Most visitors meet the forest staff at a gate, for about ninety seconds. That is a shame, because the work behind the gate is the reason the forest is still there.
A beat guard walks between eight and eighteen kilometres a day. They check camera traps, log pug marks, clear snares, note water levels at the artificial holes in summer, and talk to the villages on the boundary about cattle, firewood and compensation claims.
On our expeditions we set aside real time with these teams. Not a photo opportunity, a conversation. You hear about the night patrols during festival weeks, about the elephant that keeps crossing the highway, and about what actually helps: better boots, working torches, and faster compensation for a lost buffalo.