------
“In the forests there are no week-days or
week-ends, every day is a new start here”… Me.
And continuing from my
earlier wish-list sharing, I will further add to my own above words (I am
not saying quote, that privilege is for celebrities & I am not one) that in
the forest, every new day is an opportunity for the visitors for making a new
wish & a hope that it will get ticked! As I have already mentioned, most of
my wish list got ticked in this tdaoba trip & more than that the
entire experience of ticking them was overwhelming as sighting a tiger or sloth
bear or any such animal is itself a pleasure but when you get to caught them in
action then its memorable along with ticking your wish (read as wishes) &
that’s what happened in this tadoba trip! With five of the wishes from the wish
list got ticked I was contended & just thought of drifting along in the
rest of the safaris yet things kept happening, though the sequence of the
ticking may change in the sharing but what I am describing is the feel as many
tourists avoid doing afternoon safari when they had their eyes full of
sightings (tiger what else) & I won't blame them as its May end at tdaoba
& when you are in Kolsa range where forest is not dense but open & no
shelter on the top with mercury touching 45 degrees, even a hardcore wildlifer
like me tempt to give-up one safari & stay in the room with 20 degrees AC &
food! But to make the most of the time in the forest I chose to go on with the
safaris & tdaoba responded with more luck showering on me for my
dedication, patience & sun tanning, lol! So, here are some more wish
ticking stories…
Tick 6. Finally, the Dream Shot becomes Reality!
Well, I don’t want to
dramatize but why we are envious about photographs of celebrities with all
their fashionable branded accessories in the fashion/ movie magazine, it's not
that because of their ability to buy such stuff but it’s the way they look in these
photos for which most of us envy them secretly. As here, a sixty touching Amir
or Shahrukh looks way younger & fitter than what we look in the same age
bracket respectively (presently in our mid-fifties I am referring to my own
age)! Same way when many of the wildlifers (read as photographers mainly) when
they see some fabulous frame of a wildlife on social media, they do think, when
I will get such image or why I can’t get such image & that becomes an
addition in your wish list! I too am not exception to this “LSMES” i.e.
Law of Social Media Envy Syndrome & one such frame which always makes me
envy was about a tiger on forest road, side profile & face looking in
camera & beyond the tiger the road merging into the expand of the forest.
And the trick is, all objects in the frame must be clear as if you focus on the
tiger the forest & road becomes blur & vice-versa! I have seen tiger
crossing road many a times but either it doesn’t look at me (read as camera) or
the background is not empty i.e. vehicles on other side or the road is
turning & all this must happen in a flash as tigers never cross the
road relaxingly rather no animal does that except a bison or may be an
elephant. And on top of that, your vehicle must be in the front to get a clear
frame & even if you get all these things right you should be able to click
the frame in right mode (this one is, for me)!
In Kolsa range of
Tadoba buffers where vehicles are less, I got the opportunity, as we were
tracking a tigress with three cubs & which were on move & the mom was
leading the cubs to the kill (sorry, food) she has hunted for the cubs. At
this time tigress path was predictable as speed was bit slow because she
had to guide the cubs along but at this time the tigress is nervous too &
especially this one (K Mark named) was having her first litter i.e. a new &
young mom, so she was very cautious. Yet we saw her advancing through bushes in
a direction which was supposed to be crossed with a main road leading to a
nearby village named Khadsangi. Now the trick is, there were few other vehicles
& the tigress could have crossed through any patch, depending up on from
where she emerge from the thicket of the bushes, here the alarm
call of peacock helped us to wait at right position & I could see the
tigress as well cubs emerging from few meters ahead of our gypsy. Till then I
was not even thinking about ticking my wish list as cubs won’t be far away from
the tigress & she won’t look at us yet it would be a group of tigers
crossing road type sight but then here t Tadoba God smiled at me & we saw a
two-wheeler coming from opposite side. For those
who are not used to these parts of State, around tdaoba forests there are
nearly 200 villages & two lakh people live in them & so does nearly
300 tigers among them & a sight of tiger crossing road or walking
along the road is not uncommon for the villagers, yet proper precaution is a
must, which most villagers neglect, is a sad fact! So, we waved at the approaching two-wheeler riders,
indicating to them there is a tiger nearby & stop wherever they are. Yet
the two-wheeler guys advanced, maybe because of ignorance or curiosity &
came directly to the spot from where tigress was supposed to cross the road
& started looking on both sides for the tiger. The tigress as I mentioned
was a young mom & didn’t liked this intervention & warned the bike
riders with a snarl & spine-chilling roar; trust me, to listen tiger’s roar
in the forest is not something you will like to experience & even though
you are a local & used to the tigers this warning roar made the two-wheeler
guys scared to their hilt & they parked the bike on the road itself &
ran towards the gypsy behind us & took shelter in it! The tigress didn’t
like the bike on the road as most of the tigers in the tourism areas of the
forest are used to gypsies & think them as harmless but two-wheeler is
something they feel as another animal & can smell humans on it so either
keep away from bikes or chase them to make them run away, which happened in
this case. But the bikers kept the bike parked right in the middle of the
road & the tigress wasn’t going to take chances with the bike as her cubs
were along too! So, she cautiously advanced on the road alone leaving cubs
in the bushes & walked around the bike for confirmation of no threat &
called the cubs to cross the roads & during this I got to tick my wish, as
she was keeping safe distance from the bike parked right in front of us & I
could click her looking at bike i.e. towards the camera & beyond her was
road merging in to the forest. I cursed the bikers more than the tigress as I
have to crop the bike from view to get just the tigress in frame but later when
I saw both the images, the bike was actually adding a spice in the image is
what I felt. Becaue who gets an image where a tiger in the wild is looking at a
bike parked in front of you with background of forest! And fortunately, I could
maintain the focus aspect also in control & the longest due wish was
ticked!
The guides &
drivers of our gypsies cursed the villagers who advanced towards the crossing
despite we warning them as either it would have made tigress turn back &
refrain us from the sighting or had she really attacked the bikers &
injured them then it would have been real problem as not just some serious
mishap but that part of the forest would have been temporarily closed for the
tourists by the forests which means loss of business for many families &
for not following rules of the forest (coexistence) that keep safe distance,
even if you are a local resident of the forest! This incident made me want
to share something about coexistence & wildlife tourism as presently tadoba
came in news (once again) for a post of a tigress named Roma being surrounded
by gypsies & image’s caption said Wildlife Tourism or Terrorism & sadly
this has got a very negative impact on entire forest’s management. As many
gypsy drivers & guides of the vehicles involved got suspended for one month
which is a very big loss & I don’t or will never support any obstruction to
any wildlife animal during tourism yet high time for authorities (and media
too) to understand & then react when such incidence happens. As in the
forests most of the roads are narrow where just one or two vehicles can pass
& everybody wants to see the tiger as people pay huge money for that &
from this money only locals & the forest dept is able to save & grow
the tigers is a fact! Yet, this doesn’t mean paying money gives you the right
to block the road of the tiger but after visiting forests for nearly thirty
plus years let me tell you no body can block the road of a tiger or any wild
animal as they will find their way, for sure! First, I think tigers in
protected forests grew up seeing gypsy cars & knew very well =there is no
harm or threat from these vehicles unless you take the gypsy too close to touch
the body of the tiger which nobody is fool enough to do! Many times, even if
you are standing on the side of the road a tiger silently overtakes your gypsy
& at such times it comes within some feet of your vehicle & best way is
to remain silent than to start your vehicle & disturb the animal which the
drivers & guides are trained for. The classic case in above sighting proves
my logic as there were five odd vehicles (gypsies) but till the tigress didn’t
see the two-wheeler, she was calm & comfortable, the moment she noticed the
bike she become angry, so wildlife tourism in gypsies doesn’t disturbs tiger
& forest dept’s as well media’s allegation of blocking path of tiger is not
right!
Unfortunately, post
this event (news media) the lower rank officers who are actually in the forest
are coming too hard on the guides & drivers & coming up with weird
rules (self-made) of not allowing people to wait at one place more than ten
minutes (ridiculous) & closing down many roads, making some roads one way.
Outcome is, the guides are terrified of disciplined action & instead
focusing on showing wildlife to the tourists are more keen on saving their jobs
from suspension & hurrying through the safari or just keeping silent! I
repeat, no wildlife lover will justify any wrong act with wild animals but
before we tag something as wrong first analyze it in the right way, is what I
am saying.
Frankly, the Hon Supreme Court verdict of allowing
only 20% area open to wildlife tourism has become a taboo for wildlife (keeping
every respect for Hon SC) as we can visit only protected forest & here area
is limited but tigers are everywhere even outside of protected area & human
population is ever increasing & the only way is to open up all the forests
in right way & let tigers, villagers & tourists stay in harmony! But till then, let’s use this Roma Tigress incidence to teach right
things as well make understand right facts about wildlife to everybody
associated with the wildlife is what I think & that includes even media
too! My urge through this sharing to the Media
& the Senior Officers of forest dept is, please look in such wrong news
incidences with open mind & let there be coexistence between tourists,
forest dept., guides, drivers & wild animals as they all are part of
wildlife tourism & there only lies the future of our wildlife, adios with
this warning!
*You can experience visual
wish-ticking moments at link below…
https://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/albums/72177720317550777
--
Sanjay Deshpande
Sanjeevani Dev.
Please view my sharing about finding a Right Home/ Office in Pune, at
YouTube link below & share if liked..
https://youtu.be/27j3I3rwGPQ?si=-ODYBxVI2Dl_C345
Please do visit my blog links below to read
about real estate & home buying!
https://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2024/01/choosing-your-home-along-with-future-of.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..
Think Green, Think Life
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please leave ur name, email id along with ur comment. It will help me to reply ur comment as well improve the blog as per ur suggestions if any... :)
Sanjay