There are people all over the world facing various problems – big, small, simple, complicated, inevitable and self-made ones at that. But some problems exist which do not wholly fit the definition. I shall try and elaborate one such dubious issue on the sorry state of the people around an Indian forest where human-animal conflict does not seem to have a solution. I shall tell you the stories from Rajiv Gandhi National park.

Nagarhole National Park, also known as “Rajiv Gandhi National Park”, is located 94 km from Mysore in Karnataka in Southern India. It is spread between Coorg and Mysore districts. Located to the northwest of Bandipur National Park, Kabini reservoir separates the two. The exclusive hunting reserve of the former rulers of Mysore, the park has rich forest cover, small streams, valleys, and waterfalls. It stretches over 640 km², protecting the wildlife of Karnataka. Together with the adjoining Bandipur National Park and Mudumalai National Park, it forms the largest protected area in southern India.

My work around this park was as a Research assistant in Dr. Krithi Karanth’s project during August 2009. It extended for about a month and involved interviewing the local people from the villages around the national park. The interview involved documenting benefits of tourism and animal related conflicts in these villages.  I had always read quite a lot about man-animal conflict being a major problem around forests. But for the first time, I got to witness through my own eyes, the gravity of the issue. Nagarahole National park may be vaguely divided into two halves- the left [Coorg district] and the right [Mysore district]. While the left half with dense forests forms the eastern mountains of the Western Ghats, the right half is less dense and slowly gradients into semi-scrub at the extreme.

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Gaurs [‘Kaati’ in Kannada]

Gaurs or often incorrectly called as ‘Bisons’ are the largest species of wild cattle in the world. The largest population of gaurs in the world is found in India. Their appearance is almost like that of a domestic cow; only better built and with added charisma. Sporting a large and heavy built, with a pelt of glistening ebony and a pair of gorgeous horns that majestically rise and curve towards the end, they look no less than a group of thugs. But the lower half of their legs being milky white makes it appear as if they are wearing delicate linen socks. They usually move around in herds and the movement is not without a certain amount of grace. Altogether, they look like a bunch of thugs who are all set to go ballet dancing. When you are in the jungle and manage to make your presence known to them, they inquisitively rise their heads and look at you cocky eyed, giving the most adorable expression on their faces.

I spent the first half of the month on the Coorg side of the park and all the people living in the villages on that side seemed to have two problems- Elephants and Gaurs. Every person whom I spoke to complained of damages caused by these two herbivores being a massive problem that could not possibly be solved by anyone.

The gaurs come in large herds, silently, and destroy titanic amounts of planted crops. Although they are shy creatures who would generally scoot at the very sight of humans, they could not seem to stop themselves from savoring the more delicious crops- as if they had gotten bored of the forest fodder.

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Wild Boars [‘Handi’ in Kannada]

Wild boars are plainly the wild ancestors of the modern day domestic pig. They are also referred to as ‘wild pigs’ or wild ‘hogs’. They are chocolate brown in color and the entire body has stickle-like hair. A tuft of hair starting from its forehead runs along their backs, giving them a Mohawk look. The protruding short tusks, especially those of a male are used in defense. They generally live in groups consisting of males, females and young ones.

I spent the second half of the month on the right side of the park. The people here by default had two major problems- Elephants and Wild pigs. They all complained helplessly of the pigs which have reached populations beyond possible control. They are rather short and hardly make any noise while moving around. The farmer is kept in the dark about their presence until the very end. Only when a major chunk of his produce goes missing does he realize the disastrous doings of the wild pig. Upon being spotted, they are chased away, but they shamelessly return the minute the beater retreats.

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Elephants [‘Aané’ in Kannada]

Painful as death itself stands the elephant. People have narrated stories to me teary-eyed, trying to explain the misdoings of this so called ‘god incarnate’. They claim that their numbers have gone up ridiculously in recent times and that they have an irresistible crave for agricultural crops. They move around singly, in small groups or even in large herds.

The summers are spent in the jungle eating available bamboos and other vegetation. But come monsoon and there is no stopping these pachyderms. The crops begin to germinate and the giants come to relish them and thus shattering the hopes of a decent livelihood for the poor farmer. Some farmers in these places have switched to cultivating Tobacco since it is the only thing that neither the elephants nor the pigs eat. But that has not made things any better for even as the herds move through these fields, they destroy everything along their path. The forest department has made the effort of digging a ‘trench’ of around 8 feet depth along the forest border. Some areas are also equipped with solar powered electric fences. These fences are broken down with ease and the trench crossed over with better ease and the giants commence their mad feeding venture.The farmers keep vigil all night long, sitting on tree top ‘machaans’. They usually have only a flashlight or some fire-crackers as defense. But even these efforts have proved futile, for, when the herds decide to feed, then there is nothing that can stop them.

The irony lies in the fact that people from all over the world do everything they can and come to these forests just to catch a glimpse of these magnificent creatures; on the other hand there are these local residents who are ready to do everything they can to never see these creatures again.

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Gangothri and the gang of Gaja-gaaminis

My month long stay in Nagarhole was nearly pushing me off straight thoughts and normal life. Sanity was restored when the rest of the team arrived and we got to stay in the forest department lodge called ‘Gangothri’. It is located right inside the Nagarhole range of the Rajiv Gandhi National park. The three day long stay in Gangothri came with a series of blessed sightings. This includes my very first encounter with a pack of Dholes or Indian wild dogs and Striped neck Mongoose. The cherry on the cake however came on the night before we left Gangothri.

The dining area was next to the dormitory, located a little away from the lodge. After dinner on the last night, Natasha, Chinmayi, Krithi, Praveen and I began to walk down the road that led to the lodge. We heard a group of people making loud noises and clapping hands towards our far left. Being the only one in the group who had a torch in hand, I flashed the light in that direction to find a large herd of elephants that had lingered into the lodge area being chased away by the forest department staff. The rest of the volunteers were a little behind us and were quite unaware of the scene. Praveen left us and went back to shut them up. Feeling glad that we saw elephants, the four of us continued walking down the road and reached the Range office. Two men in the office yelled at us for walking around in the jungle and that there were elephants around. Assuming that they were referring to the elephants that had just passed, we continued walking towards the lodge. Little did we know that there was a part of the herd that was left behind and the staff members were chasing them right towards us. With only one flash-light, we hardly saw anything properly until it became too late. The loudest and scariest trumpeting noise at 30 feet distance from us and a glimpse of around six elephants at that very same distance-running towards us aroused panic. We turned around to run along the same path, for there was a big drop next to the road in the other direction. Krithi fell down in the process but managed to get back on her feet. Grabbing Chinmayi and Krithi by their arms I began to drag them towards a bus that was parked close-by. Chinmayi noticed that the bus door was open but Krithi failed to do so. While Chinmayi and I ran into the bus, Krithi and Natasha ran away into the darkness in the direction of the lodge-in the same direction in which the elephants were moving. Neither of them had a torch and tiny little Natasha was carrying a bag twice her size on her back. Never have I heard my heart pounding so loud. Chinmayi and I stood inside the bus, with a rush of emotions-fright, concern, relief, hope and several unaccountable ones.

After around 15 minutes, the herd had moved on and two forest department staff members escorted us back to the lodge where we found Krithi and Natasha safe yet panic-stricken. I failed to fall asleep that night. At 4 am the next morning, I opened my room window after I heard some noises outside. I saw the large herd of around sixty elephants slowly moving back in the path along which they were chased. The unmistakable Gaja-gaamini [meaning ‘the characteristic walk like that of an elephant]. The moonlit forest with the backdrop of black shadowy trees and ash colored gentle giants marching away – lost in their own world- the only one that they know of.

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Kabini and the Kiruba

After completion of work in the Nagarhole side, we shifted to the Kabini side of the park.

The Kabini, also called Kabani and Kapila, is a river of southern India. It originates in Wayanad District of Kerala state, south India from the confluence of the Panamaram River and Mananthavady River, and flows eastward to join the Kaveri River in Karnataka. Close to the town of H D Kote it forms the huge Kabini Reservoir. The backwaters of the Kabini reservoir are very rich in wildlife especially in summer when the water level recedes to form rich grassy meadows. The Kabini reservoir divides Nagarhole and Bandipur National parks. The place where we stayed was called Jungle Lodges and Resorts – a fancy place where one feels like being in the lap of luxury.

As a part of the booking, the package included a boat ride in the Kabini reservoir and rides in the jungle. In both cases, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves as we sighted innumerable Chitals- who always made it a point to look at us when we drove by, Sambhar deer that rarely appeared, Wild boars which did the least to care for our presence, Elephants in all their might, Gaurs, Langurs lost in play, a Marsh crocodile and an assortment of birds. The catch however was something that I did not expect. On our first jungle ride, we saw all the regular herbivores. I was already contented that we saw countable number of Gaurs- for I love them. It was 6.30 in the evening and we were on our way back, heading towards the exit. Almost everyone was convinced that we had seen our share of wildlife for the day and hence had a relaxed attitude. It was getting dark and suddenly a feline figure flew across the path a little ahead of us, from the left side towards the right. At once a babbling chorus of whispers filled the jeep with each one voicing “Panther! Panther!”, at the same time trying to remain as quite as possible.

We drove a little ahead to find perhaps the most beautiful cat species I have seen. It was a sub adult leopard with golden chestnut colored coat and beautiful black spots. It crouched down amidst the grass, with ears erect and alert, looking at us in part fear and part intrigue. We silently admired the sleek creature for around a minute after which he presumed that we might be of danger to him. He got up in one jolt and scooted away into the green thickets. I saw my first leopard inside a national park. Kabini will remain a special place since I saw my first Kiruba [local dialect usage meaning ‘Leopard’]

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The month long survey also included some incidents like a domestic goat which tried to eat my data sheets while I interviewed its owner, a young pet Sambhar deer who thought he was a dog, three drunk men- one who wanted to complain to the government that I was doing a survey, two-who wanted to eliminate a one rupee coin because he had issues with it, three- who emphasized innumerable times that he was a tribal and I should ‘resich’ [he meant research] his village right away. I should also mention the overly hospitable home stay owners of Kutta and their talented cook, the old attic-like room where I stayed in Gonikoppal, the lodge room of Hunsur which had a detached commode that moved around independently and the weird Chicken shop-cum-lodge room of Karapura.

The team that joined later was a wide assortment of the most amazing people. I credit Vasu for his hard work, Praveen for his support, Natasha [Boo] for naïve humor, Chinmayi for her silence and Amal for remaining belligerently calm and composed-even while being chased by elephants. Two prashants showed amazing driving skills while the third one interviewed resort owners with ease. Having three people named ‘prashanth’ in the same team was a little confusing for the rest of as well as for the prashanths.

To the Aane, Kaati, Handi, Kiruba and a million other things that happened over a month in Nagarhole.

This one is for Krithi’s team of Nagarhole.

Boo

2 Comments »

1. [...] offcourse spotting a leapord  and being attacked by elephants ..(u can read more about it here  the part of gangotri and the gajagaminis   ). chinmayisk @ 11:06 am [filed under [...]

   Pingback by The nagarhole jungle story « Chinmayisk’s Weblog — September 7, 2009 @ 4:49 pm

2. 

   adore the humour!! drunk men… moving commode, and the icing on the cake- thugs on their way to a ballet recital!!! hahahahahah.. lol..

   Comment by sangeeta — November 8, 2009 @ 1:10 am

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