Rongmuk: Where small wilds live in a tea garden

[Samrat Sarkar]

Starting from this Balasun River upto Sonada extends the area of the Rongmuk Tea Estate. Rongmuk Tea Estate is a heaven for the insects. Previously I heard that a lot of insecticides are sprayed on the tea plants. But during my four days’ trip here I have never seen that being done. What I have seen is the safe world of the insects in the rain washed tea plants. The tea gardens are usually good places for observing various birds and insects. In some tea gardens leopards prefer to hide themselves for some possible ambush. The narrow trenches for passing of rainwater or the recesses of the tea plants are very appropriate places for the leopards to wait in hiding for their preys to come. In many tea gardens of the North Bengal the leopards are frequently heard of attacking domestic animals. But there is no evidence of that type of incidence in this tea garden. But The presence of so many colourful insects here has pleasantly surprised me to a large extent. Although, to speak the truth the tea gardens are in no way natural habitats created spontaneously; they are artificially created by the humans for business purposes only and which slowly and gradually have become house to an outstanding biodiversity. The butterflies and the moths lay their eggs on the leaves of the shade trees, if not directly on the tea leaves.