--
“When humanity wins
its battle against the forests, this victory will be humanity's greatest
defeat!”
―…
Turkish Playwright, Novelist & Thinker Mehmet has been always one of the greatest of such kind in our genre & has helped me in many of my recent sharing with his words of wisdom, especially when subject is forest or say nature at large & its fight for survival with none other than the humans i.e. us! Actually after going through writings of many wise people such as Mehmet I myself have understood one thing which he has said in above quote, the battle or fight of forests may be on with humans but this fight humans are not going win ever as the day we will chop down last tree or wipe out last blade of grass that day, our life will be only black & white, rather only black is for sure yet humans never give up the fight is the problem! Rather that's the sole purpose of my such sharings, somewhere someone will also understand & join the bandwagon of stop fighting with forests, but as of now there are very few, so be it, thanks Mehmet!
Now, if dosage of philosophy is too much for you then here is something nice, wonderful, great, amazing news (well some different start) & it’s about forests which meets you in the form of grassland & it’s just 100 km away from our concrete jungle i.e. Pune (though with the chaos on the road even 100km feels like 1000km, sorry, sarcasm) & thanks to the forest dept with some dedicated men like CCF N.R.Praveen, DCF Mahadev Mohite, RFO Surywanshi & guard Ganesh Bagde (from forest dept) , Raju Pawar like locals has for some time won the battle with the forests by joining hand with it & result is awesome! At first glance, all you can see is yellow drying grass everywhere, thorny bushes, barren hills with boulders, some neem trees in backdrop that's all & you think why you woke-up at 3 am in morning, left your cozy comforter, travelled some 100 kms & come here in the first place! As the sun rises in the sky, then you start seeing black & grey striped objects walking in weird ways, in the distant howling of wolves starts & you see wings wandering up in blue sky, welcome to Pune Grasslands, a unique landscape habitat which you won't get to see or feel in any other forests of Maharashtra & home to Hyenas, Gray Indian Wolf, Indian Fox, Chinkara & many birds. Take an example of a Hyena family here, in my more than 30 years of wildlife, hardly once or twice I could click this animal but here in Kadbanwadi I can click them leisurely as they too were in such a mood, a rare sight & many such awaits you!!
Though all this hasn’t happened in some days or months or years but its dedicated persistent efforts of nearly a decade which has made this landscape not only survive but thrive. This entire area which stretches over hundreds of kilometres between south & east side of Pune district is a rain shadow area & that’s actually make it unique on the front of flora & fauna! That way I have been visiting these grasslands for nearly more than decade since when hardly few people knew about their existence or say importance but post Covid effect on wildlife tourism (good way) & thanks to some real interested officers in the grasslands, today this patch of land is slowly becoming dearer to wild animals which makes it dearer to wild lifers. In the morning when I reached at the gate of Kadbanwadi from Indapur side (another gate from Baramati side i.e. Shirsufal), it was heartening to see SUV’s (as normal cars can’t be maneuvered on these tracks) aligned at gate & entry tickets were full! Later while we were waiting at the water-hole, I was more fascinated by seeing the photographers aiming their telephoto lenses outside just a cut-paste scene from tadoba or Kanha, this is what was missing from these grasslands & this will help to make them thrive, is what I felt!
Earlier also animals like Hyena, Wolves, Fox, Jackals, Chinkaras were there along with many birds which you will find only in these habitats but continuous movement of humans inside these lands & outside has made these animals to go in hiding. As most of these animals are shy & nocturnal (only or mostly move in darkness or night) so their sighting is always rare but now with proper system of safari, routes in place as well many patches of land secluded as no human movement zones, slowly the animals are getting comfortable & that’s the reason I could click pack of hyenas, which I have never ever thought that I can some day! Though there is private farming inside & around these grasslands which in one way is a boon then in another way is a curse! Boon because I see wolves & jackals taking shelter in green crops when the grass has dried up & use these shelters for breeding. Same way chinkaras also eat green leaves when there is summer or dryness around as this is a rain shadow region & none of these animals will stay only because you made artificial water holes! At the same time, it's a curse because as these farm lands are private there is always human movement making the animals disturbed & it's not good for tourists. At the same time private farming & forest dept are in loggerhead over the ownership because of undefined boundaries, is one more problem. I think the solution lies in acquiring these lands just the way we have done in project tiger & for that declare these grasslands as Project Wolves! Problem is unlike farmers around the forests in Vidarbha regions, farmers here are rich & with politically strong backing, so to make them understand & shift from these grasslands isn't an easy job but then that’s why govts’ are supposed to do hard jobs, right? And these grassland animals needs their space as they are here since hundreds of years, they can't survive anywhere else, its their owny home!
Another aspect which of late forest dept has significantly acted in these grasslands very positively is, empowering the locals about wildlife, a success formula of Tadoba as once the locals start loving (read as protecting) the wildlife then, half the war is won! So, the next step is giving professional touch to the wildlife tourism here which includes right vehicles (such as gypsy) as fortunately here there are no big predators such as tigers so safety isn’t that big a problem & we can experiment a bit. At the same time increase routes, timings as when a person spends time to travel here & money then he has to be in the forest for some time which will make him feel worth of what he has spent! And the most important aspect is stay, as all the mammals I mentioned above you get to see in early morning hours & late evening, so one has to have decent stay arrangements around which are missing at present. We can actually use the private lands around the grasslands for resorts or homestays & the forest dept is working on it!
Recently I came across news of weddings being held at such locations & people spending millions on these weddings or events, these grasslands can be a super venue for events, get togethers, gatherings, corporate getaways! Because wildlife is not only about the tigers & leopards & elephants, it’s about the experience of wilderness you get to feel around you. Just imagine, you are sitting out in open, with cool breeze caressing you, sky is clear & star-lit, it's dark around as your city eye-sight is not used to pitch darkness ever & in the distant there is howling of wolves & along with-it cicadas background music & the howling is joined by hideous laughing sound by hyenas; give a shot guys, you won't ever forget this experience! And this will be a real boost to the tourism as well as the entire wildlife in these grasslands, of course without disturbing the harmony of the habitat & that’s what coexistence is about, adios with this note!
Check some moe magic of grasslands at link below & please do share...
https://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/albums/72177720323118163/with/54228319738
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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/2024/12/right-home-buying-in-2025.html
https://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/2024/12/2025.html
Creating Togetherness; team Sanjeevani Way (Click link below)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/albums/72157627904681345
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