This region in southwestern Rajasthan, home to over 60 cave leopards in a relatively small area, offers a rare communion with the wild and a lesson in organic human-wildlife conflict management.

Halfway between Udaipur and Jodhpur, two of Rajasthan's troika of major tourist draws, lies an evocative land composed of granite hills flecked with flaming dhaak and spiny euphorbia. Close by, stretching languidly around the catchment of Luni, Rabari farmlands wound around cooled-lava hills make up the prehistoric outcrops of Jawai.

Jawai, more precisely Bera, shelters one of the highest non-forest concentrations of leopards in the world, and these spotted beings—known elsewhere assolitary and highly elusive—enjoy an unprecedentedly harmonious coexistence with the human residents of the nearby villages. Rabaris consider these graceful cave-dwellers sacred keepers of the 300 hill shrines lodged across this leopard country.

Wildlife in Bera

Leopard
Jackels
Wildlife1
Owl
wildlife2
wildlife3

History of Bera

Situated in western Rajasthan, Bera, often nicknamed as "Leopard Country", is surrounded by dams and lakes, including Jawai Dam, the largest one in the entire region. The town of Bera has a historic significance in the history of the kingdom of Mewar (Udaipur) The legendary warrior, Maharana Pratap Singh, demarcated this land for his fourth son, Rana Shekha, to rule.
Bera Nagar is an ancient city nestled in the lap of the Aravalli ranges. This region is called Godwad, which is between Marupradesh and Mewar.
Bera has a history of different eras.

Prehistoric And Ancient Era

In Rajasthan, evidence of human habitation of 1 to 4 lakh years ago has been obtained from Didwana, from the valley of Luni river of 1 lakh's 40 thousand years, and from Bagore, Tilwara, etc. From 5's 10 thousand years ago.
The culture flourished on the banks of the Pachmatra and Banas rivers of Kalibanga (Harappan) and Mewar 5000- 3500 years ago.
The Ahar Banas culture, close to its region, was contemporary to the later period of the Indus Valley Civilization. Both these civilizations had trade relations.
This region is located to the south of the Matsya region described in the Mahabharata (about 5000 years ago).
The period between Lord Neminathji and Lord Mahavira (2400's 3000) years ago is called the Mahajanapada period.
During that period, this region was a part of the Kuru, Matsya, and Surasen Mahajanapadas at different times.
In that period, Lord Mahavir visited this area. One of the upsarg site is the present-day Bamanwad tirth.

Medieval Era

Emperor Prithviraj Chauhan declared himself independent king in 917 AD. His second son, Laxman Singh, came to Nadula present Nadol in 950 AD and took advantage of the chaos of the rule of the Paramara kings in the region, and declared himself an independent ruler. In this way, the Rashtrakutas of Hathundi and Chauhan of Nadol became neighboring rulers.
Mohammed Ghaznavi, who was going to attack Somnath in 1024 AD, was defeated by Rampal of Nadol and Dutt Varma, the ruler of Hathundi. Ghaznavi destroyed and devastated cities like Nadol, Hathundi, etc., and temples.
In 1175 AD, Sinhaji, the ruler of Hathundi (Rata Mahavirji), was defeated by Chauhan Samant Varsingh of his Bali fort and took possession of 42 villages in the region.
He built his new capital, the new fort fleet Bera Bujri 1, which is currently in ruins in front of the village of Verdi Kakradi.

Modern Era

Later the jagir of the Bera became Marwar (Jodhpur) state from Mewar state under matrimonial relations.
After the First War of Independence of 1857, the Jagir of the Bera became under the British Empire under the Marwar (Jodhpur) kingdom. Till this time the main occupation of the people was agriculture and animal husbandry. People used to do their business according to the varna system.
Thakur Shivnath Singhji of Bera was the son also the Chief Secretary of Maharaja Ummed Singhji of Jodhpur.
His son Thakur Prithvi Singhji was a famous polo player. In his command, the army of Jodhpur bravely won many difficult wars in the First World War in Jordan, Egypt, Gaza region.
1960's Thakur Jangjeet Singh Bera was into farming and owned and managed one of the largest and the most efficient farm in Rajasthan . 5000 acres of land and professional farming , he was the first one to get into hybrid farming and tied up with the Rockefeller foundation.

In 2000's Castle Bera opened its gates to Travellers and Thakur Baljeet Singh started entertaining guests from all over the world.

Testimonials

Our Travellers Tell Us… It’s with humility that we share the following, though at the same time, we don’t mind telling you: Castle Bera has made the TripAdvisor certificate of excellence and travelers choice awards list every year since the survey launched , landing in the #1 spot an unprecedented 8 times. Our 8 years on the list also gives us the distinction of being the only company in Hall of Fame. And when prospective travellers hear this, they naturally have a question: What, exactly, did you do to deserve this recognition? The best way we know how to answer that is to let our past travellers say it for us. Below is a sampling of comments from recent guests returning from Jawai Bera . In addition to these testimonials, we can also provide you with references.