Panna Tiger Reserve

Panna Tiger Reserve or National Park is an incidental attraction for most tourists, as most land at Khajuraho and make a detour to the park, if they have time. Leave aside one or two hotels and the area around the reserve remains uncluttered, except for the lorry traffic on the highway bisecting Panna and the Gangau sanctuary.

Some time ago, wildlifers thought the Panna Tiger Reserve in the Vindhya mountains was going the Sariska way. A leading tiger expert had alerted the country over the sharp decline in tiger population at Panna. Officials in the forest department of Madhya Pradesh have still not got over the scare and dismiss the work of the expert with disdain.

Dinesh Kothari and myself did not expect to see a tiger at Panna Tiger Reserve when we went on our morning round in a jeep. The Ken river flowing softly through the reserve, defines the forest and is said to be one of the few clean river systems in the country. The Ken keeps the National Park alive. It originates at Bhuwar village near Katni and after running through the southern part of the Panna district, flows along the boundary of Panna and Chhatarpur districts to enter Uttar Pradesh and join the Yamuna.

For a start, we saw four-painted sandgrouse, for the first time, apart from chitals, sambhars and nilgais. On the way, we saw a few tiger pug marks and our guide got a message on his walkie-talkie of a tiger being sighted near the Shivla-Jheria link road. There were two jeeps ahead of us at the spot with the tiger resting deep in the forest. We climbed on an elephant using the top of our jeep as a base and the mahout guided the animal, busy tearing branches from the nearby trees, to the spot where the tiger lay on its side in splendour. We were four on the elephant — two aged foreign ladies, Dinesh and myself — and the five-minute ride was a bit of a roll.

For a minute, the four-year old, male tiger, lifted its head, looked at us before going back to sleep. The tiger did not bother about the 50-year-old she elephant, Anarkali, standing some 10 ft away nor did Anarkali think much of him. Watching the tiger from elephant back (popularly called elephant show) is not the ideal way of watching a tiger. Yet, we were part of the elephant show and at least this writer will not do it again.

At his offices in Panna town, Shahbaz Ahmad, Chief Conservator of Forest and Field Director, Panna Tiger Reserve, said, "the tiger density in the area is good."

An October 2006 study of Wildlife Institute of India says, "We also have conducted camera trapping exercise covering an area of 185 sq km in the Panna National Park. The estimated density of tiger in this area is 4.9 tigers per 100 sq km. Number of tigers in the study area of 185 sq km with a confidence limit of 95 per cent comes to nine (range - minimum eight tigers to a maximum of 15 tigers). Viewed in the context of the all-India situation, this is a reasonably good density and indicates a healthy tiger population in the study area...

"So far as comparability of our studies with the past study done by Karanth (2002) is concerned, it would not be out of place to mention here that their study covered an area of 418 sq km of the Park and estimated a population density of 6.94 tigers per 100 sq km. They estimated a population of 29 tigers over 418 sq km with a range from 10 to 48 tigers. Such wide variance in population estimation is not a very useful tool for monitoring a population. It is also relevant to point out here that our density estimate over 185 sq km has a low CV (coefficient of variation) of 16.8 per cent compared to their high CV of 46.54 per cent. Thus, our estimates are more precise... "

On the way back near the exit gate, we had a chat with the range officer, Madla range, Narendra Singh Parihar, who was happy we had seen a tiger. He said the forest department was on the alert at the Panna Tiger reserve, which has four ranges: Madla, Hinnauta, Panna and Chandranagar. "We are trying our best to stamp out poaching and have built watch towers to oversee 98 per cent of the area," he said.

The Panna Tiger reserve is spread over a core area of 542.67 sq km (no buffer zone) and was at one time the royal hunting grounds of the Maharajas of Panna, Chhatarpur and Bijanor. At present, the Gangau sanctuary nearby is under the management of the Panna Tiger Reserve. Mining activity has completely stopped, including diamond mining, by the National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC), said Shahbaz Ahmad. "The NMDC has approached the Supreme Court and we are waiting for the final ruling," Ahmad added.

But the Panna-Gangau forests may not remain with New Delhi keen on a dam plus two power stations across the Ken and a railway line lancing the forests to link Khajuraho to Satna. Also, the District Planning Committee is keen on denotifying a portion of the Gangau sanctuary, to probably restart mining and agriculture.

Recently, New Delhi sent a team of officials to drill 35 holes at various points in the Panna National Park as part of the work ahead of setting up the dam. The Field Director objected as any work inside the sanctuary needs the okay of the Supreme Court and the team went back. The Ken-Betwa river link proposes to divert surplus waters of the River Ken at Daudhan (2.5 km upstream of existing Gangau weir) through a Ken-Betwa link canal to River Betwa for meeting the water requirements in the water deficit Betwa basin.

A dam is to come up at Daudhan on the Ken river with a gross storage capacity of 2,775 million cubic metres; a two-km long tunnel followed by an about 230 km long link canal will transfer water from the Ken; two power houses, one (3x20 MW) at the foot of the dam and the other (2x6 MW) at the end of the 2-km long tunnel, are to be set up; the existing outlet of Barwa Sagar shall be used to drop the link canal water into Betwa, through the Barwa river.

A rather, distressed Shahbaz Ahmad said the dam and the railway line would reduce forest cover and cut into the Panna Tiger Reserve. About 74 per cent of the submerged area comes under forests and parts are reserved falling within the Panna National Park. The area of the National Park under submergence is estimated at about 45 sq km. That may be a low-end estimate for a project expected to cost Rs 1988.74 crore. What is being left unsaid is that the Government will denotify parts of the National Park to accommodate the development projects and push Panna into the past.

 

Kanha National Park

We reach Kanha as the sun is homeward bound. From the open verandah of the guesthouse, we gaze at the kaleidoscope of colours that paint the horizon, the hues changing from bright orange to deep blue to purple, till the inkiness unveils the shimmering stars. Ahead in the open grassland looms a huge tree. Our guide calls it an ek mein teen (three-in-one), a banyan, neem and sal rolled into a single marvel. Quite a familiar sight in Kanha, he tells us.

As it darkens a host of sounds accost our ears. The cicadas' incessant orchestration is punctuated now and then by the loud hoots of an owl. A jungle cat slinks in, ferreting rather noisily for bits from the kitchen bin, and a scrunching and grunting has us train our torches to a clump of trees nearby. It's a family of wild boar at their favourite haunt. Deep in the forest we hear the plaintive cry of a deer.

The night is enchanting in this wilderness in the Maikal Ranges of the Satpura Hills. The next morning, up at dawn, we are at the gates just as they are being unlocked, our open jeep augmenting the excitement of an adventurous foray into the forest.

The jungle cock greets us with his loud crowing and we can just make out his brilliant multihued coat among the cluster of bamboo. Chitals dot the landscape, at times very near, their coats camouflaging them in the brownness of the foliage. It is the right season to be here as animals are most visible now, coming out to slake their thirst in waterholes and nibbling on whatever food is available.

We stop by a pond. It's surrounded by a host of creatures — monkeys, neelgais, deer in perfect harmony, drinking their fill. As we move on, we espy under the tall sal trees a lone gaur, the Indian bison in white-socked majesty. Chewing cud, it stares at us. We stop a bit and, looking into the forest behind him, find his entire kith and kin. This sanctuary is also the only habitat of the barasingha, herds of which congregate by shallow pools.

Diverse trails

Though the circuits are mapped out in Kanha, the trails are diverse enough to sight a number of creatures. It is however in its grasslands that wildlife abounds. As we near one we find it chock-a-block with herds of sambhar. At another peacocks display their finery, while a couple of blackbucks stand, leaping gracefully into the air as they hear us approach. And we witness a stag fight — the deer, horns locked, challenging each other's might! The evening round ends at Bamimi Dadr — sunset point — a spectacular area in the park. We settle here to see the sun go down in the horizon, an orb of red, the shadows lengthening as trees and grasses become silhouettes. Silence falls. As we wait in utter quiet we are rewarded by a rather rare sighting of a pack of dhole — the Indian wild dog.

Kanha is also a birdwatcher's paradise, harbouring almost 200 species of avian life. And so the next morning, binoculars in hand, we station ourselves in a clearing in the forest. The Racket-Tailed Drongo, Indian Roller and Shikra are here in plenty as are Treepies, Kingfishers and Woodpeckers. Water birds wallow in Kanha's many brooks and pools and at Sarvantaal, we catch a few Common Teals and Pintail Ducks.

Another round of the forest, and it turns out to be our chance to see the big cat! For as we are ushered into the jeep, we are told that a tiger has been sighted in the surrounding environs. A gathering twister has us take cover under a clump of trees but as it moves away our guide points to the nearby rushes. And there, with its tail raised high is the mighty beast. Giving us a nonchalant glance, it moves right across, turns around and strides back into the grasses. It's only after it disappears, that we exhale!

Big cat bonanza

Barely have we begun to get over the vision, when we make our way quickly to another spot, deep in the jungle. A big cat has been spotted here too. It's resting in the thickets after its meal. Clambering onto an elephant we sway along, crouching to escape getting entangled in the tree branches. We clutch on to the howdah as our mahout manoeuvres the elephant to stop at a grove of sal and bamboo. The creature is well camouflaged and difficult to sight.

But, as it turns over, the grass moves and we get a peek. It's lazily licking its paws, quite oblivious to our presence...

That's the second tiger we've seen, and we're in for a bonanza. Our guide's talkie gets the message that a tigress has been sighted at the end of our trail. Down a rivulet and up again into the forest we go, when suddenly the elephant stops in its tracks. The tigress must be nearby.

Frantic alarm calls across confirm its presence. We wait in silence. Fifteen minutes later the tigress walks by, a few feet away, two cubs in tow. We barely breathe...

As we get back a new family has settled near our lodge. It's the monkeys. They are there to entertain us for the evening. As we are busy watching their antics, we spot a sloth bear in the distance.

Kanha has surpassed our expectations...

Fact file

Getting there: Kanha is accessible from Nagpur, Jabalpur and Raipur — all well connected by air and rail from Delhi and Mumbai.

Local transport can be hired to get to Kanha from these cities.

The two main entrances to the park are Khatia (3 km from Kisli) and Mukki.

Accommodation: Madhya Pradesh Tourism, Wild Chalet Resort, Tuli Tiger Resort, Krishna Jungle Resort, Kanha Jungle Lodge, Royal Tiger Resort.

Best season: Feb-June. The park is closed from July-October.

 

Panna Tiger Reserve

On a late afternoon waiting on the banks of the River Ken in the Panna Tiger Reserve for a boat, we heard the thud of the axe against wood. Villagers were removing forest cover and there was no forest official to stop them. The dhabas at Panna use wood as fuel and most of it could have only been trawled from the forests.

The poor have to live and cannot afford gas cylinders. They do not have any meaningful employment to talk of. But when the forests go, the poor will be the worst hit with policy makers taking the first flight out to the US. There are five villages with 1,900 families inside the Panna Tiger Reserve and have to be relocated, said Shahbaz Ahmad, Chief Conservator of Forest and Field Director, Panna Tiger Reserve, and added eight villages have been relocated.

With the passing of the Tribal Bill will the five villages be relocated? Narendra Singh Parihar, Range Officer, Madla range, admitted to grazing being a major problem. We took the boat ride to watch crocodiles sunning themselves on the river banks but could not see any. It was the same at the 45.20-sq km Ken Gharial sanctuary.

A long 26-km ride over kutcha roads from the reserve took us to the Ken Gharial sanctuary and the guide promised to show us a gharial sunbathing in the River Ken. Work is on to rebuild the road and widen it, which could eat up some of the oldest mahuwa trees in the region. The river bed is rocky being made of granite, dolomite and quartz and during rains get submerged.

For about 30 minutes, Dinesh and myself floated down Ken without spotting a gharial with the adult male sporting a pot-like growth at the tip of its mouth. There is no sight better than the Ken in Panna. The river offers an easy fluidity to the forest made mainly of teak, mahuwa, salai and bamboo. The forest and its denizens know they will live as long as the river lives. One has gone to a few tiger reserves but there is nothing like the Ken with its ancient dignity still in place.

The Ken River Lodge, built on wooden stilts, on the banks of Ken (outside the reserve) offers a good birding site and we noticed darters, cormorants, including the large cormorant and a painted stork, basking under a winter sun. A guide at the lodge told us of the nesting of a pair of Sarus cranes at the far end of the river. In 2005, the Ken went wild during rains breaking banks and damaging quite a bit of the forest and signs of the destruction are still there.

The Government hand out on Panna lists the common trees, animals and birds populating the area and like all such documents is far off the mark. We did spot two Egyptian vultures, a few painted sandgrouse and vultures inside rocky pockets. The herbivore population is not well-built and there are some who doubt whether it can keep up a large tiger population.

A report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India noted, "The Kanha Tiger Reserve had 7 per cent of the area as grasslands which was to be increased to 15 per cent. On a comparison of the availability of grasslands during 2000-05, it was seen that except in the Badhavgarh Tiger Reserve, three other tiger reserves (Panna, Pench and Kanha) witnessed a decline ranging between 0.001 and 0.05 sq km land availability per herbivore. The decline in availability of grassland was due to increase in the number of livestock in these tiger reserves. The livestock population severely causes fodder shortage in the tiger reserves, which needs to be tackled while planning for grassland and meadows development in the reserves." The final notification to declare Panna Tiger Reserve a National Park has not been issued till March 2006 though the reserve was created in 1975.

A note of the Wildlife Institute of India says, "The rationale for taking landscape as a unit is that tigers are long ranging animals (at times ranging over 250 sq km), and also that their prime habitats are subject to high turnover of individuals. It will, therefore, be naïve to assign any absolute number to a given administrative unit. Another important point to be mentioned here is that the density of tigers in an area can vary widely over time due to natural process of recruitment, dispersal and mortality. Breeding success or failure of even a single female may drastically change the prevailing densities. Therefore, present assessment done by WII is useful more as a baseline for long-term monitoring of the status of tigers in the area rather than giving absolute numbers."

Are we ducking the critical issue of trying to get at a firm estimate of the tiger population in India? Some tiger experts believe India's forests today could at best hold about 1,200 tigers (1,500 tigers on the higher side), while there are unconfirmed reports of the government pushing for a higher count of 5,000.

In the absence of any estimate, one can today firmly believe the CAG 2006 report castigating the Project Tiger Directorate. It says, "... . Poaching and unnatural deaths of tigers outnumbered the natural deaths. There was a decline in the tiger population in many reserves. Conservation efforts in the Tiger Reserves by and large remained ineffective due to inordinate delays in the settlement of acquisition rights under the Wildlife Protection Act 1972, inadequate wildlife corridors connecting tiger reserves with other Protected Areas, slow progress of relocation of villages outside the Tiger Reserves as well as poor tourism management." It may be noted that along with the tigers, other animals are getting scarce.

P. Devarajan

Navegaon National Park, Maharashtra

The Flame of the Forest or the palash (Butea monosperma) is blooming in Vidarbha. The crimson orange flowers, standing out from bare branches, spread colour on an otherwise drab and tired landscape, offering respite to travellers in the 40 degrees C heat.

The Flame of the Forest is sacred for Hindus. "Among the trifoliate leaves, the middle leaflet is believed to represent Vishnu and the two lateral ones are Brahma and Shiva. The wood and leaf stalks of palash are used in havans (sacred fire) and the tree symbolises the moon, say Marselin Almeida and Naresh Chaturvedi in their book The Trees of Mumbai.

Elsewhere, at the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve, the Melghat Tiger Reserve and the Navegaon National Park the forests are blushing waiting for April to burst into flowers. The Mahua is in fruit and one watched tribal men and women picking the forest floor for the whitish yellow marble-size fruit. In April, the tree will flower and the sloth bears will make their visits. The first maroon coloured leaves of the kusum can be spotted now, before they turn green in the summer months. At Navegaon National Park, Bhimsen Sreenarayan Dongarwar took us to a tribal temple with the interior crowded with white coloured horses made of earth.

"The Gond tribals will not cut a tree if anyone places a white horse in front of it. The tree becomes inviolate," explained Bhimsen. Kishor Rithe and this writer started with an evening visit to the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve where the guides talked of two tigresses with kids roaming the interiors though we did not see them. One did hear the alarm and rutting calls of the chital and saw a few of them along with sambhars, blue bulls (neelgai) and two barking deer.

In the morning sitting on the veranda of the forest guesthouse, one watched birds stir with the sunrise. We were amused by an orange-headed ground thrush moving up and down the more than 60-year-old jamun tree a few feet away from the veranda, while a squirrel dared to come up to the plastic chair this writer was occupying. Generally, the birds search the underside of leaves for insects or worms for a free breakfast.

Having tea at the tea-shop, one was surprised by a black-headed golden oriole and a couple of tree pipits. Sometimes one forgets the cup of tea on the table as bird movements grab one's being. In Melghat, there is the Centre called the Muthawa with its flat-roofed bamboo and mud hut, where time waits for one to spend.

On World Forest Day (March 21), Nishibhau, Kishor and I spent a late evening on an elevation in the 20-acre campus. "At around 7 p.m., the owls will call for about 15 minutes and then fall silent busy searching for rodents and snakes. A good owl population is a positive statement on the forest," said Kishor and sure enough the owls called from various parts of the forest. Possibly, in another two years, when the Centre turns green and the trees gain girth, the owls will surely shift residence and come nearer. We slept on the roof of the hut and by about 10 p.m. had to cover ourselves with two rugs each as temperatures dropped.

A moon, scooped like a watermelon, wrested a part of the sky, while the stars and planets took their appointed seats for Nishibhau to give a short talk on astronomy. After identifying the Dhruva nakshatra and the Seven Rishis (saptarishi), Nishibhau was on his own scanning the skies when a satellite came into view. Not that this writer understood much.

Being a college lecturer, Nishibhau has the skill to keep one tuned in though one is not sure if his students at the engineering college will agree. But for me, Nishibhau is a must on any forest trip. While others snored off, one kept awake watching the sky and recalled the famous rhyme: "Twinkle, twinkle little star/ How I wonder what you are/ Up above the world so high/ Like a diamond in the sky." At school, no teacher showed the sky. On this night, the lines made sense and one wondered whether humankind has moved much beyond the anonymous poetry.

Getting up early, we readied for the sun to risein the eastern sky. We take a new day without a doubt, a sunrise is a given and are sure the routine will be stuck to even while human beings deface Planet Earth. The enormity of our easy assumptions is felt when one is alone for a few moments in a forest or a mountain or at a beach. Aren't we taking Planet Earth for granted and that at some moment in the future it may not oblige?

From Melghat to Navegaon National Park is a six-hour drive. As we neared the Park, the driver applied the brakes noticing a sand boa crossing the road. We got down to watch the crawl of the creature and granted it safe passage into the dense foliage on the road's edge. The guesthouse at the Park is a two-tiered structure with our room touching the top of the trees.

In the morning, we were grateful witnesses to yet another sunrise (our third consecutive) over the Navegaon Bandh Lake.

Sipping tea, we noticed an iora hopping around on a bare tree. Before setting out for home, one spent the afternoon watching some 30 to 40 Hanuman langurs, kicking up a racket on the trees outside. Never for a moment they stayed still, with the little ones swinging from branch to branch.

P. Devarajan

Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve

Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve Chadrapur district Word of splendid tighter viewing in Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR), Chandrapur district has spread fast. The day before we touched the forests last week, some 200 vehicles had moved in a day into the Park to watch the tigers.

Two tigresses with three cubs each are roaming the area around Gosecanal and Dauna, while a second pair of tigresses with two cubs each has been located at Vasant Bhandara and Panderpauni.

We (Paul, Kishor Rithe, Giri Venkatesan and this writer) were blessed to spend about 30 minutes watching the three Dauna cubs late in the afternoon from an open Gypsy.

On the more than three-hour night run from Nagpur to Tadoba, it was raining with the sky spitting thunder and lightning.

"We may not see any tigers," warned Kishor as with the descent of the monsoon over the teak forests of TATR, tigers and most animals withdraw from waterholes located on the edge of core forest areas.

"It is like this. During the trying hot months with little greenery, prey and predators crowd around water holes with the prey (mainly herbivores like sambhar and chital) aware of the lurking danger. Sometimes, the herbivores pull back from the water holes in fear. In the process, they thin out physically and wait for the rains to go back to their old ways of living. With rains, they pull deep into the parks and scatter widely, making sighting difficult," explained Kishor Rithe.

That sounded like the lama in the book Kim, written by Rudyard Kipling where the lama exclaims, "We are all on the Wheel of Things." Sometimes on top, sometimes below.

On the morning trip, we saw nothing and kept to ourselves. We started the noon trip with a prayer and at around 4.15 p.m. we spotted the three Dauna cubs at the Panderpani water hole though there were no signs of the mother (usually, the mother is with her cubs for 18 to 24 months by which time, the cubs learn the tricks of living).

The three one-year-old cubs lay spread out in an arc behind some thin vegetation with one close to the water hole.

For a minute, the air crackled with the alarm calls of a sambhar but that did not make any difference. For about 30 minutes, the three cubs lolled around before a loud tourist vehicle drove them away from the spot.

The forest track we were on starts at Pandherpauni to touch Kala Amba and then proceeds to Bhanuskhindi. The Dauna waterhole lies on this stretch and to our good luck the three cubs had shifted to Panderpani.

From 4.15 p.m. to 4.45 p.m. we gazed at the one-year-old cub nearest to the waterhole, some 20 ft. away from our open Gypsy. It yawned twice, stared at us while tapping the ground and swishing its black-tipped tail.

The Panthera tigris was oozing grace while one turned reverential. It was Sameer, who spotted the three cubs and beckoned us. Sameer started as a guide and now owns a Gypsy to take tourists on rides in the Park. We left the place as the three cubs moved away only to enjoy the spectacle of a full-grown male tiger making its way towards us. It did not care for our presence as it turned off into wilder part of the jungle.

On the second morning, from the watchtower at Panderpauni, we had a glimpse of two chitals, calling in alarm, staring into a thick cluster of dry grass. They called for quite some time but no tiger emerged.

Credit for the strong and healthy population of tigers needs to go to the forest officials led by the Field Director of TATR, S.H. Patil.

He has been taking particular care to cut off some of the tourist paths to reduce the disturbance to the roaming tigers. "Now, the question will be to prevent any poaching in the coming years and that is going to be a tough job," remarked Kishor Rithe.

For this writer, TATR is hugely special. Over the last few years, the tiger population has remained steady at around 34 (males and females put together with cubs excluded).

The twin sanctuaries of Tadoba and Andhari form the TATR. The Tadoba National Park, declared in 1955, was transferred to Maharashtra in 1956 and became the state's first National Park, spread over 620 sq. km.

The Andhari Wildlfire sanctuary was declared a sanctuary in 1986 along with the Tadoba National Park and as the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve in 1993, says Erach Bharucha in the recently published book National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries of India. The Andhari Wildlife Sanctuary has an area of 508.85 sq.km.

From TATR we drove to the twin protected areas on the banks of the Pench river on the M.P.- Maharashtra border with a total area of 758 sq. km.

In the two Parks, our streak of luck held being able to spot four jackals with one jackal (Canis aureus) striding ahead of us in Pench (M.P.) to join up with another, while the common langurs called furiously from tree tops.

S.H. Prater in his Indian Book of Animals puts it aptly: "In their pursuit there is no undue hurry, no violent outburst of speed. Dogs move with a lobbing tireless canter which in the end brings them to their exhausted prey. ... . The feet are adapted to one purpose, the pursuit of prey over hard ground." Wolves, jackals and foxes, dogs domestic and wild, together compose the Canidae family. Driving out of the Pench (M.P.) park, Paul pointed to an Indian fox (Vulpes bengalensis), on an easy gallop. It moved along side our vehicle (keeping a safe distance of about 40 ft) before merging into the cluster of villages.

Prater opines climatic conditions "have done little to prevent the family from invading and settling in new countries. The wolf, the red fox, the jackal and the wild dog are immigrants into India from the north. They probably entered the country by way of our north-western passes.

"Here as elsewhere they have adapted themselves to life under contrasting conditions of heat and cold, of dryness and humidity. In this, the jackal has been perhaps, the most successful. It has spread over the whole of India. ... . Not so the wolf and the fox. In the Indian plains, wolves and foxes have selected for settlement the more open parts of the country. In contrast, wild dogs have kept exclusively to forests."

 

Narnala fort

A cold curry of rain, mist and wind was served us as we motored to the top of the Narnala fort housing the 12.35-sq. km Narnala Wildlife Sanctuary at around 3.30 in the evening. “We are at around 3,000 ft above sea level and is the highest point in Akola district,” informed Imtienla Ao, Divisional Conservator of Forests, as the wind made one unsteady. “It always blows here whatever be the season,” Ao added, and one did not dare to go to the edge to see the green Akola valley below.

For a few seconds the sun made a guest appearance before the mist erased the distant Satpura range. An old noting from a district gazetteer (why have we dropped this healthy habit after Independence) says: “Narnala is an ancient fortress in the hills in the north of Akot taluka at a point where a narrow tongue of Akola district runs a few miles into Melghat. It is uninhabited but is in charge of a patel and a patwari; the latter, Narayan Dattatreya, has a fund of information about it.”

The spot today is still free of humans as we crawled about an hour to get to the top. The black-brown stone tower broods over the traveller and seemingly was built by some Muslim emperor going by the architecture of the broken remains of arches and gateways. The writer of the note in the district gazetteer says: “Ahmad Shah, the ninth king of the dynasty, was compelled to visit his northern province owing to the invasion of eastern Berar by the Gonds. After driving the intruders from his dominions, he halted for a year at Ellichpur and while there built the fort of Gawil and repaired that of Narnala. … In the reign of Mahmud Shah, the assumption of supreme power in Bidar by Kasim Barid, a Turk, disgusted the tarajdars, whose allegiance to Mahmud Shah was, after 1487, merely nominal.

“Fatehullah Imad-ul-Mulk, who retained to the end an affectionate regard for the son and successor of Mahmud Shah, was resolved not to be the servant of the Turkish upstart and now began to pave the way for an open declaration of his independence by repairing and strengthening his fort. The inscriptions over the beautiful Mahakali or Muhammadi gate ….. record the fact that the gate, which is the strongest in the fort, was built by Fatehullah in 1487.” Was the Narnala fort then built before 1487? Perhaps, one can assume the Narnala fort is at least 500 years old — a sufficient age to claim senior citizen status. In the evening, we (Kishor Rithe, Dinesh Kothari and this writer) along with Ao and her officials, went for a walk under a drizzle.

As one sighted a pack of 20 jungle bush quails (Perdicula asiatica) scrambling in and out of the shrubs on the edge of the track, Dinesh and others spotted three healthy sambhars. One of the forest officials told us of the existence of a resident tiger near a lake of which there are six at the top. “These lakes do not go dry in the summer,” said an official and if so should act as water holes for animals.

The Narnala fort covers 392 acres and the walls wind about so much in following the shape of the hill that people say the full circuit measures 24 miles, says the gazetteer. It would certainly take very many hours to trace out all the buildings, especially as the walls, though generally in excellent condition, have crumbled in places and the enclosure is much overgrown with long grass and bushes. It is said that there were 22 tanks, six of which hold water all the year, 22 gates and 360 Buruj towers or bastions, the gazetteer adds. It remains the same today.

“As years go by, only forts like Narnala can act as sanctuaries for tigers to live in relative peace,” thought Kishor though one is not sure if a resident tiger can live alone; more, poachers can easily make it to the top. Even if the tiger lives, it may be as uncomfortable as the lone female elephant.

The State Government dumped the lady on the forest department and now does not provide enough funds to feed her. Every evening, the elephant is fed some oil-coated 10 rotis (one kg each) with blocks of gur. In the night, she is left free to find her fill while through the day she is tethered to a pole by iron chains.

An iron cannon located away from the trail suggests some hard battles centuries ago with humankind than being no better than today. In modern times, couples leave their mark by scribbling their names in white on the cannon. We spent the night at the protection camp (a two-roomed cement structure) with the windows shut tight while the night wind searched for entry points.

At six in the morning, a thick mist hid Dinesh standing some 10 ft. away. Sipping cups of tea one watched some six grey tits (Parus major) having a breakfast of insects served by the rains. They were all over the forest floor and tw o of them stood some five feet away for one to have a detailed look.

At the foot of the Narnala fort, we parked ourselves to watch a large number of crested tree swifts assembled in a line on an overhead electric wire, as if in some school. While an iora called from near, a pied crested cuckoo (Clamator jacobinus) flew down to a bush some 10 ft away from this writer. “Time up,” said Kishor as we drove off.

P. Devarajan

 

Notes on 'the tail of the tiger'

Notes on ‘the tail of the tiger’

For Imtienla Ao, Divisional Conservator of Forests, the Ambabarwa, Wan and Narnala wildlife sanctuaries at the southern tip of the Melghat Tiger Reserve, form “the tail of the Tiger and it is sensitive.”

Since 2004, she has been pushing government files to get the three wildlife sanctuaries included in Project Tiger by making them a part of the Melghat Tiger Reserve (MTR). The Centre has been stingy in sanctioning funds for the three sanctuaries while some monies have been flowing from Project Tiger. Questions have been raised over funding by the Project Tiger when the Ambabarwa, Wan and Narnala wildlife sanctuaries have yet to be notified as Project Tiger areas. For Ao, who has transfer orders on hand to head a forest research institute at Jorhat, a formal notification of inclusion could be the best farewell gift. It is not as if areas under Project Tiger have helped protect tigers and forests; but it is the best of the worst alternatives for wildlife.

On the afternoon we reached the Ambabarwa wildlife sanctuary, it was cloudy though one could guess at the impress of rains over the last few days. “We have had good rains,” said a forest guard and evidence was there in the dripping greenery and slushy forest floors. Experts like Kishor Rithe measure the health of a forest by not looking up at the trees but down at the forest floor. “If there are strong signs of regeneration, one can attest to good health,” Kishor said pointing at a one-foot high teak stem. Dinesh Kothari and this writer walked on trying to identify the trees with the animals moving into the interiors while the birds were silent.

Teak, saalai (Boswellia serrata), charoli, neem and many others looked up to the skies in confidence and we thought of climbing up a nearby peak the next day. As Ao and a few officers were chatting at Bandarjira Protection Camp, a forest guard drove up in a bike and presented to the lady a plastic cast of the pug mark of a male tiger found near a buffalo kill. That was some faint proof of a tiger in Ambabarwa. With rain drops buzzing the forest through the night we could not make it to the top. At about 9 in the morning when the skies looked dim and dark, we decided to walk along brisk nullas with water making its way anyway to Bewada Nala. The path got too thin and one turned back, while Dinesh and Kishor made it to the top. It was close to a two-hour drenching trek with none wearing any protective gear. From Ambabarwa we drove to Wan wildlife sanctuary with the Wan river sprinting past like some lonesome, long-distance runner to meet the Purna river. Some four months hence, there will be nothing to suggest a river or a nulla in these parts. There will be a rocky bed for one to step across and the foresters say the water moves below. One is not sure.

From the tourist bungalow, we watched the wind whipping the rains over the Wan as a kingfisher dipped into the waters to pick something edible. “The waters of the Wan river are brown in colour suggesting movement of silt. That happens when the upstream forest cover is thin. If the waters were white, it could mean the soil is being held by the forests,” explained Kishor. Wan is a quaint forest with a metre gauge railway line running through the sanctuary connecting Akola to Indore. Four trains arrive and exit every day and at the station the crowd will not be more than 10 tribals.

For a change the trains are empty and are manually operated with signal hands dropping at both ends for a train to halt and pass by Wan. When the train moves away the signal hands move up leaving the young station master and his assistant alone. At one end there is a tunnel and we walked half-way before turning back in fright as it gets dark in the middle. There is something “affectionately yours” about Wan. One is abruptly trapped in a no-time zone at a lonely station like Wan reminding oneself of the book, Making a Mango Whistle by Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay. Durga tells her brother Apu: “ Let’s go, Apu. Let’s go and see the railroad – it can’t be that far away. We’ll come back be fore noon for sure. We might actually get to see a train. And we’ll tell Ma that we got late trying to find the calf.”

Now there is a proposal to broad gauge the Wan rail track and that could eat up forests. Ao is not in favour of this and is protesting while the station master at Wan told us technical surveys have been completed. We seem to be in a hurry to delete our past on the 60th year of our Independence. Poaching, felling, illegal occupation of forest land – the wretched tale is common to Indian forests and it is painful dwelling on them.

When forest officers buy important postings, they make good by selling away forests and wildlife and that could be the most important reason for the sick status of our forests.

It may be best to state some facts: Melghat Tiger Reserve (MTR) and Wan wildlife sanctuary are located in the Amravati district of Maharashtra within the Chikaldara and Dharni tehsils; Narnala wildlife sanctuary is located in Akot tahsil of Akola district and Ambabarwa wildlife sanctuary in Sangrampur tahsil of Buldhana district touching Melghat Tiger Reserve. Total area: Gugamal National Park (core area): 361.75 sq.km; Melghat sanctuary (buffer and tourism area): 788.78 sq.km; Multiple use area (buffer area): 526.90 sq.km.; Wan wildlife sanctuary: 211 sq.km.; Narnala wildlife sanctuary 12.35 sq.km.; Ambabarwa wildlife sanctuary 127.11 sq.km. If 10 and more times this area can be allotted to special economic zones, can the Government not chip in by preserving Melghat Tiger Reserve as one whole?

On a late evening walking down a forest path in Wan under rains in strong strands, Ao quoted Robert Frost for us: The woods are lovely, dark and deep./ But I have promises to keep,/ And miles to go before I sleep,/ And miles to go before I sleep. Ao has a long way to go before …

P. Devarajan