To see the Asiatic Lion in its den you have to register at the Gir Forest National Park. But a hundred rupee note can ease your passage into the home of the tawny cats. At Babra Vidi, a protected forest area located 30 km from Sasan (the sanctuary headqarters), the locals will happily palm the currency note and play guide, even guaranteeing a lion sighting. There are no formalities, no check post, no regulations, no restrictions.

The show at Babra Vidi with its nine lions, say the locals, has been going on since two years. “A pride of lion has been living here for couple of years. We feed them so we know where they can be located,” says local guide Razaq (name changed), as he takes the Sunday Express team around Babra Vidi, just three days after two lioness and a cub were hunted down on March 3 in the Barbaria range. They offer to rent vehicles at Rs 700 for a three-hour ride.

On top of a hill at Babra Vidi, there’s a Forest Department check-post. But no one stops anybody. The local operators know that. It has been this way for years now.

Babra Vidi is also approachable from Gadu near Veraval. The tourists coming from Somnath temple can directly come to Babra, even without passing through Junagadh or Sasan. These holes in the sanctuary perimeter may explain how the endangered animal could have been killed in its backyard.

The GIR national park is spread over 1,400 sq km and there are many ways to enter it. The carcasses of the lions were found on March 3 near the Babaria-Una highway. The Babaria-Una road is only one of the total seven state highways that run through the park. A 15-km long meter-gauge railway track too ribbons through the sanctuary. About two lakh tourists, apart from locals, travel on these roads every year to pilgrim spots like Kankia and Tulsishyam.

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