People and wildlife of Eastern Himalaya_My journey to some remote village_Batasia

[Samrat Sarkar]

We had our lunch at Meghma with Veg Thukpa, Yogurt and Tea. The road coming down from Meghma to Batasia is ideal for watching birds. It requires a trekking of about two hours. it will take much more time if you stop at places to watch birds and take their photos.

At night we were informed that permission to stay at the forest bungalow at night were unavailable due to some unknown reasons. My moods were down as I received the information. I decided that I will explore the Batasia village minutely and would take some close shots of the Red Crossbills at noon when they come ti drink water near the reservoir.

I was awakened early in the morning by the calls of the Barking Deer. Mohan was making a haste to go down the road in the forest, as the deer had gone to that direction. I had my breakfast quickly an moved towards east in the deep forest. A little distance ahead was the Batasia Beat office. I became acquainted with the Beat Officer. He was about to go out for a patrolling. He informed us that there are three beat areas in the Tonglu range. They are Maneybhanjan Beat, Reling Beat and the Batasia Beat. The area of Batasia beat is 581 Hectares and is 2269 metres above MSL on an average. It has an extraordinary bio-diversity. The main and important trees of this range are Guras, Dhupi, Chap, Tite Chap, Fusre Chap, Salla or Pine, Kotrus, Pipli, Mohua, Chilowni etc. A lot of trees with medicinal properties are available here. Among those are Chirata, Jinsang, Nagbeli, Mojito, Aratichur, Pakhanbet are the important ones. And among the mammals are Barking Deers, Rabbits and, though in small numbers, some leopards are seen in this region. The local people are very sociable. You cannot leave someone`s house here without having tea and biscuits from them. I requested them for a group photo for which they gladly gave their consent.

At the extreme left it is Mohan and second one from right side the Beat officer