In today’s world, development has
taken varied hues and forms. Most of the time we see human beings distorting
and destroying nature to build a lifestyle for himself. Most of this
development efforts are artificial, has a counter-productive impact on our lives
and primarily harmful to nature itself since it is non-regenerative. However
there is another sector where development is being tested through the
protection of nature and natural conditions. One such segment is the national
reserve forest.
Tadoba forest in Vidarbha
Maharashtra is one of the several but dwindling numbers of pristine natural
forests that have survived the human onslaught. In the past it belonged to the
Gond tribals and local villagers inhabiting the area were primarily forest
gatherers and agriculturists but several villages have since been relocated. The
core forest area at present does not have any residential human presence and it
is left entirely to the wild animals, birds and reptiles to prosper.
Progressively over the years the protection measures have expanded with hunting being banned in 1935 and two decades later, in 1955, about
116.54 square kilometers of Tadoba forest area being declared a national park. The Andhari Wildlife
Sanctuary was created in the adjacent forests
in 1986 and finally in 1995, the park and the sanctuary were merged to
establish the present tiger reserve of about the total area of the reserve is
625.4 square kilometer.
Tadoba
the name has an interesting antecedent. Tadu/Taru was the name of a village
chieftain in the region. In an encounter with the wild tiger he lost his life.
The very fact that he got face to face with a tiger suggests that he was a very
brave man. The villagers then built a shrine for him on the banks of Tadoba Lake
which also speaks about the love, respect and regard that he commanded from his
people. The suffix ‘ba’ to his name could either be an expression of
endearment, or an expression of elevation to the stature of God (like Vithoba)
or it could also be an expression of respect like a shortened version of ‘baba’
or elder. Incidentally the Tadoba Lake has crocodiles inhabiting its waters and
is not meant for casual visit to Tadu Deo’s shrine. The crocodiles were
introduced into the lake from a breeding center which was then dismantled. This
has added to the vast list of fauna of the area.
The rich flora and fauna of Tadoba has to be experienced
to be believed. The 600 odd sq. km. even though threatened by ever increasing
human impact at its seams, is dense with vegetation and wildlife of different
and rather innumerable hues and colours. Its 100 odd tigers are definitely the
showpiece of this forest but anyone interested in wildlife and natural
environment would never be disappointed. Those tiger tourists also avoid this
forest in the rainy and winter season because sighting of the tiger becomes
difficult. It is only in the summers when temperatures rise to 47-49 degrees
Celsius that the royal beasts can be sighted easily resting at water
holes.
Tiger
tourism has become the USP of this area. From right outside the buffer zone of
the forest, hotels from budget to luxury have mushroomed up, catering to the
unending number of visitors from across the world. In the year 2011, National
Geographic made a series of documentary films on Indian Wildlife and one of it,
the second documentary of this series “Tiger Jungles” featured Tadoba.
That was the watershed year and since then Tadoba has become a very popular
international wildlife destination. The hotels that cater to these visitors are
a sight themselves. Right in the middle of rustic lifestyle of rural India, one
can find and experience hospitality of urban lifestyle with very modern
facilities. These hotels are managed by city dwellers but the work force is
entirely local. Local boys and girls from villages who have been trained in
hotel management take care of housekeeping and laundry, restaurant and food,
swimming pool and playground, electricity and water, landscaping and
decoration, etc. Certainly none of the village stores would be capable of
providing the supplies and provisions that are required daily by these hotels
and everything would have to be sourced from either Nagpur, Chandrapur or
further, however this coexistence between the pastoral and the metropolitan at
such close quarters is a sight indeed. The native idyllic life would slowly
over time give way to the fast urban restless life in this forest. However I am
not sure whether this is a welcome indication, even though the local boys and
girls (some of whom were displaced from the forest) are getting gainful
employment and possibly improving their lives. The one definite affect is that
those locals who are employed by these hotels may not return to work on the
farms, which could either be a positive or negative implication.
May 2019 was my second visit to
the Tadoba forest reserve and I visited once again in July 2019. Getting into
the forest guards gypsy car always fills me with thrill and anticipation. The
forest officials regulate the several gates to get into the reserve forest, the
number of vehicles is regulated, and their routes inside the reserve are
scheduled. Tigers are extremely possessive about their territories and females,
and since their hunts are known to the forest guards they move traffic to such
known and easy tiger sighting locations. About 40 Maruti Gypsy cars crisscross
the terrain once in the morning and once in the evening in search of the
tigers. Normally these forest officials’ cars stay on assessable roads and
don’t venture into rocky and uneven paths inside the core area. Therefore even
though there are over 100 tigers, merely a dozen are frequently seen. Currently
Maya a female tiger is the connoisseur of all eyes. Stories of Maya have become folklores, of her
attitude, her many mates and her cubs. Animal sighting of is never guaranteed, and
thus everyone classifies their trips inside the forests into success or failure
in terms of seeing a tiger. Undoubtedly sighting the tiger makes the visit a
fruitful one. I wonder, do other animals and birds feel snubbed or happy about
the lack of attention.
Therefore even though finding
myself under a massive tree fills me up with immeasurable awe and an
overwhelming feeling, I can say with a degree of pride that my trip was
successful after sighting Chota Madkasur. Chota Madkasur is a collared tiger, a fully
grown male. He was lying quietly at a water hole, one of the several water
holes supported by the forest department with electricity from solar panels and
remotely operated to pump the underground water. Chota Madkasur sensed a few
Sambar deer’s walking towards the water hole that he was occupying and slyly
got up, exited towards the back to rush and hide behind the bamboo bushes. The
deer’s arrived within 25 meters of the water hole, they sensed him too and one
of them let out a sharp call almost like a bark. That stopped all of them on
their track. Slowly they backed out and forfeited their desire to drink water,
even though it was height of summer. After
a while Chota Madkasur realizing that these folks don’t want the water after
all, came out of his hiding and sat near
the water hole in full sight of everybody. This entire episode intrigued me.
Did the king of this part of the forest abandon the water hole and hide because
he wanted his subjects also to quench their thirst. Did he display maturity of
the burden of a leader to take care, at best of the wellbeing of other animals
sharing his territory or at worst the growth to full size of his future food
supply? Or was it a cunning move to launch a guerilla attack on an innocent
prey? I guess I would never come to know the answers. Never the less, what was
in full display was that every creature preys on the other, stay near their
prey, and fight each other for mate, food and water. There is an ecological
balance in play in nature.
