The Hindu Business Line : The forests come alive with its citizens

ON April 11 at 5.30 p.m. we sighted two tigers behind a screen of dry bamboo, other grass and dry teak here. One was sitting upright on its haunches while a second lay on its side near a water hole and one could figure it out by the twitch of its ears. They were at a distance of some 50 ft. At 6 p.m., we had the second sighting of a single tiger with the powerful face in profile at a distance of 70 ft. Some metres away, at 6.10 p.m. we sighted a one-year-old, male (possibly), amidst the call of barking deer from a distance.

On April 12, at 7.50 a.m. we spotted a one-year-old snoozing on the forest floor. Kishor Dhyaneshwar Rithe of Satpuda Foundation, at the wheel of his green Gypsy, switched off the engine and we watched the yellow with black stripes forest citizen. The yellow coat of tigers in Tadoba is glossier than the ones in Melghat, informed Kishor. There was an occasional lift of the tail as it beat the ground and twitch of the ears as we saw them through our binoculars. After a while, the animal got up, walked around a bamboo clump, settled down and lifted its impressive head to have a quiet dekho of us.

Around 8.30 a.m. on April 13, driving down a forest lane, near the Kala Amba-Pandhar Pawni meadows, a tiger bounded away in two leaps to our left into a maze of dry teak stands, while a second one resting on its side watched the proceedings. In two silent leaps, the tiger could have easily covered 10 to 15 ft.

The last time we saw the animal was at 7.45 a.m. on April 15 in the Mohali range adjacent to the Andhari Reserve (compartment no. 252). Kishor nudged me with his left elbow, switched off the engine and settled down to have a view of the three-year old. It stood for as much time as it took Kishor to adjust his camera to click him. Then it turned and walked away with its shoulders rippling with strength. It happened at about 30 ft from where we had parked on a forest stretch of red mud.

We were 11 of us in the Gypsy with Kishor on the wheel as we drove through the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve for four days in the mornings and evenings. The summer mornings and evenings are always ablaze with sunlight with temperatures topping 40 degrees. A month ago, Kishor had offered to take us on a Nature Camp and even he, who has seen more of the animal than any of us, thought we were lucky. Going by his experience, each sighting was of a different animal with the last sighting being for keeps as one watched the animal for over five minutes.

The tiger is Nature's version of the Merc, its most refined and prized product. On a late evening we viewed a Valmik Thapar film, Land of the Tiger, and one could easily understand the man's proud passion for preserving the elegant product of evolution.

Chandrapur and Gadchiroli are the two forest districts of Maharashtra with the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve, falling in Chandrapur, measuring 625.40 sq km and notified in 1995. The Tadoba National Park is 116.55 sq km, while the Andhari Wildlife Sanctuary is 508.85 sq km. Falling between the Andhari and Uma rivers, the reserve is well watered apart from the water holes which are filled regularly by a competent forest management. In fact, one can always see forest rangers moving around, keeping an eye on the proceedings. "No forest ranger has ever been attacked by a tiger," admits 19 year-old Samir Majid Sheikh, the best guide in the reserve, going by Kishor Rithe.

Basically, the moist deciduous forest comprises 40 per cent each of bamboo and teak with others such as kusum, arjun, mahuwa, ain and behla trees forming the rest. The last time the bamboo flowered was in 1983 and the next flowering is expected in 2023. The Deputy Director of Forests, Nitin Kakodkar, said the reserve is in the "phase of consolidation". The present population of tigers is put at around 40. In the last four years, the forest has seen the birth of 10 new cubs every year and a time could come when this fit and powerful animal could be cramped for space. At present, there are six villages in the sanctuary that are proposed to be shifted. The reserve has a buffer zone of 500 sq km inhabited by human beings and there is a plan to attach this zone to the reserve without legally sanctifying it as a sanctuary.

Talking to a cross-section of the forest management, one got the impression that between dams and preserving the forest, politicians prefer dams. A portion of the Tadoba Andhari reserve could get submerged if the Maharashtra Government goes ahead with the construction of a major dam across the Uma River. One official said, "We would like to be hopeful but the fact is politicians have no stake in forests as forests."

Arun Tikhe, Range Forest Officer in the Kolsa range, is the only official who talks of protecting "our tiger". And the man has done some good work in building check dams with bamboo, stones and mud to break the flow of water during rains and maintain water flow in April at temperatures above 40 degrees.

The prey base for the carnivores is good, according to Kishor Rithe with sambhar, chital, barking deer and wild boars in plenty. On an evening, around 6.15 p.m., one saw four or five full-grown gaurs in the Mohali range near the Tilia Lake and as we proceeded ahead came across a herd of 15 gaurs, a mix of adults and kids. When Kishor stopped the Gypsy to take pictures, they ambled across our path, some 10 ft away.

The evening of April 14 was the last evening ride as we had decided to set out of the forest in the afternoon of April 15. Around 6.45 p.m. near the Kathoda gate, we saw for the first time a five-year-old sloth bear with its two-year-old cub. It was Sanjay Rithe who saw them first as they wobbled across our path like bouncing black footballs. They moved over to a bamboo clump, turned around to make it to the edge of the forest road before making a final turn to disappear into the forest. "Wow," exclaimed Nishikant Kale, who has been with Kishor Rithe for years and is well versed in animal and bird lore.

Seemingly, the Maharashtra Government wants to make Tadoba famous on the tourist circuit as Kanha and Ranthambore. It has placed two elephants at the disposal of the Tadoba forest management to take tourists around and sensibly, the management is averse to imitate Kanha.

Nor is the management keen on naming tigers like they do in Ranthambhore. Then a group of industrialists is keen on putting money in Tadoba to mimic the African model of forest tourism. Many doubt the idea. Tadoba is good as it is.

Picture by Kishor Rithe

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