Holocene Year 4 Issue 02

YEAR 4/ISSUE 04-05-06/DECEMBER, 2018 -FEBRUARY 2019

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YEAR 4/ISSUE 04-05-06/DECEMBER, 2018 -FEBRUARY 2019

Year 4/Issue 04-05-06/December 2018– February 2019 The Holocene is the geological epoch that began after the Pleistocene at approximately 11,700 years BP and continues to the present. As Earth warmed after the Ice Age, the human population increased and early man began to change the planet forever. For Exploring Nature, our newsletter Holocene is our platform to convey our concerns on human threat to biodiversity. We will use our newsletter as a media to highlight the current local and global issues which could impact biodiversity of Mother Nature and promote awareness of biodiversity in alignment with our group’s mission of promoting awareness of different aspects of Mother Nature among people.

In this newsletter our readers will get information and periodic updates on.  Recent significant discussions on biodiversity, going on across the world.  Major recent research and studies on biodiversity.  Biodiversity explorations planned and conducted by national and international groups as well as Exploring Nature.  Information and interesting readings on wildlife photography and biodiversity modelling etc.

Holocene Year 4/Issue 04-05-06/December 2018 - February 2019 © Exploring Nature Cover, Design and Illustration © Exploring Nature All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced or utilised in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without proper prior permission in writing from Exploring Nature.

Content:  Editorial A “Champion” leader and his losing nation! …You elected an “UN Certified” environmental champion national leader….what do you get in return ?

3|Page  Cover Story A Journey to Save Tiger by Sagnik Segupta, and Exploring Nature T1 (Aka Avni) is no more…..how that whole issue sensitised nation. Is all over or just the beginning of the end?

4|Page  Story Room “It’s not the mountain we conquer but ourselves” by –Arnab Basu An account of High Altitude trekking in extreme Himalayan climatic conditions…..a story to summit Rupin Pass 11|Page  Exploration Camp Diary of a Highland Scout: (Part Five) by Arnab Basu …story of Scottish Highland continues 17|Page  Expert Speaks Importance of Caves and Karst (Part Three)

by Vrushabh Borkar 19|Page  Cohabitation Khao Yai by The Outlander, an account of exploration in malayan forest in Thailand by our South East Asian correspondant 20|Page  Voice of Nature When Nature is in Focus… A complete coverage of a biodiversity and wildlife seminar in Bangalore.

24|Page  Theme-Poster Marbled Ramanella, Agumbe Rainforest, Karnataka, India....by Sjoerd Van Berge Henegouwen 27|Page

Editorial Board Team Exploring Nature Holocene Cover: Shivaram Subramanian Logo and Title Design Arijit Das Majumder and Saikat Chakraborty

 Updates from EN 28|Page

Website www.exploringnature.org.in

Cover Photo by Shivaram Subramanian Is a nature lover, a traveller and a wildlife photography enthusiast. A management graduate with nearly two decades of corporate experience, Shivaram gave up his full-time job in 2012 and decided to follow his heart and travel the country. This cover photo was also in display in an exhibition in London.

e-mail info@exploringnature.org.in

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Editorial: A “Champion” Leader and his Losing Nation!

Your Nation has got an “Environmental Champion” Prime Minister. United Nation honoured him with this title.

Although, as per Environmental Performance Index of 2018, your nation ranked 177, still your prime minister is “Environmental Champion” – UN has said that!

In 2015, at COP 21 in Paris, Madam External Affairs Minister said, living in equilibrium with Environment is our “tradition”. We were happy to hear that, although there is not many reasons for happiness, once we see “other traditional activities” across the country in last few years. Still, honourable Government realizes their liability for environment, which is definitely appreciable. Hope Government will walk the talk, which is also not so common phenomena now a day in this nation. Still we live (or die) in hope as the famous Bengali pro verb goes, “Farmers die in false hope”.

Literally farmers are dying, whether it is due to heavy loan or “false hope”. Nevertheless, they are dying. We do not have time to think about that, as now we are busy in “development”. This is the time for nation to prosper, this is the time for nation to take “tough decision”, and this is the time to identify environmental policies of previous government as “Pro Environmental Lobbyist” and “Anti-Developmental”! This is the time to ignore all these nonsenses and move on with “Developmental Agenda”.

Simplifying Environmental Regulations and Policies is the first step towards this “development”. The critics who are classifying this as an attempt to give unethical advantage to some select group of Business houses, they are “Anti Nationalists”!

Now let us have a look of few recent simplification proposals for Environmental regulations, made by Government: 1. The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 is a result of the protracted struggle by the marginal and tribal communities of our country to assert their rights over the forestland over which they were traditionally dependent. There is proposal to refrain tribal communities from giving their opinion in Gram Sabha (Rural Administration) on any developmental projects in forest area. This will be a huge setback on the efforts for ensuring sustainable development through decentralization of power and creating correlation between forest and forest dwellers. This will eventually bring back the old colonial bureaucratic control over forest and environment.

2. Organizational and strategic restructuring of National Board of Wild Life, as direct impact of that the national river linking projects are getting clearances. Ken-Betwa link project is among the first of the government’s bigticket Interlinking of Rivers (ILR) projects. When the actual work for the project begins, it will inundate a large area of dense forest, a wonderful tiger habitat. Trees on 6,017Ha of forest land will need to be cut.

Environmentalists point out that as many as 5,578Ha fall in the core and the buffer zone of the Panna National Park and the Tiger Reserve. The Ken river also has the famous Ken Gharial Wildlife Sanctuary. The clock is also ticking for Jharkhand’s Palamu Tiger Reserve (PTR) as the Union environment ministry’s expert forest panel has given an “in-principle” approval for diversion of over 1,000 hectares of its core forest area for completion of the North Koel dam project that was first started in the 1970s. The project envisages a dam (Mandal Dam) on North Koel river near Kutku village of Latehar district in Jharkhand. The project, which requires diversion of 1,007.29 hectares, would also lead to felling of 344,644 trees. Approving Uranium mining inside Amrabarh Tiger Reserve, commercial pisciculture inside Satpura and Pench tiger reserve are some of the other instances that may lead to de-notification of these tiger reserves in near future.

3. Keeping Coal mining projects beyond the requirements of public hearing or approving irrigation projects without Environmental Clearances, which may help big multinationals or Indian corporate houses.

4. Removal of restrictions in establishing Industry in critically polluted areas, which is actually in contradiction with the statement made in COP 21.

In addition, there are endless efforts in making Environmental and Forest protection related regulations, less stringent and reducing the jurisdictions of National Green Tribunal. Therefore, the direction of “Development” is very clear, as the country was promised “sabka saath, sabka vikas” (development for all) in 2014. Now if you think, “Slogans hollow, promises betrayed”, then you are traitor, anti-national. Do not forget your Prime Minister is “Champion”, UN has announced that!

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Cover Story: A Journey to Save Tiger

By Sagnik Segupta, and Exploring Nature Save Tigers before they are silenced forever…

Tigers are synonymous with Asian Wilderness, vital to our culture for many centuries. Tiger is the symbol of a lone warrior, famous for its enigma, hegemony and valour. This supreme beast is subject to numerous folktales and fables in Asian literature, predominantly in India, China and Japan. Citation of tigers as an integrated part of tribal culture dates back as early as Harappa & Mohenjo-Daro civilization, almost 5000 years back. In an ancient Chinese writing, more than 2000 years back, tigers were delineated as, “existence of tigers is excellent for humans, as tigers prey on swine that destroy cultivation”. Since early Chinese civilization tigers embody fortune just like unicorns and dragons and have been deemed as protectors. But unlike unicorns and dragons, which are imaginary, tigers are very much real and a critical part of our eco-system. In Chinese alphabets, the pattern on a tiger’s forehead resemblances the ideogram that represents kings, hence tigers are revered as royalty. In Aryan and Non-Aryan religious practices in India, tigers are worshipped as or in association with deities. Tigers have often been used as national symbols for many countries. In modern times India, Bangladesh, Malayasia, South Korea have crowned Tiger as the National Animal. As a whole, in Asian civilization, the name tiger transpires awe and aura.

Though tigers are eminent parts of Asian Natural History, their stint with contemporary is daunting. Among nine original sub-species of tigers, three declared extinct by 1980 (Bali 1940, Java 1970, Caspian 1981).

Remaining six sub-species are trying hard to keep up with the shifting scenarios of natural habitats. Stretching from the snow-clad south of Amur Basin in the far North, to the tropical dry and moist deciduous, evergreen forests, rain forests and mangrove forests, there are only 3800 tigers left in the wilderness till date. Out of those 3800 wild tigers, we have more than 2600 in India. If we don’t take immediate action to spread awareness regarding the necessities of Tiger Conservation among people of the countries, where these largest felids of the earth still roam in woods, we will lose them forever.

The number of tiger deaths in India has crossed the 100-mark for the second straight year, which means that on an average nine tigers have died every month for the past two years. 115 tiger deaths recorded in 2017; Madhya Pradesh tops the list, Maharashtra 2nd. We all aware recent sensations in media and among wildlife enthusiasts across country on the issue of T1 aka Avni, in the month of November 2018.

The story of Avni has multiple dimensions, as narrated by Sagnik.

AVNI(T1)- The Untold Story The forest department is being cornered in the tiger terror stricken 20-25 villages of Ralegaon Tehsil in Pandarkhawa area of Yavatmal district of Maharashtra where man animal conflict has claimed 13 lives in last 2

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years. It is more of a government created problem as it has failed to address the socio economic problems of the area or rather region.

The landscape of Pandarkhawa is like a typical central India jungles with thick lantanas in the ground level and there are agricultural land patches within forest areas which is bordering to the Tippeshwar Wildlife Sanctury and dispersing tigers from here are making these areas as their homes. Villagers walk through these forest patches to get to their fields also grazing is rampart in this forest area which is illegal but still continues because the villagers in the area cannot afford to buy fodders for their cattles. The villagers even though they know that grazing in the forest land is illegal they are helpless. There is very little development in the area and poor road connectivity, water and electric problems and over and above all this unemployment which government never bothered to take care. Here the villagers are marginal farmers and mainly dependent on rains for a single cropmostly cotton,tur & soyabean. Many landless have also encroached forest lands for farming to eke out a living.

These lands which hem the forest are in possession of the revenue department and isolated.

It is also known that 80% of the village houses doesn’t have a toilet and those who have don’t use it, people defecate in the open, but currently the terror of T1 has brought in a fear in them to attend natures call in the evening. Open defecation is rampart in the area as government has not given the promised money to build toilets and even those who have built in hope to get the money are yet to receive the grants and the people are blunt in saying as we didn’t receive the grants for building these toilets we have stopped using them.

Of the 7000 hectares of the territory which T1 and her two cubs occupies also includes an overlapping territory of T2 ( male tiger), out of which almost 6000 hectares belong to Forest Develpoment Corporation of Maharashtra (FDCM) and 1000 hectares to Territorial forest. In the last 4 years when the presence of T1 was found no efforts were taken by the department to built protection huts to stop trespassing and grazing. It was free for all then and now suddenly all restrictions are imposed on the villagers which is again one of the reasons for their annoyance. The forest department has claimed that they have distributed around 650 T1, Photo Courtesy: Times Now LPG connections to the Tiger Terror hit villages and also given crop compensation to over 500 cases. But all these efforts done should have been done in a more planned manner four years back when the story of T1 started.

It was on 1st July 2016 the first tiger attack was made on a lady who was on her nature call, it started from there and till date there are 13 deaths the last death in 11th Aug 2018 due to tiger attacks so far registered and all has been credited to T1( Table below shows details of 12 Human kills). We all know that all Tiger’s present not only in Reserves & Sancturies but also any tigers which are straying out of the protected area in governed under National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and there are guidelines laid down by the NTCA to handle each and every situation and all State Forest Department where Tiger presence is there are bound to adhere to those guidelines laid by NTCA. In this case Maharashtra Forest Department failed to adhere to the NTCA guidelines fully in declaring T1 a man eater.

• Firstly, the guideline clearly states that the reason for a tiger to become a man eater needs to be ascertained, in this case it was not done.( if availability of prey base is the reason than, the jungles of Pandarkhawa where T1 is residing has ample Bluebull, Deers & wild boars).

• Secondly, out of the 13 deaths attributed to T1, as per guidelines DNA sampling was done only on 3 bodies out of 13 deaths and in one DNA of T1 was found, on the 2nd DNA of a male tiger was found and on the 3rd the DNA couldn’t be ascertained whether it was of a tiger or not. Further no clear reasons given as to why DNA sampling was not done on other bodies.

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• •

•

SCAT samples not taken for study.

Out of 13 kills, 7 human bodies were found next to cattle kills ( in forest land) which proves that they are all “Chance Killings” rather than “Habituated Killing”. Such killings should not be used as basis to declare any tiger a man eater- this has been mentioned in the NTCA guidelines.

It also states that Confirmed Habituated tigers which Stalk human beings and feed on the dead body are likely to be a man eater- in this case T1 hasn’t fed on the kills which has been attributed to her.

During end of 2017 T1 had given birth to cubs and two of them is alive since then and they have been also captured in trap camera’s in Jan along with their mother ( one such image of Jan 2017 is being shared). As per NTCA guidelines be it in a protected area or a non protected area precautions on movement has to be taken care off when a tigress is with her cubs which in this case was not done at all.

It has been almost two months now since last death due to tiger has been reported and if T1 would have been a Man Eater “ Habituated Killer” then why the killing pattern is erratic and why since last two months she hasn’t made a single human attack- This behaviour shows that she is not a ”Habituated Killer” and not a Man Eater.

On 27th Feb 2018, the PCCF wildlife passed the order to eliminate the Tiger by shooting , which was challenged and got quashed in the Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court. Even after that department didn’t put efforts to capture T1 and her Cubs. The second order was again signed on 4th Sept 2018 by PCCF which was now challenged in Supreme Court, but the mercy petition was rejected on 11th Sept 2018 and the verdict stated-The cubs of T1 tigress to be tranquilized first and relocated Rescue centre.

-The efforts to tranquilize and capture T1 tigress will be continued and if unsuccessful, it shall be eliminated by shooting to avoid any further loss of human life.

-The CCF Yavatmal is authorized to carryout the above order and he shouldn’t declare any prize money for eliminating of her.

The news on T1 started to circulate in social media and all wildlife lovers across India started to raise their voice to save Avni T1 and her cubs. The reasons which provoked people to support T1 was again wrong approach taken by Maharashtra Forest Department in handling the operation to capture the tigress and her cubs.

Suddenly the ill famed Shikari/Shooter Nawab Shafat Ali Khan was summoned for this operation which made people more agitated as Nawab doesn’t have a good reputation in the wild life lovers circle as he was the person who gunned down 250 plus Nilgai in Bihar with government permission also wild boars in Maharashtra. Before Nawab being roped in for the operation Vetenerians from neighbouring MP forest department along with their elephants were brought in to Pandarkhawa and the operation started around 12th of Sept 2018. During this period Nawab was trying to dominate the operation and he was not adhering to any thing from the CCF & DCF who were incharge of the operation. Infact on 18th of Sept the MP team had cornered the tigress with her cubs on a kill of Nilgai but was not taking shot as cubs were playing and even clear shot was not possible because of the undergrowth and distance, they had planned a capture by evening and waited watching her. This news reached Nawab who is putting up almost 50 km away in Umri Guest House from the camps and territory of T1 reached by evening to the spot and took his gypsy right upto the kill which made T1 and her cubs vanish again in the jungles, further almost whole night Nawab continued the search of T1 and her cubs with search lights which further made the disturbed mother to go away from the kill. This high handiness of Nawab made the MP Vet team look like a puppet and they went back on 20th Sept .

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Meanwhile the agitation continued in social media even rallies taken out in Nagpur, representations made to PCCF during this period and due to Muharram Nawab had gone back to Hyderabad on 21st Sept, and during the same period with intervention of Ms. Maneka Gandhi who spoke with the Maharashtra Forest minister and got Nawab disassociated from the case and requested that MP team to be called again for the operation along with the Maharashtra team. This was a celebration moment for all wildlife lovers as people were hopeful that she would be captured and not shot. The 2nd phase operation continued along with the MP vet team but now T1 had become more clever due to human presence almost 24 hours inside her territory she became elusive and she was not even spotted only pug marks used to be found but no visual contact, even trap camera images proved futile in locating her. Meanwhile with instruction from Maharashtra Forest Minister both PCCF & APCCF was asked to camp at Yavatmal till T1 was captured or shot. The operation went on but without any success and again on the wee hours of 2nd Oct another tragedy happened, the tusker named Gajraj brought in from Tadoba broke away his chain n went inside the jungles in the night and crushed one woman to death and injured another which again made the situation tensed in that part and the operation was called off for couple of days.

During this period, due to our bureaucratic policies the Chief Wildlife Warden of MP stating that Maharashtra forest department has not requested further extension of the MP team services again called the MP Vet team back. Which cleared way for Nawab to again come back now he was accompanied with a team of sniffer dogs, thermal drones & motorized para gliders as if some surgical strike need to happen on T1. Presently its like a jamboree at Pandarkhawa with shooter nawab along with 150 plus combing staff, trackers, police commandos, wildlife vets, graziers and other forest staff and presence of so many people is creating a mess there which is making T1 and cubs to go away. All new and improvised Photo Courtesy: Hindustan Times strategies by bringing in thermal drones, para gliders, sniffer dogs, increased no of trap cameras ( 112 from 90) and pug impression pads haven’t helped much in getting any break through in locating T1 forget about capturing. Also as per informations available that from top orders have been given that Nawab will take a final call in everything and all informations about sightings, pug marks, kills, etc have to be intimated to him first. As said earlier Nawab who has put up his base in Umri Guest House which is almost 50 km from T1’s territory, by the time he reaches there on getting information and plans strategies T1 has moved away from the spot, this is the same story everyday. Moreover trap camera are checked everyday morning and even if any movement is captured it is too late to react on the same. From sources it is known that as per NTCA guidelines a certified Vet only can tranquilize any animal and it is learnt that the letter issued by PCCF was to Dr. M Navin Kumar, retd. Deputy director of Nehru Zoological park and who is a member of Nawab’s team, but it has come to our knowledge that he has never been part of the operations yet, as he doesn’t move from the guest house.

It is now to be seen whether PCCF issues a fresh order under section 11(2) of Wildlife Protection Act,1972, which states that killing or wounding in good faith of any wild animal is self defence and shall not be an offence. This will make easier for Nawab to shoot T1 if by any chance it attacks or even attempts to attack either Nawab or even any member of the operational team. As Nawab has already stated to newspaper that already three failed attempts to tranquilize T1 has been made but everybody including few people from department is claiming it as false.

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Now as the clock ticks and days passes prayers from each and every animal lover that T1 survives and she be captured along with her cubs and not shot by Nawab, and live rest of her life be in a rescue centre or zoo.

12 Human Kill Details

Date

Day

Range

Village

Occupation

Vicinity of Livestock

Place of Incidence

1

01.06.2016

Wednesday

Maregaon

Borati

Farmer

No

Fields

2

03.09.2016

Saturday

FDCM

Khairgaon

Farmer

Yes

TCM

3

04.09.2016

Sunday

FDCM

Zotingdhara

Farmer

Yes

Forest

4

30.10.2016

Sunday

FDCM

Tejni

Grazer

Yes

Forest

5

22.07.2017

Saturday

Pandarkhawa

Jiramira

Farmer

No

Fields

6

25.08.2017

Friday

FDCM

Sarati

Grazer

Yes

Forest

7

16.09.2017

Saturday

FDCM

Sakhi

Grazer

Yes

TCM

8

15.10.2017

Sunday

Pandarkhawa

Jira

Farmer

No

Forest

9

09.12.2017

Saturday

Maregaon

Vihirgaon

Farmer

No

Forest

10

27.01.2018

Saturday

FDCM

Loni

11

04.08.2018

Saturday

FDCM

Wedashi

Grazer

Yes

Forest

12

11.08.2018

Saturday

Maregaon

Vihirgaon

Grazer

Yes

Forest

Sr. No

Forest

For weeks wildlife enthusiasts and animal lovers were campaigning to save Avni, a tigress in Maharashtra, for which government had issued a shoot at sight order because she was allegedly a man-eater. But even as the campaigners continued to make their desperate attempts, the news which they feared came. The tigress Avni, T1, who allegedly killed 13 people in Pandharkawada-Ralegaon forests of Yavatmal district in eastern Maharashtra over the last year and a half, was shot deal in the night of 2nd November, 2018.

Leading to that, PETA India released a statement on Avni tiger’s killing: “Avni was killed illegally satisfying a hunter’s lust for blood, plain and simple, in possible contempt of court and in apparent violation of the Wildlife protection Act and the guidelines of National Tiger Conservation Authority. She may not have died instantly but slowly, through pain and blood loss, and likely in front of her now orphaned and vulnerable cubs. This matter must be investigated and treated as wildlife crime. Whether sanctioned by the state or not, nobody can be above the law.

This is a dark day for our nation and we must hand out heads in shame now, and again this killing goes unpunished.”

After this, we had a week of human wildlife conflict!!!! After Pandharkawada, two tigres were killed by local people in Dudhwa, one allegedly man eater tiger was captured in sent to zoo in Satkosia incidence, then one leopard carcass was found in Pilibhit and a woman was reported to be killed in Katarniaghat probably by a Big Cat. How to draw an end…or its just the beginning ??

Not just to find answer, rather to instigate people of this country to seek answer – “Journey for the Tiger”!

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“Journey for the Tiger” is a cross border bike ride to create awareness about Tiger Conservation among the general populace, especially children and youth. This will the very first initiative of its kind in the history of Tiger Conservation Efforts across the globe.

Profile of the Voyager Mr. Rathindranath Das Rathindranath Das, popularly known as “Rathin” among nature and wildlife lovers of the country is a 42-year old Wildlife Enthusiast and conservationist from Kolkata. Inspired by the Part IV A, Article 51A/G of the Constitution of India, Rathin considered it as his fundamental duty as an Indian to contribute in conservation activities to protect lakes, rivers, forests and wildlife of the country. Rathin has been dedicatedly associated with Wildlife Crime Control Bureaufor last 4 years in their AntiPoaching and Wildlife Conservation Programmes.

Being an innate rider with unconstrained compassion for the environment and wildlife, Rathin has always looked for ways to contribute as little as he could to make the world a better place to live, by making valuable alliances with conscious minds across the globe. He started his first ever venture “All India Bike Tour” from 3rd October ’16 to 13th February ’17, endorsing the theme “Save Forest Save Wildlife”. Rathin covered a total of 27138 Kms, 29 States, 5 Union Territories and conducted awareness campaign in 2200 Schools across the Nation. That venture was covered by Local and National News Medias. In his second undertaking, Rathin covered 2822Kms and conducted awareness on the theme ‘SAVE RHINOs’ in 167 Schools across West Bengal and Assam.

After the great success of first two, Rathin and his fellow Nature Enthusiast Mrs. Geetanjali Dasgupta (she is also his better half) together rode to cover 6021 kms and reached 232 schools across 10 Indian states to spread awareness on “Why to save our Wildlife!”

The Plan The “Journey” will be undertaken in three phases to cover all the Tiger populated countries across the world with the slogan “Save The Tiger”.

• In the 1st Phase, all 50 Tiger Reserves across India will be covered and awareness programme will be conducted in 500 schools and villages in tiger populated areas of the country.

• In the 2nd Phase, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam Cambodia and Laos will be covered.

• China, Russia, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh will be covered in the 3rd and Final Phase.

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Journey For Tigers” is getting support from everywhere: 

Rathin’s all previous endeavours have gained wide media coverage, public appreciation and accomplished its rightful purpose till date.



Global Tiger Forum has acknowledged Rathindranath Das’s effort towards Conservation.



Society for Heritage & Ecological Research (SHER) supports Rathin’s Global Journey to spread awareness about the necessity of Tiger Conservation among people.



The Joint Director of Sundarban Biosphere Reserve appreciates Rathin’s Journey for Tiger.



Nature Environment & Wildlife Society Supports Rathin’s Journey for Tigers.



The Principal Chief Conservator of Forest extends support to Rathins Journey on behalf of the West Bengal Forest Dpt.



TSA Foundation-India support Rathin’s Journey for Tigers across the globe.

Team

Support Rathindranath Das in this great Venture.

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Story Room: “It’s not the mountain we conquer but ourselves”

By Arnab Basu Edmund Hillary and fellow mountaineer Tenzing Norgay were the first two people to reach the summit of the tallest peak on Earth, Mount Everest, in 1953. The grueling expedition required extensive planning and the climbers displayed remarkable self-control during the ascent. Hillary reportedly summarized the lesson of the adventure with this eloquent quotation: “It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.”

In 1998 an interviewer in the “Pittsburgh Post-Gazette” asked Edmund Hillary about his motivations, and also asked if he had actually employed this quotation. Emphasis added by him, “What I generally say is that it’s the sense of challenge, the attempt to stretch yourself to the utmost and overcome considerable difficulties. If you can do that, you get a great sense of satisfaction.”

George Mallory was a famous mountaineer who successfully ascended multiple peaks including Mont Blanc. In 1918 he wrote an article about that expedition for “The Alpine Journal”. He described his delight at the summit and crafted a memorable remark similar to the quotation of Hillary: “One must conquer, achieve, get to the top; one must know the end to be convinced that one can win the end—to know there’s no dream that mustn’t be dared. . . . Is this the summit, crowning the day? How cool and quiet! We’re not exultant; but delighted, joyful; soberly astonished. . . . Have we vanquished an enemy? None but ourselves. Have we gained success? That word means nothing here. Have we won a kingdom? No . . . and yes. We have achieved an ultimate satisfaction . . . fulfilled a destiny.”

Hillary or Tenzing or Mallory are legends, I am a beginner in high altitude trekking. I do long distance running and MMA. I got myself pushed, challenged and injured several times in these sports. I do forest and biodiversity exploration and I got myself exposed to extreme wilderness and chased by wild animals several times. Does not matter whatever I have done so far, all my ego and superiority complex was brought down in eight days by mountains. Today I can say I am a summiteer too. But not before Himalayas showed me my real capability, not before I bent on my knees before him. On 19th October at 11:10 am. I summited a difficult grade high altitude treck at rupin pass at the height of 15250 feet along with my fellow 10 trekkers, but not before my each nerves and muscles were tested.

Rupin Pass is a high altitude pass across the Himalaya mountain range in state of Himachal Pradesh, India. It lies on a traditional shepherd and hiking route which starts from Dhaula in Uttarakhand and ends in Sangla in Himachal Pradesh. The path itself is located across mostly uninhabited areas in the Himalayan ranges at an elevation of 15,250 ft (4,650M) above sea level.

Majorly we did trekking in Himachal as 80% of the trek route is there itself. Being a high altitude trek, Rupin Pass is considered among one of the high range expeditions for Trekking in India.

The high altitude is not just sole reason for its popularity among trekkers, the diversified number of sceneries and sudden variation in trails also attracts many nature lovers. The trek was full of surprises at every hour by the number of variety which mother nature has to offer. The trails at times are very difficult with its steep climbs which suddenly changes to an easy walks.

Rupin Pass is an ideal trek for any adventure as it offers trek to every type of terrain, be it on snow, rocky terrain, along and through the water streams or meadows.

Rupin Pass trek consists of trails dug out of rock faces and wooden bridges, cut through deep dark folds in the mountain, glaciers and icy slopes, and over snow fields. Along the way there are white Rhododendrons and expanse of green meadows. There are different trails that access the Rupin Pass. One of them starts at the sleepy village of Gosangu which is the last road head of Himachal Pradesh. Generally, trekkers and adventurers travel to Gosangu by road from Shimla via Rohru. The alternate route to Rupin Pass starts from Naitwar, which is accessible from Dehradhun via Dhaula. From either of the two road heads, the first camp is Jhaka, the hanging village and the last stop for replenishing stocks and a look at the civilization. Traveling the Rupin Pass is a moderate – difficult level of climbing.

The trails follow the Rupin river all the way to the top (Upper waterfall camp).

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Rupin pass is unique in a way that the ice melting on the one side of the pass forms the Rupin river that merges with Yamuna and eventually flows into the Bay of Bengal while the snow melting on the Sangla side of the pass merges into a stream the eventually flow into Sutlaj and hence flows into the Arabian sea.

We started trekking our route from greener and hot landscapes and moved towards and through the coldest of areas over the snow as we reached to the end.

Our trekking started from Dhaula at around 9:30 AM of 14th October, 2018. Before that we got picked up from Dehradun railway station at around 8:30 AM of 13th October, by our trek organizer Trek The Himalayas (TTH). I was supposed to be accompanied by my high altitude trek mentor Dr. Girija Gurung, but unfortunately because of her and her father’s ill health, she had to drop the plan at last moment. So, I was accompanied by 10 other trekkers who were gathered from Gwahati, Gurgaon, Noida, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai. At Dehradun we met one of our trek leaders Dilip Rokaya. A Mountaineering graduate Dilip was with us through out the treck, till we reached Sangla to conclude the trekking.

We reached at Dhaula, a small hamlet in Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand, at around 6:00 PM, in between we of course stopped twice for breakfast and lunch. At Dhaula we met our main trek leader Aditya Thakur and three kitchen staff and the most important person of our contingent Chauhan ji, who was our local guide from a local village called Jiskun. These people would now accompany us throughout the trek and as day progress we start realizing the talent of our kitchen staff, specially when they served delicious food in extreme climatic condition – which includes fancy gulab jamoon and jalebee. Dhaula was our base camp, where we stayed overnight in tent and got briefing from trek Pic: Dhaula base camp at the bank of Rupin River; leaders and guide and got ourselves introduced with other. Although, we courtesy: Amandeep Singh trekkers already knew enough about each other in the long journey between Dehradun and Dhaula. Some of us also travelled together in overnight train from Delhi to Dehradun.

On the first day of our journey, we didn’t have to trek but rode our way on vehicle to Dhaula. The weather on the route was not very cold though humid, but the pleasant sights of the hills kept up our enthusiasm for the more beautiful sight ahead. The roads till Dhaula were in good condition except the last few kilometers where a narrow uneven patch is filled with mud. On our route, we saw the clean water of Yamuna river flowing, pass through a unique village, mythologically known for the worshipping of Kaurawas there. The charming among the villages is Mori, at tons valley meadows of marigold flowers were stretched. After 8 hours of ride, once we reach basecamp TTH team served us with delicious meal to regain energy.

Pic: Rupin flowing below into its bed; courtesy: Amandeep Singh

Next day of trek started at 8:30 AM of 14th October. Initially trekking was on easy, plane land but gradually it became steep and rocky ascending all day, till we reached next camping site at Sewa. I realized my first challenge in this trek, which was coordination of legs and maintaining balance on rocky terrain. Which I kept struggling in rest of trek. We covered a distance of 5.5. km and reached up to 6300 feet and reached at Sewa camp site at around 2:00 PM. Passed a cattle shelter after exiting the Dhaula village, the trail started climbing for about 200 mts. after 20 minutes it became easy again, a little further walk and we had another different sight of Rupin flowing below into its bed.

Another scenery of Rupin falling from a high cliff, awaited for us after a turn, then again trekking on an ascending trail through the apple and apricot trees, we reached a road just before Sewa, where we had tea and snacks at the shop available there and enjoyed the sights of Rupin flowing making soothing sounds.

Sewa is a village situated in Mori Block of Uttarkashi district in Uttarakhand. Positioned in rural area of Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand, it is one among the 92 villages of Mori Block of Uttarkashi district. As per the administration records, the village number of Sewa is 4840216.

The village has 74 families. Although it’s a village, but our stay was arranged in tents in the middle of a picturesque apple orchard. There we eexplored the famous Kinnaur Temple at Sewa, where medals and trophies achieved by villagers are hanging outside the temple. However, we were bit disappointed at Sewa as the sights were not as pleasing as heard about. Sewa is a

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Pic: Kinnaur temple; courtesy: Amandeep Singh

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small sleepy hamlet and the most important structure of the village seemed to that temple. The temple was an excellent example of the Kinnauri architecture. The temple was locked at that time. On asking the villagers they said that the idol was common to the 12 surrounding villages and the idol moves to each village each month.

Pic: Mica mining, en route Bawta; courtesy: Amandeep Singh

Third day of trek was being a bit difficult, we had to stretch our body well to get use to of the ups and down of the trek. Trek leader Aditya instructed us for the day as the area enroute is prone to landslide and frequent variance in the trail is an addition to the difficulty level.

We started at 9:00 AM and after finishing our breakfast and carried packed lunch with us, as the next camp site would be at Bawta village where we were anticipating to reach in afternoon. Initially we had steep climbing and then descending to reach first stop point at Gusangu. After a stopover of 30 minutes, within 1.2 km we were crossing through a stretch where we saw mica mining was going on in mountains. Our trek leaders also warned us about land sliding while passing that area.

Pic: Wooden bridge between two states; courtesy: Amandeep Our trek started from mixed crop field and suddenly entered into Singh a forest. A bit further walk after crossing through the thick forest we reached near a wooden bridge which separates the two states. The bridge is known as ‘No man’s Place’ as it does not belong to any state. We reached Gosangu after half an hour walk passing the bridge. From there we took the roads heading to kwar, our next change in trail came after passing the wooden and iron bridge on the road. This is where the difficult part comes. It is a road head and we had to trek about 6 km in the dusty road. We often saw vehicles move past us! It was then another uphill trail to the Jiskun village. Taking the left trail which connects to Jiksun village, heading our way up on the trail to Jiksun is an utter thrills as the trails is routed on the extreme edge of the cliff. From that point TTH team took us completely under their guidance to ensure our safety while trekking on the narrow trail which was very uncertain. But once we reached Jiskun, our tiredness vanished seeing the village and our homestay. It was a beautiful homestay made of stone and wood that welcomed us. We covered total 9 km and reached up to 7300 feet. We stayed overnight At a homestay at Bawta village. Our local guide Chauhan ji told us next day we would get a better homestay as we would stay at his village.

Fourth day of the trekking started at 9:00 AM, very steep throughout the day. We spotted few Himalayan griffon – a rare vulture of Himalayas. From Jiskun village it was another 1 hour climb to Jhaka village through the forest with mixed plantation of Deodar and Walnut. Jhaka is the last village on our trail towards Rupin pass. While climbing uphill, we met with many school children who greeted us with a lovely “Namaste”. Jhaka is also called the hanging village, the village seems to hang on over a cliff. Trekking along the rivulets of Rupin Pic: Pair of Himalayan and to pass safely across the water streams Griffon which encountered many times on the trail to Jhaka. The trail was well defined, passed through the field of Jhaka village, entered a forests where trees of fir standing tall depicting centuries old, pristine civilization. A turn in the trail past crossing the forest and landscapes changes itself to snow patches. Half an hour more walk on the boulders and hoping through the streams flowing within the rocky paths along the left of Rupin, we entered another forest, on which rest the Rhododendron trees of different colour.

Another walk of few kilometes and we were at our next campsite Homestay at Jhaka, after covering 6 km at 8,700 feet.

We relaxed ourselves well and admired the nature’s different shades on the perfect campsite, a serene u shaped valley in the middle of trees, with the sight of Rupin water fall far away. Evening we went for an acclimatization walk which was around 2 km climb to a local Kinnauri temple, surrounded by an amphitheater. While climbing down to our homestay we spotted herds of Northern Grey Langoor on apple trees.

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Another interesting observation was – body hair of musk deer, we found en route during evening acclimatization walk. Musk deer is threatened by poaching for musk pod and habitat fragmentation. In Nepal, the deer is confined to protected areas throughout the Himalaya. It is a solitary and shy forest dweller with a crepuscular activity pattern. Musk deer live mainly in forested and alpine scrub habitats in the mountains of southern Asia, notably the Himalayas. The musk gland is found only in adult males.

It lies in a sac located between the genitals and the umbilicus, and its secretions are most likely used to attract mates. Apparently, a hunter in this village killed musk deer for their scents. Suspected poaching syndicate at last civilization, before rupin pass, at the altitude of 8700 feet?

This was our last camping in civilization, Aditya reminded us our “picnic” is over, and from tomorrow the difficult part of the trek will start as we gradually climb above tree level, so climate will be more challenging, steep will be more sharp and there will be less oxygen in air. So far, starting from day two Dilip was measuring our oxygen level every day and so far we were doing good by maintaining a decent oxygen level between 90-95% for all of us. As it was our last night stay in civilization, we were awake until late and playing funny card games and sharing spooky experiences, we had in our life. One of them was Diliip’s experience in measuring oxygen level of trekkers. One night in Roop Kund trek, once he was done with oxygen level monitoring, an unknown trekker approached him and asked to measure his oxygen level. When Dilip asked for his index figure, he found a one feet long figure extended to him and he lost his consciousness immediately.

Due to extreme climate, people get hallucination and sometime succumb to death in mountains and that’s why there are lot of such stories one get to hear in mountains.

Our fifth day’s trek from Jhaka to Dhanderas Thatch, started at 8:30 AM. There was steep climbing from beginning to end. The trail was mix of forest, village road, river side trail and steep rocky terrain. The last one km was through a valley and before that the steep climb was quite challenging and terrifying. We covered a total distance of 15 km and gained 2000 feet to reach Lower Water falls or Dhanderas Thatch at 11,700 feet. It was one of our longest treck.

Diversity in landscape was on our way from forests to snow bridges, waterfalls to gorge, meadows to rocky terrain made our journey packed with all sorts of adventure. So far mules were carrying our rations and tents, after this point Mules were sent back and we were joined by strong 15 porters, led by Jeevan Singh, as the kind of terrain we would walk, would not be suitable for mules. Gradually we would be amazed by their capability and strength.

Embarked with an even walk on the route filled with snow patches on mountain side the sacred silver birch trees (Bhoj Trees) accompanied us till the entrance of forests, moved upwards through the forests and we found ourselves at the verge of U shaped valley. The enchanting sights form the lip of the valley, of thousands waterfalls rushing down below us is all a set to hypnotize us for a movement.

Moved downward to reach down to the valley though green and yellow meadows, we came across the next snow bridge, cross the bridge, we were at left of the Rupin, walked over the big rock along the edge and we found Rupin running into its bed. Again a final climb passing the fascinating sceneries and we were in the middle of a valley, Dhanderas Thatch. This is the place where tree line ends. Here we walked amidst Pic: Journey started from lower to upper water falls; courtesy: rhododendron trees and finally reached a river bed which was Amandeep Singh our resting point. From lower waterfalls, our next day’s trekking started at 10:00 AM. In previous night, we had moderate snow fall. Our initial plan was to start at 9:00 AM, but we were waiting for sunlight, night was freezing subzero – we kept our walking pole outside of tent, morning we found white snow on it. Water in the tube of my hydration pack got freezed. There were snow on the roof our tents. At 8 o’clock the temperature was 2.5 degree Celsius. Steep climbing started for upper waterfalls; it became even more tricky because of formation of icicles between rocks. That made the terrain more slippery. It was a 3.5 km trek which took us more than 3 hours to complete and we reached at 13000 feet. We thought the camp at Dhanderas Thatch was 14

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the most beautiful, but this camp had me completely speechless. Camps beside the Rupin river, with the Dhauladhar range in front of you. And if you walk towards the top of the waterfall, you could simply see the water gushing down and also the previous day’s campsite. That’s exactly what we did at around 4:30 PM, after coffee and samosa (yes, the awesome kitchen staff of TTH made Samosas for us at 13000 feet !!), we went for acclimatization walk towards the top of upper water falls. It was at this place that I completely fell in love with Rupin. The place made all our tiredness disappear and we simply wanted to soak in all the beauty of nature.

We came back to camp site at around 5:30 PM, and heavy snowing started after that. Since, we reached lower water falls, and during our whole trek up to upper water falls, at least three times, we heard noise of explosion. Those are noise of avalanches – breaking of ice in mountains. Also forecast of bad weather. Despite of having bad weather forecast for fifth and sixth days, we were lucky enough to get clear sky during trekking at day time. We need one more clear day – tomorrow is summit day. Although night seems to be chilly and windy as snowing continues.

The day was also highlighted with spotting of rare birds of prey of Himalayas – Himalayan Golden Eagles. We saw quite a few. Himalayan eagle inhabits the biotopes between 3000 and 5500m, but some reports its rare descent to lower levels at 1850m due to food searching operation. It affects rugged, desolate high mountain country with crags and precipices and spores stunted vegetation. Its flight is directly assisted by powerful wing beat coupled with long glides.

The Summit day – previous night was freezing cold, with moderate snow fall. At 11:00 PM, the temperature was 1.1 degree Celsius. As night progressed, it dropped further. Morning at 5:00 AM, water in bottles and hydration pack was found frozen. Summit day started a little early at 6:30 AM. We trekked uphill until we hit the snowline at Rata Pheri camp. At this point, the meadows that were our friends for these days were lost in sight and we are amidst the vast snowfields. It was white everywhere and we get the first glimpse of the Rupin Pass – a tiny ridge on the Dhauladar Range.

Pic: Upper Water Falls campsite; courtesy: Amandeep Singh

Longest trail of Rupin Pass began with a steep ascendant, with bumper gain in altitude, an hour of climbing, took left trail and discovered a total different and amazing sights from the Upper water falls campsite. The steep climb became even more difficult due to overnight snowfall. The only views from previous night campsite were of the expanse of thick snow stretched all over, making our paths through them was our next exhausting task for the day to reach Rupin Pass Gully. We Pic: Reaching to Gully; courtesy: Amandeep reached at the bottom of Gully at around Singh 10:30 AM. We saw pug mark of red fox on the snow. It was another steep climb of about 200 metres. The trail to Rupin pass is short but very uncertain and has risks of loose stones falling from above. TTH Team suggested us to walk in line carefully putting our every step forward. The guides went before and made steps for us and after an Pic: The Gully arduous climb, we were finally there at the Rupin Pass, at around 11:10 AM. In the middle of the gully, when I almost lost hope to summit the pass, leader of the porters Jeevan Singh appeared next to me and he literally dragged me up to the summit. I didn’t know how did I reach summit, I just followed Jeevan Singh.

Each member of the team was ecstatic. After all these days of trekking and hardships, we were finally at the top of Rupin Pass – at the top of the world. The Kinnaur-Kailash range could be seen clearly from the top. After spending some time at the pass, it was the time to climb down. And what can be a better way than sliding down the snow while climbing down?

The child in us was all too happy to come out.

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Pic: Kinnaur Kailash

Descending started, initially sliding down and then steep descend up to the snow line. After a two hours long trail, and crossing several valleys, rivers, waterfalls we reached at our last camp site at Ronti Gad at 13000 feet. Way to Ronti Gad was a gentle walk followed by a sharp descendant. Camping at the coldest yet charming campsite amidst the mountains covered with snow. Weather was bad, and there was heavy snowfall throughout the night. While climbing down we saw one more golden eagle and while reaching campsite we saw herds of yak grazing on valley. That we covered total 17 km distance. It was a long day of the trek and we reached Ronti Gad campsite at about 4.00 PM. But this day, everybody forgot their tiredness and were all catching up with each other. After all, we have all done Rupin Pass! It was the day of celebration.

Pic: Ronti Gad campsite

The eighth and the last day of the trek- a totally downhill trek to Sangla. The trail followed meadows until we reached Sangla Kanda, a small village. From there the trail was through the village to reach Sangla. The downhill trek took a toll on our knees and legs. But once we were at Sangla, it was only revelry and celebration time for us. Although it was downward climb but very arduous as the trail’s altitude drops rapidly. The trail started with a mild climb and then a gentle walk heading to Ronti Gad valley.

After losing an altitude of about 1500 ft in height we exit the narrow valley Pic: Descending to Ronti Gad campsite; and opened ourselves up to astounding views of Mt. Kinner Kailash. Now Rupin courtesy: Amandeep Singh Pass was totally out of our view. From this point we could view our next halt i.e. Lake of Sangla Kanda with small villages settled near it.

There are many trails going to Sangla from Sangla Kanda, we took the trail, which passes through the forest of Blue Pines. The final trail was wide and clearly defined but descendants rapidly to Sangla, after 30 mins we reached Baspa Village and 20 mins last climb and we were at the end of the trek journey, Sangla. There we had lunch, expressed our gratitude to each other until, the vehicle arranged by TTH arrived to drop us at Simla, Tutikandi ISBT Bus Stand. ed the

Pic: Sangla Kanda; courtesy: Amandeep Singh

The Rupin Pass was a wonderful trek. It had trails through the forests as well as roads. We had to cross snow bridges, climb the waterfall and walk through meadows. It thrilled and definitely brought out the best as well as the worst in us. We faced our fears and fought till the limit. And the best thing that Rupin gave us is a bunch of friends for ever‌.. 10 fellow trekkers, 3 guides, 15 porters, 3 kitchen staff and every villagers we met during trek...my gratitude to all of them.

Photography by Amandeep Singh and Arnab Basu

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Exploration Camp: Diary of a Highland Scout: (Part Five)

By Arnab Basu

12th October, 2017: The Water Birds

12th October at 9:00 AM, we started our journey towards Moray Firth, where our first stop was in the warm sunshine overlooking Findhorn Bay. Oystercatchers were along the beach along with a few Gannets and Red-breasted Mergansers offshore and a smart male Stonechat was in the dunes nearby. From there we moved on to Roseisle where we scanned out to sea from the dunes. A skein of Pink-footed Geese flew over calling and there was a sizeable flock of Eiders offshore from there as well as several Goosander including a very smart drake, Red-throated Diver and a flock of 12 Common Scoter which gave us some great views through the telescopes.

There were also many Goldcrest calling in the Pine forest amongst the dunes as well as a few Coal Tits, Treecreepers and a Crested Tit was heard. Moving on from there we drove around the coast to

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Burghead and make a stop in the harbour where we found three Grey Seals swimming around the moored fishing boats.

For lunch we drove over to the foreshore near the maltings where there were mixed flocks of waders along the shore including Redshank, Oystercatcher, Curlew, Turnstone as well as several Rock Pipits, whilst offshore more Gannets are passing by along with both Shag and Cormorants.

After lunch we moved on again around to Lossiemouth estuary, where there were masses of mainly Herring Gulls roosting, along with Black-headed and Common Gulls. There were also Lots of Wigeon and Teal there and we managed to pick out three Bar-tailed Godwits along with six+ Dunlin, Redshank and Oystercatcher.

Our last stop of the day was back around Findhorn Bay, where we had a scan out across the estuary as the tide rise. There were a good selection of waders out in the bay including flocks of Golden Plover, Knot, Bar-tailed Godwit, Curlew, Oystercatcher, Dunlin, Redshank, Ringed Plover and also some Pintail.

Also a huge flock of Pink-footed Geese were out on the mudflats in the distance with many more skeins wheeling around in the sky calling and dropping in to join them.

Species spotted on Day Five: Birds: Cormorant, Mallard.

Mammals: Grey Seal (male and female).

Photography by Arnab Basu

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Expert Speaks: Importance of Caves and Karst (Part Three)

By Vrusahbh Borkar Naturally Formed Caves in India These naturally formed famous caves are located at different part of India. These caves are identified by people at different times and facilities are developed to promote them as tourism destinations by government joining hands with local bodies. Here we are trying to list out naturally formed caves found in India with its significance.

Inside the Caves The formation of stalactite ,stalagmites common in caves. Stalactite are formed due to water dripping from ceiling and stalagmites are formed due to deposits of minerals in ground from the water drippings. Over the years such formations have grown and taken different shapes. These shapes are resembled with ancient or mythological stories and some are worshiped by locals. One such formation is Shiva Linga inside Borra Caves ( Andhra Pradesh ). Inside Patal Bhubaneswar cave in Uttarakhand you will find several such resemblance with Hindu mythological stories like battle of Mahabharat , Jatta or Curly hair of lord shiva holding river Ganga inside it.

Entrance of the Caves There are caves with wide opening at entrance and steps are constructed for easy access to inside or core area of the cave. You can easily descent by using steps at Bora caves in Andhra Pradesh. But all caves are not like this and the most difficult to enter is Pata Bhubaneswar cave in Uttranchal. Similarly Kutumsar cave in Chhattisgarh has a narrow entrance and spiral steps to enter inside. Most of the caves have single entry path to enter or exit from the cave.

Caves Flora and Fauna Caves contain unique variety of flora and fauna compared to what found in plain or hilly areas. Plants are found at the entrance or openings of the caves only as insufficient light inside the caves prevent photosynthesis.

With provision of light by electricity, Mosses, algae and ferns are found growing inside the caves. Crustaceans of different sizes are found inside caves.

Crickets, birds ,Cockroaches, insect larvae ,cave beetles, worms ,spiders , snails , centipedes , millipedes ,cave rats are also found inside caves The most commonly found inside caves are Bats.

Speleology ( study of caves ) There are various interested groups who study about cave environment, discovery , formation etc.

Patal Bhubaneswar Cave Located in Kumaon region this is known as cave temple of Uttarakhand state. Managed by local bodies this cave temples has a narrow passage to enter inside. Visitors are allowed in batches as same path is used for entering and coming out of the cave. This cave is mentioned inside ancient book of Hindu mythology Manas Khand of Skand Puran.

Electricity is available inside the cave through 24 volts supply with backup generator, as a backup source your guide will carry torch light to show you different parts of the cave inside.

Bora Cave ( Andhra Pradesh ) Near Araku valley ( Andhra Pradesh ) this cave has a wide entrance with lights inside the cave for tourist to explore different parts of the cave. Nearest town is Visakhapatname ( 95 KM ) with Road , rail and air connectivity.

Gupteswara Cave temple 19

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This cave is located near Jeyopore of south Orissa. The big Shiva Linga is located at entrance of the cave and behind this the cave is further extended. Annual festival of Sivaratri is celebrated here. Nearest town Jeypore is at 56 KM distance.

Kutumsar Cave ( Chhattisgarh ) At a distance of 40 KM from Jagdalpur in Chhattisgarh state this cave located near Tirathgarh waterfall. The entrance to the cave is narrow and spiral staircase are provided to enter and exit from the cave. Local tribes work here as guide and they will show you Blind fish inside the cave. There is no electricity available inside the cave and your guide will carry charging lights to show you inside the cave.

Mawsmai cave ( Meghalaya ) In Meghalaya state this cave is located at a distance of 27 KM from Cherapunji. A long concrete path way connects from main road to the entrance of the cave. This cave is electrified and lights are available inside the caves at different points. This cave is 150 meter length with different entry and exit points. There is a entry fee to be paid near the cave.

These natural caves are different than man made caves exist mostly from Bdhist and Jain worship centers. Due to its natural formations they are difficult to explore.

Concluded

Cohabitation: Khao Yai

By The Outlander

Watching gibbons in their world was my long time dream. When for professional reason I was deputed in Thailand I was really the happiest guy on the earth, with the thoughts that I could easily go to Khao Yai- one of the hotspots to watch the apes jumping over the jungle canopy and to listen there vocals.

When, I was searching for the best option to go there, my boss Mr Jerin Raj gave me the details of the tour operator Greenleaf. After that only one job was left- on 21st March 2018 morning, I took the train towards Pakchong from Bangkok.

Bangkok to Pakchong is around four hours of train journey. The journey was quite comfortable. Once I left Bangkok, the sight of lash green field and then the hilly terrain was just beautiful.

Around 1.30 pm I reached Pakcong and got the pickup service from Greenleaf. It is around half an hour journey to reach Greenleaf Guest house.

At the very first moment in the guesthouse a Tokay gecko welcome me by its famous vocals tokay….toakay…..while enquiring, our guide showed me a huge one. Then tow lantern bugs were waiting for me and also spotted an unidentified lizard.

After lunch it was the time for real show. First day plan was to visit a natural water spring and a bat cave outside of the national park area. On our way, I spotted a Chinese pond heron but didn’t get chance to take photo. In the water spring area, I spotted a beautiful Common Imperial butterfly. Then our guide showed us an antmimicking spider. Then we headed towards the bat cave.

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There was a stair made to get the access easier, after getting down, we saw Buddha is meditating, and few step further the dark vampsworld welcome us with the sounds of flying bats. There was no other sources of lights inside except our headlights and thousands millions of bats were hanging from the cave ceiling waiting for the nightfall. The floor was full of bats excreta. Inside the cave, our guide spotted a scorpion spider, quite terrifying but while he placed the spider on my face, it was a thrill to sense its tiny legs over my face. We crawled through a narrow path. Afterwards we moved further to another spot to watch the bat movement. It was almost dusk and we amazingly saw from the inside of cave that millions of bats were going out to start their night out. It was stunning, like an endless flow of a black river over the sky. The moving black river line on the dark blue sky was just a speechless phenomenon.

We spotted an unidentified raptor over the sky to grab the opportunity for its meal. Slowly there was sunset and we headed towards the guesthouse.

On the next day morning again we were ready for the hike to Khao Yai to explore its treasure. In our team there were six members - myself, Thiago( from Portugal), Xong Xang(from Singapore) and two beautiful laddies – Maya (from Spain) and Mata ( from France) alongwith our Thai guide ( I forgot the name ).We headed towards the park after finishing our breakfast. The entrance gate was gigantic, as aptly described by Xang that now we were entering the Jurasic world- and as usual, the adrenalin rush started its magic.

After few minutes of drive, we halted at a place to prepare for hiking, our guide gave us the anti-leech socks and at that very time, we heard the call of the gibbons. First time in my life, for which I had dreamed for. Our guide told us it was quite far away, the call of gibbon might be heard over a kilometre distance. After few minutes of driving the vehicle stopped and my dreams were the real -two Lar gibbons (Hylobates lar) were jumping over the trees and to mark their territory they were making their trade mark call. It’s really tough to photograph an animal high above the trees and constantly jumping, but that was the secondary matter at that point of time in comparison to enjoy the acrobatic skills displayed. How smartly they use their four legs to jump from one branch to another. To me it was a dance show over the tree canopy and they were using their own vocal along with the dance show to amuse us.

On a certain moment our guide spotted a flying Great Indian Hornbill ( Buceros bicornis ).But again I was failed to take photo, it disappeared immediately. No matter till the gibbons were there with their choreography. We spotted a Malabar Grey Hornbill ( Ocyceros griseus ). My heart was till not full, as I wanted to enjoy the show more but we couldn’t stop longer as we had to move further. The jungle was waiting for us. On our way in many places, we saw elephant dungs and few of those were fresh also indicating a regular movement of Asiatic elephant. On the way an Indian Muntjack ( Muntiacus muntjak ) was found grazing on a large green grass field.

We also spotted a beautiful White rumped shama (Copsychus malabaricus ), a Black-rumped flamback woodpecker ( Dinopium benghalense), an unidentified squirrel, a Red headed trogon ( Harpactes erythrocephalus) , 21

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a Malabar giant squirrel ( Ratufa indica ),again we spotted a gibbon over the tree top. In the front of the forest office we spotted a Sambar deer (Rusa unicolor ) it was so familiar with the tourist that I could even take a selfie with it. On a small canal beside the forest office we spotted a Chinese pond heron ( Ardeola bacchus ) but again I was failed to take picture.

We moved further, our guide was hpimg for Siamese Crocodile (Crocodylus siamensis ).

On our way, we spotted a flying lizard- and it was a real luck for me to click it while gliding from one tree to another. On our way guide showed us a beautiful medium sized Chinese water dragon (Physignathus cocincinus ) basking on the river bed, and then suddenly started raining. It was a hot humid day, so we were enjoying the rain but for me it was a challenge for doing photography, and eventually I had to close my camera. Although, within 15 minutes the rain stopped and our prize was waiting for us – we spotted a crocodile was floating on the river. On the sand bed, our guide showed us its nesting.

Then we started heading towards a Rocky River bed. Another lucky encounter, we spotted a baby Reticulated python (Python reticulatus ) in a small stone cracks on the bed. Then we got an Larged eye pit viper (Trimeresurus macrops ) on a tree beside the river bed. With its green colour it is so well camouflaged that I faced a challenge to spot it, even our guide repeatedly indicated the location. Now on the riverbed it was the time for the butterfly show. On a single spot over 1000 of them were mud puddling. When they started flying together– no words left for me to describe the scene. We spotted a fresh sambar deer carcass- suspected to be killed by the wild dogs - the dholes ( Cuon alpinus) , I was very hopeful to see the master killing gang, but this time they were not ready to come in front of us.

Time was running away fast, we had a short lunch break and moved further to Haew Suwat waterfall. It was a beautiful waterfall to see. Basically, there were two waterfalls side by side, but in summer there was very less water in the second one. I was trying to go behind the water curtain but didn’t not get a safe access.

Then again we moved further, now the time for the elephant zone. We were hoping to get the Indochinese serow ( Capricornis milneedwardsii maritimus ) and went to a hill top, but didn’t see anything. Standing on the edge of the cliff and watching on the vast green valley below – only one thing came to my mind, wish I had wings… there I found a beautiful Long tailed broadbill (Psarisomus dalhousiae ) in my lens there.

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We were again on move searching for the giants - the Asiatic elephant, on our way we first got a Red jungle fowl ( Gallus gallus )along with his family. And then again we got a prized spotting-a beautiful Siamese fireback pheasant (Lophura diardi ) crossing the road. A small scorpion was passing the road too.

We roamed here and there for the giants; again, the nature played against us and the rain began. The time passed rapidly, and we understood that Asiatic elephant was not for us that time. It was okay and we were on our way back. However, the jungle still had to present some of its treasure to us. First we saw two Rufous necked hornbill (Aceros nipalensis ) on flight and then an Oriental Pied Hornbill (Anthracoceros albirostris ), allowed me to click its beautiful face. A samabar deer was lying on the road side without any care about the passing vehicles. I was able to take very close portrait of it.

When, we were almost at the end of our journey then we spotted a pack of Northern Pig tailed macaque (Macaca leonina). These guys were very camera friendly. The playful children even the adults started to give pose in front of us.

The day was almost over. The sun begun to set, although our heart was not full, but we had no other option, but to come back to our own world. We did not get to see many species, but what we got there was also unforgettable. The jumping gibbons, the colourful birds, the beautiful butterflies, the amazing snakes, the hornbills, the crocs – therefore, as a whole it was really a great dayout. Even now, when I open the picture folder the whole jungle starts its magic inside my heart.

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Voice of Nature: When Nature is in Focus………

A complete coverage of a biodiversity and wildlife seminar in Bangalore.

On 7th, 8th and 9th of September, 2018 at Hotel Ottera, Electronic City, Bangalore, Nature in Focus organized its 5th Nature in Focus Festival. The aim was to get all the like-minded people who care for nature and wildlife on a single platform to meet, learn and interact.

A two and half day programme, which started on Friday (7th September) afternoon with screenings of environmental films and talks by some of the top wildlife filmmakers in India, and the next two days after that were packed with talks about wildlife, photography, conservation and panel discussions on topics related to human-elephant conflicts and ethical practices in photography and conservation.

At the festival, they announced the winners of the Nature in Focus Photography Awards, 2018, followed by a celebratory gala dinner, on second day. The festival venue had stalls with the best of wildlife books and eco-friendly products – merchandise and publications of Nature in Focus, Wildlife SOS, trekking gears of Wild Craft, publications of Symbiosis School of Photography, awareness development materials of Early Bird and many more.

The festival was also marked by launching of coffee table book “Leopards on the Rocks” written by Dr. Sanjeet Mangat, on leopards of Jawai, Rajasthan.

The day one of the festival was all about environmental and wildlife films.

Eminent Wildlife Photographer and BBC Natural History and National Geographic Channel (India), Freelance Filmmaker, Kalyan Varma opened the festival by mentioning that the focus of the current year’s festival was also to provide platform for environmental film workers. He mentioned, that all the previous versions of the festival were photography heavy, therefore in current year emphasize was given to environmental films.

The festival kicked off with screening of Sky Migrations, film made by Charles Post, Max Lowe & Forest Woodward.

Along the Western Mountain Continental Flyway, one of the planet's great migrations spurs a fall tide of raptors from the northern forests, into South America beyond. A network of stewards track their long-term population trends because apex predators are the bellwethers of wilderness health and wellbeing across two hemispheres. Sky Migrations is a film about a journey to follow that migration for a brief moment, telling the stories of those who give their time to preserving these wayward fliers, and through them the future of wilderness itself.

Next film, shown in the festival was GYAMO - Queen of the Mountains, made by Doel Trivedy & Gautam Pandey. The film is about Gyamo, a Snow Leopard, and her two cubs who haven’t been seen since a big male Snow Leopard appeared. The father-son wildlife filmmaker duo Mike and Gautam return to Ladakh to pick up the trail and find the cubs. Exploring this amazing landscape, they discover there are many challenges that surround this endangered cat and threaten their very home. The film has touched on many serious conservation issues including India’s highest landfill on the outskirts of Leh. Feral dogs are another largely unaddressed but extremely serious issue that directly threatens India’s wildlife. Reports of wildlife being killed by feral dogs are frighteningly common and frequent. In the film there is a sequence of an endangered Himalayan Brown Bear being surrounded by a pack of dogs.

After these two screenings, independent documentary filmmaker, Munmun Dhalaria, talked about human and environment interface. She showcased her two short documentaries based in Himachal Pradesh - ‘Music and Leopards’

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or ‘Raag aur Bhraag’ and ‘An Uncertain Winter’. Munmun is a National Geographic explorer and interested in wildlife conservation, gender, human rights and livelihoods.

Music and Leopards is a film about a well-camouflaged urban misfit, Ashwani, an unlikely voice for conservation. A Bhajan singer by day and a wildlife filmmaker at night, he seems recklessly passionate as he follows leopards on the streets of Shimla. This film follows him into the many isolated forests of Shimla where we enter the mind of a god fearing wildlife conservationist and learn his personal philosophy and motivation to do what he does.

Munmun’s other film - An Uncertain Winter – narrates that everything about life in Spiti revolves around basic survival and optimal utilization of land in a place where the elements are against habitation. Winter temperatures dip to -30 degrees. The stoic women endure the winter as the valley takes everything away from them. In the valleys of Kibber village, 4300m above sea, we follow the life of Langzom. She lives in one of the most inhospitable conditions in the world and faces many problems even in accessing basic facilities we take for granted. The film is an ode to life in the frozen desert, and the resilience of the women who call it home. The same snow that makes a major part of the year unliveable, is responsible for a decent harvest of Kibber’s only cash crop; green-pea. Farming communities like the ones residing in Spiti valley, are especially vulnerable to climate change and its direct repercussions through fluctuating harvest.

After this, the next speaker was Bangalore based journalist Jyothy Karat who talked about the importance of looking for the other sides of a story in the context of a highly polarized and fragmented world. She started her talk with a famous fables on Farmer’s family and their pet mongoose and emphasized on the untold stories beneath every story, while giving her perspective on human-wildlife conflict. She introduced her film, Living With The Wild.

When Magu left home for work on March 13, 2016, little did he know that a tiger had been stalking him. The following day, a search party was horrified to find only his head and legs; the rest of his body had been eaten. For the next seven days, work at the Woodbriar Tea estate would come to a stand still. The workers were too afraid to step out of their houses. With mounting pressure, the authorities retaliated. A special task force from the Forest Department shot dead the tiger that had killed Magu. The Tamil Nadu state government has increased the compensation for death or permanent disability caused due to an animal attack from Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh. It has paid more than Rs 3 crore in compensation over the last two years. But who is compensating for all the wildlife that is lost? And what will happen if this kind of conflict rages on?

The documentary has lot of gruesome and disturbing graphics like decapitated head, and human body parts. After the screening, Kalyan asked her how she keeps balance between showing and not showing such graphics in film. In response, Jyothy said, there was an uncensored version which was broadcasted in public media, but at the same time she also thinks, to sensitize the issue, sometime it’s necessary to show such graphics.

After a short break with high tea, the session resumed again with a technical presentation on film editing. Kalyan said, “You believe it or not, editing can actually make or break a film.” And then invited Anup Joseph Kattukaran, a selftaught underwater filmmaker/photographer and a scuba diver, to talk and give a quick demo of Premier Pro of Adobe.

This session was sponsored by Adobe.

The last and most interesting session of the day was a panel discussion on wildlife filmmaking, moderated by Sara, a wildlife filmmaker and the founder of Evanescence Studios and The Indian Wildlife Channel. He has worked for major networks like the BBC, Nat Geo, Animal Planet and Discovery and his latest series was for NETFLIX. Sara and the ‘On The Brink’ team, also known as ‘The Gaia People’ discussed their experiences of filmmaking - from shooting on the field, to working on the edit and structuring the film. The ‘Gaia People’ is an all women filmmaking crew, constituted of Akanksha Sood Singh, Natural History Filmmaker and the director of ‘On The Brink’ series; Malaika Vaz, Wildlife Presenter and Filmmaker; Aditi Rajagopal, Journalist, Filmmaker and Creative Writer for ‘The Gaia People’; and Sugandhi, the Cinematographer of the team.

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During panel discussion, Sara said, “If you have to do filmmaking, you have to start from the bottom, which is editing and then climb up”. Akanksha narrated about her journey as a natural history filmmaker and how she and her team made the On The Brink series. She said, “Our stories are not just about searching of wildlife species, there is also a bit of seriousness and focus on work of grass root level.”

Both Aditi and Akanksha mentioned, that although scripts are written before shooting, but it’s always get modified and adjusted to situation, as things are always unpredictable in wildlife filmmaking, and as one get going with shooting, script gets changed to deal with such uncertainties. Shooting a wildlife film has its own unique challenge, as mostly there would be no happy ending.

Other panelist was Amogh, a wildlife film story writer, talked about challenges of getting qualified and competent crew in wildlife filmmaking. All the panelists emphasized on challenges of getting crew with right kind of aptitude in wildlife filmmaking. Amogh said, that the wildlife filmmakers have a responsibility to ensure that audience can absorb the story of wildlife and get relend with wildlife.

To end the panel discussion, Akanksha mentioned that being an all women filmmaking crew is an advantage, because she thinks, when women work as a team, they work as an entity and they are more resilience to situation at ground.

After the panel discussion, one of the episodes of “On The Brink” series on Slender Norris in Urban Bangalore was screened. End of the screening, Akanksha said, the wildlife situation in India is not as gloomy as it’s depicted in media.

She thinks, still there is time to act, and scope to take the stories of wildlife to common people and tell them that such species still exist.

The first day of the event ended with a powerful impact on all the participants, which would trigger lot of thought process among Wildlife Enthusiasts community towards socio-cultural perception of environment and wildlife. …… to be continued.

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Theme Poster

By Sjoerd Van Berge Henegouwen

Marbled Ramanella, Agumbe Rainforest, Karnataka, India.

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Updates from Team Exploring Nature

4th High level Photo Documentation based Field Visit Report of Project Bear Necessities Subject Area: Daroji Sloth Bear Sanctuary and surrounding area of World Heritage Site Hampi, Karnataka Date: 19th and 20th August 2018

Field Team: 1. Arnab Basu (Project Lead, Research, Photography and Technical Writing); 2. Transport: Mehboob Key Scope: 1. To Study the habitat and behaviour of Sloth Bear; and 2. To study cultural and archaeological monuments in the surrounding areas of Hampi.

Daroji Sloth Bear Sanctuary is located in Ballari district in Karnataka. It is spread over 82.72 km2 (31.94 sq mi).

Coordinates 15°14′N 76°31′E. The sanctuary was created exclusively for the preservation of the sloth bear. It is about 50 km from Ballari and about 15 km from the World Heritage Site Hampi. The area between Daroji in Sandur taluka and Ramasagar of Hospet Taluk is host to numerous sloth bears.

In October 1994, the Government of Karnataka, declared 5587.30 hectares of the Bilikallu Forest Reserve as Daroji Bear Sanctuary. 15 years later, in October 2009, the government added 2685.50 hectares of the Bukkasagara Forest Reserve to the sanctuary. This resulted in the overall area to increase from 5587.3 hectares to 8272.8 hectares.

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The sanctuary is open between 06:00 and 18:00 every day. There is a watchtower within the sanctuary, opposite Karadikallu Gudda, that provides a vantage point to view the bears descending from the adjacent hillocks during evening hour Flora and Fauna: The flora of this sanctuary is primarily dry deciduous scrub and Southern thorn forests. At the time of declaration of the sanctuary, it was a large area of barren hillocks, but persistent efforts from Karnataka Forest Department have transformed the area into lush green forest, filled with local flora.

The sanctuary's flagship species is the Indian sloth bear (Melursus ursinus). It has a very stable population of sloth bears (more than 80) and they reside in the numerous caves found in the hillocks within the sanctuary. Leopards, monitor lizards, mongoose, pangolins, star tortoises etc. are some of the other animals that abound in the sanctuary.

Field Observation (Daroji): Type of Observation (Flora/Fauna /Archaeology ) Fauna

Photo Doc

Location

Observation/ Comments

From the Watch Tower of Daroji, opposite Karadikallu Gudda, at 3:30 PM of 18th August, 2018

Adult sloth bears may travel in pairs, with the males being gentle with cubs. They may fight for food. They walk in a slow, shambling motion, with their feet being set down in a noisy, flapping motion. They are capable of galloping faster than running humans

Fauna

From the Watch Tower of Daroji, opposite Karadikallu Gudda, at 4:30 PM of 18th August, 2018

Although they appear slow and clumsy, both young and adult sloth bears are excellent climbers. They climb to feed and to rest, though not to escape enemies, as they prefer to stand their ground. Sloth bear mothers carry cubs up to 9 months old on their backs instead of sending their cubs up trees as the primary defense against attacks by predators, such as tigers, leopards, and other bears

Fauna

From the Watch Tower of Daroji, opposite Karadikallu Gudda, at 4:30 PM of 18th August, 2018

They are capable of climbing on smooth surfaces and hanging upside down like sloths. They are good swimmers, and primarily enter water to play. To mark their territories, sloth bears scrape trees with their forepaws, and rub against them with their flanks

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Fauna

From the Watch Tower of Daroji, opposite Karadikallu Gudda, at 5:30 PM of 18th August, 2018

Fauna

From the Watch Tower of Daroji, opposite Karadikallu Gudda, at 4:00 PM of 19th August, 2018

Fauna

From the Watch Tower of Daroji, opposite Karadikallu Gudda, at 4:00 PM of 19th August, 2018

Sloth bear muzzles are thick and long, with small jaws and bulbous snouts with wide nostrils. They have long lower lips which can be stretched over the outer edge of their noses, and lack upper incisors, thus allowing them to suck up large numbers of insects

Habitat

From the Watch Tower of Daroji, opposite Karadikallu Gudda, at 3:00 PM of 19th August, 2018

Sloth bears live in a variety of dry and moist forests and in some tall grasslands, where boulders, scattered shrubs and trees provide shelter

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Sloth bears have a great vocal range. Gary Brown, in his Great Bear Almanac, lists over 25 different sounds in 16 different contexts. Sounds such as barks, screams, grunts, roars, snarls, whickers, woofs, and yelps are made when angered, threatening, or when fighting. When hurt or afraid, they shriek, yowl, or whimper. When feeding, sloth bears make loud huffing and sucking noises, which can be heard over 100 m away.Sounds such as gurgling or humming are made by bears resting or sucking their paws. Sows emit crooning sounds to their cubs. The species is the most vociferous when mating, and make loud, melodious calls when doing so. Sloth bears do not hibernate. They make their day beds out of broken branches in trees, and rest in caves during the wet season. Sloth bears are the most nocturnal of bears, though sows become more active in daytime when with cubs Sloth bears adults are a medium-sized species though weight can range variously from 55 to 105 kg (121 to 231 lb) in typically-sized females and from 80 to 145 kg (176 to 320 lb) in typically-sized males.

Exceptionally large specimens of females can scale up to 124 kg (273 lb) and males up to 192 kg (423 lb).

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ABOUT HAMPI Hampi, also referred to as the Group of Monuments at Hampi, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in east-central Karnataka, India. It became the centre of the Hindu Vijayanagara Empire capital in the 14th century. Chronicles left by Persian and European travellers, particularly the Portuguese, state Hampi was a prosperous, wealthy and grand city near the Tungabhadra River, with numerous temples, farms and trading markets. By 1500 CE, Hampi-Vijayanagara was the world's secondlargest medieval-era city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at that time, attracting traders from Persia and Portugal. The Vijayanagara Empire was defeated by a coalition of Muslim sultanates; its capital was conquered, pillaged and destroyed by sultanate armies in 1565, after which Hampi remained in ruins.

Located in Karnataka near the modern-era city of Hosapete, Hampi's ruins are spread over 4,100 hectares (16 sq mi) and it has been described by UNESCO as an "austere, grandiose site" of more than 1,600 surviving remains of the last great Hindu kingdom in South India that includes "forts, riverside features, royal and sacred complexes, temples, shrines, pillared halls, mandapas, memorial structures, water structures and others". Hampi predates the Vijayanagara Empire; there is evidence of Ashokan epigraphy, and it is mentioned in the Ramayana and the Puranas of Hinduism as Pampaa Devi Tirtha Kshetra. Hampi continues to be an important religious centre, housing the Virupaksha Temple, an active Adi Shankara-linked monastery and various monuments belonging to the old city.

Field Observation (Hampi) : Type of Observation (Flora/Fauna /Archaeology ) Water Body

Photo Doc

Location

Observation/ Comments

Tungabhadra River

The Tungabhadra River is a river in India that starts and flows through the state of Karnataka during most of its course, before flowing along the border between Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh and ultimately joining the Krishna River near Alampur village in Mehaboobnagar District of Telangana. In the epic Ramayana, the Tungabhadra River was known by the name of Pampa. Kishkindha, the mythical kingdom of Sugriva described in the Ramayana, is believed to be located on the bank of the Tungabhadra river.

In the war against Ravana, Kishkinda, the monkey kingdom of Sugriva, was Rama’s ally. When Rama’s army crossed Hampi en route to Lanka, they met Jambavantha, a bear who joined the army.

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Water body

Pampa Sarovar and Bali Parvata

Archaeology

Virupaksha temple and market complex

Archaeology

Krishnapura market

Archaeology

Sasivekalu Ganesha Temple

Pampa Sarovar is a lake in Koppal district near Hampi in Karnataka. To the south of the Tungabhadra River, it is considered sacred by Hindus and is one of the five sacred sarovars, or lakes in India. According to Hindu theology, there are five sacred lakes; collectively called Panch Sarovar; Mansarovar, Bindu Sarovar, Narayan Sarovar, Pampa Sarovar and Pushkar Sarovar.

They are also mentioned in Shrimad Bhagavata Purana. In Hindu scriptures Pampa Sarovar is regarded as the place where Pampa, a form of Shiva's consort Parvati, performed penance to show her devotion to Shiva. It is also one of the Sarovar's that finds a mention in the Hindu epic, Ramayana as the place where Shabari, a devotee of Rama waited for the arrival of Ram. The Virupaksha temple is the oldest shrine, the principal destination for pilgrims and tourists, and remains an active Hindu worship site. Parts of the Shiva, Pampa and Durga temples existed in the 11th-century; it was extended during the Vijayanagara era. The temple is a collection of smaller temples, a regularly repainted, 50-metre (160 ft) high gopuram, a Hindu monastery dedicated to Vidyaranya of Advaita Vedanta tradition, a water tank (Manmatha), a community kitchen, other monuments and a 750 metres (2,460 ft)-long ruined stone market with a monolithic Nandi shrine on the east end The Krishna temple, also called Balakrishna temple, on the other side of Hemakuta hill, is about 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) south of Virupaksha temple. It is dated to 1515 CE; this part of the Hampi complex is called Krishnapura in inscriptions. In front of the ruined temple is a long market street, also referred to locally as the bazaar.

Between the colonnaded stone shop ruins is a broad road that allowed chariots to transport goods to and from the market, and hosted ceremonial functions and festive celebrations. To the north of this road and middle of the market is a large Pushkarani—a public utility-stepped water tank with an artistic pavilion in its centre. Next to the tank is a public hall (mandapa) for people to sit Sasivekalu Ganesha Temple is a huge statue of Lord Ganesha, carved out of a single block of rock.

It is one of the major landmarks in Hampi.

Sasivekalu Ganesha is about 8 feet (2.5 metres) tall.

According to the Hindu mythology, Lord Ganesha is known for his love for food. Once Ganesha consumed a lot of food, due to which his stomach was on the verge of bursting. Finding no other option to stop his stomach from exploding, Ganesha caught hold of a snake and tied it around his stomach in order to prevent it from bursting open. This is the mythological incidence behind the existence of the snake tied around the Ganesha’s stomach, which is visible on the statue.

The inscription on the statue is as old as 1500 AD and says that this statue was erected in memory of the king Narasimha II, of the Vijayanagar Empire.

This temple and the statue is indeed one of the finest specimens of Indian sculptures

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Anjana hills, birth place of Hanumana

The Anjeyandari hill in Hampi lies in the centre of Anegondi area, Karnataka state, India. It is believed to be the birthplace of Lord Hanuman (The monkey warrior God). According to Hindu mythology, Hanuman was born to Anjana and thus Hanuman was also called as Anjaneya, and his birthplace Anjeyandari (Anjana's Hill).

The hill has a white washed Hanuman temple at the top. It has about 570 steps. The view from the top is breathtaking as we see patches of paddy fields and the Hampi city ruins around.

Archaeology

Rushimukh parvata

Archaeology

Hemakuta Jain temple

Archaeology

Ugra Narasimha

Geological formation/ sacred groves

Akka Thangiyara Gundu

Archaeology

Pataleswara temple

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The temple has a rock carved idol of Lord Hanuman. There are also shrines of Lord Ram and his consort Sita and Anjana Devi temple in the same vicinity.

Rishimukh is a sacred place for Hindus as it finds some mentions in the epic Ramayana. It’s believed that it’s here that Hanuman first met Rama and Laxmana who where on the search for the wife of Rama abducted by Ravana. Rishimukh Hill and it’s environs fall within the traditionally laidback scene of Hampi. A few lodges and some seasonal restaurants are located nearby. Otherwise the main attraction of Rishimukh is the Chandramouliswara Temple that’s undergoing a vigorous restoration work. Also this is a vantage point to see the ruins of the ancient bridge built across the river.

The Hemakuta group of temples is a cluster of ancient temples situated on the Hemakuta hill in Hampi. The Hemakuta hill is located in the southern side of the Hampi village and the hilltop is dotted with a large number of temples.

The temples on the Hemakuta Hill are among the oldest cluster of shrines in Hampi. The Hemakuta Hill as well as the group of temples situated on the hilltop are popular destinations for the tourists on the Hampi trail.

The biggest idol in Hampi its height I 22 feet. This was carved by a Brahmin durinh Krishnadevaraya’s regime. Invaders broke this idol. Behind the head there is a serpent with its hood open.

Two huge rocks stand close to each other with a small gap between them. There is a story related to them, according to which, once two sisters came to see Hampi. After seeing all the ruins, they were tired and sat down for rest. The younger sister told her elder sister that it would have been better to stay at home rather than come all the way to see the ruins. No sooner had she said this than they turned into stones.

Since it is below ground level it is known as Pataleswara Temple (patal means below ground).

Its ceiling is at the ground level. There are steps at the eastern door to go down to the temple. On the basis of architectural style it is judged to have been built during the time of Bukkaraya the first. There is an Eswara linga with nandi facing it. It is also

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called Prasanna Virupaksha Temple.

Archaeology

Kamal (Lotus) mahal

Archaeology

Watch tower

Archaeology

Elephant Stable

Archaeology

Vitthala Temple

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It is one of the fine architectural designed palaces that are uniquely identified by its lotus look like structure. This glorious building is within the Zenana Enclosure, a segregated area that is used by the royal women of Vijayanagara Dynasty. It is said that the Queen of Krishna Deva Raya used to spend her most of the time seeking pleasure and peace in the palace. The palace also served as a meeting point for the king and his ministers. Kaml Mahl is also referred to as a council chamber in the maps found in 18th century. Kamal Mahal and Chitrangini Mahal are the other names by which it was known earlier. Several musical concerts and other recreation activities were held at this place.

The style and designs is an inquisitive blend of Islamic and Indian way of architecture. It is built from a paste made of lime and sand.

Quite a large number of them can be spotted in and around Hampi. They were either the military observatories or the posts of guards at special areas. The military ones are typically located at vantage points like the hilltops, riversides, and peripherals of the fortifications etc.

The other types are mostly located well within the royal area and other civil localities. They are more decorated (with plastered walls, domed roof, arches etc) than the military (made with rock slabs) ones located at the hilltops. The watchtowers located in Danaik’s Enclosure and the one inside the Zenana Enclosure are example of the fine watchtowers. Mohammadan Watch Tower inside the Danaik’s Enclosure is the most ornate of all the surviving the watchtowers in Hampi. Along the riverside on top of the boulder hills, you can spot four-pillared tiny rock pavilions in isolation. A number of these were used as military observatory posts.

Indo-Islamic style structure used as the stables for the royal elephants of the Vijayanagara Empire.

There are eleven stables here. All these are neatly interconnected with small doors. This building with arches is built of stone and mortar. The ceiling is dome shaped. The nearby buildings is said to be quarters for guards.

The Vittala Temple or Vitthala Temple in Hampi is an ancient monument that is well-known for its exceptional architecture and unmatched craftsmanship. It is considered to be one of the largest and the most famous structure in Hampi.

The temple is located in the north eastern part of Hampi, near the banks of the Tungabhadra River.

The iconic temple has amazing stone structures such as the incomparable stone chariot and the fascinating musical pillars The Vittala Temple is presumed to be the grandest of all temples and monuments in Hampi. The temple exemplifies the immense creativity and architectural excellence possessed by the sculptors and artisans of the

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Vijayanagara era. The Vittala temple is built in the Dravidian style of architecture. It has traits and features that are characteristic of typical south Indian temple architecture. It’s elaborate and artistic carvings and magnificent architecture is unmatched by any other structure found in Hampi.

Archaeology

Stone Chariot

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The chariot is actually a shrine dedicated to Garuda, built inside the Vittala Temple Complex.

The massive sculpture of Garuda, Lord Vishnu’s escort once was seated atop the chariot but it is empty at the present date. The Hampi Chariot has earned its name among the other three famous stone chariots in India- One in Konark, Odissa, and the other in Mahabalipuram (Tamil Nadu). The chariot was built by King Krishnadevaraya of the Vijayanagara Empire during the 16th century, who got fascinated with the Konark Sun temple chariot while fighting a battle in Odissa. The chariot is meant to represent the beauty and artistic perfection of the Empire. An interesting folklore emanates from the Hampi chariot as villagers believe that the world would come to a halt when the chariot moves from its place. It has come to have a sacrosanct presence and is internationally recognized as a world heritage site even by the UNESCO. Inspired by the Dravidian style of architecture, the chariot is a colossal structure which shows the skill of the earlier craftsmen and architects. The beauty of the chariot lies in the fact that it looks like one solid structure but in fact, has been built by slabs of granite whose linkages have been cleverly hidden with artistic designs.

YEAR 4/ISSUE 04-05-06/DECEMBER, 2018 -FEBRUARY 2019

Explorinag Nature in support of “Journey for Tiger”

Recently Rathin Das and his team launched protest to save tiger habitants, with support of Exploring Nature and few other organizations. The protest “Demanding Safe Tiger Habitat” started on 16th November 2018 at Sundarban National Park of West Bengal.

Team Exploring Nature Express Solidarity with Rathin Das and team...

Team Started from Godkhali.... Interacted with people of Sundarbans and spread awareness among them..... Rathin das was on a fast for 60 hours demanding the safe tiger habitat in India as well as globally.....

17th November 2018: Talking to villagers in Sundarbans...

18th November 2018: Also, a wildlife awareness rally “WAR18” in Kolkata, organized by “ANUBHAB Expedition for Better Tomorrow” the Rally began from Ashutosh College to Deshapriya Park at 10:30am. Students, Activists, Wildlife enthusiasts and famous intellectuals and celebrities of the city participated in that rally. Team Rathin Das and Exploring Nature was also there to mark their presence and support for the initiative.

We have only one earth and merely one chance to save it….

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