Tadoba; Learnings of the Forests!

--

“Talk to the forest because the forest always talks to you.” …  Mehmet Murat ildan

Mehmet Murat ildan was born in Elazığ on May 16, in the Eastern part of Turkey. Due to his father's election as a Senator for The Turkish parliament in 1975, he continued his studies in capital Ankara. Well, son of a political father in a Middle Eastern-European country Mhemet may be, but the world knows him as Play-writer, Poet, Novelist & a Thinker too! And in the recent past many times when my sharing is about the forests, Mehmet’s words have helped me a lot to start especially when I want to share the lessons forests teaches me on every visit! And my recent tadoba visit was also one such  as of the late tadoba region which we all know is famous from tiger sighting but for me its classic case study of man-animal co-exitance & ever evolving. Along with it, some memorable experiences I get exposed to  in the forests, some stories & meeting people who lives in & around Tadoba. This time one more reason was a sweater donation drive which we conducted at Moharli gate for the gipsy (vehicles for safaris) drivers as they are very much important link between the tourists, the guides & the forests. Though the gipsy drivers are not officially trained about wildlife the way guides are yet most of them are locals who has grown up seeing rather living in the forests & knows as much as any other wildlife expert. Rather the job of gipsy drivers is very hard, one has to wake up every day at 4am in morning & keep driving on the bumpy roads testing your backbone as well an eye & ear on the tiger’s movements & if your clients are photographers then to align your vehicle in such way that they get a good frame, this is not at all an easy job. And our small acts of giving them sweaters we feel can be a good morale booster for them & at the hand of a Range Forest officer there we distributed sweaters to nearly hundred plus gypsy drivers. Here (as usual) I want to put forward my point about our approach towards wildlife tourism, as we all go the forests enjoy wildlife, click snaps, spend on safaris, hotels, food & that is good as all this money is used for the locals only yet when it's doing something extra such as joining hands in denotation drive for such segments of wildlife cycle, then very few of us come forward & spend! This actually can be a big help to wildlife as well with all due respect can be a great brand building also in the eyes of your companies clients & nothing wrong in using it that way as help matters, what you make use of that help, is your choice & in the end it’s for wildlife conservation only which becomes sustainable very few Indian business houses (and businessmen) think on these line, so wildlife conservation is always short of funding in any form is the outcome & I personally try my best as well along with our venture Jungle Belles (run by Hemangi & Aarti) we do our bit & the sweater donation drive was one such effort!

And then I love to be in tadoba during summer start because it’s not yet getting scorched by sun, mornings till ten am are pleasant, nights are cool & sky is so clear & star lit that you feel like keeping awake all night just looking at it but the morning safaris tension makes you to go to bed & if you are staying at some resort which is bit nearer to park (actual protected forest) the you can even hear alarm calls & tiger’s roaring also in night, all these things makes every tadoba trip more memorable & yes one more thing  & that is meeting people & listening to their stories! Actually, its meeting people & stories of their living with forest is what helps us to understand the forests in the best way which most of us forget in focusing our attention on the yellow black stripes. As two things happens, it is the people in the forests who helps you (or say teach you) to listen the stories the forest tells you & second, do mind clicking best photographs of wildlife doesn’t mean you have understood forest, its knowing things (even the smallest things) about every aspect of wildlife is what makes you understand the forest & real fun in is that! And for that the only way is try to meet & speak to as many people as you can during your forest trips & then you know what is heart (or soul) of tadoba & places like it.

This time I met Bunty Dahule, a local boy, who started his career 20 years back as a young guide in tadoba & with his small piece of land on Kolara side he started a resort named taruvaan, with the help of a few friends from Nagpur. Today the resort provides not only a wonderful stay experience to the tourists but has given employment to nearly thirty plus local youngsters. In addition to resort Bunty deals (provides services) in pick-up & drop tourists from  Nagpur or nearby destinations & has expanded his business in taxi services also with a fleet of nearly five cars! Guys, do not go on turnover figures of Bunty as they may be meagre when compared with balance sheets of our Pune-Mumbai businesses but look at the help his business is doing to wildlife conservation. Because on one side entire Central India’s younger genre (of which Tadoba is also a part) is migrating to Pune-Mumbai for jobs or for education or for better life (well, no comments on that aspect), and here is a local boy who not only opted by himself to stay at Tadoba but has made that possible for many other youngsters too & this is what our forest needs, the locals sustaining themselves, thus making entire system survive! Many will think I try to promote people (read as resorts or businesses) like Bunty for commercial purposes; yes, I do, as they are the hope & future of our forests & we must promote them, is my clear stand!

And by speaking with people like Bunty & his taxi drivers who used to drop us at the forest gates we understand not just forests but community or social living at places like tadoba.  A road to many of the buffer gates from these resorts goes through small villages & the villagers for their own reasons create obstructions for the tourists' vehicles is what few drivers shared with me. Why can't the forest as well local PWD dept create by-passes for the forest roads connecting to the gates instead making tourists suffer between friction of resorts & villagers, is the question I want to put forward. At the same time there are public toilets in most of these villages with commodes in place but doors have been stolen & there is no water supply as well the septic tank cleaning is an issue for these toilets, outcome is nobody can use these public toilets. So, again the tourists have to keep avoiding to look at villagers sitting along the roads (mostly women) for their natural call while going for morning safari & indeed that's a very embarrassing situation for tourists as well those poor village ladies too! Will forest dept, our tourism dept or corporates look into this problem of basic hygiene which is also directly related to safety of the villagers with man-animal conflicts! On the wild life sighting front, tadoba has never disappointed me rather has gifted me more than my expectations from the forests & this trip too wasn’t an exception rather exceptional it became with the sighting experience below!

Sloth Bear Mom & 20 Years of Wait @ Tadoba!

Nearly more than thirty years I have been travelling in the forests, of which the last twenty years have been with the camera in my hands & we all have small wish lists of our own, especially when in forests. It may be a silly thing to have Wishlist but what's life (and nature) without some foolishness in it! Over the years many of the items have been ticked from that Wishlist but one was remaining & that was to see (not even click) a sloth bear mom carrying her cubs on her back! I knew this is rare than many of my Wishlist's items as one sloth bear sightings themselves are erratic knowing the behaviour of the animal & then when cubs are along the sloth bear mom is very protective & then in case I could get to see one such the timing, situation, geography, location  & on top of it my camera handling skills (lol) all should sink in & that's what twenty years I have been waiting but I knew this also, forests listens to your call if you call it, "Dilse'! And what better place than tadoba it could have been, as we were waiting for tiger cubs at a water hole & as we saw them crossing the road I was sure they would show-up sooner or later & so were waiting for other vehicles! One new gypsy arrived & in the casual chat with the driver & guide (this helps a lot in the forests) about their round, the driver said casually they saw a she sloth bear with cubs on way to this water hole but they wanted to see tiger (what else) so they didn't stop at sloth bear. The mention of cubs made me alert & I asked our guide, where this spot is & when our guide inquired & said just five minutes, I said drop the tiger & we will try to have a look at sloth bear. It was a risk as any time the tiger cubs & female, would have come on the water & chasing a sloth bear is diving in the dark & it doesn't have any fixed rule for wandering! Yet when with cubs the speed would have been slow of the sloth bear & she must be also searching for water considering the heat, is what I guessed & we started. Fortunately, most of the gypsies in that zone were waiting at the water hole so the road was quiet & on one turn we saw the female sloth bear & two small black fur balls! First target achieved, sighting of sloth bear female with cubs & now to see her taking them on back as well walk (and click) & we heard engine firing of one more gypsy coming towards us in distance! My heart sunk as sloth bear is a shy animal & we at turn so it was not able to see us but this approaching gypsy will be definitely going to make them run away in the bushes behind, so we started giving upper-deeper lights to the arriving gipsy which fortunately they understood & stopped some distance away, making the sloth bear & cubs keep doing their food searching thing on! And then suddenly the female turned while the cubs were trying to jump on her back sending my heart beats in top gear mode, and the moment arrived, at least one cub on the back of a female sloth bear & second trying to ride up, I could see & click also the sight! At one time our driver wrongly positioned the gipsy making me unable to take a so called perfect shot but that moment when I felt like cursing him but I realized, what I was waiting for so many years is happening in front of my eyes & all I am feeling bad is about not getting one good shot, is this what I wanted, one single shot, rather am  I not supposed to enjoy this whole wonderful phenomenon! The realization of my foolishness hit me hard & from that moment I just kept looking at the mom sloth bear & happily clicked whatever I could, this sighting has not only made me able to tick my age long item on the Wishlist but has made me understood that life is amazing for what it gifts you rather than sulking for what it has not given me! 

 

One more thing, I took full day safari & let me tell you in summer (that too early summer yet) it may not be a good idea as you pay  a lot for full day & heat is extreme, so to spend a full day (especially noon) in open in heat isn’t something worth. As well, unless you get to hit up on some tiger taking solace in a water hole, no animal or bird makes any movement , so there is no point actually, but if you want to explore just the forest then it's ok, is advice! And one more time I learnt the value of patience in the forests. For one tiger we waited for nearly eight hours at a water hole & after that wait it came out for fifteen minutes, making me know (once again) that in the forests you are a mere spectator & everything moves as per nature’s wish. It’s this patience, which like a physical exercise, helps me to deal with frustrations (and delays too) back in my city life, which is a gain out of the forest trips!

 

With all such learning about life & indeed with some wonderful sightings I left tadoba with a heavy heart (as usual) but with a gratitude for what it has given to me & a promise to do every effort to give back something to the forests!

-

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/2023/01/defining-good-home-real-estate-in-2023.html

http://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/2023/02/blog-post.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 / https://junglebelles.in/