Brahmaputra’s Kaziranga

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Awesome Assam

Brahmaputra’s Kaziranga

Wildlife doesn’t necessarily be seen only in forest ecosystems. Different pants and animals are adapted to different habitat such as fresh as well as marine water, marshy lands, grasslands, alpines etc. Each habitat has its own beauty. We Indians are really very lucky to have almost all types of ecosystems in country and it is surely one of the many reasons why we should be proud of her. She has plenty of rivers - some huge some small but, they all support great number of biodiversity. Brahmaputra is one of the massive rivers that our country has.

We decided to experience this different habitat in the month of March, 2016. Although many people prefer taking a flight to Guwahati and continue from there by road but, to save cost one can take a train to Guwahati and continue the further journey by road.  We decided to take the second option. It was 58.5 hrs train journey (two nights) from Mumbai. The train passes through the varied and interesting landscapes of country. We reached third day morning to Kamakhya. Kaziranga is about 210kms away from this station. One of the three and half ‘shaktipithas’ (places of Goddess Shakti) - The Kamakhya temple is on the way to Kairanga.

We reached Kaziranga in the afternoon. Our hotel was near central gate of the national park. There are five zones of the park. We booked our stay near central gate and did five safaris from 3 gates – the central, eastern and western. We had one elephant ride, three jeep rides and one boat ride in the national park.

Kaziranga is located near Karbi Anlong Mountains/hills and also listed in UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites. It won’t be totally wrong if one says that Kaziranga has got its landscape from the river Brahmaputra. It holds ecosystems such as grasslands, forests, lakes etc. The area gets its fertile soil from this river. There is a particular species of grass called as Elephant grass grows here and it is a favourite food of one of majestic animals – the Greater One Horned Rhinoceros. Elephants, Swamp deers and hog deers are some of the few commonly seen animals here. Earlier, India was home to all the three species of Asian Rhinoceros – Javan, Sumatran and Greater one horned. Now only one species is surviving here that too comes under ‘endangered’ category of ‘IUCN’s Red Data List’. Rhinoceros are majestic creatures. When I first saw them I just kept on looking and forgot that I was carrying a camera. But, I was satisfied as I could admire the animal very well. Its skin folds across its flanks and tubercles give it look of armour-plated body. The horn that they have is actually a thick hair. It grows throughout the life and can be regrown if broken. It is considered to have medicinal properties. That is a reason why they are poached and it is a reason behind them getting endangered. As a habit they follow regular paths and defecated as the same place creating piles of dung. This makes it easy for poachers to find out their location and hunt them down. We also saw a mother and baby (one month old) while we were having an elephant ride. The baby gave us demonstration of how perfectly his mother was teaching him to grow. One of the safari elephant went too close to mom-kid pair. Immediately the kid took an attacking position, warned the elephant to keep the distance and managed to shoo him away.

Elephant sighting was another remarkable moment. When we first saw, it was only one male elephant with tusks and it looked disturbed. We thought it might be because of us and we kept a very safe distance from him. But, we were wrong as immediately we saw a group of another four elephants that were trying to shoo him away from them. That group had two females, one immature female and one Makhna (male with no tusks). We still kept a safe distance as none of them looked in good mood. We observed them nicely for about 5-10 minutes. If you are wondering how come earlier we missed the group of four elephants? Then the answer is the grass here grows really tall. Elephants can easily get hidden in this grass. Only tops can be seen.

If you have plenty of time in hand then a visit to Hoollongapar Gibbon Sanctuary or Hoolock Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary – an area created conserve the only Ape species found in India the Hoolok Gibbon. The very distinct difference between other primates and apes is the lack of tail in apes. Apes can walk on the hind limbs for a considerable distance. It takes 3 hrs to reach there from Kaziranga. It has dominance of Hollong trees (Dipterocarpus macrocarpus) hence the name Hollongapar. Hoolock Gibbons got theier name from regular calls they make that sound like ‘Hoos’.  If you here their ‘hoo’s ‘ then you will remember it for ever. The protected area of the sanctuary is currently surrounded with tea plantations but it was once the patch of huge forest that continued till Nagaland. So, one can imagine the kind and intensity of the pressure on the forest and the life within it. We got to see many primates as well like – stumped tailed macaques, northern pig tailed macaques, eastern Assamese macaques, rhesus macaques and capped langurs. We saw one family and one more adult pair. The males have black fir whereas females are brown. The white eyebrows of males are very distinct. Observing hoolocks is a great experience. They hold and hang to a smallest twig with such an ease as we walk in gardens. This place is also good sight to good number butterflies that one can find in North-East part of India. The Variety of arboreal ferns such as bird nest fern is remarkable too. We were supposed to stay here for 2 hrs. However we spent about 5 hrs in roaming here and observing the diversity. It is advisable to keep the entire day free for this sanctuary. After this we returned to Kaziranga in the evening.

One should not miss the chance to experience the vastness of River Brahmaputra. She appeared almost like a sea to me. There is also a chance of freshwater dolphin sighting. Apart from these the water birds like herons, egrets, adjutant storks, openbill storks are seen in plenty. We also saw Great Hornbill. It nests there. We had initially planned for only three rides but after looking at this place decided to have two more jeep rides and we are really glad that we did it.

We visited orchid gardens before we left for Nameri. Orchid garden is another nice place to visit. But please keep about 2 hrs in hand to see this place properly. Nameri is located at about 5 hrs drive from Kaziranga. Nameri is another beautiful place. It has a really good forest that holds good amount of biodiversity. People come here for observing birds and butterflies. We reached here little late and it was a cloudy day so we decided to visit the nameri village. It was worth having a stroll in the village. The houses are built in unique. There is a different kind of satisfaction and calmness I have always observed in any village that I have been. I am not saying that villagers don’t have problems but there is still one can get peace here. After enjoying evening stroll, we came back. Our stay was in tourism department approved hotels at kaziranga (namdang house) as well as here in Nameri. The food that we got at both these places was too good. 

Next day we went to Pakke tiger reserve which is in ‘Land of the rising sun’ – the state of Arunachal Pradesh. It was decided to visit here as it is very close to Assam and all other sanctuaries in Arunachal Pradesh are far away from this. So the best way to visit here is through Assam. If you are not staying overnight in Pakke then it is advisable to carry packed breakfast and leave early in the morning for Pakke. There won’t be any shop open at that time. We started at 4.30 in the morning and reached Arunachal border by 7am. After some time we had breakfast the we carried with us and had chai at local tea stall. Surprisingly here too no one was in hurry. Even women from villages were having their morning tea from the same tea stall. People are very friendly here. All of them have a sweet smile on their faces. Pakke has few villages nearby and really good and thick forest. We did birding for some time and decided to return as we had booked for river ride in Nameri. We had our lunch at a local lunch home. It was Rs. 40/- for a full-fledged thali. River ride on raft was another fun. We saw many raptors and water birds on the riverbanks. Next day early morning we left for Guwahati airport. We wanted to save on time so we opted for flight. On the way we halted to see birds at Pobitara Sanctuary. One must keep about two hours extra to enjoy birding here. We too enjoyed a lot and did some bamboo baskets shopping at the roadside shops on the way. Overall it was a memorable trip. Looking forward to make another visit to Assam as six days are not enough.

A Walk in the Woods

Radhanagari & Dajipur - Originally this article was published on Ghumr.com. To read this article with photogrphs please click on following link
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Radhanagari, Dajipur Wildlife Sanctuary

Sometimes I wonder how beautiful our country is! She holds treasure in terms of variety of languages, cultures and of when it comes to biodiversity; she is stands in top ten in the World.  I have a dream to visit and re-visit the maximum of its wonderful places. Especially those ones that are well known for their biodiversity, culture etc. Luckily through my profession I get to visit such places. Through nature camps it the world of various plants and animal opens in front of us. Then it is up to us, how much energy/knowledge to absorb from this. We (me and my friend along with campers) go for nature outings to various places. One of such outings was the Dajipur and Radhanagari wildlife sanctuary. It is located in Kolhapur district of western Maharashtra region. The area of this sanctuary is about 351.16 sq kms. Generally, people approach this place from Kolhapur. But, we thought it will be great if we could cover both the coasts and forests of Western Ghats. Hence, we decided to visit this from Kankavli, Sindhudurga of Maharashtra state. Tasting Konkani food and exploring Konkan region were amongst the other intensions behind choosing this route.

The Western Ghats of India are blessed with natural beauty. Its rich species diversity adds up to it beauty. It covers western coastline of states – Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Kerala. It is home to about four thousand species of plants and thousands of faunal species including 325 globally threatened species (as per IUCN). Unfortunately , due to so called ‘development/progress’ Western Ghats (WG) is losing its species diversity and ultimately the forests and clean coastlines. Due to this the natural wealth is under threat and the WG is also listed in the 25 World Bio-diversity hotspots. However, some regions still hold rich flora and fauna. 

A new tiger reserve has been declared in Maharashra – Sahyadri Tiger Reserve. Dajipur and Radhanagari are part of it. (Sahyadri mountain ranges run parallel to the western coast; start from Nasik and merge in to the Nilgiri ranges of Tamilnadu). One requires a prior permission from The Kolhapur Forest Department of Maharashtra. It is famous for Indian Gaur (this animal is by mistake sometimes referred as ‘bisons’ that are not found in India). The other species diversity is worth watching too.

We reached to Kankavli in the morning and after sometime we went to Mithbav – a creek nearby.  The site was suggested by one of the Sr. Scientists in SACON, Tamil Nadu (Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History). His students showed us the project site and gave information about their work. Then we went for a nature walk with him. Fishermen were busy with their fishing boats ready to catch the day’s fish. It had a small patch of mangrove. Good number of waders and other land birds were seen even though it was June – the onset of monsoon. We spent lot of time in looking and clicking the fiddler crabs – well adapted species for mangrove ecosystem. It was wonderful to observe them. The male of this species has two claws (like other species) but one of the in far bigger than another. The function of this claw is to attract female. It does that by waving their bigger claw. After having a good walk and clicking pictures we realized that we all were hungry. Our driver Mr. _____ was a local person from kankavli and he knew the about place where one can get the home cooked food. After having a good meal, we headed towards another Dhamapur bird sanctuary. There was an old temple and next to it was a huge lake. We just sat upon the staircases on the bank and searched for birds. Common kingfisher, a pair of marsh-hawk gave us a chance to have a look at them for a very long time. We still had some time in hand so we went to Kunkeshwar temple situated right next to the sea. The waves was breath taking. Roaring of sea really takes charge of one’s soul. While returning, it was getting dark. And we got to see a pair of quails making their way near road or probably trying to cross the road. They hid behind the bushes and we did not disturb them. If somebody else had seen those then, there was chance of these quails getting killed by villagers/ truck drivers as quail meat tastes good. By this time Mr. _______ got used to us and he used to stop the vehicle as soon as he spots any bird while driving.

Next day was a day for Radhanagari and Dajipur. On the way we halted at many places to see various trees like oroxylum indicum (Tetu), Erythrina indica (Indian coral tree) and birds like the commonly found in konkan – Malabar pied hornbill, Kestrels, parakeets etc. Radhanagari forest department provided us a guide for nature walk inside the forest. He explained us the forest and its species. Radhanagari is a catchment area of Shahu Sagar and Laxmi sagar. The forest has three types: Southern semi evergreen, Southern Moist deciduous forest and Southern evergreen forest. Since it was first week of June (not a peek season), there were no tourists at all inside the sanctuary.  So, it was only us and the forest. We clicked many insects, birds, plants… simply trying to absorb the forest as much as we could and linking ourselves with it. There was small house of a farmer and both of children were very pretty and curious about us. They offered us some water. Elderly people had a quick chat with us as they were really busy in plaughing their rice fields.

Last day we decided to visit costal side starting with Sindhudurga fort. On the way we spotted a brahminy kite sitting on a coconut palm. It appeared as if it was sitting in peace. I don’t know from when it was sitting but we spent around half an hour in clicking it and it did not move. Ultimately we had to move as there were few other destinations we wanted wo visit. When we reached the fort, iIt was closed due to wave actions and it was declared as dangerous to enter in that water. SO, we went on exploring places like Kudal, vengurla etc. We came across a very interesting well. That was built in Chhatrapati Shivaji’s time for Horses. It was step well. A gigantic ficus tree was standing next to the well. We also got one nice birding spot on the way. It was full with waterlilies and other reeds. Reeds provide nice shelter and feeding area for water birds. There were coots, Purple moorhens, bronze winged jacanas, brahminy ducks, grey herons and few dabchicks. After spending about an hour here , we decided to move and catch the train.

This visit had really given us a lot in terms of peace, calm mind, energy, natural beauty, sightings, understanding people and their well adapted life styles and off course a very good food. I really wonder when people say I finished Konkan sightseeing in three days where as we could not finish even a 1/10^th of it in three days. To understand any place properly one should sufficient time to observe its people, their lifestyles, geography, climate, nature and biodiversity basically everything. And try to relate them with each other after. After doing you may realize that nature rules upon us really.

Thanks for reading.

The Emerald - Panna National Park, Madhya Pradesh

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The Emerald

Gemstones are one of those things that have been fascinating human beings from ancient time. They are kind of extracted from earth through in mines and there are different types of gems exist. One of them is The Emerald. India has Panna (local name for Emerald) mines in Madhya Pradesh. The place is named after the same – Panna. Earlier, tourists were allowed to have a look at limited part of the mines but, later due to some reason it was banned for tourists. Still we visited Panna because our interest was in looking for real gemstones - the forest and its biodiversity is not less than any gemstone for us and Panna National Park has plenty of them to offer. Wildlife enthusiasts visit Madhya Pradesh (MP) for its natural wildlife and forest landscapes. The state of MP has some of world renowned National Parks – Kanha, Pench, Bandhavgarh. Luckily, as compared to these national parks Panna is not crowed with tourists – another reason why we chose it. We went there in the month of May. During summer the occurrence of ground vegetation is very less due to which the visibility increases and so does locating the animal becomes easy. Hence it’s preferred to go there in such months. However, the temperature is extremely hot and the air is very dry during this time of the year. If one has problem with the heat then it is advised to go there in winters that is from November to February.

We reached Satna railway station and from there proceeded to Panna in hired vehicle. We passed through nice agricultural fields, hillocks and some forest patches. Ultimately, we reached our hotel at night; had tasty dinner and went to sleep. Next day was the early morning safari inside the permitted area of forest (generally the buffer zone of any national park or sanctuary). As a government rule for protection of wildlife, nobody is allowed to stay overnight inside the National Parks boundary hence all hotels and lodges are outside the protected area but, nearby forest entry gates.

Finally, there were we out for a safari ride in Panna. As we entered we saw herds of spotted deer being shy and alert animals, they started running away. Another deer species we could see were Sambars; they don’t roam in larger groups. Sambar deer is listed in ‘Vulnerable’ category of IUCN red data list and is also a favorite food of Tiger – the top most predator of this forest. We clicked some pictures of Langurs while they were busy in daily routines such as cleaning each other’s fir, jumping here and there. Since it is a protected area, no one is allowed to get down of the vehicle. These vehicles are open safari jeeps. One has to arrange its own vehicle and it is compulsory to have a forest guide per jeep. They are well aware about the biodiversity of the area and are trained to explain it to the tourists.

We had five rides in the park and every time some or the other new species was added in our list of sightings. Some of the mammal sightings include Wild dogs (Dholes), Jackals, Indian Gaurs and Nilgai etc. Nilgai are largest antelopes of India and are easily differentiable from Sambar deer with the hair-like structures on the middle part of the throat. Nilgais being antelopes have permanent horns where as Sambar being deer has antlers and shade them almost every year.  We were told that out of these The Wild dogs are one of the rare sightings. We saw lot of forest birds too. It including Paradise fly catcher and Savanah nightjar. Observing them is a treat to the eyes. The adult male of paradise flycatcher has absolute white feathers except at the head region they are black. It is rightly called as Dudhraj in Hindi (Milk-king). It is also a State bird of Madhya Pradesh. Savanah nightjar being a nightjar is a master of

camouflage. It sits firm to the ground. One may feel as if it is part of stone it is sitting upon. A very good eyesight and observation is needed to spot it. We were lucky to have a forest guide who was able to do so. There is Vulture census that occurs every year in the National Park. It has about 2-3 species of vultures.

Rive Ken add up to the beauty of Panna National Park. Every time we stopped our jeep, I admired the landscape. Being situated in Vindhya mountain range it offers a spectacular view. There is a confluence of Teak forest (from Southern part of the Country) and Anoigessus spp forest (from western side of the country) and they blend perfectly here in Panna. I considered myself lucky to actually witness the beauty of Panna. There was another reason why we all were lucky. ‘Vatsala’ the oldest female elephant lives in Elephant camp of Panna National Park and we got to see her. We also saw her great grandson (yet to be named). Vatsala is about 96 years old and manages to roam around the forest with other trained elephants.

It was during the last safari that we saw a Leopard. First we saw the single leopard and after some time two cubs. I was amazed to see the size of first one – the adult male leopard. It was quite big as compared to regular leopards. The reason was cleared later. Panna had good numbers of tigers before. Later due to some un-natural reasons (hunting, poaching and habitat loss) there was not a single tiger left in the forest. So, ultimately the second top-most predator (leopard in this case) became the top one and it had good amount of food and ample of space to live. It proliferated and became really very healthy. In recent years (since 2009) there was big project carried out of re-introducing tigers to Panna. Now Panna National Park has good number of tigers. With the area of 1645.08 sq kms Panna provides ideal shelter to Tigers and ultimately the entire ecosystem. The adult male tiger requires area of appx 200 sq km as its territory. The Panna NP so far has 3 adult males. The total number of tigers reaches to 20-30 so far including adult males, females and cubs and they have fare size of area to live within. Since the area is vast they can roam around anywhere and the chance of sighting them becomes less. I was happy not to see the tiger as I knew somewhere they are leaving the way they want without any ‘Clicks-clicks’ of cameras and many jeeps running behind them to take a best picture shot. Perhaps this is the reason why people visit less here as compared to National Parks nearby. But, it will not be same scene after few years. As the number of tiger increases, the chance of sighting those increases and it increases the number of visitors. Too much of tourism in such area is harmful too. It puts pressure on nearby ecosystem. If every visitor follows the rule of forests safari and respects nature then the harm will be much less.

It was the time to leave Panna. We left it with happy minds, visited Khajuraho group of temples nearby and headed for railway station. I have been to Madhya Pradesh lot of time before and every time I have noticed the trains are always late! This time is was late by 10 entire hours!! It was only because we had spent last 4 days in Panna National Park with nice forested / natural surroundings; we managed to hold our patience and returned back to Mumbai.

Gulf of Khambhat - Abode of birds and stones!

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Gulf of Khambhat - Abode of birds and stones!

Agates, Blackbucks through Saras!!

It was December, 2015. We were nearing to the year end and packing our bags for a nature camp to Khambhat and Velavdar. Both the places have unique identity and both are located in Gujarat. Khambhat is known for Agates business and Velavadar has a Blackbuck National Park.

Vadodara is the nearest station for Khambhat. We reached there in the morning after having a cup of tea at the tea stall nearby station and waited for bus. Finally the bus came. Here we saw a strange thing; the last seat of the bus was removed and there was a broad bed fixed in-place of the seats. I guess at least four people could seat there and play cards or have a chit chat session. When we enquired to the driver it was said that this is a common practice and this way we can accommodate more people than regular seats. However, it was strange and not acceptable for us as we require proper seats. So, after a lot of struggle and arguments for the entire day we made the vehicle agent to change our bus and provide us the proper vehicle.

On our way to Khambhat from Vadodara station we got to see some birds like Francolins, Rose-ringed Parakeets, Egrets, Herons etc along with an Antelope – the Neelgai. This patch is very rich agriculture. One can see tobacco farms everywhere while driving on this road. Since we started from station early morning and only had a cup of tea before leaving the station, we all were eagerly looking for some food joints. The breakfast of Papdas, Gathiya and Bhajiyas is the peculiarity of this region. Every local food joints will serve you same things and it is tasty.

We reached khambhat in about 3hrs from Vadodara. It was earlier known as Cambay. This place attracts marine scientists, historians, archeologists and geology experts as well.   Khambhat receives local tourist flow but, very less tourists actually stay within Khambhat. If you are interested in architectural designs then Khambat can make you happy to certain extent. One can see a combination of Gothic and Islamic architectures in some of the old monuments and buildings of the town. Tourists come here for Agates. This city is the largest seller of agates. Scientists have ‘excavated’ remains of ancient Indian civilization deep down inside the sea in Gulf of Khambhat. This area is of historical and geographical interest. Tidal fauna (crab, molluscs etc.) here attracts the scientists. Tourists cannot go that deep to learn ancient civilization but, if you are interested in archeology then, Lothal is the must place to visit. Which is at about 2hrs dive from Khambhat.

What brought us here was tremendous variety of birds – migratory, local, water and land – all sorts of birds that one can see nearby khambhat. One can visit Dhuwaran sea/creek shore near thermal power plant.  On the banks of Mahi River. The Pariej is another place reserved for bird.  It is water logged area. There is a watch tower and observe many wetland species of birds such as painted storks, cormorants, herons, dabchicks, lapwings, stilts etc. Just about few meters ahead there is a water body where we saw lots of Dalmatian pelicans, Painted storks, Northern shovelers, Pied avocets, Brahminy ducks etc.

Next day was for Lothal. We have been looking pictures of this ancient Indus Valley Civilisation (Harappan civilization) site in our school textbooks. It was time to actually see them on the site. Our guide Mrs. Swati Pancholi explained us details of each and every thing present in the museum as well as on the site. Lothal in local language means ‘City of Dead’. However, when we learnt about the those people and their lifestyle, the architecture, the trade sense and perfect use of natural resources available , I thought that they still live in time with their tremendous knowledge and we – the modern people have a dead mind. It will take a really lot of time for us to actually understand their intelligence.

Since this drive too has lots of birding opportunities as there are wetland/ponds made by Mahi River. Normal drive takes 3hrs but, people with birding in mind, we decided to start early-a little before sunrise. The road was a treat to eyes. Openbill storks, Pelicans, Paited storks, woolynacked storks, shovellers and many more water birds made our morning a really memorable one. The sighting of Saras cranes in the fields was something amaizing. These huge birds have specific diets and they pair for lifetime. Due to construction on agricultural lands, wetlands there is a question mark on their survival. On our way back from lothal we saw a family of Saras crane – two immatures guarded by their parents with adult male walking in front and adult female behind.

We headed for velavadar next day. On the way decided to visit the largest protected area for birds- The Nal Sarovar bird sanctuary. There was a huge crowd and we were part of it. Forest guides and boats (private boats but government approved) are available here to take you inside and give information. One irritating and absolute unscientific thing we saw there was – ‘feeding birds’. There were venders selling ‘Gathiyas’-a local snack and it is not for your consumptions. Tourists offer them to birds and lots of Gulls get attracted towards the boats. We off-course didn’t buy any such stuff and informed the guide about how bad this habit is to the birds. Sometimes I feel that a day should come when these birds feed us with their food – raw dead lizards, insects, fishes etc. The correct way to conserve them is to protect their habitat instead of giving them wrong as well as readymade food.

After finishing our Nal-safari we continued our journey to the Blackbuck National Park’ in Velavadar. Blackbuks are antelopes. Male is dark black fir and female has brown fir. This place is also a largest roosting site for Harriers. Even foxes and jackals can be seen here. We were lucky to see them. There created another question in mind about the survival of these ones as well. There were property boards displayed near-by the sanctuary. Blackbucks require an open grasslands to survive and the area allotted for their protection is just about 38.08sq kms!! There was no doubt that we had lot of sightings in this regions of birds of prey-Shikra, falcons, harriers, eagles, mammals –blackbucks, Neelgais, Foxes, Wolfs, Wild boars etc. but, it is necessary to control the rapid urbanization that this place is going to face in near future. Unfortunately, wastelands and grasslands are treated as wastelands and are given to builders but these habitats are crucial for the survival of such open land flora and fauna and ultimately for our survival too.

Bhavnagar is the nearest station to the Velavadar so we headed towards it to catch our train. The drive goes through amaizing landscape. The sea is about 30kms away and on every full moon day and No moon day the high tide reaches till here and leaves wonderful landscape and biodiversity. We visited Bhavnagar palace. It came as a nice surprise that there are paintings of birds put-up on walls of this palace. O the trip that started with birds ended with birds too. And we were really happy.