TADOBA FOREST AND TIGER AND TOURISM

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.