Its reputation took a beating during the early 1990s, however, when park officials were found to be involved in poaching. Since then, tighter controls have turned the situation around. The last official count of tigers in the park stands between 16 and 20. New reports, in fact, suggest this may be one of the few places where the number of tigers is increasing. The park is one of the few in India where almost all the villages that once were inside have been resettled outside the park's borders.
Foliage now covers remnants of the old Rajput settlements and former villages.
But for most of its modern history, the fort itself belonged to the Rajputs and was used by the rulers of Jaipur for hunting expeditions. Since 1978, Rathore has been involved with the two tiger reserves in Rajasthan and is becoming something of a legend in the local area. Folk songs have been written about him, and almost every head is lowered or hands are folded together in a sign of respect wherever he goes in his Jeep. When he arrived in 1978, all one could see were men and cows dotting the landscape, he recalls. Now, as we drive over the rolling hills and through the dry, deciduous forests, sambar and chital deer stop their grazing to give us a quick, startled look.