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