Tipeshwar, Hidden Jewel of Wildlife!

 

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If you cut down a forest, it doesn't matter how many sawmills you have if there are no more trees… Susan George
Susan Melody George is an English film and television actress. & I always admire even the actors & actresses of Hollywood (which are supposed to be not much known for their intelligence or intellect) as not only they are aware about many social aspects of the society but are vocal also to comment on them. Of-late in our country also wildlife has become a fashion & page 3 paparazzis are happy to click actors (actresses more) visiting our forests in designer attires & forest gears & cover their byte saying how they care for wildlife & they find peace blah blah! Agreed, a few of them may be genuine but most of them do it because wildlife is "in thing', among social circles of our  country so everybody wants to ride this wave & get publicity! On social media also if you see the reels & likes, anything related to tiger is viewed more is the fact so be it! But when it comes to actually thinking or knowing about the forests & species, then I doubt how many of our so-called Stars are actually contributing to the cause!

Well, sorry for the distraction but sometimes things do go in my head & I agree not all those who visit forest love or are passionate about the forest, so forgive me & let’s move on to the subject of this sharing which till last decade many won’t even know that it exists! Yes, I am referring to Tipeshwar Wild Life Sanctuary & trust me barring some real tiger & wild life lovers even today there aren’t many who visit this place often. Tipeshwar is a small sanctuary spread over some 150 sq km area in Yavatmal district & is on the extreme southern part of our State, & from the gate of Tipeshwar Sanctuary, Telangana State’s border is just thirty kilometres away. But then only a fool measures wildlife or forest or habitat on some scale of sq. kilometres, it’s the richness or say the life which lives in these lands that matters most & on that front Tipeshwar too is unique. As usual it took tiger sightings to make the people (read as wild lifers, so called & tourists) know this small piece of forest has rich wildlife & tigers are seen here frequently. More than that it is an important corridor which connects Central Indian tiger habitats to southern forests such as Bhadrawati Project tiger. In recent times a tiger from Tipeshwar is known to travel to Bhadrawati & then travelling way back to Dnyanganga sanctuary in western part of Vidarbha & again returning to tipeshwar, thus completing journey of nearly 1800 kms & that’s amazing (as well luck too)! Like Umred Khrandala, which connects Vidarbha’s forest to Central India, Tipeshwar forest can be called a gateway to the south for the tigers.

But unlike central Indian forests which are much greener & dense, these parts of the State are dry & its rain shadow types region & no wonder maximum farmer’s suicides are from Yeotmal district, such is social situation here. This makes things much more difficult for the tiger as prey base is less & cattle killing can be dangerous as its source of living for the humans around. Still tigers are increasing (that shows the resilience of the species) & outcome is even outside of sanctuary there has been many tiger sightings, even to the extent that one tigress (name isn’t there) is supposedly having six cubs at present and she is surviving on the cattle kills completely. And to avoid human conflict she is smart enough to kill the cattle & drag it deep within forest, finish the kill completely & then only come for another kill, thus all the unpleasantries such as eating the cattle kill are done far away from human eyes, making the hatred towards the tiger a bit less of the cattle owners! Only if you speak with the locals (guides/ drivers) then you come to know such wonderful stories in & around the forests, is what I wanted to share, once again! The terrain of Tipeshwar has lots of teak wood plantation which was earlier under social forestry but thanks to the tigers now teakwood cutting is stopped & the area is handed over to wildlife division of forest dept. For those who don't understand these terminologies, forest dept has been divided in many compartments of which social forestry looks after creating new forests which later becomes home for the increased population of wildlife species & not just tigers. This branch is very important as we can increase number of wildlife animals but where they will live is also needed to be taken in consideration as they don’t have some elected corporator or MLA which will allow them to build their homes illegally on any govt land & later regularize is as its their assured vote bank, so we the humans (sane humans) has to take care of building home for wild animals, that’s the job of social forestry!

Once a habitat is developed or identified as a wildlife habitat with presence of big cats or some apex animal then its declared as wild life sanctuary i.e., protected forest & then it is easier for forest dept to maintain or say control it as it gives legal power to the forest dept to restrict entry in such forests, which is what Tipeshwar is, in present situation.

Though the teakwood plantation here is young & rest part is majorly shrubs, yet the perennial water bodies in the heart of this forest is a boon for wildlife. As well the hilly terrain is perfect home for sloth bears & leopards, sightings of which also is a regular feature of this sanctuary.  Just like the lake in tadoba, here also the centre of sanctuary is a Tipai Devi’s temple & a lake nearby, which is the focus of activities. In three safaris as usual a tigress & her tiny cubs made us play, hide & sake game & we could not have a sighting yet a sloth bear we could sight & wild dogs, as there are not much grass meadows, prey base mainly that of spotted deer is less & tiger has to survive mainly on Sambar deer & domestic cattle around. As this forest doesn’t come under project tiger there are advantages & disadvantages too, such as private vehicles are allowed which is a menace for real wildlife lovers at the same time charges of tourism are much less nearly half of what tadoba costs! The guides & gypsy drivers are very enthu as they have realized their earning is directly related to the tourists yet we need proper training for them & communication skills as well support in any form (such as clothes, shoes, bird info books etc) as apart from wildlife tourism income sources are near to nil here!  While reaching to the gate you have to pass through a series of small villages (Sunna is one such) & you can feel the poverty around, in 2023 there are places where humans & animals drink water from one open tank, now you can imagine! I was with gypsy driver named Irfan & guide Sagar & both were extremely enthu to show us around & share whatever they know about the place.

Staying is a bit of a problem here as there is a recent posh resort opened but it’s for rich people & then there are some home stays, sorry to say but the home stay thing all around the forests in Maharashtra need to be upgraded a lot, on facilities as well our approach to the concept. Just making rooms available with some natives doesn’t mean a home-stay, this forest dept needs to explain the locals & help/ guide them to improvise or else tourists won’t come again at such home-stays! On such a background at Tipeshwar I came across Anant Heritage, a resort come stay place run by a local Shishir Kulkarni. This boy has done MBA from Pune & his family has a farm with ancestral bungalow near the park & instead choosing to make a career in Pune, Shishir upgraded his farm house & converted it into a small hotel/ resort. This may not be some great luxury place but it's clean, airy, functional, spacious, serves good local food & most importantly gives avenues of earning to many local youngsters!  As well he has redone the bungalow keeping the original design & specification which is worth experiencing than just seeing! We need to promote Shishir & his likes as these people are directly responsible to make wildlife tourism a success as if the visitors want to see the tiger but for that they can’t just be airdropped in the forests, they need good infra & thanks to Shishir, who in his best capacity helps tourists to remember their wildlife trips not just for tigers but for nice stay also!

Of-late, FB as well Insta is full of Tipeshwar sightings & this makes tourists eager to visit the place & have their share of those yellow black stripes but let me tell you something about wildlife, we all want to see the tiger & we pay for that yet if we are making mistake of expecting to see a tiger in every safari then frankly, we haven’t understood the forest in the first place! So, do visit Tipeshwar but not just for the tiger but to feel its heart which is wilderness, of which the tiger is one of the parts, adios with this note!

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Sanjay Deshpande 

Sanjeevani Dev.

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