Chhattisgarh

This article was initially published on Ghumr.com . To read article with photographs please click on the following link
http://www.ghumr.com/chhattisgarh-bastar-sirpur/

Dakshin Kaushal – Full of Surprises - Chhattisgarh

There are many reasons for us – Indians to feel proud upon our country. Some of them are her natural beauty, her culture and heritage. Due to her varied landscapes and climatic zones variety of cultures nurtured and flourished here. All were (some are still) sustainable and designed according to the surrounding landscapes and biodiversity.  Talking about cultures and sustainable lifestyle some of our tribal friends are really doing a great job.

The State of Chhattisgarh, India is an excellent combination of tribal, rural and modern lifestyles. We (our venture OikoEssence along with our participants) have been planning to visit this state from past several years but, it kept on postponing due to several reasons. Ultimately got to visit this state in last year. It was a nature camp to Achanakmar Tiger Reserve. Since it was far a very short duration we couldn’t spend much time in exploring other destinations so there was a need to explore it little more.

I will slowly take you to the wonderful journey that I had in Chhattisgarh.

We reached Raipur station at 5pm in the evening which was supposed to reach at 4pm J (all that I can say is the reputation of Indian railways remained undisturbed). Our first stop was at Gariaband. It is at about hours’ drive from Raipur. We had dinner on the way at Aman dhaba as per the suggestion of Mr. Javed Memon – owner of The City Regency Hotel, Gariaband. He and his team were very helpful and offered us absolutely comfortable and hassle free stay at the hotel. The rooms here are clean, big and comfortable. Next day we started at around 7am. Our plan was to reach Jagdalpur via sitanadi & udanti wildlife sanctuary. This sanctuary plays a crucial role in saving Wild water buffalo (Bubalus arnee) which is listed in IUCN red data of species as an endangered. (more readings : http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/3129/0).  This species has fall prey to the habitat fragmentation and seen in few places in India and less than 4000 individuals are considered to be surviving throughout the world. Which is a real worry when it comes down to the population of an herbivore (that are supposed to present in large number in food chain). Well, we could not see the water buffalo anywhere during our ride through their forest but, we enjoyed it very much and continued our journey to the destination – Bastar. We reached here in the evening.

Bastar is a very important social , commercial and cultural place in Chhattisgarh. It is considered as an original place of Tribal culture in India. One must visit to its anthropological museum to get an idea of how rich their culture is. The way they use/used surrounding flora and fauna for food, shelter, and clothing as well as their fishing nets, agricultural equipment, kitchen utensils and musical instruments is simply amazing. Yet, not disturbing forest on large scale. Their lifestyle is so simple and so close to nature! Another important destination to visit is Kutumsar caves. These are excellent examples of stalactite, stalagmite and column formations of lime stone. Although the column formation of limestone can be seen in various places but it takes hundreds of thousand years to attend a considerable diameter. The columns of Kutumsar caves are very broad. This indicates the ancientness of this cave and forest in which it is situated. We saw a crested serpent eagle sitting leisuly on the tree branch and we spent good amount of time in photographing it. While doing that we saw a giant squirrel as well. The guides there were watching us with the curiosity as we were the only group actually looking and admiring these forest components. The guides although trained by forest department don’t come across tourists that are interested in forest. They are used to “general touristy” crowd. All the national parks and sanctuaries are less visited by the ‘wildlifers” as these are almost devoid of their favourite characters – ‘Tigers’. One has to hire an open gypsy for forest department as the road goes through Kangerghati National park. We saw few birds while going to the cave but, couldn’t spend much time in birding as the driver had to take his jeep back to the main gate to collect more visitors. On our way, he mentioned that this was under ‘naxal’ influence few years back but, now completely out of danger due lots of efforts taken by the Government. There is a waterfall nearby which is a famous tourist destination – Tirathgarh waterfall. Another famous fall is Chitrakote.

Bastar was one of 36 princely state of the state. The name Chhattisgarh itself is derived from 36 garh (kingdoms). Bastar too has an interesting origin. It is believed that when first king was planning establish his kingdom, he worshiped a goddess. The goddess was delighted by his prayers and offered him a piece of cloth which was tied at very high level from the ground. She mentioned that that entire land will be yours from where you will see this ‘Cloth’ – ‘Vastra or Bastra’. Hence name ‘Bastra’ which later became Bastar. Well, this is all what I understood from the guide who accompanied us in barsur- a heritage place which we covered while travelling to Kanker from ‘Bastar’. Basrur is located at 75kms from Jagdalpur. It is a smaal sleepy village and happened to be throwm of power during the tenure of Gangavanshi rulers in as early as 840AD. Barsur is situated on the banks of Indravati River and known as city of temples & ponds. It is believed that it had 147 temples and equal number of ponds in those glorious days. Although Barsur has lost all its glory but, still it four temples – one that has two interesting, huge Ganesh Idols carved in single stone. There are three more temples here Mama-bhanja, Chandraditya & Battisa. Both are less decorative but interesting. Battisa has thirty pillars (battis) and two shivlings inside. These two were established by two queens of King – Banasur. All these temples are from 6^th century. All these temples are ruined and have simple carvings. Only Mama-bhanja temple looks complete from outside.

We left from barsur at about 6.15 and as per our knowledge our night halt at Kanker was about 3 hrs drive from here. But, the road is pretty narrow, under repairs and goes through the nice, dense forest patch in the beginning. All of this made our journey interesting, lengthy and exhaustive. We reached kanker at 12.00 in the night! But, we saw our first wild mammal –the Wild Dog followed by a wild cat in forest at beginning. Our Kanker hotel – Bafna lawns was really nice and we had a very comfortable stay. Next day we started late as our next destination - Sirpur was actually 3 hrs drive from here. Our stay was at Hieun Tsang resort – a nice place to stay.

Next day was dedicated to Safaris in Barnawapara sanctuary. This name is a combination of two villages Bar and Nawapara – two villages near sanctuary. The animals here are very shy. We saw spotted deer, Sambar deer, Gaur, Neelgai, sloth Bear,  Langurs and Macaques here along with good number of birds. We saw forest owlet for a very long time. It seemed it quite liked our presence and allowed us to take good number of photographs. Here in this forest I had my very first sighting of a Gaur calf. It was around 3-4 days old! Even the fawn of the spotted deer was the youngest of all that I had seen so far. We enjoyed this day the most as there were very less tourists here. The forests in Chhattisgarh unlike other forests of India attracts less “wildlife lovers”. So there was no one to run here there in search of tigers and desperately waiting to shoot them with the camera. So the forest is how it should be - less disturbed. That day we reached the resort late evening but with the beautiful memories of Barnawapara.

Our last day was spent in visiting heritage sites in Sirpur. Sirpur of Shripur as it was known in ancient times, is a small village on the bank of Mahanadi. It was the capital of Dakshin Kaushal under the Sarabhapuriyas and Panduvanshis. Sirur has archeological remains associated with Hindu, Baudhha and Jainism. What attracted me more was the construction of walls massive thickness with the help of bricks at time! The Laxman temple has carvings on bricks! I was amazed to the creativity shown on stone carvings at Buddha vihara. The stories from Jataka are carved here. A snake is shown entering in a hole from one side and comes from other side of the pillar. The bricks prepared in those times are still algae free whereas at certain places where modern bricks are used by the government to hold the structure properly has got algal attack. Barsur also has remains of bazzar of that time. The Mahanadi was used as trade route and lot of trade used to take place here. Now the Mahanadi flow has reduced and it has gone little away from this bazzar leaving only stories of that golden era that this place has witnessed once.

I really hope that the Land of Chhattisgarh soon gets its glory back and attract more enthusiasts that actually respect her natural beauty and rich heritage. Somewhere in my mind I feel that I will make a visit here again through my venture OikoEssence to quench my thirst of experiencing and learning more places, its culture and admire the heritage.

Gujarat Off-beat travel (This was innitially Published on Ghumr.com)

Gir Forest area of Gujarat is state’s most popular national park and wildlife sanctuary. It is Asia’s only region providing natural habitat to Asiatic lions. But, did you know that state of Gujarat also has three other wildlife sanctuaries. Jessore Sloth bear, Balaram-Ambaji wildlife sanctuaries and Thol bird sanctuary in Gujarat have been instrumental in conserving lesser known wildlife species.

Jessore Sloth bear wildlife sanctuary provides protection to Sloth bears and their habitat. It was our first destination during our nature camp to Gujarat. We also visited Balaram-Ambaji Wildlife sanctuary and Thol Bird Sanctuary. These are accessible from Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar as well. Despite of being in the same state – Gujarat and located not very far from each other, all three Sanctuaries have their own characteristics and landscapes. Jessore and Balaram Ambaji wildlife sanctuaries are located on the border of Gujarat and Rajasthan states. Both of them act as a barricade protecting the land of Gujarat from getting covered by the sand from Rajasthan.

Jessore Sanctuary

Our train reached Ahmedabad early in the morning but we reached Jessore in the afternoon as we spent some time on small lakes that are present on the outskirts of Ahmedabad. Jessore is in Banaskantha district.  Evening is a good time to go for trail in the forest. The exotic and invasive species Prosopis juliflora is in abundance at Jessore along with few indigenous plants species such as ber, acacias etc. We could not see the sloth bear but saw droppings and scratch marks made by bears (while climbing the tree). We sighted Sambar deer, wild boar and mongoose during the trail. Also, we spotted reptiles including monitor lizard and skink. Jessore has a huge lake which attracts water birds. One can even see good number of land/scrub forest birds here.

The wife of the caretaker prepared food for us during our one night stay at Jessore and no need to say, it was yummy.

Balaram-Ambaji Sanctuary

Next day early morning we left for Balaram-Ambaji wildlife sanctuary. On the way one can feel the noticeable difference in the vegetation. Balaram ambaji sanctuary shows a growth of big indigenous trees such as palash, mahua, beleric myrobalan etc. but, Prosopis juliflora still occurs. The staff of the forest department in Ambaji range was very helpful. Couple of them joined us for the forest trail. We started our walk little late in morning. Still we could see some forest birds and mammals like –  Neelgai, Wild boar, Hanuman langur and three stripped palm squirrel. It was refreshing experience to walk in forest. We also saw a forest calotes. After having an interaction with Regional Forest Office, Ambaji (which was very informative) we left for Balaram range.

Hanuman Langur feasting on Palash Flowers

Balaram temple is very near to sanctuary and many devotees visit here to offer their prayers. One thing really important – there are no restaurants/dhabas nearby. So one should carry the lunch or eat whatever snacks available on the small stalls here. We choose the second option as we had heavy breakfast in the morning. After this we went for stroll in forest. The forest department staff here was very kind and helpful too. The discussion between Forest Department and us was really interesting one and gave us lot of information.

Here we got to see one interesting phenomenon. This forest has only two rhesus macaques. The wildlife conservation team rescued and released them in this sanctuary long time back. These macaques stay with a group of Hanuman langurs. It was really intriguing for me. I haven’t heard of any macaque staying with Langurs before. (If anyone has any records of such associations/s then please feel free to share). Here too the staff of Forest department accompanied us and gave us some valuable information about its biodiversity.

Thol Bird Sanctuary

Then we continued our journey towards Thol Bird Sanctuary. We opted to stay in Kalol which is about at 45mins driving distance from Thol. Next day early morning we visited Thol bird sanctuary.

Grey Lag Geese, Stilt Pochard Shovellers

Thol is an amazing wetland. We got busy in clicking bird photographs before actually entering the official boundary of the sanctuary. Painted storks, egrets, spoon bills etc were busy in having their morning breakfast just outside the sanctuary. When we started walking along the lake we could see lots of birds. It was like a collage of different bird species placed in one lake. One can spend hours and hours observing, photographing and documenting the various bird species that use this lake. Majority of them are listed under either ‘Near-threatened, ‘Threatened’, ‘Vulnerable’ or ‘Endangered’ status of IUCN’s Red list. Almost all of them are schedule one or two species as per the government of India’s rule.

This lake is also a nesting site for many birds and Saras Cranes are one of them. In fact some of us were lucky to see the courtship dance of Saras Cranes and I was one of those. It was something that I will remember throughout my life and feel blessed to witness such a wonderful creation of nature.

The memories are too many and I can go on and on… But, no matter how much I describe here it will not do the justice to the beauty of this place. One must visit to experience!

My Article on Velas - posted on Ghumr.com

to read article with photographs please click on the following link

http://www.ghumr.com/velas-turtle-festival/

Our nature camp to Velas beach to experience wonderful lives of Olive Ridley Turtles …

I remember I never used to get enough of enjoying by the sea as a child. Mumbai’s seashore is its only natural element that every common man can approach and is free of cost! I remember looking for seashells while walking along the shore and my shell collection used to be my treasure. Later due to my profession as biodiversity environmentalist, I came to know that there is much more life present there than just fish and shells.

I am sure we all have similar kind of memories of our childhood (at least those who live by the sea). Sea has been always attracting lot of tourists. Coastal tourism is really booming. Where other shores of Maharashtra are attracting tourists through lot of fancy adventure sports, there is one coast that has been attracting a huge number of nature lovers – Velas beach, Ratnagiri. We planned a nature camp to this beach in the month of March 2016. It was to watch babies of Olive Ridley Turtles making their way to the sea.

There are two ways to reach Velas along Mumbai-Goa Highway – one from Mandangad and another one from Shriwardhan (this involves car ferry). We chose the second one. We took a ferry from Bhagmandla jetty and reached Vesavi jetty in about 10 mins. Velas is about 20 mins drive from Vesavi jetty. We had booked a home stay there. I recommend all Ghumrs to reach there by afternoon just in time for lunch, as the local food you get here is really yummy.

Velas is one of the few examples of conservation that involves joint efforts from locals, government and NGOs. Earlier, due to lack of awareness the villagers were ignorant about the importance of turtles in nature and its conservation. Every year, Olive Ridley turtle females used to visit this beach to lay eggs. Either villagers or stray dogs/jackals took these eggs after digging the nests. As a result very few Olive Ridleys’ could make it to the sea and ultimately the species faced threat for their survival.

A local NGO – Sahyadri Nisarg Mitra Mandal came forward and started putting their efforts in turtle conservation by taking the villagers in confidence. They formed a committee that provides protection to the eggs. They also regulate hordes of tourists visiting the coast to witness baby turtles coming out of eggs. A lot of villagers are member of this committee and tourists can stay in their house. They also provide information on the lovely species of Olive Ridley Turtles.

There is almost zero chance that any visitor getting cheated here as the committee also decides homestay charges. So whenever you are in Velas you can expect transparency. We reached pretty late in the afternoon to Velas. After having delicious lunch, we went to the shore in the evening. The babies that hatch in the evening start their journey to the sea immediately. They follow the moonlight. Due to increase in electrical lights on the land some hatchlings get confused and start walking towards land instead of sea. This is one of the biggest concerns in their protection. It was a magical experience to witness these young ones making their way to the sea.

Olive Ridleys got their name from the color of their shell. Adults have heart shaped shell that is olive green in color while the young ones are grey in color. They are omnivores with diet consisting of crustaceans, mollusks, tunicates and fish. They have two visible claws on their paddles. Olive Ridleys do not live in groups unlike fish and reside in occur in warmer water and Indian Ocean is one of them. They migrate hundreds or sometimes thousands miles every year. Only time they come together as a group is during Arribada – when all the female turtles return to the shore where they had been hatched to lay their eggs. They use wind and tides to reach the beach.

Female lays hundreds of eggs at a time and it may nest up to three times a year. The incubation period of their eggs is about about 52-58 days. They have lot of natural predators. In addition, humans slaughtering females for their meat and skin, fishing nets frequently snagging & drowning these turtles adds on to their threat to survival. The replacement of natural sand barriers such as Ipomoea species (climber) with exotic tree species of Casuarina equisetifolia is creating a disturbance for females to dig up the nest. As, the roots of this tree don’t spread on the superficial soil surface and females cannot dig through that. The baby turtles have to combat all these forces to come out of eggs to experience life!

During our visit, about 21 hatchlings came out and this was the highest number so far for this year. But, the number of tourists that came to see them was around 500!! After looking at the crowd behavior, all of us decided to volunteer to control their movement. Some people didn’t bother the barricades and crossed the lines. It was dangerous for the hatchlings as even our footprints can act like a huge hurdle for them to cross. Almost everyone was trying to get best shot and selfies with the hatchling. The situation was really worrisome and crazy.

We decided to pay more attention towards hatchlings safety and control self-proclaimed “nature lovers” from getting close to baby turtles. The baby turtles can still get harmed after they enter the waters as they are pushed back to the shore by tides. So few volunteers paid a strict watch on them. There is no doubt that everybody came there with the good intention of witnessing this natural miracle. But getting too close to get the best shot should not harm the eco-system around us.

Luckily, the situation was better the next morning during sunrise. The number of tourists was less and everybody was following the rules. Since it was a morning time, we spent some time in nearby mangrove patch and along the hillside of the coast. Some of the mangroves were flowering. Some of our bird sightings included white-bellied sea eagle, white-breast water hen, Shrike, Parakeets etc.

It was the time to leave this beautiful place and we left this place with a heavy heart, promising to visit here again. Since it was a Sunday there was huge rush at the jetty. We had to wait for about 2.5 hrs to our turn in the ferry. While waiting some of the participants saw dolphins. So this wait did not bore us at all experiencing another unique species of water!

Brahmaputra’s Kaziranga

Sharing my article based on Kaziranga, gibbon and nameri - Assam published on ghumr.com

to read with photographs click on following link
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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.

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!

This article was initially ublished on Ghumr.com. To read article with photographs click on the following link
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.

Calling birds??

Are you interested in “bird watching”? Are you a true “bird lover”? Do you think it is very difficult to locate the bird and one requires lots of patience to see/locate them?  Then please note this is all “old school” now (Unfortunately). Locating a bird is very easy these days… All you need to do is - find names of birds living in a particular area; get the recorded call of those birds (download) on your cell phones or any other instrument that has speakers and play the same while you are out for bird watching. Poor bird thinks someone is giving a call, moves here & there and tries to find out who is it? Either by calling back in response or just by coming out in an open area. And then, it comes to know that what a fool it was made by a birder/group leader-leading a group of nature enthusiasts. The bird becomes fool and you become a winner, you got to see it. Probably you may get a very good photograph. This has become a common site in case of many unfortunate areas including few protected areas of our country.

If you think you found a better way to watch the birds then, please hold it. Playing music/records in the protected area is a crime at the first place (you are disturbing a bird in its natural surrounding). Second, it is not ethical way of birding. Birds may break their nests if it is a nesting season, with fear that someone has located their nest and it is dangerous for their survival. Bird will remain continuously under pressure of ‘who’s calling me?’ Another important thing is some hunters/poachers may use this technique to hunt down the birds. Thinking that nobody will notice as it is a general practice (this is just my fear). Bird/wildlife scientists that practice this, have permissions (which is difficult to get) from authorities and it related to their research. General bird lovers do it just for the sake of satisfying their thirst to see the bird. They take such foolish steps. The activity of Birding develops a level of patience in the observer and helps him/her in understanding the importance of nature. Birding will bring joy to ones soul if it is done in an ethical way. Otherwise hunger to see more and more birds will go on increasing unnecessarily.

Today, we are celebrating ‘The Mothers Day’. This weekend (Second weekend May) every year is observed as International Migratory Bird Day. On this occasion a thought came in to my mind. Just sharing it here -

Imagine – A Mom and her young ones are in your home, spending a quality time with each other. At the same time someone shout their manes / calls them from outside. Mom rushes to check, there’s no one…. it happens again, again and again… won’t they feel scary?? After some time they come to know that there is a person who’s just checking if these people are in that area or not? Or just to observe them, how do they look? What will you do if it happens in your case? Would you still feel it is ethical? ..... If not, then why you feel that it’s ‘OK’ in case of birds or any other animal in that case?

*All pics are downloaded from internet