-“To learn something
from you, the forest silently observes you and quietly listens to you! If you
want to learn something from the forest, do the same thing!”
― Mehmet Murat
ildan
“Out
of the many things which forests has taught me, one is, every tomorrow is
beautiful than today!”- Me.
Once
again Mehmet to help me for starting a sharing about forests for which his
country (Turkey) is not known for & actually stood against our country in
recent clash with our neighbour! Yet keeping due respect for our enmity, nature
has only one enemy & that is human so that’s makes all of us on one side of
the table, which is why I am ok with using Mehemet’s words of wisdom! And then
my own feelings (not quote) which gets in to belief after every forest outing
& when the destination is Satpura, MP forest then I doubt whether my words
will be enough to capture it or even my camera, such is the beauty & expand
of the forest! Can you describe Himalaya’s height or Niagara fall’s sound of
water or even try explaining someone vibe of blooming of Kass Pathar’s wild
flowers (plz google), I think there are many such phenomenon in the nature
which can’t be expressed in mere words nor can be captured in any camera yet
these sharing are like a window for those who aren’t lucky enough to visit such
places & can see at least whatever being shown to them through these words/
photographs windows of people who are lucky to live these moments (like
myself)! Now if you are thinking this is bit over dramatic & philo then it’s
nothing in comparison to the herculean task of trying to explain or describe
Satpura forest, so be it!
I
had been to these forests but from another gate as Satpura tiger reserve (will
use this shortform ahead as STR) has three gates i.e. Churna, Madhai &
Panchmadhi & they are nearly 150 km apart from each other, so you can
imagine the expand of these forests! Of course, the distance of gates from
within the forest is much less but then that’s only for authorized personals. I
had been to STR from Churna gate & am well versed with the serenity of
these mountain range which are known as Satpura in Hindi it means Seven Mounds
or Boxes! On the eastern side of these range lies Melghat which is in Maharashtra
& flora as well Fauna is much similar in both forests yet STR has been
detached from all sides from the urban world & that’s a boon. First
surprise (not a pleasant one for me personally) was when I went to ticket
counter of Madhai gate for me was I could see a big river Devna in between ticket
counter & actual forest gate & when asked how to go to gate & where
are gypsy’ (safari vehicles), the guide casually told me, Sahab, baotsehi jana
padata hai wahatak” i.e. Sir, we will have to travel by a boat to reach to the
gate of the park! This was news to me, as probably Madhai must be
the only gate of the forest where you have to go by a boat ride, at least in
Central India & that too in peak summer where most rivers run dry. I hate water (sorry but a fact)
& hate boat rides more (you can call it fear, that’s ok for me) & I can’t
swim but that is also of no use here as the guide was quick to describe the
crocks in the waters, this made my friends also curtail their laughter which
came by looking at my face! Yet, forest is the only thing which can make me
overcome my hatred (read as fear) for boat ride & I set foot on floating
jetty to sit in the boat. One more thing, looking at the river bed span, I
asked the guide what happens in post monsoon safari, then he tried to explain
me how large the gorge is in monsoon with water depth more than 100ft &
width of the river nearly half kilometre, which again has to traversed by boat
only! I decided then & there never to visit Madhai in winters (sorry the
forest must be super beautiful but to travel in that water is not my cup of
tea), at least for now & we entered in STR!
I
have seen enough tigers now to lose the counting of the sighting though I
clearly remember every sighting (that’s power of a tiger) & yet I have told
to the foresters ( fellow friends), not to expect tiger sighting as STR is very
large forest, tigers are shy & they can be
anywhere in this forest as most of the forest is surrounded by river
& lots of water bodies around, large prey base & all these makes a
tiger not needed to show itself to the humans, simple logic! But I have told my
friends to enjoy the forest landscape which they won’t get to see anywhere as
well birds, deer, gaurs & sloth bears for which these ranges are famous
for! And in the past we all have seen tiger very early also at the start of
safari (thanks to tadoba) but what happened to STR Madhai gate broke all our
records, as we stepped out (read as wheeled out) of the gate in the forest, at
100 ft distance there was a pond on right side of the road & a banyan tree
on left side of the road & one gypsy was standing there, all people in it
looking at the tree with excitement on the faces of the tourists which can only
match with when they see a tiger! Yet, I thought they must be first timers & excited
by looking at deer or peacock & when we looked what they are looking at, a
tigress was sitting in the shadow of banyan tree, that makes sighting in 35
seconds (half of a minute) i.e. from the entry in the forest & this is Satpura!
And
from where the tigress was relaxing in water, human settlement (park management
quarters) was stone’s throw distance, a heartening thing to watch, this is coexistence!
From that movement next two days we criss-crossed most of the STR expand as
that was the target & we end up with near eight sightings of the tigers
which was not just bonus but jackpot & we missed sloth bear but more than
that we tried to store as much of the forest in our cameras & the mind, which
was the sole purpose of our trip.
I
have seen tigers as I already mentioned & I have seen Indian gaurs as well
dear & birds but at Satpura when you see a lone gaur grazing & even one
tonner (weighing 1000kg) gaur looks like a tiny dot on the back ground of the
forest, that sight makes you realize how small we are in front of the nature! Yet, how dangerous we are to
threaten existence of this huge forest just the way a small termite can damage
our entire house only because of our numbers which are growing faster than
termite! Beauty of STR is 1600 sq. km or core & three side river &
backwater & mountains as well meadows created by relocating the villages
inside, all of this makes STR is one of the finest habitats for every type of
wildlife as it’s a home big enough to accommodate many living species of every
type! Agreed tiger sighting is difficult though of late they have increased
& the tigers are getting used to human movement around in safaris but
things needed to improve is quality of guides & their interaction skills!
Rather female guides were more enthu & talkative but most of the guides
themselves has seen these tigers for less time so they have yet to understand
its behaviour pattern which is very useful while safari & for that right
kind of training at least twice a year is must, is what my observation! At the
same time make these guides read English as well Hindi writeups, stories about
forest as well general, it will help them to know more about the wildlife at
large as indeed most of the guides are from local villages & knows forest
but to know something & to understand that thing are two different aspects
of life, which is true about the forest also! And the madhai gate has one
wonderful souvenir shop so we can add a reading room also with it for the
guides as well appeal tourists to donate books for this reading room, which can
be big support to make the guides at Madhai better with their communication
skills!
Next
two days we were moving through the forests & kept bumping on the tigers
also, which I took as sweet bonus. There is one wonderful temple nearly thousand-year-old
(as per the guide), this place can get a facelift with information displayed as
at present its just ruins! Its great piece of architecture but nobody knows
anything about it in detail & we must make use of such spots, as imagine
who chose to build a temple at such remote place that too thousand years back,
something we must preserve in right way, as well make its info available right
at the gate interpretation / reading room also! At the same time STR has
excellent buffer forests too which are not know much but has lot of wildlife. Especially the late evening patroling safari is worth going & we were lucky again to meet a tigress in the total darkness around! And could click a Chusinga Male deer clear with its horns for first time in so many years, only because of the landscape, as it didnt noticed us from distance but with 500mm lens I could click it without disturbing it!
Speaking
about the forest of Madhai STR, practically most protected & spread we can
have but just a thought, can’t there be bridge connecting Madhai village &
the main gate as look at waste of time & efforts in ferrying people across
all the day long & it’s risky also in monsoon! And one more thing,
connectivity from major cities to places like Madhai. The major problem with
MP’s most forest is, commuting & money which required for it making such
trip very costly for average families & MP forest dept can work out tying
up with private companies as well State Transport Corporations of MP &
Maharashtra for comfortable & convenient transport system connecting to
parks like STR with near by major cities with airport & railway stations! Forests like Satpura
Tiger reserve are our real treasures & we must conserve them as well
support them (forest dept) to make these forests grow as they should not end-up
as dead assets but must be of use to our next generations to make them know how
rich we are on nature’s front, I said bye to STR with this feeling with a promise
to visit again, soon!
-
An
interesting rendezvous in the wilds…
I'm
an Indian tiger & not a Chinese tiger to eat a Frog!
Wildlife makes you experience amazing movements
about nature & teaches you coexistence in a real practical way by living
examples! On a recent visit to Satpura, a young tigress was relaxing in a water
body which is a normal sight in summers in the Central Indian forests but while
I was clicking at a wide range, I realized a small lump on the paw of the
tigress which I thought was some injury. To check more closely I zoomed in on
the tigress & to my wonder it was a live frog, God knows what it was doing
on the paw of a tiger! Surprisingly the tigress didn't take any notice or
offence of the frog's presence which was on her paw & just an inch away
from her jaw & the frog jumped back in water after a few minutes! I don't know
whether tigers eat frogs or have a taste for frog meat, but this tigress
certainly wasn't of frog eating type (Chinese, lol) or must be with a real full
tummy but the entire episode showed me one more dimension of wildlife's way of
living by coexistence!
-
Sanjay Deshpande
smd156812@gmail.com
Sanjeevani Dev.
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