:45 AM – 8:15 AM | 4:15 PM – 6:45 PM |
| 1st June to 31st July | 5:45 AM – 8:15 AM | 4:45 PM – 7:15 PM |
| 1st August – 31st October | 6:45 AM – 9:15 AM | 3:45 PM – 6:15 PM |
The above table shows the start and finish times of Morning/Evening safaris based on date (as given on the permit tickets). HOWEVER, these times are not always followed!!!
We were there on 15th February and arrived at 5:30am, only for the safari to actually run from 7:00 AM – 9:30 AM (morning) and 4:00 PM – 6:30 PM (evening). So it is probably best to arrive early and wait in the waiting room or gallery just in case the times are different to those listed on your permit.
Morning or Evening Safari?
The ideal time of day for your safari actually depends upon the season. In the summer months, morning safaris are generally better due to leopards being a lot less active once the afternoon heat sets in. Therefore leopards are a lot more likely to be seen in the mornings before the intense summer heat builds too much in the day.
During the winter, however, evening safaris are considered to be more successful due to leopards being active in the more mild afternoons where they will come out in search for water.
We suggest doing a morning and evening safari if possible to maximise your chance of seeing the best wildlife. You will have a good 5+ hours in between, and because of Jhalana’s close proximity to the city, it is more than enough time to hop in a quick ~15 minute rickshaw back to your hotel to rest or do some exploring around the city.
How to book tickets for Jhalana Leopard Safari?
Booking tickets for Jhalana Leopard Safari Park, as for any safari in India, can be extremely confusing, especially for tourists. The information available online is extremely limited, and there are countless “scam” agency websites online claiming to be the official booking page – but overcharging for the tickets at extortionate and upscaled rates.
Therefore it is always best to book through the official government website, as this will avoid any agency costs for the booking and save you a lot of money.
Official website: Forest Department, Government of Rajasthan
As for all safaris in India, it is best to book through the official government website for that region. This will save you a ton of money instead of booking through an agency that will charge a much inflated rate.
The current cost of a Jhalana safari, as of February 2024, is 1154 INR (~£11) per person. This is the price for one 2.5 hour morning or evening safari. So if you wish to book the morning and evening, then it will cost you double that for the day.
The website to use for booking the Jhalana Leopard Safari (and also for the world-famous tiger reserve: Ranthambore National Park) is the official Forest Department, Government of Rajasthan website: https://sso.rajasthan.gov.in/.
Quick Tip – I wasn’t able to use the website on my phone as it wouldn’t let me click anything to even login. So all of this had to be done using my laptop.
Registration
- Visit the website: https://sso.rajasthan.gov.in/
- Click Registration > Citizen > sign up via Google account
- Edit your username and set a password. Then use email to register and click register!
- Now log in and you will be asked to update some details (name, email, gender, DOB)
Finding the booking page
- Login and navigate to the Rajasthan SSO homepage
- Find and click “Forest & Wildlife” application. Then “Wildlife Tourism”
- From here, select the location of the reserve you wish to book – ‘Jhalana/Amagarh Leopard Conservation Reserve,Jaipur Jhalana’
Checking price & availability
- Check fee details. Enter number of people and press submit (as of Feb 2024, one 2.5 hour safari will cost you 1154 INR [~£11] per person)
- Check availability – select date, fill in Captcha and submit
- Here you can see the number of Gypsy (jeep) safari seats available for the chosen date for morning and evening safaris
Booking your safari
- Click book now and you will be taken to the booking screen.
- Select place – Jhalana > Input desired date > Choose morning or evening (if you wish to do both, you will have to repeat the process and book each separately) > Choose vehicle (Gypsy only at Jhalana)
- Now fill in the passenger details and agree to disclaimer. Make sure you use the correct passport number and bring your passport with you for your safari as they check ID’s!
- Finally, “Pay Now” > Aggregator > Razor Pay (for foreign VISA / Mastercards)
- DO NOT click off the page or anything when the payment is going through otherwise your booking may fail!
Downloading your permits
- Navigate to the “Wildlife Tourism” section again (https://fmdss.forest.rajasthan.gov.in/Dashboard/Dashboard)
- You will have to sign in again and potentially have to navigate back through to the “Book Now” part you did earlier for the booking part.
- From here, instead of entering the details to book a new safari, under “Citizen Dashboard” on the left, click the “Wildlife Tourism Services” and then “Permit Booking History” (see figure below)
- Choose Jhalana from the dropdown and your “Jhalana Booking History” should open as a new tab (if you can’t see the page, check your laptop hasn’t blocked the pop up. Mine automatically blocked it and I had to click to manually allow it to open)
- You should now be on the permit booking history page for Jhalana.
- Click “Download ticket” for each ticket you have and save it as a PDF. We saved the PDF file names in the format *place_date_time* so “Jhalana_15th_AM” and “Jhalana_15th_PM” to easily differentiate them from the other bookings.
What to bring?
First of all, make sure you bring your Passport or ID that you used when making the booking. This will be checked to ensure it matches the ID on the booking at both the ticket booth, and again as you enter the park.
It also said to bring a printed copy of your booking permit, which we did bring and showed at the ticket booth to collect our ticket with the allocated driver details etc., but other locals in the queue were just showing the permit screenshot on their phone and that seemed to be fine (though I can’t guarantee that this will always be accepted for foreigners too).
Jhalana can be pretty cold in the winter so make sure you have some warm layers for the early morning and late evening chills. The open safari vehicles mean that you will feel the full force of the winter air rushing past as you drive through the reserve so it definitely gets a lot colder than you expect. However, once that sun has risen, you should warm up and probably want to lose a few layers.
- Passport ID
- Permit printout
- Warm layers
- Water
- Camera
- Binoculars
What to expect: our day at Jhalana
Our visit to Jhalana was on 15th February 2024. We didn’t find out about Jhalana until relatively late in our planning, so unfortunately we were only able to spend one day there, where we did both the morning and evening safari.
First of all, our ticket said the safari was 6:15 AM – 8:45 AM (morning) and 3:45 PM – 6:15 PM (evening), and to arrive 45 minutes before the start time. We therefore arrived at 5:30 AM, but there was nobody in sight. Luckily they have a waiting room, gallery and toilet all next to one another to the right hand side of the main gate.
It wasn’t until around 6:00 AM that we saw anybody. And even then, they just informed us that the safari was in fact starting at 7:00 AM. Annoying considering we had arrived a whole 1.5 hours before this start time and 1 hour before the ticket booth even opened.
It made sense though as had we started at 6:15 AM, the first 30-45 minutes would have been in darkness due to the sunrise time (just a shame they have the wrong times listed on the ticket). Our evening safari was also a different time (4:00 PM start instead of 3:45 PM) but luckily we learned this from the drivers during our morning safari and so were prepared and didn’t arrive so early for the evening session.
So at 6:30 AM, as the ticket booth opened right next to the main gate entrance, we walked over and queued. We handed over our booking permit slip and waited for the man to enter all of our details and print off another form with our safari driver/jeep info. We showed it to one of the drivers who passed us on to the right driver who showed us where his jeep was and had a chat. Then 10 minutes later we got in the jeep ready to go at around 6:50 AM.
Now we drove through the main gate and waited where our passports were checked and matched with the booking details. Here we waited until it hit 7:00 AM and we were off on our adventure.
Our safari
As we set off, the driver informed us that we won’t be stopping for more common animals that can easily be seen throughout the day. This is so that we can spend as much time as possible searching for leopards and hyenas before the sun comes up. We did a similar thing for our safaris in Sri Lanka.
We were not fortunate enough to see any leopards during our morning safari, but we did still have an amazing time. We were first really excited to see the bizarre-looking and massive antelope species – the nilgai, which is something we had read up on and were really hoping to see. Turned out they were pretty common, so we saw loads of them throughout the day.
Other species we enjoyed watching were grey langurs, a scops owl, black-winged kites, peacocks, and best of all – a striped hyena!!!
We got back to the carpark at around 09:30 AM and booked ourself an Uber back to our hotel. 25 minutes later we were back and ready to have a nap and relax after the early wake up. After this we had some lunch and relaxed, before booking another Uber back to Jhalana at 3:30 PM for our evening session starting at 4:00 PM.
Our evening safari was equally great and we started it off seeing a beautifully camouflaged jungle nightjar perched on a branch just to the side of the track. Again we saw lots of interesting animals, but no leopard… Or at least we thought that until literally the last minute.
It hit 6:29 PM and we were almost back at the carpark. When all of a sudden we saw three jeeps parked and all of the guests standing up and looking in one direction. The excitement picked up and one of the drivers told us that there was a leopard in the long grass. After around 30 seconds of looking and wondering where this leopard was, we finally set our eyes on the insanely well camouflaged creature in the hazy evening light. We spent around 5 minutes watching the leopard before it walked off out of sight into the jungle. What an end to an already amazing day!
Summary
Jhalana Leopard Safari Park, in our opinion, is an absolute must visit if you are visiting Jaipur. Located right at the heart of Jaipur, it so simple to get to and you don’t have to worry about travelling to a far off remote location to see some incredible wildlife that is otherwise very difficult to see.
The fact that just a 15-30 minute drive out from the centre of Jaipur can bring you to a place teeming with wild leopards and hyenas, makes Jhalana an extremely unique and important place – one that all wildlife lovers need to visit.
Booking Jhalana can be pretty confusing, especially amongst the sea of agents and scams trying to overcharge you 2 or 3 times the price, or even worse, sell you fake tickets. Therefore, it is best to book directly through the government website – which we have given a step-by-step guide for above. If not, you can always book through your hotel if you don’t want to brave the government website – though they will most likely take a commission fee which can vary depending on your hotel.
Getting there from Jaipur is simple and cheap. You should be able to book yourself an Uber or find a rickshaw to take you there from anywhere in Jaipur for roughly 150-300 Rp. Otherwise, you can always ask your accommodation to help you with transport, which may be more expensive but should be more reliable (especially for the early morning transport to the reserve). It took us 15 minutes to get there in the morning but the journey back and evening journeys took around 30 minutes due to traffic – so give yourself enough time!
Overall, it is an absolutely amazing place to visit, especially due to the ease of getting there and low cost. Leopards are quite common to see and our guide told us that they see them most days. But even without seeing leopards, for wildlife lovers, it is an amazing place with a whole host of other cool creatures.
For more wildlife and travel content based on our time exploring India, please check out our other blog posts here: India.
Happy travels!
For more on India’s wildlife and safaris, keep an eye out for our posts on India Wildlife Destinations, including guides on seeing the tigers of Ranthambore National Park!
Thankyou for helping out, great information