Learning the Language of the Wilds; Tadoba Diaries!

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“The Pygmies rely on the forest for their very life. They know everything about finding and using plants, animal behaviour, and forest survival. Working with these wonderful people has been incredibly valuable” … Corneille Ewango

Corneille E.N. Ewango is a Congolese environmentalist, and was responsible for the Okapi Faunal Reserve's botany program in the Democratic Republic of Congo from 1996 to 2003. I don’t know much about the work of Mr Corneille but his words I can co-relate with very much as we may not have Pygmies but we have forests & people living in & around those forests & they know the language of the wilds best! In my every forest trip it's this language of the wild. I want to learn a bit more, so here is how I get to learn it…

Sheer Grace!

It was a long day & we have been moving around without a sight of a tiger for a long time, a rare thing in tadoba actually! Though we had some interesting frames of forests yet the tiger kept on mission. Off late, noon & post noon rains with heavy bursts of showers have become a routine in central Indian forests, disturbing not just sightings but entire safari schedule as with hood on it's practically impossible to click any image! On the way we heard strong alarm calls of sambhar deer indicating the presence of a tiger very nearby! It was the area of a young tigress Roma (with due respect I personally like to call tigers by name as it connects well) & she hasn't been seen around in recent. We waited & a sudden burst of heavy rains poured down, & died the alarm calls of sambhar. We decided to move on but with intention to spend some time at this spot on the way back & on our way back, she was waiting to welcome us though her wait was for her kill but we didn't mind it, lol You need patience, persistence, presence of mind & yes, much of luck to see a tiger in the wilds as a tourist! Above experience I shared just to make known to all those who visit forests in the aspiration of seeing a tiger & no wrong in that desire but one has to understand how difficult it is to see a tiger in the vast spread of forest even in tadoba but not impossible! You have to be patient at times for hours, learn the way forest lives & the use that learning to see the tiger with luck on your side. And had the tigers been sighted like deer then we wouldn’t have been so strongly desired to see them, right?

Tourism & Tigers!

We waited for almost 2 hours at a spot waiting for 3 cubs of Madhu to get out in the open but they didn't though we could see them moving in the thickset of green bamboo. We decided to check lesser travelled parts of the forest & started, leaving all the gypsies there! It was silent forest & a very long drive on lonely roads as the tigress in that zone named sharmili hasn't been seen in recent & even her cubs weren't seen since the season started & guides as well forest dept (in private) are worried that they might have got killed. On a straight road me & driver saw something coming on road & again rushing back in the shrubs aside the road. At first, we thought its wild dog, then the driver exclaimed, "sir, leopard tha shyayd", slowly we advanced at the spot where we thought we saw the animal & started scrutinizing the bamboos & shrubs along the road. We saw a small object crouching & looking at us through bamboo twigs & when I looked at it, to my wonder it was not a leopard but a tiger cub! The light by now was very low & I am not a low light expert when it's photography, yet I clicked a few shots like a blind & back at the gate all the guides were eager to see the image as the missing cubs seemed to have survived! This is how tourism helps maintain tigers, at least tracking them! Well, on the way back the three cubs we were waiting for did come out on the road but till then it was near pitch dark, thanks to weather god of late but we were happy to see their silhouettes as well for our new discovery! What I want to share here is, at times dare to take untravelled routes in the forests instead just blindly following the waiting gypsies & alarm calls as you never know what you will bump in too, that’s what makes the forest interesting!

 

Living with the Tigers!

 

In tadoba forest where ever any human is killed at that spot they build a statute of tiger and a human so that their spirits wont trouble others, is what locals told me when I asked what temples are these and you can see many such while you walk around outside of main forests, even near villages, in farms, along the main road! Till the time I didn’t know what it means, I used to just think these are local gods but after knowing what these statues meant, now every time I look at one, which I often do at my walks post safari, it gives me creepy feeling goosebumps, that on the road I am walking barefoot, a tiger has killed some human on this very spot!! But that’s what living with tigers is, and yet tadoba is successful in growing numbers of tigers by learning to coexist with the tigers, a salute to all the people including forest dept and residents around the forest as it needs loads of courage which we will never imagine by sitting in our comfortable city homes!! This sharing is to make you understand how difficult it is to live around the forests where a tiger roams freely, especially when it's dark as it can see you in the darkness also, it may not be intended to harm you but for him you are just one flesh & blood animal & in desperation or in hunger or even by mistake it can attack you with only one outcome & yet you keep on living without hating it, that takes courage guys, do mind! As well, forests need not have to be learnt only in safari but a small walk around your resort, a chat with some dhabewala along the road around forest, asking questions about things, all these can help in learning the language of the wild!

 

Be Careful in the Forest Safari, it’s not some Fun Ride!

 

In one of the buffer zones of Tadoba there is a small monument of a Japanese girl who fell down from the vehicle during safari & lost her life due to head injury! Well, I have witnessed some freak accidents in forest safaris & mostly because of negligence of the tourists & some by poor driving skills of the gypsy drivers! First & foremost, let's understand this is not some joy ride or leisure evening drive, this if real forests the roads are bumpy, worn out & especially in the season after monsoon they are really bad & the vehicle keeps jumping all the time with no seat belts! And then you have to take care of camera which is just like part of your body for most of the photographers & on top of all this when you (read as your driver & guide included) see a tiger the entire scene goes frenzy with everybody trying to get in better position to have a closer look of those black & yellow stripes (I can’t blame them though)! And even if you follow all the forest rules & keep safe distance from the animals, yet if you are sitting or standing in excitement in the gypsy you have to be very careful of not falling down as the driver’s focus is on the tiger & that’s natural! There have been many incidents of cameras falling down & getting damaged & more than that to save the camera, the tourists themselves falling down from the gypsy while forest safari! As well there can be injuries to hand & feet also by banging on the seats or sides, within the gypsy if you are not properly braced yourself in the safari. And guys, if the camera is falling down from your hands on the road, then let it be, protect your own self first as you can get a new camera but you can’t get your bones replaced if they get broken up in saving the camera, do mind that! As well the gypsy drivers & guides too should be careful & keep warning the tourists about such incidents & their outcome is also a fact.

 

With all above weird types of things, I still rate going in to wilds the best thing that can happen to the humans as tiger or no tiger, yet here in the wilderness if you really try to become part of it then you know how wonderful, beautiful magical this world is & that’s the best outcome of wildlife travels, right? So, go on, whenever you get some free time get out of your concrete jungle & be part of the wilds, adios with this note!

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Sanjay Deshpande 

Sanjeevani Dev.

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