In Harmony With Nature
EmPower Research
June 11, 2008
By Arunava Das
Weekends for some Bangaloreans would mean partying, hopping discos or liquor. For them these are means of relaxation and a break from the fast paced life during the week.
Though I am one of those who lead a fast paced life, I beg to differ from them. For me weekends are opportunities to unravel the mysteries of nature. Spending even a few moments if not a full- fledged holiday in the lap of nature can act as a tonic to prop up drooping shoulders and to rejuvenate oneself. Nature´s exhilarating freshness, the calm pleasant surroundings lending an aesthetic touch and the unpolluted air can do more wonders than contemporary medicines. This urge to be one with nature makes me take at least a couple of trips every month to different picturesque locations in and around Karnataka that are easily accessible over the weekend.
Last Thursday, I decided that I would like to spend the weekend at a relatively unheard of location- "The Nagerhole National Park" that is adjacent to "The Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary "in Kerala.. Obtaining permission for a forest stay is not a problem for me as my association with the Project Tiger Census (2007-2011) has earned me a pass that allows me free and unprohibited entry into all National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries throughout India till 2011. However, as my childhood friend, Subhas Roy, had decided to accompany me, I needed to get a pass for him.
Onward Journey
We decided to start after office hours on Friday and be back on Sunday evening to report to work on Monday morning. This meant that we had to finish all our preparations by Thursday night. The first thing that I needed to do was to get a pass for my friend from the forest office which was located at Malleswaram. I negotiated the heavy evening traffic and got there just in the nick of time to meet Mr. Srinivasan, the Head of Project Tiger. On my way back, I booked our tickets from the KSRTC Office at Malleshwaram. I decided that the bus which starts at 11:10 pm would be ideal for us. All our preparations were in place and I waited eagerly for Friday to dawn.
On Friday, we both could get out of the office on time and we left for Majestic at 7:30 pm. The bus started on time and we had an uneventful journey to reach Mercara at 4:45 am. Even though it was still dark, the estate manager of the homestay that we had booked was waiting for us at the bus station. As we got down from the bus the cold morning seemed to be welcoming us with its freshness. We arrived at our homestay, which was located on a hill-top in half an hour. The cotton-like clouds seem to be embracing us. The surroundings were very photogenic and the sounds of nature were very soothing to our ears.
We had approximately 2 hours in hand to refresh ourselves before we embarked on the long journey of 96kms to Nagerhole. We started in a rented forest jeep at 7:00 am and reached Nagerhole by 10:45 am. En route, we had stopped at the picturesque Irrupi Falls where we came across one of the most beautiful a species of butterflies, The Malabar Banded Peacock (Papilio Buddha) that are endemic to the region and the Western Ghats.
At Nagarhole
I found that the vegetation in the Nagarhole National Park was very different from the one at Bandipur. The vast expanses of deciduous forests were simply awesome. My friend and I were ready to capture all the magnificence of nature with my old Kodak 6mm and with his Sony Digi 8.1 x expandable camera.
We reached the forest house which is located around 1.5 km interior from the main entrance at 11 am. When I say that we had booked a VIP suite with all modern amenities, the picture that would spring up in one´s mind would be that of a luxury hotel or a resort. But here things were different. The accommodation facilities comprised of 8-9 tents with 2 concrete buildings. The tents served as forest housings, six of them meant for tourists. One concrete building housed the Forest Guard Complex with all the ammunitions and vehicles and temporary living bunks for the officials, the other was the Forest Ranger´s Office. The forest houses are jointly run by the Government of Karnataka, Division of Forests and by privately owned chain of resorts, The Jungle Inns.
Our tent had three divisions: one part was the sitting cum dining space with a large round table capable of accommodating 5 people, the inner chamber was the master bedroom with two double beds and neatly laid cots and blankets and the third portion on the right hand side was the rest room. As the tent was erected on the wet damp forest floor, the whole inner circumference of the tent was laid out with a red glossy carpet. This was a natural air conditioner and the temperature inside the tent hovered around a low of 14- 21 C, depending on the outside climate.
Our forest guide was one Mr. Manohar Reddy, who had 15 years of experience in this field. He told us that the best time to spot the tiger would be between 6:30 pm and 7:00 am. My friend was exhausted after the long journey so he took an early bath followed by a light lunch and went to sleep. Mr. Reddy suggested that we should start at 4:30 in the afternoon so as to reach the watch tower at the southern end of Nagerhole by sun down. We were to spend the rest of the night on a machan hoping to spot a tiger.
Nature always provides me with excess energy. So I could not resist the idea of going on a short trek in the forest. I was accompanied by Mr. Reddy and a forest guard carrying a 1978 model 6.5mm Mannlicher, German made with only 12 bullets. I was well aware that if a tiger attacked us, our ammunitions would not be enough as none of us was a great hunter like Jim Corbett. At the same time, I was aware that a tiger generally attacks only when it is injured or when it is challenged because of its age or when one strays into a tiger´s domain.
These beasts are highly territorial and will leave no stone unturned in defending their territory. One reassuring fact for me was that humans are not the tiger´s natural prey. The human deaths that are recorded are mostly due to the continuous depletion of the tiger´s natural habitat. Therefore, whenever I hear of human deaths I know that we have only ourselves to blame. Luckily we did not encounter any predators; instead we ran into some delightfully friendly chitals, Spotted Deer (Axis axis), who welcomed us from close distance. This was the closest I had been with these animals, which along with the langurs and forest birds raise alarm calls whenever a tiger is approaching. After having spent two wonderful hours in the forest, we returned to our base.
After returning to our tent at 1:45, I quickly had a warm bath followed by Coorg special lunch with steaming rice balls, spicy pork keema, and plain rice with sambhar. No lunch in Coorg is complete without tasting the home-made wines made of grapes and pomegranate. After lunch, I decided to take a siesta.
Tiger Safari
At 4:30 in the afternoon, we woke up refreshed. After a quick tea with home-made coconut biscuits, we hopped into our jeep and set out for a night of adventure. We had covered our jeep except for a tiny window as a protection from the sharp claws of a leaping tiger. As the jeep moved through the winding, bumpy forest roads, we were tensed as we expected a tiger to appear any moment and block our way; but thankfully nothing untoward happened till we reached the watch tower. This watch tower was located at a point that bordered the neighboring Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary in Kerala. Each watch tower was around 7-10ft high, thus providing an unobstructed view of the forests as far as one could see.
These stout steel-iron structures had a small room like chamber at the top covered on all sides by steel wires. It was connected to the forest floor by a flight of 20 stairs. The stairs had gaps (provided to prevent the tigers or leopards from climbing up the tower) and one had to be extremely cautious while climbing up the stairs. The watch tower on which we were to spend the night was strategically positioned near a stream surrounded on all sides by dense bushes along with silver oak trees that form the forest canopy. Since tigers were reported to frequent this water hole around 7 pm in the evening, climbing down those stairs at that time would be like committing suicide. As it was nearing sunset, the driver quickly realigned the jeep so that the back of the jeep faced the stairs.
The guard at the top of the tower cautiously opened the door and took aim to protect us incase a tiger appeared. The guard at our jeep also got into a firing position. Such elaborate arrangements wouldn´t have been necessary if we would have arrived even half an hour earlier. One could sense the tension in the air. A gush of adrenaline was pumping through our bodies. A fully grown adult tiger weighs around 90 to 120 pounds and can leap to a height of 7-9 mts. This made things more dangerous for us. It was decided that Subhas would go up first as he was new to all this... Both the forest guard now took the firing position and Mr. Reddy advised us to move on. Subhas carefully completed the climb and just as he got inside the safety of the tower, we heard the alarm calls of the langurs and birds. They were warning the forest folk of an approaching tiger. The calls were getting increasingly louder and more frantic. I was quick to respond and jumped out of the jeep and in doing so had a bad fall. The Kodak camera that I was holding slipped and lay about 3-4 inches beyond my reach facing the shrubs. It was not the time to nurse injuries and so I picked myself up and stooped down to reach for the camera. In the crunch situation, I forgot the essential detail that tigers tend to attack humans when they stoop down.
The tiger can then attack the victim on the neck thus paralyzing the victim. As I stooped down to pick the camera, the guards started firing. The guard at the top later told me that his experienced eyes had spotted a tiger in the bushes near me .Perhaps hearing the gun shots the tiger abandoned its idea of attacking me and moved away. I was thus saved by the timely action of the guards. I quickly picked the camera and clambered up the stairs. We spent a sleepless night keeping a lookout for the tiger lest it might attack us again. However, the tiger chose not to put in a second appearance. I felt disappointed that we had missed this golden opportunity of seeing the "king of the jungle" from such close quarters. We wouldn´t have been able to get any photographs to treasure the moment as we didn´t have the necessary equipments for night photography.
We had dozed off towards the early hours of dawn and were awakened by Mr. Reddy and the guards who returned at around 5:30 am. They told us that they were worried for our safety as I had had a miraculous escape the previous evening. At 6:00 am, we started our journey back to the base, where everyone heaved a sigh of relief on our safe return. We thanked all the forest staff and also Mr. Reddy for having spared time for us in spite of their busy schedule. At 8:30, we started our return journey to Coorg. Despite the sleepless tension-filled night we were enthusiastic enough to attempt a small one hour trek on the rough mountain tracks of Madikeri after a refreshing bath and a light meal. Perhaps that is the essence of youth. We also visited sites like Raja´s Seat, the Fort and the adjoining prison areas that date back to the 15th century. We also took a 2.5 km toy train ride there. On our way back, I bought some of the finest honey and coffee from the government shop. Finally at 3:45, we were back at our homestay. We quickly packed our bags and left for the bus stand. We reached Bangalore at 11 pm in the night.
Thus our fairytale tour to Coorg ended here. It had everything that one could wish for: charm, beauty, adventure and peace. I am looking forward to revisiting Coorg and also discovering some of the other untouched areas especially in Kerala. I have added lots of photographs to give all of you a feel of how truly wonderful these places are.
Travel details:
1. Forest pass can be obtained at Aranya Bhavan, 18th Cross, Malleshwaram, Bangalore (# 080-23341993). Office timings are 9:00am to 7:30pm.
2. Bus fare from Bangalore to Madikere 306/- per head. One can avail of a 10% discount if one books the return ticket.
3. Prithvi´s Home Stay, Mr. Prithvi K.P., H.No. 14-39/3, Stewart Hills, Madikeri 571 201 Ph: 08272-228104 Mob: 98454 67664 Cost for one and half a day for two persons approximated to 1400/- including breakfast, tea/coffee, lunch and dinner. Forwarded by: Mr. BK Sashidhar (Nanda), Nisarga David Lord Charitable Trust, Tourism and Trekking Information Centre, Near Upper Kodava Samaja, Madiker, Kodagu, Karnataka- 571201 Ph: 08272-229806/314509/224070 Cell: 9986615736 Mail: nisargatourism@yahoo.co.in
4. As we are part of the Project Tiger Census, Bandipur National Park, Mysore, our safari was free of cost. Only the pass that we had to take for my friend cost us a nominal 200/-. However for tourists, I can detail out the process:
One has to approach Aranya Bhavan (Bangalore/ Mysore) at least one week before the trip, fill out a 3 page form that is available. The form takes 2-3 days to process. Once done, they give a call and we need to take the pass. Cost: 800/- only.
To book a VIP suite one needs to pay 1200/ day/ head or 600/ day/ head for Normal Class, these are only boarding charges. Meals can cost any where around 500 to 1000/ day depending on one´s appetite and taste. The above mentioned safari is a Govt. one so is cheaper but if one goes for a safari by the Jungle Inns Resorts, one has to pay a minimum of 4000/ to 6000/ per head/ day. It´s costly, though many activities like elephant ride/ safari, forest camping, trekking and wild water rafting are included.
Weekends for some Bangaloreans would mean partying, hopping discos or liquor. For them these are means of relaxation and a break from the fast paced life during the week.
Though I am one of those who lead a fast paced life, I beg to differ from them. For me weekends are opportunities to unravel the mysteries of nature. Spending even a few moments if not a full- fledged holiday in the lap of nature can act as a tonic to prop up drooping shoulders and to rejuvenate oneself. Nature´s exhilarating freshness, the calm pleasant surroundings lending an aesthetic touch and the unpolluted air can do more wonders than contemporary medicines. This urge to be one with nature makes me take at least a couple of trips every month to different picturesque locations in and around Karnataka that are easily accessible over the weekend.
Last Thursday, I decided that I would like to spend the weekend at a relatively unheard of location- "The Nagerhole National Park" that is adjacent to "The Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary "in Kerala.. Obtaining permission for a forest stay is not a problem for me as my association with the Project Tiger Census (2007-2011) has earned me a pass that allows me free and unprohibited entry into all National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries throughout India till 2011. However, as my childhood friend, Subhas Roy, had decided to accompany me, I needed to get a pass for him.
Onward Journey
We decided to start after office hours on Friday and be back on Sunday evening to report to work on Monday morning. This meant that we had to finish all our preparations by Thursday night. The first thing that I needed to do was to get a pass for my friend from the forest office which was located at Malleswaram. I negotiated the heavy evening traffic and got there just in the nick of time to meet Mr. Srinivasan, the Head of Project Tiger. On my way back, I booked our tickets from the KSRTC Office at Malleshwaram. I decided that the bus which starts at 11:10 pm would be ideal for us. All our preparations were in place and I waited eagerly for Friday to dawn.
On Friday, we both could get out of the office on time and we left for Majestic at 7:30 pm. The bus started on time and we had an uneventful journey to reach Mercara at 4:45 am. Even though it was still dark, the estate manager of the homestay that we had booked was waiting for us at the bus station. As we got down from the bus the cold morning seemed to be welcoming us with its freshness. We arrived at our homestay, which was located on a hill-top in half an hour. The cotton-like clouds seem to be embracing us. The surroundings were very photogenic and the sounds of nature were very soothing to our ears.
We had approximately 2 hours in hand to refresh ourselves before we embarked on the long journey of 96kms to Nagerhole. We started in a rented forest jeep at 7:00 am and reached Nagerhole by 10:45 am. En route, we had stopped at the picturesque Irrupi Falls where we came across one of the most beautiful a species of butterflies, The Malabar Banded Peacock (Papilio Buddha) that are endemic to the region and the Western Ghats.
At Nagarhole
I found that the vegetation in the Nagarhole National Park was very different from the one at Bandipur. The vast expanses of deciduous forests were simply awesome. My friend and I were ready to capture all the magnificence of nature with my old Kodak 6mm and with his Sony Digi 8.1 x expandable camera.
We reached the forest house which is located around 1.5 km interior from the main entrance at 11 am. When I say that we had booked a VIP suite with all modern amenities, the picture that would spring up in one´s mind would be that of a luxury hotel or a resort. But here things were different. The accommodation facilities comprised of 8-9 tents with 2 concrete buildings. The tents served as forest housings, six of them meant for tourists. One concrete building housed the Forest Guard Complex with all the ammunitions and vehicles and temporary living bunks for the officials, the other was the Forest Ranger´s Office. The forest houses are jointly run by the Government of Karnataka, Division of Forests and by privately owned chain of resorts, The Jungle Inns.
Our tent had three divisions: one part was the sitting cum dining space with a large round table capable of accommodating 5 people, the inner chamber was the master bedroom with two double beds and neatly laid cots and blankets and the third portion on the right hand side was the rest room. As the tent was erected on the wet damp forest floor, the whole inner circumference of the tent was laid out with a red glossy carpet. This was a natural air conditioner and the temperature inside the tent hovered around a low of 14- 21 C, depending on the outside climate.
Our forest guide was one Mr. Manohar Reddy, who had 15 years of experience in this field. He told us that the best time to spot the tiger would be between 6:30 pm and 7:00 am. My friend was exhausted after the long journey so he took an early bath followed by a light lunch and went to sleep. Mr. Reddy suggested that we should start at 4:30 in the afternoon so as to reach the watch tower at the southern end of Nagerhole by sun down. We were to spend the rest of the night on a machan hoping to spot a tiger.
Nature always provides me with excess energy. So I could not resist the idea of going on a short trek in the forest. I was accompanied by Mr. Reddy and a forest guard carrying a 1978 model 6.5mm Mannlicher, German made with only 12 bullets. I was well aware that if a tiger attacked us, our ammunitions would not be enough as none of us was a great hunter like Jim Corbett. At the same time, I was aware that a tiger generally attacks only when it is injured or when it is challenged because of its age or when one strays into a tiger´s domain.
These beasts are highly territorial and will leave no stone unturned in defending their territory. One reassuring fact for me was that humans are not the tiger´s natural prey. The human deaths that are recorded are mostly due to the continuous depletion of the tiger´s natural habitat. Therefore, whenever I hear of human deaths I know that we have only ourselves to blame. Luckily we did not encounter any predators; instead we ran into some delightfully friendly chitals, Spotted Deer (Axis axis), who welcomed us from close distance. This was the closest I had been with these animals, which along with the langurs and forest birds raise alarm calls whenever a tiger is approaching. After having spent two wonderful hours in the forest, we returned to our base.
After returning to our tent at 1:45, I quickly had a warm bath followed by Coorg special lunch with steaming rice balls, spicy pork keema, and plain rice with sambhar. No lunch in Coorg is complete without tasting the home-made wines made of grapes and pomegranate. After lunch, I decided to take a siesta.
Tiger Safari
At 4:30 in the afternoon, we woke up refreshed. After a quick tea with home-made coconut biscuits, we hopped into our jeep and set out for a night of adventure. We had covered our jeep except for a tiny window as a protection from the sharp claws of a leaping tiger. As the jeep moved through the winding, bumpy forest roads, we were tensed as we expected a tiger to appear any moment and block our way; but thankfully nothing untoward happened till we reached the watch tower. This watch tower was located at a point that bordered the neighboring Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary in Kerala. Each watch tower was around 7-10ft high, thus providing an unobstructed view of the forests as far as one could see.
These stout steel-iron structures had a small room like chamber at the top covered on all sides by steel wires. It was connected to the forest floor by a flight of 20 stairs. The stairs had gaps (provided to prevent the tigers or leopards from climbing up the tower) and one had to be extremely cautious while climbing up the stairs. The watch tower on which we were to spend the night was strategically positioned near a stream surrounded on all sides by dense bushes along with silver oak trees that form the forest canopy. Since tigers were reported to frequent this water hole around 7 pm in the evening, climbing down those stairs at that time would be like committing suicide. As it was nearing sunset, the driver quickly realigned the jeep so that the back of the jeep faced the stairs.
The guard at the top of the tower cautiously opened the door and took aim to protect us incase a tiger appeared. The guard at our jeep also got into a firing position. Such elaborate arrangements wouldn´t have been necessary if we would have arrived even half an hour earlier. One could sense the tension in the air. A gush of adrenaline was pumping through our bodies. A fully grown adult tiger weighs around 90 to 120 pounds and can leap to a height of 7-9 mts. This made things more dangerous for us. It was decided that Subhas would go up first as he was new to all this... Both the forest guard now took the firing position and Mr. Reddy advised us to move on. Subhas carefully completed the climb and just as he got inside the safety of the tower, we heard the alarm calls of the langurs and birds. They were warning the forest folk of an approaching tiger. The calls were getting increasingly louder and more frantic. I was quick to respond and jumped out of the jeep and in doing so had a bad fall. The Kodak camera that I was holding slipped and lay about 3-4 inches beyond my reach facing the shrubs. It was not the time to nurse injuries and so I picked myself up and stooped down to reach for the camera. In the crunch situation, I forgot the essential detail that tigers tend to attack humans when they stoop down.
The tiger can then attack the victim on the neck thus paralyzing the victim. As I stooped down to pick the camera, the guards started firing. The guard at the top later told me that his experienced eyes had spotted a tiger in the bushes near me .Perhaps hearing the gun shots the tiger abandoned its idea of attacking me and moved away. I was thus saved by the timely action of the guards. I quickly picked the camera and clambered up the stairs. We spent a sleepless night keeping a lookout for the tiger lest it might attack us again. However, the tiger chose not to put in a second appearance. I felt disappointed that we had missed this golden opportunity of seeing the "king of the jungle" from such close quarters. We wouldn´t have been able to get any photographs to treasure the moment as we didn´t have the necessary equipments for night photography.
We had dozed off towards the early hours of dawn and were awakened by Mr. Reddy and the guards who returned at around 5:30 am. They told us that they were worried for our safety as I had had a miraculous escape the previous evening. At 6:00 am, we started our journey back to the base, where everyone heaved a sigh of relief on our safe return. We thanked all the forest staff and also Mr. Reddy for having spared time for us in spite of their busy schedule. At 8:30, we started our return journey to Coorg. Despite the sleepless tension-filled night we were enthusiastic enough to attempt a small one hour trek on the rough mountain tracks of Madikeri after a refreshing bath and a light meal. Perhaps that is the essence of youth. We also visited sites like Raja´s Seat, the Fort and the adjoining prison areas that date back to the 15th century. We also took a 2.5 km toy train ride there. On our way back, I bought some of the finest honey and coffee from the government shop. Finally at 3:45, we were back at our homestay. We quickly packed our bags and left for the bus stand. We reached Bangalore at 11 pm in the night.
Thus our fairytale tour to Coorg ended here. It had everything that one could wish for: charm, beauty, adventure and peace. I am looking forward to revisiting Coorg and also discovering some of the other untouched areas especially in Kerala. I have added lots of photographs to give all of you a feel of how truly wonderful these places are.
Travel details:
1. Forest pass can be obtained at Aranya Bhavan, 18th Cross, Malleshwaram, Bangalore (# 080-23341993). Office timings are 9:00am to 7:30pm.
2. Bus fare from Bangalore to Madikere 306/- per head. One can avail of a 10% discount if one books the return ticket.
3. Prithvi´s Home Stay, Mr. Prithvi K.P., H.No. 14-39/3, Stewart Hills, Madikeri 571 201 Ph: 08272-228104 Mob: 98454 67664 Cost for one and half a day for two persons approximated to 1400/- including breakfast, tea/coffee, lunch and dinner. Forwarded by: Mr. BK Sashidhar (Nanda), Nisarga David Lord Charitable Trust, Tourism and Trekking Information Centre, Near Upper Kodava Samaja, Madiker, Kodagu, Karnataka- 571201 Ph: 08272-229806/314509/224070 Cell: 9986615736 Mail: nisargatourism@yahoo.co.in
4. As we are part of the Project Tiger Census, Bandipur National Park, Mysore, our safari was free of cost. Only the pass that we had to take for my friend cost us a nominal 200/-. However for tourists, I can detail out the process:
One has to approach Aranya Bhavan (Bangalore/ Mysore) at least one week before the trip, fill out a 3 page form that is available. The form takes 2-3 days to process. Once done, they give a call and we need to take the pass. Cost: 800/- only.
To book a VIP suite one needs to pay 1200/ day/ head or 600/ day/ head for Normal Class, these are only boarding charges. Meals can cost any where around 500 to 1000/ day depending on one´s appetite and taste. The above mentioned safari is a Govt. one so is cheaper but if one goes for a safari by the Jungle Inns Resorts, one has to pay a minimum of 4000/ to 6000/ per head/ day. It´s costly, though many activities like elephant ride/ safari, forest camping, trekking and wild water rafting are included.
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