Forest Diaries, School Named Bandhavgarhl!

--

“You can be in terrible shape, and if you take a three-hour walk through the forest and along the river, you're simply not the same as when you started out” … Jim Harrison.

James Harrison was an American poet, novelist, and essayist. He was a prolific and versatile writer publishing over three dozen books in several genres including poetry, fiction, nonfiction, children’s literature, and memoir. No wonder with the mind of poet & children’s literature writer Jim can explain the magic which forests hold in them, in such simple words! And that’s exactly what forests give us i.e., freshen up will be an inadequate word but rejuvenation will be perfect, when you come back from the forests! After nearly two year gap I have been travelling out of the State & what better than two of the jewels in the Indian forests i.e., Kanha & Bandhavgarh would have been the destinations! Will share about Kanha later but it was Bandhavgarh which I was looking for more as one it was buzzing with cubs of tigers & second it’s been nearly five years for me from my last visit to this place. Main reason was the geographic location as there isn’t (wasn’t) direct flight from Pune to Jabalpur & on background of Kanha, Pench, Tadoba or UKWL all of which are connected with Nagpur which has a direct flight from Pune, so Bandhavgarh used to take a sit back as two days usually get lost in the travel only! But with direct flight from Jabalpur Pune in place, well, I was all set for the place!

The main outcome of this trip which I have covered in my earlier sharing was sighting some 21 tigers in a day but then Bandhavgarh is not all about the tigers as the forest is a mixture of all types of terrains as well habitat, makes it extremely diverse on the front of biodiversity which you can see here! Many types of trees, shrubs (kharpatwar), water bodies as well hills & grasslands are best for the herbivores as they get food all year long & which in turn, is good for the predators i.e., tigers, leopards, wild dogs & such. In addition, there are wild elephants now which have migrated here from Chhattisgarhi & Odisha, some two years back, all these makes Bandhavgarh a complete forest on all fronts! Indeed, tigers have been part of this trip inherently as such was the dominance of the species (And luck riding with us) that nearly 80% images I clicked during 3 days in Bandhavgarh are of tigers! I agree, there is a lot of biodiversity in Bandhavgarh but somehow we kept bumping on the tigers all the time & it's obvious the camera stays glued on those black & yellow stripes when they are right in front of you! Yet when we are not bumping on tigers, I had some fantastic times with other species as well as habitats & then apart from the 21 tigers in a day there were some more interesting rendezvous with the tigers also! At the same time some good practices I could see about the park management & conservation initiatives, which are important & worth sharing as well amending!

First & most important, conservation, Bandhavgarh tiger park is spread in three core zones & has three separate gates with three to four buffer gates i.e., zones. The best part is there is so much forest around the core zone which is a boon for increasing population of tigers & other species as they get space to move though it’s a tough job for forest dept as there are villages in the buffers & man animal conflicts is a major issue. But one good thing is unlike forests in Maharashtra, Bandhavgarh region has no industry around or any big city so the village population as well numbers in & around core are comparatively less. It was so soothing for eyes to see all forest lands (mostly) right from Kanha to Bandhavgarh & ahead to Jabalpur as these are corridors for the wild animals & we must preserve them. Another aspect I observed is very less road kills even though the roads were all passing through forests & the main reason is less traffic on these roads. Let’s hope this remains, is all I wished!  While entering in core forest I observed farming & cattle grazing right up to core boundary & its in these fringe areas you have chances of sighting leopards or sloth bears as they prefer to feed on cattle or sheep of the villages & right in our first morning drive, we saw a leopard sitting in a small patch of grass basking in sun, unfortunately the moment it saw our gypsy approaching it sprang up & ran away. Leopards are shy animals & when they are moving in the forest full of tigers, they are very alert & don't take chances as tigers hate leopards & kill them at the sight. Reasons, one leopard disturbs tiger’s prey in hunting or stole its kill & are enemy for the small cubs of the tiger. All these reasons are enough for a tiger to kill a leopard in its territory, though the speed & ability to climb on trees are shields of a leopard if strength is not on its side in comparison to tiger!

Best part I observed was, all the groundwater open wells around the park & even within the core are properly guarded by chain-link fences to avoid wild animals falling in these wells, which is a major reason for many wild animal’s deaths, especially in summer. We can copy this in our State as well in all habitats as its effective, cheap & fast way of protecting groundwater open well in forests! Another sight which always amazes me is right around the park there were farms, huts where people (humans) are living, their kids are playing in open & hardly some 100-metre distance away a tiger may be sleeping in shrubs or a leopard resting on a tree branch or a sloth bear is searching termite which is its food & yet these people are continuing with their daily chores unfazed with the presence of these wild animals! Many people will say, what’s big deal, that’s what their life is but trust me they too are humans like us & they also have same emotions like fear & anxiety, imagine you son is playing out of your home in open & you know there is a tiger which may be looking at you son, how many of us would have been at ease with this knowledge? I admired the courage once again of the people living around the core zone & this is what we all must consider that it's these people who are part of a system which takes care of wildlife in real & we all owe them something, this sense of understanding is a gift of the forests!

On one such ride we came across two male peacocks with their spread of feathers encircling each other like two fighters or ballet dancers, right in the centre of the road. So engrossed were they in their show-off that it made us stop our car & click this wonderful jugalbandi (dual) of nature! The grace with which the birds were moving around each other, no words to describe that! And then this time while waiting for tigress to come out in the open I could click red jungle fowl, one of the most colourful & beautiful birds & equally shy to click. They usually make movement in early morning or late evening & both times are bad for photography because of poor light, but this time as we were stationary the jungle fowl group came out in open for feeding & I could actually get some colourful clicks of the bird! All these species are getting obsolete from the outside world due to hunting & loss of habitat & only such forests they have as their last resort!

Ohk, I have mentioned tigress Ra family with male tiger & cubs relaxing & the sighting we had because of intrusion from an Indian gaur in my last sharing. Here is what happened when one of the tiger cubs, barely the size of a big Labrador tried to take on the gaur. While the gaur male disturbed the tiger family & the male female & two cubs decided to move away from gaur & slept back in shadow, one cub decided to give the gaur something back for disturbing them. As the gaur moved away grazing to our amazement this cub slowly advanced through grass towards the gaur which was unfazed by this development. It was such a funny thing to observe yet interesting that a barley six months old tiger cub making its advance towards an animal like male Indian gaur which is nearly ten times its size, this is what we call “tiger’s attitude”! We were only worried that in the overconfidence the cub should not actually charge on the gaur & get killed in doing so by the gaur but as the distance between the gaur & the cub remained some 10 ft, the gaur just snarled loudly, that scared the tiger’s cub & it ran away to our relief, its day has been saved & hopefully the cub has learnt a lesson also that day about hunting i.e., never take on a prey head-on which is more powerful than us in every manner! Someday the cub will grow & again try taking on a gaur but it won’t forget today’s lesson is what I thought!

The three days passed witnessing many such moments & just when on the last safari we were thinking it's enough for the trip, the final drama was awaiting us! There are wild elephants in Bandhavgarh & we came to know that they have kidnapped (sorry for the term) two of young domestic elephants which belong to forest dept. This was indeed funny but such things happen, the wild elephant’s herd must have lured the domestic young ones & the forest dept was busy in search of their elephants. While all other gypsys’ headed for one water hole where a tigress was resting, we decided to wait on another water hole where movement of tiger male sub-adults & family was seen earlier. Here we saw two elephants, one big with tusks & another smaller one, seeing them our guide & driver said sir, “ye junglee haathi hai, forestwale haathi ko le jar aha hai” i.e., sir, this is wild elephant & it’s taking away forest dept’s elephant”. At such times elephants can be really nasty & when the wild elephant sensed our gipsy it gave us a charge making us & one other gipsy reared at speed. This was repeated twice as we thought the elephants had gone & advanced to the water hole, again the wild elephant came out of the thickset & made us run away & finally they only went away. Trust me, nothing more fearsome than a wild elephant trumpeting & running towards you when you know it’s not a friendly visit, lol!

Well, this all excitement (rather nerve breaking is the right word) proved worth it as there were two grown up male tigers which were lazing by & once they saw each other, the guide said they are step brothers & will play in water. But the look they were giving each other, I was sure it's not a playful mood but the looks were of two rivals looking at each other. Slowly both the male tigers advanced towards each other & in a flash they were in fight growling, roaring & snapping, snarling & trying to rip each other! Frankly no words to describe as the fight ended in just a minute as the weaker one sat down indicating surrender & slowly both of them walked together & vanished in the forests! I have been lucky to experience a rare but bitter fact of wildlife; brothers, they may be yet in the forest there can be only one tiger & your blood also is your enemy then!

I think, in many ways, the forest resembles events happening in our city life & its best teacher to have! As, you never know what will hit you from where & best way to survive is always be on ground & be alert, with this understanding I left Bandhavgarh, with a promise to return soon for the next class!

-

Sanjay Deshpande 

Sanjeevani Dev.

Please view my sharing about real estate in Pune at You Tube link below..

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4xX7eopH5o&t=5s

 

Please do visit my blog links below to read about real estate & home buying! 

https://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2021/09/choosing-right-home.html

http://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/2021/09/blog-post_21.html

Creating Togetherness; team Sanjeevani Way (Click link below) 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/albums/72157627904681345

For any of your complaints about city, log in at link below

www.punecorporation.org

Take your issues to Hon PM at link below..

https://secure.mygov.in/

Think Green, Think Life

www.sanjeevanideve.com