We did not see anything

Abstract

This story captures the tensions observed during multiple tiger safaris conducted as part of my fieldwork in a central Indian Tiger Reserve. Through the perspective of the reserve's first female guide, it brings to life the inequities in wildlife conservation in India, where the burden of protecting biodiversity disproportionately falls on marginalized forest-dwelling communities. The story explores how fortress conservation—a model that seeks to create human-free spaces by displacing communities—impacts these groups and how tourism further exacerbates these inequities. Blending insights from anthropological debates on non-human lives with lived experiences, the story highlights how community members must reconcile cultural and emotional connections to animals with the pressures of commercializing those relationships. Access to the field offered a behind-the-scenes view of safaris, revealing the demands placed on guides, from meeting tourists' increasingly extravagant expectations to the pressures of ensuring tiger sightings. While inspired by my fieldwork and academic research, this fictional narrative draws on collective experiences and is not based on any individual.