It was a long time since I had visited Parambikulam and had been planning to visit it for some time. Finally I decided to go to Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary in the month of October to take advantage of the long weekend in the first week. I knew it would not be an easy journey due to the roadbuilding works in progress. However, I had not expected such a start.

I had a meeting in office on the first of October and had planned to leave after lunch time. The afternoon was hot with the sun beating down mercilessly. The full blast of the airconditioning had come to the rescue. Suddenly I heard something falling from the vehicle, but was not sure what it was. I was wondering what fell down and looked through the mirror. I realized that the spare wheel cover has fallen down from my Tata Safari. I had to drive a further kilometer and half before I could take a U turn. Unfortunately, by the time I reached the spot, someone had already taken away the wheel (Stepney) cover. This is the problem you face, when you drive alone. If I could have stopped immediately, then I would not have faced this problem. Cursing myself, I drove ahead.

I stopped at Krishnagiri and then next day proceeded to Parambikulam. The road building work was in progress and vehicles were moving in both the directions. It is not a pleasing experience to jostle for space with 40 feet long containers. I missed the directions and entered Tirupur. Lack of knowledge of Tamil, became a big hindrance in finding my way out of the town. Tired and enervated, I reached Polachi in the evening.

Next day morning ie on 3rd of October, I found my way to Parambikulam to discover that my booking has been allotted to someone. I introduced myself and the forest department officials allotted the DFO’s bunglow to me. I was surprised to see a number of tents and concrete buildings. This place used to be the corridor for Gaur and elephants. In the late eighties there used to several hundred guars congregating in the place. Unfortunately, one overenthusiastic forest officer lacking in foresight, created a clearing for the forest bungalow. Though the forest officer was later transferred, more and more constructions came up in the area.

In the afternoon, to my horror, I realized that photographers had to go in a canter for the Safari. What is the point in driving a 4WD vehicle to the forest, if you can’t use it inside the forest? Finally, I got permission to drive it inside the sanctuary. I took a forest department guide for directions.

First, I found a tribal settlement near a dam. I was told that the chances of finding dholes and leopards is high in the area, especially in the mornings. Since, I didn’t find even a deer, I realized that the human disturbance is taking a toll. The guide signaled that there is a guar at a distance on my left. The calf was suckling. I pulled out my 40D with Canon 400mm f2.8 L IS USM and 2x II TC and clicked a few shots handheld. I was waiting for a better angle, as the gaur was facing away from us. In a few minutes time, the forest department bus reached the spot and started honking. So I had to move to the side of the narrow road and made space for the bus to overtake. The gaur mother got disturbed and didn’t allow the calf to feed anymore. I felt terrible. Unfortunately, the forest department officials don’t realise that they are disturbing animals.

I reached the Kanimara Teak. It is a 450 year old living teak tree. I clicked a few photographs and came back. We found a few gaurs, however, they ran and crossed the road. They were clearly nervous by the signs of people.

While driving back, the sun was going down the horizon. I parked my SUV and created a few images of the backwaters.

I had planned to get up early in the morning and drive down to Kannimara Teak. I was told that at times you can even find dholes and sloth bears on the road.

Next day morning I got up as soon at 5.30 am but was feeling uneasy due to the spicy food. I somehow motivated myself for the morning safari. Saw a gaur adolescent near the road. The light was pretty low. However, using the bean bag, I got a few sharp images. There were no other sightings.

Back in the guest house, it was time to pack, as I wanted to stay in the tree house. After lunch, the guide came and we drove down to the tree house at Thunakadu. It was near a village. I was astonished to see a large village and song and dance going on. I was told they were celebrating the Wildlife Week with blaring music and dance and drama by the villagers. The tree house had basic amenities, however, I was delighted to see a Ratufa indica (Indian giant squirrel) on a tree about 30 feet behind the tree house.

Around 4 pm, I drove down to the tunnel area. The Nilgiri langurs were restless at our presence and were hiding behind dense foliage. I couldn’t get a decent shot, however got a nice image of a ratufa indica and its kid.

The mom was calling the kid near itself and was teaching it to nibble at the leaves. It was certainly a nice sight. This tranquil setting was interrupted, when a car came behind us and honked. I was surprised, as no vehicles are supposed to be allowed inside the forest. Later, I realized that forest department officials, get tourists to drive inside on some arrangements.

We parked the vehicle and started trekking. It was tough on me to carry my 400mm f2.8 L IS USM lens weighing 4 kgs apart from the camera and tripod etc. To compound the problem, I had earlier twisted my heel and it was not in good shape. Nevertheless, I carried on for some distance before, the guide asked us to turn back.

The lunch was a simple South Indian chapatti and a little amount of fried beans. I normally, don’t complain about food in the forest, so it was ok for me. It was better to sleep, as the loud music continued till about 10 pm in the night.

The next day morning started at around 5.30 am. It was still dark. I wanted to reach the dam to catch the sunrise. I saw a herd of gaur (Bos gaurus) at a distance and stopped my vehicle. The herd, numbering about 15-16 ran and crossed the road. I was surprised at their behaviour as they do so when there is poaching pressure. Later on I came to know that the guars are killed and eaten by the locals. People in Kerala eat beef and the gaurs are poached for their meat. A male gaur can weigh up to 1100kgs. Still man can instill fear in them. Man has certainly cemented its places as terrorists among all the species residing in Earth. We terrify all species, big and small, including our own brethren.

The false dawn was breaking and there were no signs of the nilgiri langurs. I reached the dam and realized my mistake. We were certainly not facing at the east. Due to the language barrier, the guide probably could not tell us the fact, if at all he was aware. Anyway, I photographed a few cloud patterns and then returned back to the hamlet. A few wild boars were sleeping piled up, one on top of the other. I had never seen a sight before. On one pile there were five wild boars sleeping and on another there were three.

After freshing up, I went for breafast. It was a simple affair in a small thatch restaurant in the village. I just wanted to satiate my hunger given my experience with the dinner the previous day night. I slowly started nibbling at the dosa, the way a Indian giant squirrel (ratufa indica) does to leaves. However, I could not believe it. I chewed a bigger chunk of the dosa. Within seconds, realization dawned on me that it was the best dosa I had ever had in my life. I even ate one more and realized that the taste of the previous one was not an aberration. I am sure, my friends in the Taj hotels will berate me, however, I have no hesitation in saying over and over again that the dosa in that small thatch restaurant was much better than what I have tasted in India’s best five star hotels.

The guide got some information that a Nilgiri langur was sighted nearby. We drove down to the spot, but the Nilgiri langur’s hid themselves behind thick vegetation. Later on when I came to know that people poach these Nilgiri langurs and prepare pickles out of their meat, I realized that it was perhaps expected.

Anyway, with a heavy heart due to lack of any significant sightings and images, I started driving back. There was a big function at Anamalai to increase awareness and a lot of people had gathered. Tourist vehicles were blaring their horns and fouling obscenities at each other while negotiating the hair pin bends……Alas, this is what our wilderness places have been reduced to…..Am not sure, whether I am going to come back here in the near future…..

(Written on October 2008)

Sabyasachi Patra

I am passionate about wildlife conservation. I am striving to make my films and photographs full of life and emotion and write articles to educate and evangelise the need for conserving the last tracts of vanishing wilderness sand wildlife in our country. I pray to the almighty that my wildlife films, photographs and writings force people to pause, look, ponder and ultimately take action. To make my ends meet, I work as Executive Director at MAIT (Manufacturers’ Association for Information Technology)

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Couple of years back, I was in Masinagudi for the first time. I was driving on the segur road. Dusk was fast approaching and I was looking for a cup of hot tea to beat the December cold. I saw a board on the right and it appeared to be a small restaurant. Without thinking much, I drove in.

Ofcourse, I could get my cup of tea and some munches as well. But someone else was waiting me there. I noticed the outline of a huge black animal, much larger than a buffalo. I strained my eyes, and could see a gaur (Bos gaurus) come out of the bush. I couldn’t believe my eyes, but the restaurant manager calmly told me that Gaur’s regularly visit this place. After some time, I was sipping another cup of tea when I heard alarm calls from about 50 meters away. Initially, I thought that it might be a false alarm call. But the alarm calls were repeated and I realized that a carnivore, probably a leopard might be on its prowl. There was a small building in the compound and I thought it would be an outhouse for guarding the property. I hesitatingly asked, whether I could stay in that building. My joy knew no bounds, when the manager told me that it is part of a resort that they are building, and I was welcome there. I immediately confirmed that I am checking in.And thus began my experiences with the wildlife of Masinagudi and Segur area.This resort, with basic amenities had one cottage. A small stream was passing by its side. I was told that the owner stays in Ooty, and has about 200 acres of land. They had fenced off only a couple of acres and the rest lies contiguous to the Mudumalai Tiger reserve, without any boundaries. The wildife were passing through the resort and crossing the segur road. Next day, I was sitting by the stream in the afternoon. On my left was the resort. The opposite bank of the stream slopes up to a hillock full of bamboo, lantana and other bushes. There were lot of birds chirping. A groupd of langurs were jumping from branch to branch. It was a very peaceful atmosphere, and I was soaking every minute of it, until it was broken by the sound of “Elephant”. My friends have spotted a herd of elephants, grazing upstream, about 200 meters away. I had my Canon 1D Mark II and the Canon EF 300mm F4 L IS lens. I removed my shoes and started crawling on my hands and belly. The elephant herd were feeding in small groups. A group of 4 elephants saw me and immediately turned to the right, and disappeared into the bamboo and scrub forest. I had by now crossed the stream and was moving forward in my hands and knees. The sudden disappearance of the 4 elephants to the right, made me feel edgy. From experience, I knew that elephants can remain very silent. After waiting for about 10 minutes, I started my crawl forward, shooting intermittently. The elephant herd had a small calf. The antics of the calf was worth watching. It was at times suckling from the mother. I wanted to get closer and capture it. I had moved pretty close to the elephants and was about to shoot the small calf when some one screamed from behind and urged me to come back. I turned around to see that the restaurant boy and another well dressed person were running towards me. Needless to say, the elephants simply vanished.

On asking why they were screaming, I was told that elephants are dangerous and I should not be going close to them. The well dressed gentleman told me that he is the owners son and stays abroad. They were calmed when they came to know about my credentials. But alas, by that time, the elephants had vanished, and I suddenly noticed that the scars and bruishes that I had received while crawling had started hurting.

The next day morning, I got up and came out of the cottage. The sun was about to rise. I could see a gaur and calf outside the compound wall. The calf was suckling its mother. I had the Canon EOS 1D Mark II camera and the 28-135 mm attached with it. I rushed and clicked. Unfortunately, the shots were not sharp due to the low light.

In the evening, I was again waiting near the stream. I could see the Indian Giant Squirrel (Ratufa indica) jumping high in the branches. It was a nice sight to watch. There were some parakeets feeding on the opposite bank. A solitary small kingfisher was perched on a branch at a distance. It was an idyllic atmosphere, a far cry from the mad hustle and bustle of the city. I was relaxed and soaking it up and was lost in my thoughts. Suddenly the silence was broken by the sound of hoofs, as a herd of gaur (Bos Gaurus) appeared on the other bank further upstream. There were a number of small calves and they were sliding and jumping on the steep bank. It was evening, and light was fading fast. However, I could see a calf with a very light colouration. There were some reports of albino gaur and some photographs were published in Sanctuary Asia and other places. I moved closer and closer. It was difficult to approach through the thick lantana bush on the left side of the bank without making any noise. The stream bed was barren, with some boulders here and there. I crawled on my hands, knees and belly. I knew I would not go unnoticed, but nevertheless tried my best hiding behind the boulders. The calf was from a normal coloured mother. However, its colour was totally different from the others. The light levels were low, and the photographs were not sharp to my liking. After observing this calf for sometime, I retreated back.

Masinagudi area was originally a tribal hamlet. Construction of dams in Moyar and Singara hamlets, brought labourers who stayed back after the dam construction was over. With passage of time, more and more people migrated to this area. Today wildlife tourism has picked up in the area. The locals are earning a lot by renting Jeeps to tourists for use in Safari. The small hamlet is now converting into a town. It is estimated that today, the population of the original tribal inhabitants of the area is 600, but the overall population is about 15000.

As a consequence the pressure on the forest has increased. It is estimated that about one lakh (0.1 million) cattle enter into the forest everyday for grazing. When so many cattle, goats and sheep graze, the impact on the forest is easy to guess. The forest has been virtually devoid of grass, bushes, and small shrubs. Such biotic pressures force the herbivores to move into deeper forests. The trees are hacked by villagers looking for fuel wood. And ultimately, the forest is transformed into a barren land. This also makes it easier for species like lantana camara to occupy the forest land.

Wildlife tourism is having its impact on the forest as well. A number of resorts have sprung up in the area. Wildlife tourism is seen as the “in thing” these days. Accordingly, number of tourists have increased manifold. I found liquour bottles lying in the forests, as tourists are having fun all around at the expense of wildife. Polythene bags, gutka/ pan masala sachets are found all around the place. Some of those are inadvertenly swallowed by the wildlife. Their deaths would go unnoticed. I have photographed a polythene bag that had come out with the elephant dung. I could find the hand of man raping this once pristine landscape. If something is not done soon, then this area will also be lost to wildife forever.

The traffic in the Segur road has increased. Earlier only petrol driven vehicles were able to negotiate this steep ghat road. So a major portion of the traffic to Ooty used the other route. Today, with the advent of vehicles with powerful engines, Segur road is the preferred road. Even late in the night there is traffic in the road. There have been demands to restrict the hours in this road. I was told that vehicles are not allowed to ply on this road after six. This move was started not due to love of wildlife, but due to an accident that took place where a bus overturned and lot of local people including the forest ranger died. However, I could see vehicles even in the late night.

I understand that the Tamil Nadu Government is taking steps to declare this as a buffer area. Predictably, there is lot of opposition to this from vested interests. I hope that the Tamil Nadu Govt. shows will and is able to convince the people to relocate from the area and restore this landscape to its pristine state.

Sabyasachi Patra

I am passionate about wildlife conservation. I am striving to make my films and photographs full of life and emotion and write articles to educate and evangelise the need for conserving the last tracts of vanishing wilderness sand wildlife in our country. I pray to the almighty that my wildlife films, photographs and writings force people to pause, look, ponder and ultimately take action. To make my ends meet, I work as Executive Director at MAIT (Manufacturers’ Association for Information Technology)

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Right of Way

Roads have been the bane of most of our wild areas. Some of the pristine wildlife habitats have been dissected by roads. In the early part of the 21st Century, the motorable roads were much less. The dirt roads were not much of a menace, as less population and a low frequency of vehicles on these roads didn’t create much of adverse impact on the wildlife.

Today, the quality of roads has improved a lot. The dirt roads have given way to metalled four lane or at least two lane roads. Increase in vehicles and increase in disposable incomes have led to a boom in tourism. The improvement in quality of roads has led to more and more people driving to destinations, instead of taking public transport.

And along with that comes accidents, throwing of garbage, teasing animals, zooming past animals at high speeds to terrorise them etc. At times, you would be amazed at the level of immaturity and recklessness shown by the people.

This shot shows a huge adult Gaur (Bos gaurus) crossing the road. Often mistakenly called as Bison, these can weigh upto 2 tonnes and when violent can topple vehicles. This shot was taken in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve.

The road from Bandipur to Ooty passes through the Mudumalai Tiger reserve. The shorter road passes through Segur and is known as the Segur road. It is steep and several years back diesel vehicles could not negotiate the steep inclination of this ghat road. Hence most of the traffic used to pass through the other road which is about 30 kilometers longer than the Segur road.

I was coming back from an afternoon Safari in Bandipur National Park in July 2008. Dusk was fast approaching and the showers few minutes back had decresed the light. I was driving slowly when a vehicle from the opposite direction slowed down near me and the occupants excitedly told me that there is a herd of elephants ahead. After moving ahead in the winding road, about hundred meters or so, I came across a herd of elephants. The elephants numbering about forty were feeding near the road. I brought my Safari (an SUV) to the left and parked. Soon other vehicles overtook me and stopped about 15 feet away from the elephants. The elephant herd had three small calves, about a few months old, who appeared to be still in awe of their trunks.

A lady from one of the vehicles, got down and was trying to move closer to the elephant. People don’t realise the difference between pet animals and the wild ones. Soon a herd of four Gaurs appeared and tried to cross from the left to the right. One of the adolescent elephants, with the impetuousness of youth, started chasing the gaur. In the meanwhile, vehicles from both the sides had created a traffic zam. People had got down from their vehicles and were watching the drama, oblivious of the danger of being too close to these wild animals.

The Gaur was crossing about a few feet from the cars. The cars appear to be dwarfed in front of the Gaur. An annoyed Gaur, can cause significant damage to a vehicle like Maruti in the picture. Apart from the danger to the people, due to their irresponsible acts of getting two close to these animals; it also causes stress to the animals as they are not used to such close proximity with humans.

Most of the people are ignorant. A quick briefing of people entering the sanctuary should help. The briefing can be just two or three lines while opening the forest entry gates, like “Please don’t Honk”, “Please don’t litter” and “please maintain 30kmph speed limit”.

People also violate rules as they don’t feel that there is any patrolling by the forest officials. Forest department is in perennial shortage of staff. Most of them are old and on the verge of retirement. Meager salary also doesn’t help in motivating them.

Most of the vehicles given for patrolling are used by the officials. So the forest department should provide battery operated vehicles that you mostly find in Golf courses. These vehicles, apart from stopping pollution, also won’t be misused. As officials won’t be seen taking these vehicles for any other purpose.

What you can do:

You can spread the message and educate people.

You can write a letter to the forest department and the ministry highlighting the issues and ask them to sanction more posts for the forest department and urge them to fill the existing vacancies.

I look forward to your comments and your ideas on this topic. Let us know when you take any action, so that I can mention it here. It will serve as motivation for others.

Sabyasachi Patra

I am passionate about wildlife conservation. I am striving to make my films and photographs full of life and emotion and write articles to educate and evangelise the need for conserving the last tracts of vanishing wilderness sand wildlife in our country. I pray to the almighty that my wildlife films, photographs and writings force people to pause, look, ponder and ultimately take action. To make my ends meet, I work as Executive Director at MAIT (Manufacturers’ Association for Information Technology)

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