Holocene year 2 issue 1

Year – 2/Issue – 1/ September – October’16

World after 5th Extinction Sl. No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9

Content

Item Naturoballadry : A poetic tribute to Mother Nature We are at WAR RISK (Part – 11) Editors’ Desk Voice of Nature Story Room Expert Speaks From the Exploration Camp Posters

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Naturoballadry : A poetic tribute to Mother Nature

Poetry by Payal Saha

Sketch by Sushanta Bose

A life, cut-short

Only to give it was born

And give it did, more than asked for In return, all you gave Death – bloody cold!

You are my Sun Through smiled

the

clouds,

Very mysterious, fetched

so

you far-

Love lost, we were dying Suddenly, thought

when

nobody

You rose and touched So alive, my love My Sun.

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The House of trees

Embraced with all shades of green Much loved with a breezy love Make home, the heart cries And I keep coming back For more

A river song So let’s flow

To a river song

As free as the banks That never meet

As free as the clouds That never stay

Let just silence speak To a river song

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Arnab Basu The great escalation of modern warfare and its environmental impacts began in Europe in the 1790s, when revolutionary France and Napoleon expanded both the intensity of warfare and its continentwide reach. Responding to counter-revolutionary military threats from other countries, the leaders of the revolution appealed to French patriotism (an emerging alternative to religious fervor) and mobilized huge semi-trained armies. From 1793 onward French mass armies moved into Belgium and beyond. Badly supplied, they ravaged rural lands to the north as they moved. The era of patriotic armies had begun, though disciplined logistics of the industrial era were not keeping pace.

The Napoleonic wars also disrupted intercontinental transport of food supplies, in one case resulting in a major long-term change in cropping patterns. The British naval blockade after 1805 cut off supplies of cane sugar from the Caribbean to French ports. In response, new techniques of extracting sugar from beets led to an explosion of sugar-beet farming in the heavy soils and cool climate of northern Europe. Meanwhile the former slaves of Haiti turned their work from half-deserted cane plantations in the fertile lowlands to subsistence cropping in the erosive hill woodlands, and Haiti became one of the most degraded landscapes in the Americas. In this way Europe's revolutionary wars had unintended ecological consequences across the ocean.

From the mid-nineteenth century onward Western European and American industry produced a leap upward in destructive capacity, through revolutionary innovations in mass production. By the late 1800s highly accurate breech-loading Enfield, Mauser, and Springfield rifles and Maxim machine guns transformed the battlefield, and more powerful explosives were capable of ravaging both urban and rural targets. Moreover, railroads and steamships gave industrialized nations far greater mobility and international reach. In addition to their civilian uses, they moved troops and materiel rapidly, inexpensively, and far, making possible the conquest of the rest of the world.

Nineteenth century Africa underwent the culmination of Europe's globalization, based on the increasingly dominant military capacity of Europe. In southeastern Africa the Zulu wars of the early 1800s led to British control of the coastal lowlands and interior hills, and the Zulu people were gradually forced to settle on the semi-arid high plains of the interior. Among the colonies that Germany claimed after 1885, the forest resources of Tanzania came under management of the authoritarian German tradition, sharply restricting the rights of access and trade for the local people.

In 1905 Tanzanians revolted, and the two-year Maji Maji rebellion that followed until the German colonial army suppressed it was the first of the wars of national resistance against European colonial rulers. The flora and fauna resources of the colonies would see many contestations. But these first studies of the environmental impacts of Europe's conquest wars in sub-Saharan Africa give only fragmentary hints at the overall picture.

The U. S. Civil War had already given a grim demonstration of the environmental dangers of the new industrial warfare. When it began in 1861, no one expected the war to grind on for over four years, but its glacial momentum toward exhaustion of the South produced widespread destruction of croplands and fodder resources by Northern armies, extending to deliberate scorched-earth campaigns in its last two years. These strategies were not new in the history of warfare, but their scale and intensity were unprecedented. Ultimately the manpower, economic wealth, and industrial 4 |Page

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power of the North prevailed. Northern armies could be supplied and supported more consistently by the northern railroad network connecting military movements back to factories and farms. Even so, environmental war against the southern landscape provided the decisive blow. The experience trained northern soldiers to attack and destroy the food supplies of the indigenous tribes in the American West, including their herds of bison, as an acceptable strategy in the conquest of that great frontier.

In Europe in the same decade, Germany harnessed the industrial revolution to accelerate military mobilization. Rapid victories over the Austro-Hungarian Empire and then France resulted from skillful movement of the German armies over the new railway networks, with communications provided by the new telegraph, while more powerful artillery damaged woodlands and cities. Great Britain, faced with the new challenge from Germany, strove to maintain its control of the seas by producing rapid innovations in naval technology, which required that military planners and industrialists work closely together. In the process, petroleum emerged as a strategic resource; by the dawn of the twentieth century petroleum was the energy source that fueled warfare. In terms of ecological violence, mid-nineteenth-century wars and the concomitant arms race were merely overtures to the two world wars that followed after 1900, when the environmental impacts of warfare became truly global.

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Editors’ Desk : A Journey towards Holocene

Life on earth is in trouble. How soon, indeed, before the Earth’s biological treasures are trashed, in what will be the sixth great mass extinction event?

In terms of scale, we are now living through one of those brief, rare episodes in Earth history when the biological framework of life is dismantled. It is in every sense a tragedy – but, in itself, it might be viewed as just one more episode of biological destruction in our planet’s history. The Earth has been here before – and will be here again, before its life is completely extinguished a billion or so years into the future.

Mass extinction has began

All past extinctions have been driven by what are now becoming very familiar horsemen of a planetary apocalypse: massive volcanic outbursts to choke the atmosphere and poison the seas; the mayhem caused by major asteroid impact; and the wrenching effects of rapid climate change. None of these has really figured in the current biological crisis – not even climate change, which is still only in its early stages.

Instead, the extinctions are being driven by the effects of just one single species, Homo sapiens. Such a mass extinction has not occurred before (with the possible exception, 2.5bn years ago, when a type of microbe evolved photosynthesis to spew out oxygen, a gas that would have been highly toxic to the other microbes living then, and these would have been pushed to the fringes of life on Earth – where they still remain). Even more extraordinarily, this single species is land-living, but has managed to become the top predator in the oceans too, causing populations of whales and fish to collapse.

The scientist Vaclav Smil, of the University of Manitoba, has calculated that simply measured by mass, humans now make up a third of land vertebrates, and the animals that we keep to eat – cows, pigs, sheep and so on – make up most of the other two thirds. All the wild animals – elephants, giraffes, tigers and so on – are now less than 5% by mass. It’s a measure of how they have been pushed to the fringes by humans. Humans change things in other ways – they now direct the evolution of the animals that are useful to them, by breeding and by genetic engineering: again, it’s a 6 |Page

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planetary novelty. The energy our species obtains from photosynthesis is not enough, and so we mine stored photosynthetic energy from the ground, as hydrocarbons, in enormous amounts, and use that to power our machines.

These machines – cars, planes, computers and much else – have, together with their human software, been termed the technosphere by the geologist Peter Haff of Duke University. He views it as an emergent system with its own internal dynamics (and which humans currently drive but don’t really control) – in effect an offshoot of the biosphere. Whatever it is, it is evolving at lightning speed by comparison with biological evolution.

Averting a mass extinction is still possible – but we don’t have much time.

Megatrends

A megatrend is a large, social, economic, political, environmental or technological change which has a major impact on business and society as a whole, possibly for decades. They are usually grouped into five to seven megatrends by organizations who study these topics.

Megatrend challenges, from climate change to digitalization, are gathering unprecedented pace and attention. The organizations articulating them are no longer the more activist organizations like Greenpeace or the Sierra Club or regulators. Instead they are icons of commerce: Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, The World Economic Forum and the management consulting firms like McKinsey.

Following are the world’s top Global Megatrends which have implications on business, society, culture and if not managed well then potential contributors for 6th Holocene.

The so-called ‘megatrends’ facing the world are stacking up environmental, health, safety and social challenges at an alarming rate. They are shaping multiple segments of the economy and have major implications for human civilization. For example: Oil and Gas and Mining for primary materials, the Chemical sector for the building blocks of consumer society and the emerging middle class, Power for the electrification of a more urban world, Technology, Media and Telecommunications for its digitalization and global reach, and Food, Beverage and Agribusiness for feeding a rapidly growing and changing population against the backdrop of a changing weather patterns.

That means human civilization needs themselves to come up with solutions to these new challenges they are facing.

In 2011, the global population reached 7 billion and the UN projects a world population of 9 billion in 2043 and 10 billion in 2083. This continuing, rapid expansion of the human footprint on our planet has serious implications for nearly all aspects of life: issues relating to health and ageing, mass migrations and urbanization, demand for housing and inadequate food supplies, access to safe drinking water, and so much more. With the growing population, the number and scale of cities continue to grow across the globe, driven by rapid urbanization in emerging markets and continued urbanization in mature markets. The United Nations (UN) reports that 54% of the world’s population currently live in cities, and by 2050, this proportion will increase to 66%.

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As populations grow, they can encroach on forest and biodiversity hotspots – creating conflicts. More stringent regulations on sustainable land use and forest/environment clearance can deal with this situation but that will also affect growing consumer bases and productivity of industrial sectors. Also in turn affect economic growth which is also much needed to feed growing population.

More people equal greater pressure on infrastructure: transport, electricity, water, natural resources – competition can emerge for scarce resources. More people need more food, water, houses.

We witness the effects of climate change in the rising frequency and intensity of water shortages, severe weather disasters, floods and storms worldwide. Climate change, and the associated political and social response, is presenting increasing material risks and opportunities to business and industrial sectors. The World Economic Forum’s 2016 Global Risks Perception Survey indicates that the failure of climate change mitigation and adaptation is perceived in 2016 as the most impactful risk for the years to come among 29 global risks. In combination with climate change, the increasing nexus among food, water, and energy will have far-reaching effects on global development over the next 15-20 years. The combined impact of a rising population and growth of the middle class is set to drive a food demand increase of 60% by 2050. Agriculture is increasingly competing with other uses for land. Energy related water demand will rise 85% by 2035 and agriculture will take 70% of total consumption by 2030 according to the US Intelligence Agencyvii. Moreover, food and water security is being aggravated by changing weather conditions outside of expected norms. All this will contribute to increasingly precarious supply-demand balance triggering local food crises, humanitarian emergencies, national or regional instability and mass migration.

Therefore, what should be in our list of priority Homo sapiens or rest of the biosphere? Not an easy question to answer….is Holocene inevitable?

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Holocene, Facts and Figures :  The 1st Issue of Holocene was published on 16th August 2015 on Ozone Layer Conservation day.  Every Issue of Holocene published in our official website www.exploringnature.org.in and web publishing website http://issuu.com .  Total No. of Reads is 437.  Issue II, VIII and X are three most popular Issues of Holocene.  Total Read Time of Holocene is 232Hrs 10Mins and 44Secs.  Highest time spent reading any Issue of Holocene in 40Hrs 45Mins and 18Secs for Year 1/Issue 2

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Voice of Nature : Ecotourism

Piyali Ganguli Eotourism

It is probably the weirdest idea to ask a woman with a peanut sized brain to write about eco-tourism, that too for a hard-core environmental magazine. I can only pen down a few of my personal thoughts & feelings.

Although I love forests & wildlife very much, my exposure to them is shamefully minimal. However, in my visits to a few National Parks I was thoroughly appalled by the quality of tourists. Gypsies full of affluent people dressed in colourful attires, brandishing expensive cameras and talking loudly are a common sight. I remember one particular incident in Bandhavgarh. A professional photographer was waiting patiently beside a bush. He had spotted a tigress in there, getting ready for an ambush on the herd of spotted deer. We parked silently behind him & were waiting with bated breath. Just then a Gypsy came with tourists almost screaming "sher hai kya, sher hai kya?" Unfortunately for us, those senseless people decided to wait there. The consequence is predictable.

Had a somewhat similar experience in Chapramari watch tower in Dooars. A handful of tourists were sitting silently looking at the salt pit. Hornbills & other birds were calling out intermittently. The beautiful atmosphere was invaded by a group, with a pack of at least 4 spoilt kids. While the elders were busy clicking selfies & arguing with the forest guide "kya guarantee hai animals dikhega?", the kids were on a rampage. Forget sighting animals, even the birds flew away.

Such experiences make me think whether the forest department should issue permits to all and sundry. I think there should be some sort of screening like VISA interviews. Those who want 'guarantee' for sighting animals should go to the zoo. And forests are definitely not the place for munching potato chips & guzzling colas. Yes, there may be a refreshment area for hungry tourists, outside the core area but they should not sell any packaged product that may be carried along. All this would definitely affect the revenue in a negative way, but then, we have to take a call as regards to our priorities.

Travelling in the mountainous regions I have felt the dearth of toilets & trash bins. Most often tourists defecate & urinate randomly, spoiling the natural environment. Construction of toilets along the routes taken by tourists & putting up signboards well in advance (which would silently say "hey, hang on a little longer") might solve the problem to some extent. And hopefully, trash bins along the way might help in checking littering.

Since ecotourism encourages the promotion & support of local community & culture, I think the concept of home stay is a very good idea towards achieving this end. While the tourists stay with the locals, programmes showcasing the local culture can be arranged. It would not only give the tourists an insight into the culture of the place they are visiting but would also be a great confidence building measure for the local talents. Similarly local artisans & craftsmen can be encouraged to display & sell their wares. They would be good souvenirs for the tourists & an economic boost for the locals.

More than anything else, all this would foster a good bonding.

I remember we had particularly enjoyed learning how to make momos while staying with a Nepali family in Kolakham. This gives me another idea. Tourists can be made to take part in the daily activities of the local community. Like for instance, visitors to tea gardens can learn to pluck tea leaves, tourists to fishing areas can try their hands with nets & so on. I myself had real fun picking up strawberries in a strawberry farm.

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Anwesha Ghatak Ecotourism

The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge. …… Stephen Hawking.

Ecotourism started in the 1980s in response to people, worldwide, who wanted to learn about and experience different countries’ environments and cultures. Ecotourism is about the consciousness of one and all, the connectivity to one’s tiny existence to the vast natural habitat. What fascinates me as being an enthusiast Eco tourist, is, the responsibility that each one of us shares, an opportunity to foster natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of indigenous populace. Particularly, in India, the horizon of Ecotourism is eclectic. India is a mega diverse country, housing around 10% of world’s species. Also India is a land with rich cultural heritage dating back to thousands of years. Much of Indian bio diversity is intricately related to the socio-cultural practices of the land. So it becomes a solemn duty for an Eco tourist to build environmental and cultural awareness and respect.

Like the mirror has two faces, Ecotourism in India has two facades.

India is a progressive country, with promising Ecotourism prospects that both reflect their inspiring past, and their promising future. The Ecotourism infrastructure in India is quite propitious with the collaboration of state and private run logistics. There’s always a room for furtherance. Overall, the scenarios in Indian Ecotourism is appealing.

Ecotourism provides a platform for local people to escape from a cycle of poverty and to share their knowledge of the local terrain and ecology with visitors, to develop a stronger sense of community pride and a broader, more global, perspective that recognizes the significance of biodiversity to all people. Now as a visitor we must be sincere to the demands of genuine Ecotourism. We must abide by the guidelines. The industry of Ecotourism mostly attracts to upper middle class, urban, solvent tourists who may have little or no knowledge of the visiting terrain. That could be culturally insensitive and might alienate the host, which in turn will fail the purposes of Ecotourism. Mutual respect between the visitors and the visited, is the sovereign ambition of Ecotourism, so we, human beings do not take our habitation for granted, but act to protect every living and non-living entity, that surrounds us.

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Story Room :

Meghna Nooyi We sipped our steaming kahwah as a storm raged along the barren seaside cliffs outside. ‘The whale that tossed Sindbad the Sailor into the sea on his very first voyage’, beamed the old man, ‘lived in the Gulf of Oman.’

The old man spoke of the time Sindbad and his fellow sailors alighted onto what they thought was an island in the middle of the sea to stretch their legs and warm their hands in a fire, only to realize that the ‘island’ was in fact a whale! The heat of the fire tickled the whale, who threw the sailors into the sea. I looked over at the Gulf, where it met the Arabian Sea at Ras al-Jinz in Oman, as it heaved and surged in the storm. It seemed alive, almost ferocious. Sindbad’s accounts of whales large enough to be mistaken for islands and tortoises twenty cubits long and fish with skin thick enough to make shields seemed…nearly believable.

Soon, the kahwah was over, the storm abated and the sun set, and it was time for us to see for ourselves at least one of the fantastical beasts that migrate to the Gulf of Oman – the sea turtle. Each year, nearly 13,000 sea turtles come ashore to the sands of Ras al-Jinz nature reserve, a 40 kilometre stretch along Oman’s 2000 kilometre coastline, to lay their eggs in a natural, untouched environment.

In fact, most female turtles return faithfully to the same beach where they were born each time they are ready to nest.

We set off from where we were staying to a beach nearly 900 metres away at about 9 pm. As we walked, the excitement among our group of about 20 people was palpable, but our guide encouraged us to be silent to allow the turtles to lay their eggs undisturbed. Our guide informed us that the beach at Ras al-Jinz sees five of the world’s seven sea turtle species:

1. Green Turtle (Scientific name: Chelonia mydas, Conservation status: Endangered (Population decreasing) 2. Olive Ridley (Scientific name: Lepidochelys olivacea, Conservation status: Vulnerable) 3. Leatherback (Scientific name: Dermochelys coriacea, Conservation status: Vulnerable) 4. Hawksbill (Scientific name: Eretmochelys imbricata, Conservation status: Critically Endangered) 5. Loggerhead (Scientific name: Caretta caretta, Conservation status: Vulnerable) Would we be lucky enough to see one?

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We sure would be! A female Green Turtle had been spotted coming out of the sea. We waited with bated breath as she crawled – if we were too noisy, she would head right back into the protection of the sea. She trudged to what she deemed was a safe spot, and used her back flippers to create a mound. Our guide informed us that this was a fake nest – used to confuse predators such as foxes and wild dogs away from where she would really lay her eggs! An hour later, she moved with difficulty to another spot, where she began digging the real nest. Once again, she used her rear flippers to create a cavity. Into it, she laid nearly 80-100 eggs. Because the eggs didn’t have a shell, they didn’t break. Once the eggs were in the cavity, the turtle covered them with her rear flippers. Gradually, she packed the sand down over the top and then began using her front flippers to refill the body pit and disguise the nest. She threw sand over the nest to make it harder for predators to find the eggs. Having concealed the nest, the turtle crawled back into the sea to rest.

Our guide told us that she would either lay more eggs in a few days or begin her migration back to her feeding grounds, often a distance of thousands of miles.

We were exhilarated. We had had the opportunity to observe one of the most intimate of nature’s myriad facets unhindered and uninterrupted. Against the backdrop of gentle waves (the storm was now a distant memory!) and a full moon, we began to make our way back to our rooms when we noticed something on the sand. What luck! We were watching the hatching of a nest full of baby turtles! The turtles emerged from their nest as a group, and scuttled towards the sea. The little turtles orient themselves towards the brightest horizon, then dash towards the sea – it’s inherent. This is the most dangerous time in the life cycle of the turtle: they are often eaten by predators on the beach.

Indeed, we saw sea gulls peck at some of them before they could make it to the shoreline. But other predators such as crabs, wild dogs and foxes also present a threat. Once in the water they typically swim several miles off-shore where they are caught in currents or seaweed that may carry them for years. But even in the open ocean the obstacles are many. Sharks, big fish and circling birds all eat baby turtles. Turtles may eat tar balls or plastic bags that they mistake for jelly fish, their staple diet!

The obstacles that baby turtles face are so numerous that only one in about 3,000 survives to adulthood!

The next day, we took a boat out along the coast of Muscat, Oman’s capital to a small cove. The clear azure water was shallow enough to allow us to go snorkelling – and what an experience that was! The variegated corals formed striking patterns while fish and eels and jellyfish darted between them. But as I watched the coral reef live, I noticed a plastic bag floating towards me. My feeling of elation dissipated immediately, and I reached out to dispose of the bag in a bin. I began to reflect on the many anthropogenic threats to the survival of turtles, the coral reef, and indeed Oman’s marine environment. The plastic bag that I threw in the recycling bin is but a manifestation of much larger problem. Oman’s rich coral reefs abundant in marine wildlife are under threat due to fisheries, coastal construction, recreational activities, oil pollution and eutrophication. As a result, over half of Oman’s coral reefs are now considered to be at high to severe risk!

On the plus side, Oman has a relatively good track record in environmental protection and conservation with longstanding commitment from its Sultan. Oman is currently party to 13 key regional and international environmental agreements and protocols for environmental protection in the marine and coastal environment.

Further, Oman has enacted ample national legislation to support marine conservation, and has 13 officially designated marine and coastal nature reserves. Let’s hope the country keeps up their momentum! And let’s hope that other countries follow suit.

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1. Al Jufaili S., Al Jabri M., Al Baluchi A., Matthews A.D. (1999). Human Impacts on Coral Reefs in the Sultanate of Oman. Estuarine Coastal and Shelf Science 49:65–74 DOI: 10.1016/S02727714(99)80010-9 2. Burt J.A., Coles S., van Lavieren H., Taylor O., Looker E., Samimi-Namin K. (2016). Oman’s coral reefs: A unique ecosystem challenged by natural and man-related stresses and in need of conservation. Marine Pollution Bulletin. doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2015.11.010 3. Oman through spot satellite, photo courtesy: Wikipedia

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Expert Speaks : Life in Thar Desert Dr. Chaitanya Krishna, Biodiversity Expert The morning chill deepened as the city of Jaisalmer receded behind us. Small villages, fields and camels dotted the countryside, as the road twisted and turned along the contoured landscape. We were heading out to explore the Thar Desert! As we were nearing our destination, the trees became scarce and Sewan grass took over. We turned off the highway, proceeded on a jeep track and stopped at a small pond, where a flotilla of Common Coots and Little Grebes were busy feeding. One by one the birds would disappear into the water, only to appear, seconds later, a few feet away. A Rufous-tailed Shrike surveyed its dominion perched on a tree and the calm morning was suddenly broken by a multitude of calls. Close to a hundred Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse filled the sky and descended in small flocks to the pond’s edge. As I have only seen them in small groups of 2-5 birds before, this was an astonishing sight. As soon as a group of five to six sandgrouse drank their fill of water and took off, others took their place and this went on till the last sandgrouse took off into the morning mist.

We continued onwards and stopped when a flash of movement caught our eyes. We were thrilled to see a Small Indian Mongoose family – mother and two young ones foraging! We watched them lift their heads, look in our direction and continue on purposefully in their search for food guided by their noses. As they disappeared into the distance, a Cream-coloured Courser alighted on the ground a few feet away from us. A lifer! In fact, many of the birds such as Wheatears, Larks and Pipits are only found in dry habitats and they abounded in the landscape. Both animals and people have adapted over millennia to inhabit, live and survive in the harsh arid climate.

Dhani’s, or small settlements were scattered in the landscape and many wore a deserted look. Our guide explained that they are used only at certain times of the year when water is available. Everything in this landscape revolved around water or the lack of it. We realized this soon enough and despite it being November, the heat kept steadily increasing. The few trees in the landscape provided muchneeded shelter to the animals and we saw a handsome Chinkara male standing in the shade of a Ber tree. We followed suit and took a break while the afternoon sun burned fiercely. We started again after a few hours once it got cooler and soon encountered a herd of Chinkara. They ran a few yards in alarm, stopped, eyed us critically and began to slowly move away. We were also fortunate to see a greyfrancolin with a chick on their evening feeding rounds while there was still light. As the evening rolled in, the temperature began to fall just as it had risen in the afternoon. A lone kestrel was perched on a tree and settling in for the night. As we made our way to Jaisalmer, we were awestruck by the incredible diversity of life in the desert!

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From the Exploration Camp :

Arnab Basu

Dwaipayan Ghosh

On the morning of 30th November, 2015, both the explorers and their driver cum “Man Friday” Purushottam, reached at the Veeranahosahalli range of Nagrahole National Park from their base camp at Jungle Inn resort. At 6:30 in the morning there was overcast and temperature was around 20-22 O C. The security and safari arrangement at Nagarhole National Park didn’t appear quite impressive.

Explorers booked a bus safari, but after reaching there they came to know that bus would not start unless there were at least 10 passengers. Explorers asked for Jip, and one senior forest guard told that, they had only one jip and driver was not available at that time. Also that would cost Rs. 3000/for one exclusive jip, in comparison to Rs. 300/- per person for a bus safari. After waiting till 8:00 AM, they got one jip and started their first safari at Nagarhole.

Explorers were accompanied by their driver Purushottam and the jip driver cum forest guide Adinarayan. After driving 3-4 km to the south west direction through teak forest of the park, and spotting lot of spotted deer, jungle fowl and hen en route, Purushottam suddenly screamed softly. He thought, he had spotted Elephant at the right hand side of the direction of their movement. Adinarayan initially was not interested to stop, as he was not sure about the presence of the animal. But the other explorer Dwaipayan asked him to stop. He spotted too and then everybody else spotted the animals, they were around 15 km away from the vehicle and their huge heads were visible through dense bushes.

There was a 15 feet high watch tower close by, and entire team climbed to that to get a better view.

Three female elephants were spotted distinctly and one huge bull further away from them.

After that the safari continued till 10:30 AM, and other than spotting bunches of spotted deer, sambar, south west langur and lot of jungle moina, wagtail, pea fowl, green bea-eater, red wattled lapwing and egrets ----- no other significant species were spotted. The over cast and intermittent rain kept big animals away in their hide outs in the dense forest of Nagarhole. This over cast and intermittent heavy and light rain followed explorers throughout this series of “Hiking in Highlands” except the first day (29th November) at Ranganathittu bird sanctuary. That day was exceptionally sunny.

However, a very rare bird - lesser adjutant stork (breeding species) was spotted at the park at around 9:00 AM among a herd of spotted deer.

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At 10:30 AM, explorers came out from the safari zone of the buffer area of forest and started driving in Purushottam’s Chevrolet Beat towards Nagrahole town through the highway across the national park area.

The highway through national park remains opened from morning 6:00 o’clock to evening 6:00 o’clock. Explorers needed to refill their ration and they needed to go to town for that.

After driving through the park for around 2 km, they had to stop as there was a huge single tusker on the left hand side of their movement. The tusker completely ignored their presence and was busy in grazing. A single tusker was always considered as most dangerous animal in wild. While returning to their base camp, explorers spotted lot of elephant dung at both side of the road which was indicative of substantial elephant movement in recent hours.

Explorers started their next safari at Nagarhole at around 4:00 PM. This time their jip driver was Kumar Rao. Purushottam was also with them as usual. Just before explorers started their second safari, Kumar Rao returned from another trip from the deep inside of the forest, therefore he already knew where to go to spot one of the Indian “Big Seven”. Kumar Rao this time took the jip towards south west direction and stopped near by a water body -----and what a spectacular visual ------ herd of elephant assembled there for drinking water. Around 10 elephants were there with a bull and a calf. The mother elephant was found assisting her calf to drink water from the water body.

Safari of next day began with a moment of anxiety. In the morning of 1st December, 2015, explorers left their base camp at 6:30 and followed the same route as previous day towards forest office of Veeranahosahalli range, which was located at the starting point of safari zone. After spotting herds of Indian bison (Gaur), and a rare sight animal – Indian giant squirrel and progressing 10 km through the high way inside the national park, Purushottam had to stop his chevrolet beat.

A tusker was walking slowly from the opposite side. It was spotted from 5 km distance. The elephant noticed them too, but did not show any intention to stop or change in course; neither had it given any warning sign. It kept walking towards them.

Dwaipayan is a certificate holder from Nature and Wildlife from Wildlife Campus, South Africa on Animals Tracks and Signs. Arnab asked him, whether he remembered the warning signs of elephant. He started rambling with lots of uncertainty…….the ears were to be held forwards…..head to be held high….trunk to be raised to get scent…..Purushottam kept saying “Don’t panic Sir, I am here !”……although explorers were not sure how much credibility he got as far as dealing with wild elephant bull was concerned. After walking half a kilometer or more, the bull suddenly changed his course, turned towards his right and left the high way to find his path through dense forest. End of few tensed moments for the explorers.

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After reaching at the starting point of safari, explorers came to know that no safari bus was available and it wouldn’t be worthy to invest another three grands to hire a safari jip, as the prevailing overcast and intermittent rain, was not suitable for significant wild life sighting. Explorers decided to come back to base camp and spend some more time exploring on the highway while returning. So far the highway through the park turned out as best place for sighting wild life.

On the highway itself, three times they spotted Indian bison, found giant squirrel, rare species of Indian terrapin and elephants – twice till that time and they were actually lucky for third time.

This time a cow- elephant (female) on the right hand side of their movement. They spotted the female from 100 meters behind and stopped the car. The cow was grazing and after noticing their presence turned back to them. After watching them for a while she raised her trunk to get their scent. Explorers were bemused with the close sight of that beautiful but terrific creature and were in complete oblivion of all the warning signs of dangerous games. The cow later turned back and stomped into the forest and got disappeared.

It was a near miss, realized later by the explorers. Rising trunk to get scent was an warning sign.

Explorers encounter with elephant did not end there at Nagarhole. More excitement and anxiety were actually waiting for them at the last part of “Hiking in Highlands” --- in the forest of Periyar.

After 10 Km of hiking through dense rain forest of Periyar Tiger Reserve (PTR) – that included bamboo rafting across Periyar Lake, crossing 100-120 feet water streams over makeshift bridge made of tree trunk, muddy forest land with fresh pug mark on it, attack of leeches and nevertheless a 25-30 kg ruck sack on back with three days’ ration, survival kit and heavy cameras in hand – explorers accompanied by four more hikers from Spain and France, four forest guides (read ex-poachers) and one forest official cum gun man – reached within core area of the tiger trail at 1:00 PM of 5th December, 2015. It took them around 3 hours to cover that complete trek.

Explorers did their first bush walk towards North – East direction from their camp located in the buffer zone which was within 3 km of the core area of PTR. It was happened in the afternoon of 5th December between 3:00 to 6:00 PM. Herds of bison, wild boar, nilgiri langurs were spotted among mammals. Among bird species, brahminy kite, wagtail, little cormorant, greater egret, fish eagle were spotted. One jungle giant spider was also spotted.

At around 4:30 PM, after covering 5 km bush walk in same direction (North-East), elephant foot print was noticed by guide C. C. Thomas. The team started following that trail and all of a sudden, taken everybody in surprise, a tusker appeared through dense bushes within 50 meters. Everybody in the team got perplexed and clueless for a moment. Gun Man Ajimon started taking position.

Dwaipayan said “Don’t Panic!” - Not sure to whom, but the elephant ran away as quickly as it was appeared in front of them. Later everybody realized that the Spanish hiker Anna was wearing a pink rain cover and that made the tusker scared or panicked and made him ran away. Guide Thomas had gone furious on explorers. In Forest everybody should know how to camouflage, wearing pink rain cover was nearly committing suicide. It could make the elephant charge on them.

Ironically in Malayalam “Anna” means elephant. So the joke for the remaining part of exploration was “Anna made Anna scared”.

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Explorers’ last encounter with elephant in this series was on the last day – 7th December at morning 6:30 near their camp. Guide Thomas and Pandya were heard shouting, “Sirs come down to cooking area, quickly!” Everybody rushed there to see that three elephants were swimming through the Periyar Lake. Their trunk and upper part of head were visible through water; they were coming from other side of E-mail: natural_destination@yahoo.com Website : www.exploringnature.org.in

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the forest (West from the camp) to the camp side (East).

After few minutes one female elephant was found coming towards camp while grazing in the forest. She was grazing through South-West to North-East direction and was just 10-15 meters away from the camp. The only barrier between her and the explorers was a 10 feet deep EPT, surrounding the camping area.

The elephant was there for not less than half an hour; several times she raised her trunk towards camp to get the scent but never stopped grazing or had shown any other signs of attack. After that she got disappeared in the dense forest towards North – East direction. The cow’s tail was broken, therefore she could be considered as a dangerous animal.

Guide Pandya told, five years back one female elephant came from the same direction of forest and fell in the trench. However, that time there used to be a big tree at the North West corner of the EPT. Therefore, the cow curled her trunk around the tree and got herself out of the trench.

Explorers’ next encounter with this heaviest territorial animal of the earth would be in Africa.

grazing.

In the afternoon of 14th February, 2016, this time Explorer Arnab was alone and he started the safari towards east direction from the main gate of Kruger National Park. Almost after one hour of drive and after spotting lots of Impala, Kudus, Giraffe, couple of Warthog and Hippopotamus, driver cum guide Robert stopped the jeep near a thick dense bush. Sounds of breaking brunches made him stop the jeep and through the bushes few big black heads were spotted. Soon after that, a tusker was clearly visible and presence of a big herd was felt in the forest at the left hand side of the direction of driving. Gradually, the sound of footsteps, braking of branches was coming closer. The herd was happily

After sometime, one tasker came out from the forest to the road, observed the jeep for a while and crossed the road to reach other side of the forest. After a minute one female and a calf appeared in front of the jeep and crossed the road, and then another tusker, followed by a cow elephant with cub. One after one, twelve elephants – most of them were female with three males and one calf came out from the forest and crossed the road to reach other aide of the forest. The whole herd was completely indifferent about the presence of safari jeep and human.

Lastly, the leader of the herd a “huge mammoth” came out slowly and crossed the road without paying any attention to jeep and human. Explorer was awestruck with the massiveness and gravity of the 4 meter tall, 6 tonnes heavy – the heaviest territorial mammal of the planet.

Initially explorer was confused with sight of so many tuskers and calf and not a single cow elephant.

But later he realized the basic difference between African and Indian elephants are - both male and female African elephants have tusks that are larger than the Indian elephants. It is mostly male Indian elephants that have tusks and not very common for females to have them.

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That was explorer’s first sight of African elephant. The easiest way of telling the difference between the African and Indian elephants is the ears; African Elephant have bigger ears that reach over their shoulders. The Indian elephants ears are small and much lower down and closer to its head. It’s not only the ears; the African elephant is much bigger and heavier than the Indian elephant in most aspects. The shape of the two elephant’s bodies is different as well, the highest point in the African elephant is the shoulders and the highest point on the Indian elephant is the back. Their heads are also shaped differently; the Indian elephant has a humped structure while the African elephant’s head is flatter. And lastly, if someone get close enough to have a look at the elephant’s trunks. The African elephant has two ‘fingers’ at the end of its trunk while the Indian only has one.

(The ‘finger’ is the flap at the end of the trunk that helps the elephants grip things).

Explorer’s next encounter with African elephant was little more dramatic than the previous one. In the morning of 15th February, explorer was roaming in the west side of the forest and after one hour or so from the starting of safari – one male tusker appeared suddenly from the right side of direction of driving. The elephant’s intention was to cross the road and reach on other side.

But he had to stop because of the presence of jeep and he was clearly not happy with that. He stopped and raised his trunk towards jeep, repeated that several times. It was warning. Then he shook his head, flapped the ears while the trunk was raised. Guide Mike whispered’ “He has not liked our presence. We should move now.”

After Indian elephants of Western Ghats, explorer also got an opportunity to witness warning of African elephant – which was little more intense in nature.

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Theme Posters :

:: Domicile Crane : Photograph by Rahul Srivastava ::

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:: Striped/Common Tiger Butterfly : Photography by Haider Abbas ::

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:: Kashmir : Photography by Sutonuka Majumder ::

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:: Russel’s Viper : Photography by Ajimon Kottayam ::

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:: American Bison on road : Photography by Anwesha Ghatak ::

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:: Bengal Tiger : Photography by Vincent Vinay Kumar ::

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:: Indian Roller : Photography by Rajan dey ::

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:: African Lion : Photography by Arnab Basu ::

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:: Indian Leopard Cubs : Photography by Dwaipayan Ghosh ::

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:: Flower : Photography by Paramantapa Dasgupta ::

Team Exploring Nature Editors’ Desk Title and Logo Design Newsletter Layout 30 | P a g e

: : :

Dwaipayan Ghosh & Arnab Basu Arijit Das Majumder & Saikat Chakraborty Dwaipayan Ghosh & Arnab Basu

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