The Ghosts of the Granite Hills: A Portfolio of the Greater Jawai Ecosystem

Prehistoric rocks, bold leopards, vibrant people, and a near-complete absence of conflict between them. This is Jawai.

Ghosts of the Granite Hills is a photographer’s love letter to the land, the lore, the life and the leopards of this unsung jewel in Rajasthan’s crowded crown. Built on Kairav Engineer’s decade visiting this stony world, the book is a sweeping study of little known leopard behaviour, the extraordinary Rabaris, a surprising abundance of wildlife by both day and night, and a rare harmony in coexistence that has for centuries stood as a stolid beacon of hope and inspiration for our ecological future.

Inset lavishly with over 350 photographs and dense with vivid and perceptive commentary, Ghosts of the Granite Hills brings Jawai to life in dazzling detail and in being at once both a triumph of art and a tome of natural history, is an enrichment essential to every library.

A note from the author:

Jawai is a rare equilibrium where granite hills, wildlife and human presence coexist. The leopards here symbolise balance; they are quiet, assured and deeply rooted in their terrain. Jawai, to me, mirrors the deeper character of India, with its inimitable resilience and restraint. This book is a record of that harmony – a visual and emotional documentation of a place where the human is part of the more-than-human world, without insisting on dominance. Through these pages, I share Jawai as it truly is to me: an unforced and timeless tale of nature.

– Kairav Engineer, Author and Founder of Safari Crafters