Tigers in the dark

It’s been three long years, since I had this amazing experience. It was the summer of 2005. Surjit called me to ask if I would be able to join him on a trip to Malani in Corbett National Park. I had not been to this part of Corbett National Park before and readily agreed. Sambit and Balu also joined us to make it a big party.

 The Malani forest rest house is located on a cliff overlooking a stream flowing below. As is the nature of these streams, the monsoon season sees it at its ferocious best and at other times of the year, the flow reduces to a trickle making pools of water here and there for the kingfisher to hunt or the langurs, deers and elephants to drink. When all these animals are there, how can be the king of the jungle be far behind? The tiger is seen cooling off in a small pool in this stream in the summer months.

Coming back to the story, we bought some fresh eggs, bread etc to add to the provisions we had procured from Delhi. The forest rest house doesn’t have a canteen, so visitors have to carry their own provisions if they expect to eat. We reached the rest house and handed over the groceries. We were hungry but rather than waiting for the meals to be prepared, we had some light snacks and moved on for the afternoon safari.

Sambit was in a jungle for the first time, and was pretty excited. We found deers and Sambars grazing or resting in the shade. Surjit was photographing them. I was on the look out for any signs of the tiger. We found lot of pugmarks in the dry river bed and then at a distance we found some tourists in a jeep. It took us some time to make out the outline of the sleeping tiger. The tiger rolled over and yawned. After a few yawns, the tiger got up and started walking and we could see that it was an adolescent one. It seemed to have had little success in hunting in the last few days as it appeared to be famished. The tiger soon crossed the dry stream and vanished into the undergrowth.

The rest of the afternoon was uneventful. We returned back to the forest rest house happy sighting a tiger. I was feeling good thinking that on every trip to Corbett National Park, I have sighted a tiger. Our tired but excited spirits soon got a boost with hot cups of tea.

Within half an hour the dinner was ready. Though it was hardly seven in the evening, we were pretty hungry and devoured the food. Surjit and I came out of the forest rest house to feel the evening air. The forest rest house is located at the base of the hill in a clearing of about a football field and half in length and breadth. The stream flowing in front of it, has carved a steep drop of fifteen to twenty meters at places. The forest department staff has made a gradual slope to approach the stream in front of the forest rest house. About fifteen feet in front of the forest rest house there was a tree, which is no longer there, and the base of it was cemented to create a rectangular platform of about fifteen feet by ten feet. We pulled two chairs and placed it below the tree in the compound. The edge of the forest is about a further thirty feet away sloping down into the stream. Towards the left the forest starts hundred feet away from the tree. Towards the right is the approach road and the clearing is about the length of a football field. Soon Sambit joined us by pulling a chair and placing it after me and closer to the edge of the forest. We were seated in a semi circular manner facing the approach road.

It was a moonless night and for the first hour it was pitch dark. We were enjoying the chill breeze and listening to the soft murmur of the flowing stream. We were happy having sighted the tiger and were discussing its emancipated state. Sambit was very happy on having sighted his first tiger on his first visit to the jungle. It is natural to be excited to watch God’s most magnificent creation in the wild. Sambit was telling us that he would definitely come back to this place with his wife. The deers were grazing in the compound. We could make out their blurred shapes at times and could here the sound of their grazing or occasional movement.

The playful banter came to an abrupt halt when we heard the sound of a twig cracking from the direction of the stream about 40 feet away. We were staring intently into the darkness towards the source of the sound, knowing fully well that it was done either by a tiger or a leopard. Sambit till that moment was blissfully unaware about our sudden alertness. The crickets had stopped chirping – there was an oppressive silence as if the entire jungle is watching with bated breath. Several minutes passed by and then suddenly the silence was pierced by a sharp alarm call about 30-40 feet in front of us. Even though we were alert, the sharp call, its proximity and the silent jungle gave it a sinister meaning. Till that moment, Sambit had never heard an alarm call in his life. He had no inkling about it and was so startled that he would have fallen from his chair had I not caught hold of him. A man with a weaker heart could have got a heart attack in such a situation. For Sambit it was too much to handle. He got up and shifted his chair to a position behind Surjit and closer to the Forest Rest house.

Clearly, the tiger was trying to hunt the deer barely few meters in front of us. Surjit suggested that it was too dangerous to be out in the open in the midst of the hunt and got up to move the chair closer to the wall of the Forest Rest House. We did so and realized that Sambit had vanished. He had got inside the Forest Rest house and had locked the door. We were straining our eyes to see any signs of the predator. At times we could see the white portion of the belly when the light of few stars could shine through the clouds. At times we could make out the outline of the deers. They had come closer to us. It seems the deers thought that coming closer to us might save from getting killed.

We kept on listening to the sounds as hardly anything was visible, breathing slowly through our mouth without making any sound. All our senses were in high alert mode. Minutes kept on ticking. After about half an hour or so, suddenly there was a sound of a charge. We could hear an animal abruptly run from left to right from a point about 30 feet straight in front of us. We knew the tiger is charging. However, we were shaken up when within a couple of seconds, there was another charge from right to left from the same point. All along, we were under the impression that there was one tiger. But it was physically impossible for a tiger to start a charge from the same point within a couple of seconds. We kept on straining our eyes to see any signs. And then soon the crickets started chirping again and the jungle came back to normal. We knew the predators are not there any more in the compound. I looked at the watch, and this experience had lasted forty five minutes.

After some time we got up and asked Sambit to open the door and we retired for the night. I was again woken up from sleep at the sound of an alarm call. It was 1.30 am in the night and the tiger was near the forest rest house again. I tried to listen for further sounds but didn’t know when I fell asleep. The next day we got up before dawn. Two tigers were roaring and answering each other at a distance from the forest rest house.

We had not taken a single photograph that night, but it was one of our most memorable tiger experiences. It gave a huge jolt to my ego. Despite several decades of tiger watching and studying, I could not know that there were two tigers in front of the forest rest house barely 30 feet away. It was a humbling experience as well. It teaches us that how ever experienced you might be, we are still scratching at the surface. Learning a single paragraph in a lifetime from the enormous book of nature, would be a big achievement.  

 Tourism: Boon or Bane

Wildlife tourism is viewed as a mode of protecting our wildplaces. The monetary benefits accruing out of wildlife tourism is used to justify spending on creation and maintenance of wildlife sanctuaries and National Parks by the Government in various developing countries. The argument is that wildlife tourism is a non-consumptive activity i.e. the tourists can’t remove any thing from the area and it doesn’t have any long term impact. It is said that Wildlife Tourism doesn’t consume our scarce resources and it will bring the much needed funds for sustaining our wild places and providing livelihoods for the communities around our National Parks, Wildlife Sanctuaries and Protected Areas. If this were true, then it would have been an easy solution. The tourism sector propagates such myths and the unsuspecting public are more than happy to adopt such an easy route. However, Wildlife Tourism is not the panacea of all ills. Recent research on various species around the world suggests that the harmful effects of tourism are much more significant than earlier estimations.

Let us first try to examine the validity of the basic premises of Wildlife Tourism:

a)      non-consumptive and its longterm impact as negligible

b)     providing livelihoods for the local communities

Let us look at our wild areas in India. Typically, there were small hamlets or villages around our wildlife places. Once a place is “discovered” by people, someone starts a hotel and few people visit that place. These tourists come back with nice experiences and then hordes of tourist descend on that place. When the tourist traffic increases, entrepreneurs move in to encash on the popularity of that place. And the so called development of that place starts. Unfortunately.

When a wildlife sanctuary or a protected area is opened up for tourism, lot of infrastructure is created in that place. The Hotel owners come from the other areas to set up hotels. The local people don’t have the capability to invest in infrastructure. The local people don’t even qualify to become chefs or cooks in the hotel, as the right kind of culinary skills for serving the well heeled tourists is to be sourced from outside the locality. People from outside the locality again come and invest in vehicles for transporting tourists and in four wheeled vehicles for Safari inside the jungle. Similarly, telephone booths, cyber cafes, massage centres, grocery stores etc come up. The locals are only employed as gardener to maintain the lawns of the hotels or for cleaning utensils or for other menial jobs. 

In the initial wave of development, the locals sell off their land. However, in a couple of year’s time, the price of land multiplies and naturally the locals who had bailed out by selling their lands in the initial phase don’t get the fruits of the actual economic boom. A lot of economic activity happens, but the local communities don’t benefit from it.

This proves that local communities don’t benefit from the wildlife tourism.

Impact:

Does any one think whether a place, once a pristine wilderness area, has the capacity to cater to the huge tourist traffic?

The tourists come in hordes and place huge demands on the environment. To cater to the tourists, hotels are setup with Air Conditioners guzzling lot of energy. Swimming pools are setup and it places a huge demand on the fresh water. Exotic fruits and food supplies need to be transported for the tourists. Migration of people from other areas start. Someone needs to grow vegetables, cereals etc so lot of forest areas give way to cultivation. Similarly the goats for the meat requirements and cattle for the milk or cultivation requirements now fight with the wildlife for grazing space and freshwater needs. And with the livestock comes the attendant problems of the wild animals contracting diseases like foot and mouth, or carnivores killing livestock and then inturn being killed by the people. In a few years time, a hamlet grows into a town. A live example is Bandhavgarh National Park. The Tala village used to be a hamlet with about 8 huts. Now it is growing into a town. People have come to get jobs as guides, drivers, cooks, and have set up restaurants, hotels, grocery shops, wine shops, massage centres etc etc…the list is endless. Similarly, Masinagudi or the Segur Ghats area used to be a pristine wild habitat, till the influx of construction workers for the Moyar and Singara irrigation projects started changing the scenario. With the increase in wildlife tourism, the Masinagudi hamlet is converting into a town. The tribals – the original inhabitants of that area – now number about 600 as opposed to the total population of 15000.

With the increase in tourist traffic, comes the sad spectre of wild animals hit by speeding vehicles. In case of Bandhavgarh National Park, the forest department has now fenced the areas bordering the road and villages. There are cases of poaching by villagers. A tiger was also reported to be electrocuted. The numbers of village dogs has increased, and cases of deer being killed by the village dogs are often reported.

Impact on Wildlife:

 The transformation of a sleepy hamlet into a bustling town, has tremendous impact on wildife. Our wildlife don’t have inviolate spaces to roam freely. Most of the times a highway or a train line cuts across the forest and the animals are killed by speeding trains or vehicles. Or people encroach on pristine wildlife habitats, reducing the areas available to the wildlife. The migratory path of the elephants are cut off by high speed canals, or highways. Poachers arrive with their sophisticated weapons, spot lights, jeeps etc and the wildlife simply stands no chance.

 In Tala village near Bandhavgarh National Park, a tigress was hit by a speeding vehicle and its jaw was broken. Recently, near Corbett National Park, a tiger was mowed down by a tourist bus. Elephants are regularly mowed down by trains. The animals have become cautious in crossing the road. I saw a tusker look at left and then the right side and crossed the hurriedly cross the road in Nagarhole National Park. I have seen deers, gaurs and other animals running across the road to avoid being hit. But that is not enough. The top speeds of our vehicles make it impossible for the wildlife to dodge the traffic.

Elsewhere, there have been reports of corals getting bleached due to the sunscreen lotion used by divers. No studies have been commissioned to examine the impact of tourism on our marine ecosystem. In the absence of data, everything is expected to be ok.

We don’t realise that when we enter into the forest, whether on vehicles or on foot, we come in contact with animals. With each contact, we leave a lasting impression on the animals.

So the basic premise of Wildlife tourism as non-consumptive and without any longterm impact is a huge lie.

In India, in any forest or National Park, you can find a dilapidated temple. With wildlife tourism, people start visiting these temples or “sacred trees” etc. Soon people start flocking such places expecting miracle cures. That puts a lot of stress on the wild areas. In most of the cases, it is the tour operates who schedule such temple visits to widen their appeal to tourists. In Sariska, it is estimated that about one lakh pilgrims visited the temple in Pandupole on one day. In Bandhavgarh National Park, the park authorities created concrete structures around Sheshsaiya – a 32 feet sculpture of Lord Vishnu – to attract religious tourists.

Can our wildplaces survive such an onslaught?

A study conducted by University of California along with San-Franscisco based Wilderness Society reports significant drop in numbers of carnivores like Bobcats and Coyotes due to tourism.

Too often I have found that it is the tourism sector which propagates such myths of Tourism bringing much needed revenue to the villagers etc etc.

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.

When the Wildlife Hits Back: Tales from the Land of the Tiger

 On two occasions I had been charged by a tiger. When people hear this, the immediate reaction is “Wow”. Immediately, they feel jealous. Unfortunately, that is the reaction of people.

 People don’t realise that as a rule, a tiger or for that matter any wild animal will not charge, unless and until it is forced to. There is a fight to flight distance for the wild animals. The wildlife would maintain a minimum distance from people. They are likely to runaway when this distance is breached. Mostly, they flee towards deeper forests. If you happen to startle a wild animal by somehow managing to suddenly approach very close to them, and if they perceive you to be blocking their path, then you are most likely to be attacked. Most of the times, it is a mock charge. The intention is to scare you. Last year, I bumped into a wild tusker before dawn in a narrow winding road in BR Hills. It showed its irritation by trumpeting and then came charging towards me. I had to reverse for about 15-20 meters before the elephant decided that it was enough.

Most of the times when a wild animal attacks a human being, the incident can be explained. I had been charged once by an adult male tiger and on another occasion by a tigress. And I must confess that on both the occasions I will give a clean chit to the tiger and tigress involved.

 It was a warm morning in Bandhavgarh National Park, in the summer of 2005. I was tracking the Rajbehera Male, the predominant male tiger in the Rajbehera area through pug marks and alarm calls. The tiger was aware of my presence. It was using a game trail, and I had prefocussed my camera to that point. However, the tiger emerged from the game trail and bounded into the bushes on the opposite side of the road. It happened within a fraction of a second, and I knew that perhaps there is a reason for this tiger to avoid human beings. My driver – Ram Shankar, told me that it was the Rajbehera male and it generally avoids people. We then quickly reached the Rajbehera grasslands, as the tiger had to cross the hill and pass through the Rajbehera grasslands.

 When I reached the Rajbehera grasslands, I found another jeep with two French tourists. I was waiting for about twenty minutes before the tiger appeared at a distance on my left. The other jeep was in front of my jeep. When the tiger tried to cross the road, the other jeep driver moved the jeep ahead and positioned it in front of the tiger. The tiger was about forty to fifty feet away, but sat down near a bush when it realized that the jeep is trying to block its path.

I told the other jeep driver and guide that we should not be blocking the path. My driver, Rama Shankar, infact warned them that this tiger gets very annoyed with people and attacks the jeep if some one blocks its path. So we decided to move about fifty meters ahead and leave a space between the two jeeps, so that the tiger can pass.

 When the tiger saw the gap, it got up and growled at the other jeep. However, instead of crossing the road through the gap, it tried to move ahead of us, while all the time turning its head back to growl at the people on the other jeep.  

After some time, I realised that though the tiger was trying to cross in front of my jeep, it was coming straight in our direction. I had rested my lens on the side seat of the open jeep and was shooting. Rama Shankar - my driver - was afraid of this tiger, due to its past reputation and also the manner in which it was growling. He suddenly decided to move the vehicle ahead, when the tiger was about twenty feet away from us. The moment he started the engine, the tiger charged. I lost my balance and fell on the jeep floor. I could just see that the tiger and our vehicle were running parallel to each other with the tiger’s head turned towards us and he was continually growling. And suddenly our vehicle slowed down and the tiger crossed in front of us. The charge happened at a split second and was over perhaps within a minute. The guide was shaking, and Rama Shankar was speechless. I was really annoyed with him, as he started the vehicle without my instructions. However, it was not the fault of the tiger. People try to block the path of the tiger - and tiger being a gentleman – sits down and waits for people to pass. This helps people to click a few shots. Most of the drivers do this to impress their foreign clients as they get substantial tips after such an incident.

 The second incident happened exactly after a year in 2006. It was summer again in Bandhavgarh National Park. However, this time the aggrieved party was a tigress.

 It was early in the morning. My vehicle was the first to enter as soon as the forest gates opened. At Siddha Baba, I found a jungle cat and stopped to shoot.

Couple of vehicles following me, passed comments that “Ohhh! It’s only a cat” and moved ahead. Within a few meters they found the Chakradhara female and her four cubs. The jungle cat had by that time vanished and I had reached the Chakradhara trifurcation. The tigress and the cubs were crossing over from the Siddhababa side to the chakradhara grasslands. On my right was the hillock and on the left was the grassland.

 By the time I reached the place, several jeeps had crowded the place. The tigress had crossed and was hiding behind the tall grass. The cubs about 13-14 months old were crossing over one by one but were being disturbed by the vehicles.

 I asked the driver to leave the cubs and move the vehicle back to the spot where the tigress was hiding. Since, I arrived late on the scene; I had no idea as to whether it was the tigress or one of her cubs. I was standing on the seat of the open Gypsy, and was trying to see through the tall elephant grass. The bush where the tigress was hiding was about twenty feet away from me. Within minutes, the tigress charged with a series of short roars. The moment the grass parted to make way for the tigress, I tried to focus my camera. However, within a split second the tigress stopped in front of me, growled and turned back into the tall grass. All the noise from the other vehicles had stopped. A business man was with me along with his wife and kid. They were shaken to the core. I heaved a sigh of relief and when I looked down at the bottom of my trousers, it was moist with the spit of the tigress. I touched it with my left hand and then settled down in the seat. I knew I won’t be closer than this to a tiger.

 Later on when I looked at the shots closely I could see the faint outline of the curled up upper lips indicating that the tigress was snarling before it charged. Normally, the tail of the tiger twitches rapidly when it is about to charge. In this incident, I could neither see the tail, nor see the tiger snarling. Infact, had I known that it was the mother, I would not have moved close to it. If you come between the mother and child, of any species, there are bound to be repercussions. Hence forth, I always take time to ascertain whether I have inadvertently separated a tigress and cubs or elephant from its cubs etc.

 I have seen people shaken up, drop their binocular, camera or whatever they were holding and even have found people who could not sleep for couple of days after an wildlife encounter. This year in Bandhavgarh, in the Rajbehera Grasslands, a tigress mock charged at one of the open jeeps lined up on the road to catch a glimpse of the tigress. The gentleman was cowering under the seat of the gypsy and was screaming that he has died and that the driver should inform his family etc. However, we should remember that these encounters are not only stressful for us, but it is very stressful for the animal as well.

 In such situations, the adrenalin flow increases and some species like deers are known to die. In one of the incidents, in Keoladeo-Ghana bird sanctuary in Bharatpur, the wall had broken and the deers had come out and were grazing in the surrounding fields. This bird sanctuary is small, about 26 acres and concrete walls have been erected to separate it from the surrounding fields. The forest department officials rounded up all the deers, caught them and transported them back to the sanctuary. About forty deers (Axis axis) were reported to have died due to shock.

 I am writing this to say that tiger won’t charge or growl without provocation. Most of the photographers try to incite the tiger to get a growling shot. Please remember that no shot is more important than the welfare of the subject. We should not induce stress on them. And a word of caution as well. These wildlife encounters have the potential to turn fatal very easily.

 Remember, we human beings don’t have any physical defences against a 250-350 kg tiger or a 2 tonne gaur or a 5-6 tonne elephant. A cursory glance at the powerful forearms of a tiger cub will make you realize the power they possess. In one of the incidents in Ranthambhore National Park, a National Geographic photographer though he was seated on an open jeep, had placed his tripod on the road. Two tiger cubs about 10 to 11moths old- inquisitive by nature as they are – came closer to investigate. The photographer could remove the camera and lens from the tripod, just in time to see the cubs start playing with the heavy tripod. In no time, the tripod was twisted like a plastic wire.

 We should understand the behaviour of the species we are photographing. If an animal is going to charge at you, then you can get vital clues and those precious seconds to escape. At times, it can be the difference between life and death. And please understand that you are not only risking your life, but also leading to endangering the life of the animal. If a tiger mauls a reckless person or if a tusker tramples someone, the animal is more likely to be either shot or caught and imprisoned in our zoos for life.

 In one of the incidents, an adolescent tiger in Bandhavgarh National Park had killed a cow. Normally, adolescent tiger after separation from their mother has to establish a territory of its own. To avoid conflict with the established mature tigers, these young tigers are pushed to the periphery and frequently come into conflict with the villagers. In this instant, the tiger killed the cattle and was resting close to it, when a fifteen year old boy while searching for the cattle bumped into the tiger. Obviously, the poor kid was killed. The park authorities then declared the tiger as man-eater and then caught and sent it to Bhopal Zoo. Within four days the tiger was dead.

I hope that this tale would help our fellow photographers to realise the importance of understanding animal behaviour so that they exercise enough caution to avoid wildlife encounters.

• You can send this link to people to educate them about the huge impact of polythene. Ask people to use biodegradable material and adopt safe disposal practices for their trash.
• You can stop using polythene. When you go to the grocery shop, carry your own bags with you. Ask the grocery store not to give you polythene bags.
• You can ask the authorities to set up waste bins and ensure trash regular collection. 
• At the moment few hillstations like Nainital have banned polythene bags. We can campaign to make more and more cities, especially places around our forests, rivers, lakes no polythene zones. 

Spreading this message will help in stopping the ever increasing usage of non biodegradable materials like polythene. Let us all work towards a better tomorrow. I look forward to your comments and actions. Let me know when you take any action. I will highlight it here so that others can get inspired.

Sunabeda Diary: Tales from a Tiger Census

January 2006

 I woke up abruptly, on the incessant barking of the dogs. I fumbled across the bed for my watch; it was five in the morning and about an hour before dawn. The dogs were persistent in their barking. It was not the usual barking that we city dwellers are used to; fear was evident from their voice. I tiptoed out of the bed to open the door. The dog within the forest rest house compound wall was shivering with fear. It was dark outside. We had reached late in the night – as the headlights of our vehicle was not working and we had to use the torch light to illuminate the road and reach the forest rest house – so I didn’t have much idea about the nearby village. To make matters worse, now I couldn’t find the torchlight. I thought it would have been foolhardy to venture out in dark in search of a possible leopard without a faintest idea of the layout of the place. The sound of dogs from several places made me realise that there could be a large human settlement around the forest rest house.

 On sunrise I was shocked to find myself in the midst of a large village with Dish TVs and broccoli cultivation. This was my first visit to the Sunabeda Sanctuary and before the Tiger census could start I must admit that I was pretty disappointed.

 A quick cold bath and breakfast later I was ready. But alas, it was not before eight that the forester arrived, despite assurances to the contrary made the previous night. Later on in the day after my repeated questioning, the truth came to light. I was told that nobody from the forest department wakes up in the morning. And if it is going to be a long day in the jungle, then they will eat their lunch in the morning and start their day. You will realize that they are like scores of other people who are unfortunately in the wrong job, meagerly paid and ill-at-ease with a physically challenging job. The high average age of the staff – some of them are near retirement agae - doesn’t help matters either.

 We drove down to Datunama village - a hamlet consisting of seven huts, about twelve kilometers from Sunabeda, picked up a tribal youth and started our march. This village is inhabited by paharias who are officially categorized as OBC in Orissa, but are recognized as Scheduled Tribe in the neighbouring state of Chhatisgarh. These people heavily depend on the forest produce like bamboo, fish etc. They don’t know the use of fishing nets yet. To catch fish, the paharia’s use mud and the poison extracted from some wild fruits to muddy the small pools. The fish then die due to want of oxygen and float in the surface. The paharia’s then catch these fish and dry them in the sun.

  The paharias also extract honey from honeycombs which are mostly located in the steep cliffs. The paharias climb to the top of the cliff from the other side and then lower themselves using either a vine or a ladder. They use smoke to ward off the honeybees. This results in white patches on the cliffs. A casual observer can easily mistake these signs for Vulture droppings. Unfortunately this kind of disturbance is driving away the vultures from prime nesting sites. Though law prohibits commercial extraction of bamboo products, honey and other forest produce, the paharia’s are doing it unchecked due to lack of effective patrolling, inefficiency and at most of the times by the involvement of the forest staff. There were signs of irreparable damages to the jungle and wildlife wrought upon by the paharias. 

 I had selected a route in the forests criss crossing the Orissa-Chhatisgarh border several times. We crossed several hills, locally known as dongar, scanned the valleys for possible pugmarks. I was very happy when I saw some of the natural water holes created in the hills, ideal place for a tiger to rest in the rock crevices with plenty of water flowing from the perennial streams. The route we had selected was very tough, comprising mostly of game trails. At one point I had to pack my camera in the bag and use all my hands and feet to climb down a steep precipice. We reached a place known as bhima basa by the local paharias. There was a huge waterfall about 56 meters high, which had been reduced to a trickle due to the offseason and the nullah bed was mostly dry.

Walking in the nullah bed was a learning experience as far as the hunting techniques of the paharia’s are concerned. I saw several stones raised and supported by sticks. Immediately Archimedes came to my mind. However, realizing that the paharias are not scientifically inclined I checked with our local guide. I was told that when a mouse deer enters the hole at the bottom of the raised stone, the stick falls and the poor animal is crushed to death.

After walking for several hours on the dry nullah bed, searching for signs of the apex predator, I came across a slight clearing. A small pool had formed in the nullah bed, and human footprints were clearly imprinted in the soft sand. I was really curious to findout what brought someone to this remote corner of the Sunabeda sanctuary, where the jungle is so dense that little light filters through the canopy. On following the footsteps, I found a large area under ganja cultivation (Cannabis sativa indica). The Cannabis plants had already flowered and were just a few days away from harvesting.

Carefull cross-questioning of the locals, forest staff and other people, revealed that the paharias mostly undertake these Ganja or marijuana or Cannabis sativa indica cultivation at the behest of the drug lords. A lot of drug money is now flowing into the Sanctuary. And a lot of extraneous pressure is being applied on the forest officials. There were reports of the people being incited by interested parties against any forest official who resists their evil designs. One of the rangers was manhandled by these people and a false case slapped against him. I sincerely doubt if any individual forest officer can withstand the temptation of money and the muscle power of drug lords.

Those few places, which could have been the last refuge of the Tiger, are being overtaken by the drug mafia. Money power and other evil influences of our so called civilized world have already corrupted the once innocent tribals. We found Dish TVs in most of the villages inside the sanctuary. I was told that pornographic movies are freely available and recently there have been cases of rape. These bitter truths forced me to change the image that I had in my mind of tribals as innocent people. These people who are staying in the sanctuary, having tasted the scent of narcotics money, can easily convince our well meaning tribal welfare activists into believing that people should co-exist with the tiger.

After couple of hours, we came across a hamlet known as Thalipani which is inhabited by a tribe known as Bhunjia. This hamlet is in an encroached area like many others in the sanctuary. There are many NGOs who are working with them to teach them cultivation, handicraft and other skills and unfortunately they work at crosspurposes with the forest department and wildlife. From this village, I came to know that a tiger had roared a day before in the hill “dongar” infront of the village. I was amazed to find that about 4-5 square kilometers area is cleared by this hamlet which houses about seven to eight people. This tale is repeated at every hamlet. Near all these hamlets I found the pugmarks, scats and scratch marks of leopards but not tigers. It is clearly evident that, with increased human activity the Tiger is retreating and the Leopard is taking its place.

When I was on my way to Kanwaldhara waterfall, suddenly I froze in my tracks. It was the unmistakable sound of a gunshot. At that time I was inspecting a three feet wide drag mark going downhill. There were signs of cooking nearby. My worst suspicion that poaching is a reality was confirmed. In the evening while returning to the camp, I saw two spotted deer, grazing on the left side of the road virtually vanish within a blink of an eye. I had never seen a more alarmed cheetal in my life. Upon detailed cross questioning I was told that poaching does take place in the Sanctuary.

With half of the sanctioned posts remaining vacant and the average age of the other half in the late forties, coupled with demotivation due to a variety of reasons including poor salary, I certainly can’t pin all the blame on the forest department. Neither can you absolve them of all sins when you find trees cut down and only the choicest wooden planks taken away and the rest left to rot. Your blood tends to boil when you realize that you are the only one against an entire system. With a heavy heart you lie down to sleep, hoping for a miracle to happen, to see some jungles which is not yet molested by the never ending greed of man – to find some inviolate spaces where the wildlife can roam, dreaming of seeing the early morning rays glistening on the striped coat of God’s most beautiful creation…

The search for the tiger took me to Chaura Dongar and then to Dudhpani plateau. I found scats of sloth bear, scrapping of leopard and hoof marks of herbivores. While searching for wild buffalows I was amazed to find cowdung at an altitude of 812 meteres. I moved in that direction and found a cattle pen constructued by the Gujjars. They had left the area sometime back. The Gujjar’s come from Chattisgarh and leave their cattle to graze in the meadows, benefiting from the lack of patrolling by the forest department. It is difficult for the herbivores to withstand such biotic pressures from the domestic cattle. Furthermore, there are chances of the dreaded foot and mouth disease transmitting from the domestic cattle to the wildanimals. Couple of days later, I crossed the Chattisgarh border and reached a village called Amanara in search of Vultures where about 13 cattle had died and were thrown in the fields. This had attracted the vultures. To my horror I found unmistakable signs of Foot and Mouth disease locally known as phatua.

After crossing the Dudhpani plateau it was time for lunch and we started searching for water to wet the flattened rice “chuda”. The local bhunjia tribals guided us to a nullah and expressed their surprise and dismay when they found it dry. They told me that this ‘kakdi dudhgi’ nullah used to have water throughout the year. Some portions of the nullah bed were still wet and at places monkeys have dug holes in the nullah bed for water. We slowly trudged along the nullah bed on the soft sand for about 3 to 4 kilometers and then saw two langurs digging holes in the sand for water. In forests inhabited by elephants this job of digging holes in the sand for water is done by them. After the elephants have drank and left, other animals converge around these small holes where water have trickled and collected. However, in Sunbeda Sanctuary, since there are no elephants, this job of digging is done by the langurs. I found lots of leopard pugmarks and heribivorous signs in the nullah bed. I had a silent prayer in my lips. If a once perennial nullah can get dry near the place of its origin in the jungle, then definitely the future doesn’t appear to be rosy. With the vanishing tiger our fresh water resources are in danger of drying up.

In the dudhpani plateau, the hard surface made finding signs of animals a very tough task. At one place, I found a very slight mark in uneven hard surface. It was a portion of a hoof mark made when the animal was slightly off balance. The tribals accompanying us told me that it was the mark of a wild buffalow. In the absence of a complete set of hoof marks displaying the typical splayed feet I could not become sure. Since wild buffalows are known to come from the Chattisgarh side to the Sunabeda sanctuary, the local tribals probably are right.

In the Kholibhitar area I was informed of a Sambar kill. As I was getting nearer to the place, the absence of crows and vultures made me edgy. When we finally reached the place I could find no trace of any portions of the kill except for the blood soaked place. We found the intestine at a spot. I immediately knew that we are very close to the feeding place, because the tiger before it starts eating takes out the intestine from the animal and throws it to a distance of about eight to ten feet. There were signs of eating at the bottom of the tree. I was amazed to find out claw marks on the bole of a small tree and the signs of the kill resting on the branch. I started having doubts whether the kill was done by a leopard or a tiger. After a thorough search in the rocky bed of the nullah, I could find the marks of wild dogs etched deep in the banks. It was the sign of a wilddog jumping. I could make out that the tiger had scampered up the tree with the kill. I didn’t have sufficient time to scan the surrounding forests. But I was told by the forest guards that they had thoroughly searched the area and couldn’t find any sign of the kill. It is an open secret that the forest guards and the villagers don’t miss out on a chance to loot choicest portions from a cheetal or sambar killed by a tiger or leopard. So I was sure that they would have searched at least about a kilometer for any signs of the kill. With such kind of pressures, I have grave doubts on the future of the Indian Tiger. Unless and until we take drastic steps, tigers in the wild would soon be history. Its time to bed and to start dreaming again… dreams of people realizing that our rivers will soon die without forests, and forests and other wildlife will survive if the Tiger is protected…that soon people will realise this basic truth and leave the tiger and its habitat unmolested.

A Night in Similipal

If I have to account for my earliest experience with the Tiger, I would have to go back to Similipal National Park in the state of Orissa, India. Recalling the experience, I realise how fortunate I have been to have such an experience in the midst of a carefree, fun filled trip.

It was the month of January 1997. We had finished with our MBA course in Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar. Much to our collective relief, the placements were over, and we were on our way to becoming responsible adults with good jobs. Ours was deemed the best batch of graduates ever by our own professors but the placement session was chilling, to say the least. It was with a sense of relief and new-found independence that we decided to go to Similipal national Park to just chill out. And what a chilling out experience it turned out for us.

We had booked for six of us in Chahala rest house. At the last moment the number went upto seven when Sambit joined us. The forest department rules permitted one driver and one helper to accompany a group of six. So it was decided that we would hire a jeep with a driver and one of us would pose as a helper. We joked that Sambit had to pose as a helper. In the morning when we started from Baripada, Sambit turned up immaculately dressed in a formal shirt, beard carefully shaven with a liberal dose of aftershave sprinkled on his face. We couldn’t stop laughing. Satyaswarup finally volunteered to pose as a helper. He wrapped a red gamuchha (thin hand woven towel) on his head like a daily wage earner with determination writ large on his face.

And the fun had just begun….

The rear right tire of our jeep punctured just as we were entering the forest from the Jashipur side. We discovered then that the driver didn’t have a jack with him. I came forward to help with the tyre change fully expecting the others to chip in by push and tilt to the jeep till the tyre was changed. Satyaswarup, the ‘helper’, had no idea of such technicalities and conveniently hid himself behind a tree. The forest officer was screaming as to why the helper was not around to do his duty.

The fun had just about begun….

Before embarking on our journey, one of the guys had been given charge of stocking up for the duration of our stay inside the Jungle. On reaching Chahala that evening, we started preparation for dinner and for the first time took stock of the provisions that we had for the trip. One kilo of rice, half a kilo of dal (lentils), two dozen eggs, two loaves of bread, half a kilo of onions, few green chillies, six or seven small packets of biscuits and a couple of packets of Haldiram’s bhujia. This was meant to keep seven fully grown men fully fed for 3 days and 2 nights, which was to be our duration of stay at Chahala. Heated arguments followed and there was unanimous decision to leave Chahala the next morning.

And we just could not see any fun in the situation….. (more…)

 I love driving. A broken leg didn’t dim my enthusiasm for driving fast; rather it shifted my preferences from motorbikes to cars. Off late, the Chennai roads and the driving habits of people have somewhat tempered my temptation to drive fast. I have witnessed incidents where cars are smashed beyond recognition. Sad they are, but I had never seen a fatal accident before where the helpless victim was hit while running helter skelter to avoid the speeding vehicles.

I had seen signs near wildlife habitats warning of road kills, but this was the first instance I watched a road kill. And the helpless victim was a mongoose which is as threatened as a tiger and is placed in the Schedule I of the wildlife protection act 1972.

 I was in Bhubaneswar and driving in a busy road. Suddenly, a mongoose appeared through a hole in the wall of a garden. The traffic was less and it tried to cross the road. I braked and pulled to the side of the road to watch it. I was scared that the mongoose might get hit. Unfortunately, when the mongoose had crossed half of the road, a speeding motorcyclist blocked its way. The mongoose got scared and tried to retrace its steps. Alas, precious time had been lost, as the traffic had turned green in the connecting road and all of a sudden there were several cars speeding across in the road. The mongoose tried to duck the cars and move to safety, but luck was not on its side. In a moment’s time, everything was over for the hapless mongoose. I had parked my car and was shooting. That slowed down the traffic a bit, but not enough. Perhaps I should have parked my car in the middle of the road. Cars were just zipping past me and flattening the mongoose over and over again with a few cursory glances at me wondering why I was shooting.

In a few moments, there was a road kill and it went unnoticed for the majority of people. This brings to our mind, an important question. Do any other species have a right to live on this earth?

We have been singularly insensitive to their needs. We have been systematically destroying their habitat. With the explosion of human population, we have been ‘developing’ areas that had been earlier home to several species of birds and animals. Even small tracts of land, can be a home to insects, small birds, and animals like this mongoose. Rather than allow it to live in peace, we have been killing the mongoose to use its hair for paint brush. Brushes made of mongoose hair are supposed to be good for oil paintings. Thousands of mongooses were killed for their hair. The Govt. of India finally woke up and trade of mongoose hair was banned. Hopefully, it will stop the killing.

However, a far greater threat is the habitat destruction. I have seen mongoose in small gardens near my house in urban areas. With our urban areas turning into concrete jungles, these green areas are lost without people even understanding its impact on the various species. I hope we pause for a moment to closely examine our fast depleting wildernesses and the few remaining green tracts in and around our urban areas.

Spotting wildlife

IT MUST HAVE BEEN LUCK !!??

 I have often come across people, who after viewing my photographs or listening to my experiences of seeing the tiger in its true habitat, exclaim that I have been lucky. I believe that if you come across a tiger in a jungle, then you are lucky, but more often than not, you create your own luck i.e., learn to respect the jungle and its inhabitants, and most of all understand Mother Nature.  

Spotting wildlife is becoming increasingly difficult these days, due to the indiscriminate destruction of habitat and poaching of wild animals. In the days of the Raj, when herbivorous animals were in abundance, small patches of forests used to hold large number of carnivores, like the tiger and leopard. Today, even in National Parks, sighting carnivores is difficult and watching a tiger is becoming rare. In such circumstances, your patience and perseverance is tested to the core. I have heard tourists, roaming around in open jeeps in the jungle, complain that they didn’t get to see a single tiger, and the forest doesn’t seem to have tigers etc. The tourists invariably blame their own luck when they hear that some one else had seen a tiger somewhere in the jungle.  

Do we need to attribute our successes and blame our failures in spotting a tiger to lady luck? Or is there something else, beyond luck?  

In India, the forests are mostly dense, unlike Africa where you find vast tracts of grass lands. It is difficult to spot a tiger in such a scenario. Nature has given tiger such a beautiful camouflage, the black stripes help in breaking the outline of the body, and it merges with the fallen leaves and dense foliage very easily.  

Wild animals by nature remain very still when required. With evolution, the human sense of sight, smell and hearing have become very feeble, when compared to wild animals. Tiger has evolved so that it makes very little noise. The tiger has soft pads in its feet, which helps it in walking virtually noiselessly in the jungle. There may be an occasional twig that will crack under the weight of the tiger or a gentle rustle of the leaves when the tiger moves through the bush, but these are very few and too feeble to pick up when you are moving in a jeep. Added to it is the fact that the vehicles often creak and groan in the bumpy jungle roads. To make matters worse, most of us city dwellers have a tendency to engage in incessant chatter inside the jungle.  

I have often been amused, and irritated by the proclivity of people to talk loudly when they are in a jungle. I wonder whether the cause is their irrational fear of the animals, which stems from the stories of the so called ‘blood-curdling beasts’ of the jungle, or some other reason. The bright attire with liberal dose of perfumes, deodorants etc ensures that animals sense human presence much before the tourists senses the presence of the animal, and as a consequence either completely disappear or maintain respectable distance from us.  

In some of the National Parks like Ranthambhore National Park, tourists are allowed entry in a bus called ‘Canter’. These Canters, with tourists, who most often don’t understand that there is a difference between Zoo and a National Park, often disregard the requests of the driver and guide to maintain silence. It is futile to expect such a group of people to remain silent for a long time. No wonder, that these tourists most of the times fail to sight the tiger.  

In the jungle, the best way to track the tiger or other carnivores is to understand the language of denizens of the jungle and read the tell-tale signs that are there. A few basic rules, if followed precisely, could go a long way in sighting the animals:  

1) The footprints of animals can be found imprinted in the soft sand, mud etc. A sure sign that the animal has crossed this area. A keen eye, a little bit of knowledge about the jungle, and above all, real love for nature can help in predicting the time of the imprint. One can also gauge the relative speed at which the animal had been walking during that time. Knowledgeable jungle folk can predict the next movements of the animal based on experience.  

2) A number of animals and birds give an alarm call when they see or smell a carnivore. Following the alarm calls of deer, sambar, muntjac, monkeys and birds like drongo and Indian Cuckoo, one can tell the position of the tiger. If you are able to interpret these calls, then you would understand what the tiger is doing and then plan your move accordingly.  

Once, early in the morning, in Corbett National Park, several summers ago, I saw a solitary red-headed vulture, sitting on a tree near a stream. I asked my driver to park the vehicle and wait. The driver doubted whether there was a tiger near by. The presence of a vulture, which was looking down intently, made me sure that it was an indication of the presence of a kill and the possible presence of a carnivore. 

We were in an open jeep, the summer sun beating down on us, the intensity of the heat increasing every moment, sweat slowly trickling down our collars and flies bothering us, making the wait unbearable, and to the uninitiated, probably quite futile.  I knew for sure, that if there was a tiger hiding in the foliage, it would, sooner or later, come out or at least make a movement betraying its presence. Normally flies bother the tiger and it moves or shifts its position to ward of the nuisance of the flies. Suddenly, I could see the tip of the tail of the tiger as it shifted its position. My assessment proved to be correct, that the tiger had killed some animal and was resting there guarding its kill after a heavy meal.  

The tiger drinks water at regular intervals after a heavy meal. In the summer, the tiger also loves to cool off in water. So I knew sooner or later the tiger will definitely come out. We were on the banks of the Ramganga River and the April heat had dried the river considerable, leaving small ponds as watering holes scattered all over the place. Several tourist vehicles passed us, each enquiring about the reason behind our stoppage - some of them waited for a brief moment before deciding to move ahead. A couple of these tourist vehicles when they discovered that we have been waiting for a long time, cynically commented whether they would order lunch to be sent for us.  

The minutes dragged by, stretching into hours, till finally, after more than three hours the tiger decided to get up. The intense heat made the wait seem far longer, except for the fact that I had checked my watch.  The tiger got up from the bush behind the nullah and walked about fifty yards to enter a pool of water. The bulging stomach of the tiger and blood on the face and leisurely walk to the pool suggested a heavy meal.

Had I not read the tell-tale signs of the tigers presence -the  king vulture, the  two crows on branches of a tree, an approaching peacock suddenly getting alarmed and taking to flight near the tree - I would not have spent three hours waiting for the tiger and definitely would have missed him when he came out and entered the pool. 

Watching wildlife has more to do with reading the signs of the jungle and perseverance and to a lesser degree on luck. You must remember that though you are in the jungle to watch the tiger, actually you are the one who is watched. The elusive king of the jungle will only make an appearance at its own sweet will. So watching a tiger in the Jungle is an extremely fortunate occasion. However, you can increase your chances of sighting the majestic tiger if you make an effort to interpret the signs and language of nature and persevere in your efforts.