"The lion is much bolder, more fearless of man and less cunning than the tiger and so is much more easily shot. This explains the disappearance of the noble animals from all its other Indian haunts whilst the tiger manages to maintain its numbers."

He was dead right. By 1893 estimates suggest that there were no more than 18 lions left. It is from this tiny pool that all the Asiatic lions alive today emerged. At the turn of the century, there was a terrible drought and the Asiatic lions took a beating.

Around that time, the Nawabs of the relatively small state of Junagadh came to the rescue of the cats. Aware that the lion was facing certain extinction, they stopped all shooting in the area long before India achieved Independence. As long ago as 1929, Nawab Sir Mahabat Khanji of Junagadh released a series of Gir lion postage stamps making the lion the first animal to be thus represented in Indian philately.

After years of sliding inexorably towards extinction, luck finally favoured the lions. When the British chose to partition India, the Nawab opted to take his tiny state to shikar-hungry Pakistan, where despite his best efforts he would have lost the battle to save the animals he lived to protect. But as the predominantly Hindu population objected to this plan, the Nawab was forced into exile. But he had already done his bit for the lion.

In the post-Independence years, when Jawaharlal Nehru -- egged on by conservationists such as K S Dharmakumarsinhji of Bhavnagar, and the indomitable Dr Salim Ali -- recognised the imminent threat to the lion, he threw the weight of his office behind the efforts to save the lion.

Eventually, on September 18, 1965 Gir was formally declared a Forest Reserve. What is now the central core was later declared a National Park in 1974. Then, in 1978, still more land was added to enhance the size and thus the security of this fast-shrinking habitat.

The fine bungalow at Sasan, where the forest rest house and the headquarters of the Gir Lion Sanctuary are located, was actually the place from where most lion hunts were launched. Today this is the nerve centre from where a protective umbrella is spread over an unique eco-system, that supports over 450 plant species, 32 mammals, 310 birds, 24 reptiles and over 2,000 insects.

History still communicates with visitors who enter the lion's domain at Gir. Several old temples, such as the Kankai Mata and Tulsi Shyam hot springs, harbour abandoned relics from bygone days. Pilgrims still visit these temples with the same fervour as they did hundreds of years ago.

Till recently there were 130 settlements of a unique clan of graziers called Maldharis who lived cheek by jowl with the lions together with their famous Gir cattle -- buffaloes and goats. They are an intrinsic part of the history of Gir and most naturalists through the ages have acknowledged that few people know the lions better than the Maldharis. In fact most elderly Maldharis will tell you that they used to look upon the lions as their protectors as roving gangs of bandits would give their habitations the go by, for fear of the lions. Over the years, however, the Maldhari community has had to suffer many hardships and their children most often opt for life away from the rigours of the forest.