Melghat- to my best.…

Its been almost a month that (part of me) ‘ve come back from the forests of Melghat, and & ever since then, I have been making plans of going there again....

Jan 2010, began for many of us with an ever increased concern of losing tigers. At a time when i get wrecked about the dwindling numbers going out of reality- with only 1400 plus or God forbid minus tigers left, the loss seems inevitable…….in midst of these, I received an invitation message from Rajashree Khalap of Satpuda Foundation, about an estimation exercise, I pounced on the opportunity and got myself to Semadoh, one of the ranges in the three divisions of Melghat Tiger Reserve (1676 sq. km). It is located in northern part of Amravati District in Maharashtra.

Semadoh, as my mum says, is an hindi colloquial for borders, geographically I cannot say, but, metaphorically this place is indeed of ‘borders’, as I could vividly see the two distinct worlds- one that I came from & one that I lived in for seven days.

Travel to Semadoh was a joy ride – from Badnera to Amravati, the landscape on either side of my ST bus was only plains & plateaus and from Paratwada onwards it was only mountains & valley. Indian landscapes have always amazed me with this - anywhere between the radius of 50-60 kms, the landscape just alters & the beauty diversifies. Semadoh is situated on the banks of river Spina.

@ Simadoh

From 26^th jan to 2^nd Feb, I was scheduled to be in this forest! was allotted a beat that was under the supervision of Forester, Ms. Sheetal Dhande, my camera went berserk taking photos when I would see her in the forester’s uniform!

The Semadoh range has around 8 foresters, each have been allotted a beat of roughly around 3000 hectares (30 Sq Kms), along with three guards & around 8-9 Chaukidaars. Semadoh is one of the five ranges in the division Sipna, the other two territorial divisions are Gugamal & Narnala . Along with me, the beat was supposed to have two more volunteers, who did not turn up.

My home-sweet-home was the check post at Kuwapatti (around 10 kms away from the Semadoh village). Less than 100 Sq ft accommodated seven of us, while your highness having one room all to myself! …at times like these, I get inspired to write a book titled: “This can happen only in India”.

27^th Jan evening, while on a rustic bamboo bench I was cross examining- how within a just span of 24 hrs, I was altogether in a different mental & physical paradigm, with the forests’ incessant whistling, dusk falling on tree tops, the gridded sky view through dry canopy, & stars ogling through this grid, in midst of these glades - was totally ballooned with the thought of being one amongst this forest for the

next six days….!!

Each day was unique, special and a revelation; the first three days were for carnivore animal’s estimation, for which we were given instructions to look for pugmarks, scats, & any & all other evidences to estimate the presence of various species of carnivores in our allotted compartment. On an average, every day we climbed (the guards galloped) around 7-8 Kms across our allotted area (pls see the map on your right).

Our day would begin at 6 am, starting our march at 6.30, every guard left in different directions, along with one chaukidaar.

I was fortunate to accompany one on either day, we usually got back by 12.30-1 to our base camp, have bath, eat monstrously, write log, fill up forms, meet our forester, either visit her at her quarters in Semadoh or she would visit us at Kuwapatti, both were equally delightful, as that was the only time when our entire team would be together.The last three days, we moved along the transect for the herbivore estimation, the guards & us had instructions to cover (to & fro) allotted transect of 2.5 kms and thus make our observations. (To make it easier, rather than giving you a rundown on each day, I will provide a consolidated version of my overall observation about the forest little later in my text)

The evenings were for sharing endless talks, as I had a bag full of questions so did Mr. More, one of the guards, who had a strong affinity towards Mumbai- so he would often exhaust me with questions on & about Mumbai. Each time he would pause to dwell in what I said, I tried shifting the conversation asking our korku tribesmen about their history, culture & traditions or to the guards about the forest life, management and their family back home, so this went on for almost all evenings. The evenings were also interspersed with some grocery shopping, cooking,singing folk songs & sighting of flying squirrels- the best of all!

Meeting SundarMala

There was an excellent reason, why all three guards stayed together in the same checkpost, inspite of them having one to each. The three check posts were Pipalpadav, Kuwapatti and Chadupatti; and we kept meandering between Pipalpadav and Kuwapatti as Chadupatti was home to an elephantess- Sundarmala- which indeed she was, a 55 yr old beautiful, majestic elephantess. She gave us a very touching farewell by taking us on a 4 km ride. Wow! totally electric.

Random observations

As a Southern dry deciduous forest, vegetative diversity varied from around 4-6 tree species per 100 Sq Mts (approx.), with around 50-60 individuals, the dominants ones are teak medium size babul, and khaire. The soil is red and with good water retaining capacity.

One of the key indicators here is the diversity of shrubs found other than mere lantana, as unlike many other forests in the western ghats. This certainly confirms that there is very little or no human interference. There were some patches, where the diversity was hardly 1-2 species in an area of 100 Sq. Mts, mainly these were teak and khair.

Bamboo bushes, though planted were well spread across the forest, one of the two species that I noticed, has just begun its fatal bloom. The canopy was unusually green due to the November shower. Bird sighting was comparatively poor; the best sighting was of the Serpent Eagle. Also, I must confess that i was too gripped in experiencing the core forest than on tracking bird notes. Crows of Tree Pie, Beaeaters, Large & small barbets, racket tailed, ashy, white bellied drongos, yet the list is quite full.

There were some patches that we visited in the course of our survey which were now completely undisturbed, we were so prone to be lost in the teak labyrinth, eventually getting better with sense of directions, the chaukidaars seem to have an inbuilt binoculars mounted on their eyes. From nowhere they could sight sambars, chital, bison, barking deer, wild boars, etc, etc., even identifying pugmarks & scats were done by them.

the tigress’ territory

My last day walk was with Thorat, a guard who was allotted transect near pipalpadav. It was known, that a tigress (whom they are yet to name) has homed this place since three years now and not bred even once, a lingering indicator of shrinking gene pool perhaps (??).

We found her fresh pugmarks of her graceful walk all across the banks of a stream that empties near a waterhole named Fitkaripani. One of the Arjuna barks smelt of her territorial evidence; the spray was fresh and filled the space with her presence. Drinking water from this stream made me remotely experience, what it is to call ‘my territory’ that is not confined to any department, or state or country. There is no external significance to this territory, but a survival strategy that has worked over an evolution, left the place with this thought of oneness and the water within, both that has trickled from across forests- an experience that is simply irreplaceable.

Like my little post card….

Even after extending my stay, like all good things, this too had come to an end. While I write this to you, I can imagine that the forest will be in its complete fall, simmering golden forest floor with a clear sky embedded in bare branches, the star-kissed sky and the floating-flying squirrels, all of these and more is my ticket back there!

I deeply acknowledge Rajashree from Satpuda Foundation, to send this angelic invitation and also my two best friends who came down after my estimation, for whom i happily extended my stay!