Holocene year 1 issue 9

Year – 1/Issue – 9/May – June’16

World after 5th Extinction

Celebrating 1st Anniversary of Exploring Nature

Content Featured Topic

:

We are at war risk (Part – 7)

Editorial

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Conflicts in Tigers’ Terrain

Post Editorial

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सफ़र – The Journey

Contested Spaces : (Living in the shadow of humans)

Case Study: Race for Land in Lake Kolleru

Special Coverage

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Namma Parisara, Namma Karthavya – Our Environment, Our Responsibility

Story Room

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In the Shadow of the Tiger

Travel Album

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Bandhavgarh & Kanha

Theme Poster

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Bengal Tiger

For Team Exploring Nature Editors’ Desk

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Dwaipayan Ghosh & Arnab Basu

Title & Logo Design

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Arijit Das Majumder & Saikat Chakraborty

Newsletter Design

:

Dwaipayan Ghosh E-mail: natural_destination@yahoo.com Website : www.exploringnature.org.in

Year – 1/Issue – 9/May – June’16

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Year – 1/Issue – 9/May – June’16

Arnab Basu

Campaigns of Conquest and Frontier Wars Expanding empires' shifting frontier zones have often undergone major environmental transformations. Under the Roman Empire, as imperial armies moved northward in the conquest of Gaul and then southern Germany and Britain in the first centuries of the common era, their engineers built a system of all-weather roads so superbly engineered that some are still in use today. On the northern frontiers of the empire, as far as the Rhine and beyond, a string of fortified military cantonments sustained garrisons of troops. These military installations were the nuclei of the domestication of entire landscapes, as peasants cleared hundreds of patches of forest for settled agriculture, even in the midst of chronic skirmishes between the Romans and their Germanic adversaries. When the empire declined and its military control dissolved, hundreds of settlements remained into medieval times.

In the Middle East, the Arab Muslim conquest of the Tigris and Euphrates valley was very different, as a long-settled civilization came under conquest. The hot, semi-arid lands of the basin had been domesticated for thousands of years by the construction of elaborate irrigation systems which were prone to processes of waterlogging, siltation and salination.4 Periodic warfare among city states and regional empires repeatedly disrupted the system's productivity. By the time the first Arab Muslim armies penetrated into the Fertile Crescent in the late 630s the region's irrigation system was in serious decline.5 The Muslim overlords in the new city of Baghdad encouraged the revival of rural productivity, partly to enhance state revenues, which they used to finance military campaigns. But the long-term ecological decline of the irrigated lands could only be partially reversed. Mongol invaders raced through the Abbasid Empire's heartland and captured Baghdad in 1259, massacring the entire population of the city. "Baghdad and Iraq never again recovered their central position in the Islamic world. The immediate effects of the invasion were the breakdown of civil government and the consequent collapse of the elaborate irrigation works on which the country depended for its prosperity, even for its life." Throughout the turbulent history of the Middle East since then, irrigation systems have been vulnerable targets for armies.

The environmental history of Imperial China's frontiers was closer to that of Imperial Rome in some ways, in sparsely settled zones of contest with barbarians. On China's northwest frontier, facing perennial threats from nomadic warriors of the Mongolian steppes, Chinese emperors built defensive fortifications dominated by the thousand-kilometer-long Great Wall, clearing forests on some adjacent lands for security. They protected other forest zones, to guard against invading cavalry. In contrast, they pursued a policy of imperial conquest in the southwestern frontier region, where mountainous Guizhou province was home to a wide range of tribal cultures, especially the Miao, who resisted Chinese civilization for centuries. Like the Romans, Chinese armies built roads and garrison settlements to move military columns and pacify the region, opening it to agricultural settlement and forest reduction by immigrants from the north.

Often protracted and intermittent, frontier wars were similar in many ways to modern guerrilla warfare and counter-insurgency, though they did not result in the devastation that is caused by 2|Page

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today's counter-insurgency weapons. They were characterized by seasonal skirmishes and raids, fortified outposts, capture of loot including movable natural resources, and probably most significant, the dislocation of rural populations. Many were fought in mountainous or hilly areas, on forested slopes with easily eroded soils.

Editors’ Desk :

Conflicts in Tigers’ Terrain Tiger is the pride of Asian wildlife. The most magnificent symbol of wild Asia. Different tiger subspecies are found in many parts of the continent, from Indian Sub-continent to Manchuria by the Amur River in north, from China to Far East. The pattern of genetic variation in these cats corresponds to the thesis that they came to India approximately 12,000 years ago after being forced to spread southwards in search of suitable habitat as successive phases of Ice Ages made northern Asia inhospitable. Tiger has been the symbol of Indian sub-continent since about 2500 BCE, when it was displayed on the Pashupati seal of the Indus Valley. Later on in Vedic literature and mythology also, Tiger has been treated as the symbol of शि (power). Tiger was the Royal symbol of the Chola Empire from 300 CE to 1279 CE. The ruler of Mysore, Tipu Sultan, had this legendary cat in his banner. In post-colonial era, Tiger has been declared the National Animal of India in 1972 and it’s also in the emblem of Reserve Bank of India. Tiger has been related with India historically. Bengal Tiger (P t tigris) is the most living wild tiger sub-species and found almost all over across India. In that way, India has been practically the Land of Tiger, “The Tigers’ Terrain”.

But due to the uncontrolled hunting, this iconic animal was on the brink of extinction. During the British rule and even in the post-colonial era, tiger hunting continued like anything for trophy, muti trade, skins etc. and the big cats were vanishing rapidly from its own land. The first ever Tiger census, conducted in 1972, revealed that there were only 1827 Tigers present in India (Tiger counted by pug mark method, Data Source: Project Tiger India). Once seen all-over the country, land of tigers was shrinking. In this situation, one of the pioneer conservation programme in the world has been launched in 1973. The Union Government of India started Project Tiger declaring Tiger as the National Animal of India. 9 forest areas have been designated as Tiger Reserves in formative years. The fight for the survival of icon of Asian wildlife has begun.

NO OF TIGERS

In early years of Project Tiger, the numbers appeared increasing rapidly. In next ten years, population increased over 4000 and reached to its crest at 4334 in 1989. Things assumed to T I G E R P O P U L AT I O N S I N C E 1 9 7 2 I N I N D I A be going fine. When all (DATA FROM PROJECT TIGER AND NTCA) thought that the “Maharaja” 5000 of Indian wild was reclaiming its once lost 4500 4334 pride, situation suddenly 4000 4005 turned around. Number of 3750 3642 tigers decreased till 2002 3500 3508 but still it was steady. The 3000 3015 real disaster took place after 2500 2002. The number of tiger in 2226 India dropped to its lowest 2000 2000 1872 since 1972 in next four 1706 1500 1411 years. After about three decades of success, Project 1000 Tiger was now going to be 500 proved as one of the biggest 0 failure. All the efforts of last 1972 1979 1984 1989 1993 1997 2002 2005 2006 2010 2014 33 years went in vain.

YEAR Famous Tiger Reserve like Sariska suffered from heavy 3|Page E-mail: natural_destination@yahoo.com Website : www.exploringnature.org.in

Year – 1/Issue – 9/May – June’16

poaching. In 2004, there were strong and persistent reports that no tigers were being sighted in Sariska Tiger Reserve. It was not only that tigers were not being seen but also and more alarmingly, there was no indirect evidence of the tigers' presence (such as pugmarks, scratch marks on trees, etc.). Tiger disappeared from many other tiger reserves across the country. The Project Tiger was started to be considered as a scrap.

But some didn’t want to leave the work undone. In 2006, when the tiger population in the country hit its least since 1972, NTCA, (National Tiger Conservation Authority) has been constituted as per the Provision of Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 as amended in 2006. Again India sent a strong message to the world that the mission was still on. Some revolutionary steps were taken. In 2006, first ever nation-wide centralised Tiger census was carried out. First ever tiger census with camera traps was carried out in 2010. Other measures have been taken to spread awareness among people to encourage them for the conservation of tigers. Again number starts ticking up.

But the threat has always been there. Since 2006 number of tigers in the country is increasing slowly but steadily. A 30% hike was recorded from 2010 to 2014. But there has always been a darker side.

When the number of tigers increased by 30% since 2010, according to IUCN, India lost 40% of its tiger habitats during that period. This day by day habitat loss and regular human encroachment in tigers’ land lead to the increase in territorial fights and Human–Tiger conflicts in the country. The scenario will be clear if we have a look in to the statistics of tiger deaths in last few months. Madhya Pradesh, one of the most tiger populated state of India has lost 16 Tigers in last 12 months. Out of those 16, 7 were only in Pench Tiger Reserve, The land of famous wildlife fiction “The Jungle Book”.

Till April, in Pench Tiger Reserve, one tiger died in every 10 days in 2016. Some of them were killed in territorial fights as claimed by the Forest Department and some were poached. Not only in Pench or in MP as a whole, Tigers are being killed or died across the country. As per WPSI statistics, 47 tigers died in India in 1st quarter of 2016. Poaching is also a serious issue in spite the WPA. According to WPSI, tigers, poached in the first four months of 2016 are more than in those in entire 2015.

The human-tiger conflict is not only due the regular increasing human encroachment in wild areas.

Irresponsible tourism is also a threat to tigers. Tigers are losing habitats to so called eco-tourism organised by state. A photograph by Imran Khan in TATR on 7th April 2016 will describe how the irresponsible tourism affects the tiger habitat. The pressure of tourists is increasing day by day in various tiger reserves and their irresponsible behaviour affecting the tiger habitat badly.

Though a very common scene in city streets with stray puppies, but it’s hard to imagine that a wild tiger cub is playing with polythene wrapper in a designated tiger reserve. But these are happening. Tourists are not only disturbing wildlife with their irresponsible behaviour but they are polluting wild habitats like anything. In many cases, Forest department is not restricting this for the sake of revenue. Moreover, though Madhya Pradesh has lost about 100 of its wild tigers unnaturally in last seven years, the authority is planning to cut off 556 trees in Chhindwara and Seoni districts to facilitate the Tiger Safari in Pench and now the proposal is with NTCA for approval. Will this, by any means, help tigers of this country? The answer is only with NTCA. But, still we have hope. NTCA met on 28th of April 2016 to review the unprecedented unnatural tiger death toll in last few months. Hope we don’t have to face another disaster again this time like we faced 10 years ago. We hope we can protect our pride, the largest felid. Save these big cats, they are awesome.

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Post Editorial :

सफ़र – The Journey 23rd May, 2015: The journey started from Bhopal: The last legacy: Being nature lovers and students of Natural Science for more than two decades, the members of Exploring Nature decided to pay tribute to Mother Nature by promoting awareness on some of the well explored as well as relatively less explored biodiversity around the world. In this endeavor two members of Exploring Nature have started this Biodiversity Exploration Series by carrying out a high level rapid biodiversity exploration at Gir National Forest and Little Rann of Kutch located in the Gujarat state of India. Both the places are unique for being holders of single population of Asiatic Lion (Panthera leo persica) and Indian Wild Ass (Equus hemionus khur) respectively.

1st June, 2015: Exploring Nature started telling story from the last legacy of wild Gujarat...story of two explorers returned home after an expedition started being published in public domain...the objective was promoting awareness on some of the well explored as well as relatively less explored biodiversity, for the 1st exploration, it was a five day visit and 1100 photographs of 56 mammals, reptiles and avian species were taken by two explorers.....out of that 70 high impact snaps were used to tell a fascinating story in a 40 page report.

16th August, 2015: Exploring Nature released its 5 years draft Forest Voyage plan starting from Gujarat and ending at Borneo.

26th August, 2015: Final Complete logo of Exploring Nature was released, designed by Arijit Das Majumder & Dwaipayan Ghosh.

2nd September, 2015: Exploring Nature announced the name of its official Monthly Newsletter "HOLOCENE" the logo of HOLOCENE is exclusively designed by Saikat Chakraborty and Arijit Das Majumder. Title and cover of “Holocene” was also released, based on original drawing of Saikat Chakraborty and graphic design by Arijit Das Majumder.

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16th September, 2015: Exploring Nature launched their website www.exploringnature.org.in on the occasion of International Ozone Layer day. The website has sections on Forest Voyage, Wild Craft, Shoot Only Photographs, Holocene, Voice for Nature and Cohabitation. On the same day, 1st issue of monthly newsletter of the group “Holocene” was also published based on the theme of international ozone layer day. 1st story in the “story room” section was a mythopuscule (a fusion of fiction and non-fiction) written by Arnab Basu, titled as – Adipoli Keralam.

The first theme poster was “Cohabitation”, based on sketch of Saikat Chakraborty.

10th October, 2015: Release of final initial of exploring Nature’s logo.

29th November, 2015: Four Cameras, Two Childhood Friends, And One Mission. HIKING in HIGHLANDS. 29th November to 7th December. Exploring nature’s biggest exploration of 2015 Exploration Series – II – “Hiking in Highlands – Wild South WestVisit to Nagarhole National Park, Bandipur National Park and Periyar Tiger Reserve”.

20th December, 2015: Exploring Nature announced biggest exploration of 2016 - Exploration Series – IV - “Tigers' Terrain Jungle Book Reopened – Satpura, Pench and Kanha, Madhya Pradesh.

26th December, 2015: One night..one day at Charming Coorg. and a pristine Home Stay at Kaimane, South Kodagu. to know about land of Kodavas and life of Jenu Kuruba tribe outside forest and as coffee estate workers. Exploring Nature, with the help of a Kodava family at Coorg, interviewed Jenu Kuruba tribes.

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27th December, 2015: After CNN-IBN, WWF and sanctuary Asia, now it was Exploring Nature's Turn.

Legendary K. M. Chinnappa will be interviewed at 14:30hrs at his South Kodagu district’s residence. A leap towards future. The legend spoke about tribal issues, eco-tourism, and poaching and conservation education.

14th January, 2016: Official T-Shirt for Exploring Nature's Exploration Series - III, "Tigers' Terrain - Jungle Book Reopened" was released.

31st January, 2016: Exploring Nature participated in a two day photography workshop by eminent wildlife photographer Kalyan Verma at Bangalore on 30th and 31st January, 2016. Learning from Master, Back to Basics. key features of the Day One of Photography Workshop. Core Technical Photography, Concept of Composition, Gears and Equipment, and Camera Maintenance, and the Day Two on Field Assignment. Digital Basic and Photo processing. Master says, "Don't click photos, make them", "A camera is not a license to be a jerk"

14th February, 2016: This Valentine's Day, fall in love with Nature, Wildlife and African Big 5. Exploring Nature in African Safari. 3 days-3 nights at Krugar National Park. 14th to 16th February 2016. Being nature lovers and students of Natural Science for more than two decades, the members of Exploring Nature decided to pay tribute to Mother Nature by promoting awareness of some of the well explored as well as relatively less explored biodiversity around the world by carrying out a high level rapid biodiversity exploration. In these endeavour explorers of Exploring Nature, after the successful completion of the biggest exploration of the year 2015 – Exploration Series – II – “Hiking in Highlands – Wild South West- Visit to Nagarhole National Park, Bandipur National Park and Periyar Tiger Reserve”, planned to extend the scope of exploration beyond Indian subcontinent. Therefore, the team Exploring Nature launched 1st series of African Safari - Exploration Series – III – “African Safari – Sub Series I – Kruger National Park”.

16th February, 2016: Half yearly issue of Holocene published on 16th February'16. Theme of the issue was conflicts and cohabitation, effect of human conflicts on environment, Human Wildlife conflicts, Life of forest dwellers, Experts opinions, etc.

23rd March, 2016: Punarjani : An Endeavour for Nature Reclamation. Explorer Arnab Basu visited Alakode, Kerala again to rediscover his love for the state and covered a wonderful story of nature worship by few white-collar professionals.

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6th April, 2016: The face book group of Exploring Nature achieved 1000 members. Exploring Nature congratulated all members on being 1K and wished a great success in future in making the world a better place to live.

17th April, 2016: The Polar Biodiversity Model released. 4th biodiversity model of the group and 1st after launching the group. The model is made out of paper pillows, waste card boards, plaster of paris etc. The model contains Snowy Mountain, glaciers, sea and 7 polar species.

21st April, 2016: Release of first merchandise of Exploring Nature: Bangalore based NGO Samarthana helped Exploring Nature in design and development of merchandise made out of recycled waste materials.

Total 150 merchandise were ordered and distributed among underprivileged children, participating in environmental education workshop of 23rd April at Bangalore. Also gifted to friends and supporters of Exploring Nature.

23rd April, 2016: It's not a Charity... It's our Responsibility... : Team Exploring Nature Participated and covered the day long workshop on Environment Conservation and Waste Management in Bengaluru organised by ERM and Friends. 14 sustainability enthusiasts and consultants of ERM and their friends conducted a three hours workshop based on the theme of waste management with 80 children of BOSCO Bangalore on 23rd April, 2016 at Indira Gandhi Musical Fountain Park. Exploring Nature was publicity partner of the workshop.

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Contested Spaces (Living in the shadow of of humans) :

Case Study: Race for Land in Lake Kolleru

Savitha Rammohan

Kolleru is one of Asia’s largest fresh water body and home of the grey pelican, a migratory bird. It is lies between the Godavari and Krishna river basins forming an extremely valuable wetland ecosystem.

The lake occupies an area of 91,000 ha with fluctuating water levels. In 1991, there were 3.5 lakh persons occupying the area and in 2002 it was designated as one of 11 Ramsar Sites. Kolleru supports a variety of living organisms and is a very important habitat for birds. The Kolleru Lake was an important site for fisheries until aquaculture emerged. In 1990s the Kolleru area saw a sudden boom in aquaculture. The growth of the industry was rapid ably promoted by the state government. The government actively encouraged local fishermen to give up their lands to aquaculture farm owners.

Farmers also parted with precious agricultural land. Aquaculture grew rapidly to occupy 80,000 ha of land with a production of 7 lakh tons per year valued at 4000 crores. The aquaculture barons made 22.5 lakh per ha of profits.

However, the heavy exploitation of the lake has resulted in serious environmental consequences.

There is increasing death of fishes and scarcity of drinking water due to ground water contamination.

The chemical and biological changes have depleted resources. The pollution is extremely high. Large sections of the fishing community are deprived of livelihood opportunities. Aquaculture has reduced fishermen to wage earning laborers as the traditional fish markets have been captured by outsiders.

There is growing discontent among the fishermen community. The loss of livelihood opportunities has forced the next generation to seek alternate opportunities in other parts of the state. The older generation has taken to begging as they are unable to migrate from the Kolleru area. The government agencies that promoted aquaculture did not take sufficient measures to protect livelihoods of the traditional communities. Following several protests, the state government declared Kolleru as a protected area covering 30,885 ha and 74 villages. This measure did not change the situation as aquaculture continued to flourish illegally due to the support of politicians. The villagers lacked access to clean water, a basic need. Poverty levels rose quickly, water levels in the lake declined and encroachments began to mushroom in the lake bed.

In 2001 the Andhra Pradesh high court ordered removal of encroachments in the lakebed and restoration of Kolleru Lake. However the aquaculture barons opposed the order and murdered implementing officers. The boundary of the protected area cannot be identified due to spreading fish ponds. The local fishermen have limited say in decision making and are fighting a force that is more powerful. The struggle between the aquaculture barons and fishermen continues. (Rao & Umesh.P, 2006) Rao, R., & Umesh.P. (2006). Pollution Through Aquaculture Kolleru Wildlife Sanctuary. Economic and Political Weekly.

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Special Coverage :

Namma Parisara, Namma Karthavya – Our Environment, Our Responsibility Exploring Nature participated and publicised a three hours workshop on Environmental Education in Bangalore on the occasion of Earth Day.

Arnab Basu

Dwaipayan Ghosh

Bengaluru, India Bangalore Oniyavara Seva Coota (BOSCO), more commonly known as BOSCO is a registered Non Profitable Charitable Organization under the Society's registration Act of 1960 (No.184/86-87).

Constituted in 1980, BOSCO offers services to the Young at Risk such as - children living on the streets, child laborers, abandoned / orphaned children, victims of drug abuse, victims of child abuse, begging children, rag pickers etc. Now, BOSCO has spread its wings across the city of Bangalore through 7 rehabilitation centers & 6 street presence locations.

BOSCO organised a children’s camp this summer to contribute to the children’s personal development including healing from their past trauma, while bringing happiness and excitement to their lives. The amount raised through a fundraiser campaign to provide for a small portion of the costs incurred in organising in that summer camp.

14 Environment and Sustainable enthusiasts and consultants, who are otherwise white-collard professionals working in a multinational sustainability consultancy farm, ERM, joined hands to help raise funds to organise the summer camp (was held between 18th and 23rd April, 2016 at Shivajinagar, Bangalore).

Outdoor activities were planned for the children on the last day of the summer camp at Indira Gandhi Musical Fountain Park on 23rd April. People of ERM were given three hours slot on last day to conduct workshop on environmental education based on the theme of waste management.

As a team they provided their time and expertise by conducting the workshop to spread environmental awareness among those children.

The workshop focussed on water, waste management and, sanitation and hygiene through skits, posters and fun games.

The fund raised as part of this campaign was used to cover a portion of the expenses detailed below.

BOSCO Nilaya Summer Camp Budget - 6 days for 120 children+ 6 staff Cost per Total Particulars Unit Amount ₹ 5,000.00 Travel arrangements to the camp site and back Food (Breakfast,lunch refreshments, snacks, dinner, drinking ₹ 40.00 ₹ 28,800.00 2 water) Rs 40*120 children *6 days Materials for games, activities, coaching classes, mats, music, ₹ 150.00 ₹ 18,000.00 3 prizes, etc., (Rs150*120 children) ₹ 1,000.00 ₹ 6,000.00 4 BOSCO Staff (Rs1000 * 6 personnel) ₹ 2,000.00 5 Other expenses Grand Total ₹ 59,800.00 Total fund raised by ERM and their friends was Rs.24, 690, which was handed over to BOSCO representative at the end of the workshop.

Sl. No. 1

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The detailed activities of the workshop are stated below: Title of the Workshop : Namma Parisara, Namma Karthavya- Our Environment, Our Responsibility 10:00 to 10:15 hrs – Orientation and Introduction 10:15 to 11:00 hrs - Introduction to key environmental issues: Skit on waste issues Skit on water and sanitation Demonstration of waste segregation Grouping of children into 4 groups (20 in each group): 11:00 hrs to 13:00 hrs.

Groups

11:00 to 11:30

11:30 to 12:00

12:00 to 12:30 12:3 to 13:00 Displaying Earth Craft making out of Educational walk Waste segregation Group A day messages on waste materials around Relay trees Displaying Earth Waste segregation Craft making out of Educational walk Group B day messages on Relay electronic wastes around : trees Displaying Earth Waste segregation Craft making out of Educational walk Group C day messages on Relay electronic wastes around : trees Displaying Earth Educational walk Waste segregation Craft making out of Group D day messages on around Relay electronic wastes trees Details of activities: Craft making out of waste materials: Use waste materials like paper, magazines to make useful items like pen stand etc.

Waste segregation Relay: A relay where instead of passing a baton from one member of team to another the participants dropped the waste item in the correct bin Displaying Earth day messages on trees: Display of messages related to earth day ( theme –trees) around the tree trunks across trees in the park.

Educational walk around the Park: To explain the existing systems at the park like rain water harvesting, solar lamps, wind energy, etc.

In addition there were 3 posters made by ERMers, displayed in the area around the theme of waste management, biodiversity and sanitation.

13:00 hrs to 13:30 hrs Closing and handing over of goodie bags by the Team Exploring Nature to all children (eco-friendly jute bags containing cupcakes and pens, note books made out recyclable materials etc.). In this occasion Exploring Nature released their first Merchandise, made by a Bangalore based NGO – Samarthana. The merchandise were made out of recycled waste materials.

The workshop was organised in the park under the trees for 80 children (in the age group of 10 to 15 years of age).

Other participants were 10 BOSCO staff, 14 consultants from ERM and of course representatives of Team Exploring Nature. All the participants and the children thoroughly enjoyed the workshop, which was conveyed by the resource manager of BOSCO Bangalore through an e mail to the organizers.

We hope to continue working with BOSCO in the same areas at their other centres in the future.

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Story Room :

Arnab Basu

Dwaipayan Ghosh

The quest for tiger started at 6:30 in the morning of 2nd December, 2015 at Bandipur National Park.

There was already news in Bandipur that one Gaur (Indian bison) was killed by a male tiger in Bandipur on previous night and that news pulled in many wildlife photographers and biodiversity experts from Bangalore and MP to Bandipur.

At around 6:45 AM explorers entered into safari zone of the park. Apart from driver cum guide Boma, there were four more companions in the jip – two wild life photographers from Bangalore – they came to spot the bison killer tiger and one Gujarati couple.

While entering forest, lot of spotted deer and bonnet macaque were spotted at the forest office and en route. Explorers also spotted white bellied drongo, yellow billed babbler, paddy field pipit, common hoopoe, wag tail, jungle and pea fowl/hen etc.

The first warning call was heard from the south east direction of the forest at 7:15 AM. It was a south west langur. Couple of jip started tracing the call slowly and after driving 2-3 km both the jip stopped. Big cat, the most elusive creature of forest, a pair of leopard. Leopards always make their existence highly imperceptible.

The mating pair was sitting on the open land at the left hand side of their direction of movement. The langur was exactly on the top of a teakwood tree next to the female leopard and kept giving call. They were moving on after having mated probably a very short while ago, as anticipated by Boma. At first, the pair was baffled and they sunk into the bushy scrubs quickly. A few minutes later the male leopard came out and lied down boldly in the open followed by the female. The lady was shy and definitely not sure about being in the open. She straightaway went into the thicket nearby and settled down.

After 2-3 minutes, the pair stood up and walked slowly into the bush. The explorers could hear the growling sound coming from the bush. What the explorers witnessed was a partial courtship behavior in leopards which is hardly seen live. Given that leopards are very discreet about their presence, they are highly so during the mating period. Explorers could hardly believe in their luck 12 | P a g e

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that they got to see a very rare moment in the nature. After that explorers waited there for 10-15 minutes but the pair did not come out.

Explorers now started looking for any trace of the tiger, which had killed a bison in previous night. One of the photographers from Bangalore said that the tiger was spotted in last evening near a water body. The jip reached there and the carcass of the bison was found hidden inside a dense bush. The lower part of the carcass was half eaten.

Probably the intermittent light and heavy shower of last night kept the tiger away from it and it was certain that the tiger would come back again to finish eating.

Explorers waited there for some time and made few rounds of Jip movement around that area, but nothing significant related to tiger movement were spotted.

While moving in that area, a sloth bear made sudden appearance. It was crossing his path from one side of forest to other side. One of the photographers from Bangalore, who was sitting in front seat – next to driver, spotted it and alerted others. All four wild life photographers with their hi-tech cameras – got surprised with this sudden appearance of another elusive animal of the forest. None of them were ready enough to capture this rare sight creature of wild and gradually the sloth bear disappeared in dense forest of Bandipur National park.

The exploration continued till 9:00 AM, the significant sighting was few bird species – long tail shrike, streak throated woodpecker, malabar parakeet, brown fish owl, brahminy sterling, spot bill duck etc.

No sight of any big animals.

In the evening, the exploration was started little later than scheduled time. Three jips and two buses entered the forest at 4:00 PM. Later it was realized by the explorers, that the intention behind late start was staying bake late in forest so that the bison killer tiger could be spotted. All the photographers in different jips and their companion forest guides and drivers were desperate for the sight of tiger. For 2 hours all jips and forests kept circling that 15 square kilometer area around the bush where the carcass was hidden. Instead of safari it turned out as being on guard for that carcass.

The intermitted rain throughout the day made the sighting of tiger less likely.

At 5:00 PM towards North-West direction from the carcass, approximately 3 km away a male leopard was spotted lying down on branch of teakwood tree. Another rare sight in the nature. Once it noticed the presence of jip, the shy animal jumped down from the tree and got disappeared in deep forest.

Apart from few spotted deer, south west langur, bonnet macaque, herds of Indian bison, few racket tail drongo, oriental magpie, flame back woodpecker and a pair of green pigeon nothing significant were spotted.

Around 5:15 PM, strong warning call was heard repeatedly from the North West direction from the carcass. It was by a Burking deer and the call was coming from the direction where the male leopard moved 15 minutes back. It could be because of the leopard, but nevertheless it increased the excitement and hope for sighting tiger among the bunches of non-deserving, worthless Homo Sapiens sapiens. Eventually no trace of tiger movement was spotted.

While coming out of the forest at around 6:00 PM, one sloth bear were spotted in darkness. It could be the same one, which was spotted in morning. But it was too dark to capture the creature ethically.

Next day, 3rd December, explorers started their safari at 6:30 AM by a forest bus. The forest was unusually quiet than previous day, rain stopped and sun was out. All the wise and disappointed so called wild life and biodiversity experts appeared returned to their home after several unsuccessful attempts of tiger sighting. Apart from usual bird species explorers spotted a pair of happy stripe necked mongoose.

On 5th December at 9:00 AM morning the explorers reached at the check post of Periyar Tiger Reserve to start one of the most adventurous and challenging biodiversity hiking of this country, The Periyar Tiger Trail, with a hope that their bad luck for sighting tiger would end there.

Two explorers were accompanied by three Spanish hikers – Sichov, Fernando and Anna and one French hiker Juliet. Sichov and Anna came from Madrid whereas Fernando and Juliet have been living in Delhi for last one year. There were four forest guides with them – C. C. Thomas, S. Pandya, 13 | P a g e

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Year – 1/Issue – 9/May – June’16

N. S. Kunjumon and C. Armugam – all of them were expoachers and had 30-40 years of experience in dealing with forest and wild life. They were also accompanied by a Forest Official cum Gun Man – Ajimon.

The whole contingent started trekking at 10:00 AM from the PRT check post towards South West direction with cameras, survival kit and three days’ ration in 25-30 kg heavy ruck sack. Initial trekking was 4 km long till they reached the bamboo rafting point through Periyar Lake. In this trail, the key species spotted were male sambar, nilgiri langur, bonnet macaque, grey headed fish eagle; wag tail, common drongo etc. After 200 meters of bamboo rafting towards South West direction, they reached the most difficult stretch of the trekking.

Explorers started last 5 km of trekking towards South West direction through dense bush and teak wood forest. The forest was full of leeches and to get prevent leech attack all of them spread tobacco powder over their trekking shoes and leech guard socks. It was an over cast day with 30oC temperature. Intermittently they were noticing fresh pug marks on the muddy forest land. Guide Thomas identified those as pug marks of a big male tiger. Scratch mark of tigers on tree trunk was also observed.

In this 5 km trail, explorers climbed 600 meters and three times had to cross water streams of 100-120 feet deep over makeshift bridge of tree trunk with cameras in hand and heavy ruck sack on back. At the end of this trail they reached at the edge of forest and bunk of Periyar Lake.

From that point a one km of bamboo rafting would take them to the core area of the forest, where their tents were erected for next three days and two nights.

Explorers reached at camping area at 1:00 PM and for next one hour got busy in cooking.

There were three tents for six hikers. The guides decided to stay at cooking area. The meal for them was Cappa Kodi or Tapioca. Drinking water source was Periyar Lake and the bush at South East corner of the forest around 200 meters away from their tents was their toilet. The camping area were protected by 1 feet high bio fencing and 10-12 feet deep Elephant Protecting Trench (EPT).

After cooking and eating, again bush walking started from 3:30 PM towards North East direction of the forest. Around 3:30 PM, warning call was heard by barking deer but no other movement of big cat was spotted. An old skeleton of Indian bison was found on open land, the animal was killed by tiger.

The night was windy, cold with heavy rain with fear of possible flown away of tents by strong wind. Forest guides created a small bon fire by dry woods collected from forest.

Explorers put their wet shoes and socks near to that fire so that morning they could wear dry shoes. The dinner was done with lake fish bought from the local tribal at the cost of Rs. 200/- per kg.

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Year – 1/Issue – 9/May – June’16

In the same night at around 9:00 PM, explorers were delighted by arrival of surprise guests at their camping area - a pair of porcupine – Raja and Rani. Guide Kunjumon told them, whenever they did camping in forest – Raja and Rani had always come to search for food.

Morning of next day, i.e., 6th December, Arnab got a scary start. When he went to forest for dumping, three strong warning calls by Sambar was heard at 6:15 AM from very close distance from the South East direction of forest. Definitely movement of big cat was spotted, however nothing significant happened after that and Arnab returned to his tent quickly after attending his nature’s call.

Morning safari of 6th December happened towards South West direction after crossing the Periyar Lake by bamboo raft. Explorers climbed almost up to 915 km, but the rain kept kept all the big animals away from them. An old skeleton of elephant was spotted which was killed by tiger. A rarest bird species great Indian Hornbill was found to be flew over them when they reached the highest point of their trail.

In the afternoon of same day between 1:45 to 2:00 PM several strong calls of Sambar were heard from the North East direction of the forest from the camping area. From the camping area, two Sambars were also found running away from North East to North West direction within forest.

In the evening explorers did bush walking in North East direction and chased several herds of Bison. Around 4:00 PM, they traced warning calls of nilgiri langur but could not find anything else which could lead to big cat movement.

Another very rare bird species Serpent Eagle was spotted there.

The night was relatively quiet, comparing to previous night and the porcupine pairs made their usual visit to entertain explorers.

Next day morning at 10:00 AM, explorers with full contingent started retreating from the camping area to outside of forest. They followed the same route they took while getting into the camping area. First hour was sunny but then heavy rain started, which made their trekking through bushes and muddy forest land even more difficult.

There were always fear of falling with heavy ruck sack on back. Couple of makeshift bridges over water streams was found to be destroyed due to heavy rain or by animals.

Therefore, explorers had to search for new means of crossing water streams. At one point of time they had to cross an 8 feet deep trench full of water by a half a meter wide and 2 meters long tree trunk. That was quite scary and dangerous. The moist and slippery trunk was not a good thing to try balancing act, with 25-30 kg ruck sack on back.

Last one kilometer of trekking was toughest in this whole series – rain became heavier and mud on forest became thicker and sloppier. Explorers were struggling in finding place to put their feet and maintain balancing.

There was a slant slope of 30 meters they had to climb, with every step they were sliding down few meters towards the 140 meters deep Periyar Lake at the edge of the slope. Moreover, throughout this stretch fresh pug marks were spotted towards South West direction, whereas explorers were moving towards North East direction.

However, with the help of guides, explorers managed to reach at the edge of the forest in one piece, from where they would do bamboo rafting to cross the 200 meter stretch of Periyar Lake.

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Year – 1/Issue – 9/May – June’16

Every time the Explorers felt they were so near to Bengal Tiger of this subcontinent……but all the time they realized they were too far…….

Travel Album :

My Nature Tour at Bandhavgarh and Kanha

Dr. Sankar Chatterjee

Bandhavgarh & Kanha are National parks with rich biodiversity. Here I met lot of animals including tiger. In this trip I also went to Amarkanta, which is a religious place and is a source of river Narmada & Sone. Here I met Sadhus. It was a full one week trip with family and as a wild life enthusiast, I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Tiger in dense woods

Safari in Magadih Zone in Bandhavgarh

Forest Rest House, Bandhavgarh.

In Kanha Forest

We stayed at Baghira log huts. This is in the core zone and the property is amazing. It belongs to MP Tourism. However, Supreme Court has ordered to close down the property from 1st June 2016, onwards.

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Year – 1/Issue – 9/May – June’16

Theme Poster

:: Bengal Tiger – Photography by Tejaswini Raval ::

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