India

by Aline Dobbie

  However, even as Nagarahole is a refuge for these animals, their traditional migration corridors are being disturbed and the herds are becoming increasingly isolated populations leading to inbreeding, making them vulnerable to disease and bringing them into repeated conflicts with man. Protected areas such as Nagarahole are not sufficient to conserve elephants. There is an urgent need for more such areas that can be connected by viable, undisturbed corridors. A sustained and dedicated effort is required to prevent these beautiful, innocent giants from disappearing into the murky, grey mists of extinction.

  Kaziranga National Park

  Kaziranga is a wonderful wildlife park. It is the largest undisturbed representative area of the Brahmaputra river, its flood plain, grassland and forest. People speak of it as being a mini Africa in the Indian sub-continent. The Park has 70% of the world’s one-horned rhino population, 70% of the world population of the Eastern Swamp Deer and 75% of the world’s wild Asiatic Water Buffalo. It also has a significant population of the Asian Elephant. The Park has more than 450 species of birds, 18 of them are globally threatened species. Because of the varied habitat types that the park comprises, and because of the strict protection accorded to them, birding in Kaziranga is very special. The Eastern Range is good for water birds such as falcated teal, white-eyed pochard and spotbilled pelican (a colony of 200 pairs is located in this range). For grassland birds, the Western Range is ideal. The Bengal florican can be seen during elephant rides in the Central Range. The nearby Panbari Reserved Forest is good for spotting woodland birds such as yellow-vented warbler, great hornbill, and redheaded trogon. There is a wealth of interesting birdlife. Kaziranga is quite remote and one has to travel from Kolkata to Guwahati by plane and then make a long car journey. For those dedicated travellers who want to experience a really wild place, I recommend a visit to this region, for, although accommodation is of a modest nature, the intrepid wildlife enthusiast is rewarded by wonderful experiences. Moreover, the region has some outstanding historic sites and the hills in this region have hundreds of megalithic monuments, and apparently North-East India is the one place in the world where megalithic customs survive to this day. Harshad Patel made a journey to Kaziranga in March 2004 to photograph wildlife and enjoyed himself enormously.

  Pench Tiger Reserve

  The team members of Indian Explorations are also very committed to the conservation of India’s wildlife, and like me they are passionate about the vital importance of tiger and big cat conservation. They have very kindly contributed the following account of Pench to my book as I have not yet had the pleasure of going there. Reading their account has made Graham and me want to make a visit this coming season if at all possible.

  There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,

  There is a rapture on the lonely shore,

  There is a society where none intrudes,

  By the deep sea, and music in its roar:

  I love not man the less, but nature more

  Lord Byron

  If you ask any seasoned traveller to India the question, “Where should I go to see tigers?” you would probably receive the following answers: “Kanha”, “Bandhavgarh”, “Nagarahole”, or “Ranthambhore”. Very few would answer, “Pench”. A select few know about this little slice of paradise, so exclusive that it is not yet mentioned in any Lonely Planet or Bradt Travel guides, yet the montage of meadow and forest that characterizes the landscape of Pench Tiger Reserve is classic tiger country.

  Pench Tiger Reserve is one of the latest in the string of Project Tiger Reserves designed to protect key areas of India’s tiger habitat. Project Tiger, India’s largest Tiger protection project, was launched in 1973. Initially, just nine reserves were earmarked, but this has since increased to twenty-seven reserves. The Project’s aims are twofold: firstly, to increase public knowledge and awareness of the tiger and its fragile existence, secondly, to work with parks staff on a grassroots level to protect the tigers within their parks. The Project now encompasses reserves covering 37,761 sq. km, with approximately 1,650 tigers in these reserves. A recent success has been involving Indian children in the campaign – and the project now has just over one million “Tiger Kids” members.

  The inclusion of Pench Tiger Reserve in the Project Tiger system in 1991 heralded a change in the management of the reserve. Efforts have been concentrated on the relocation of the two villages that remained within the reserve, followed by the initiation of management and protection measures to improve the habitat of the reserve. It is clear that these measures have met with significant success, borne out by the fact that the populations of predators and prey have increased considerably.

  Pench is now being developed for wildlife tourism, with the emphasis being on an eco-friendly and non-invasive approach. Lessons, learned from other tiger reserves in the state, are being applied to moderate the traffic that enters the park. As in other reserves in Madhya Pradesh elephants are being used to track tigers and improve the chances of seeing these highly elusive cats.

  Located in the rolling terrain of the Satpura Hills and straddling the states of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, Pench Tiger Reserve supports a rich and varied array of wildlife. The forested hills, mainly teak and flame of the forest, are punctuated with the eerie pure white ghost trees, and were once known as the Seoni forests. It was here that Kipling chose to locate his story of the wolf boy Mowgli, adopted son of the Seoni wolf pack. The area of the reserve is 758 sq. km with a core area of 293 sq. km. The park has populations of chital, sambhar, gaur, nilgai, four-horned antelope, wild dog (Dhole), wolf, leopard and the tiger, and nearly three hundred species of birds. The reserve is drained by the Pench River, which has been dammed - the resulting reservoir in the centre of the park adding to the wealth of habitats of the reserve. Perennially full, the reservoir provides a much-needed source of water for the animals and birds of the reserve during India’s very dry months.

  One of Pench’s greatest advantages is that it is low profile, thus retaining that sense of uncharted wilderness that has been lost by so many of the more famous parks. The reserve is easy to reach both from Delhi and Mumbai. A flight of a little over an hour, followed by a two-hour drive on excellent roads and there you are in the middle of some of India’s most beautiful bush. Pench is perfectly situated on the “Tiger Trail”, five hours from Kanha and seven hours from Bandhavgarh. There are few lodges to choose from and this is a great advantage – fewer lodges mean fewer jeeps in the park, thus guaranteeing peaceful and uninterrupted game viewing. There is no queuing to enter the park and the guides have free rein to drive where they wish. The park employs over seventy forest guards, and a guard accompanies every excursion into the park. They are knowledgeable and talkative, often jumping up out of their seats to point out this animal or that bird. Their enjoyment of the park is very obvious.

  The tigers in the park are elusive, still slightly wary of vehicles, but are being spotted with ever increasing regularity. The last estimate is that there are fifty-one tigers, but since that census, two females are known to have given birth to cubs. The Bodha Nallah male, the largest tiger in the park, is a wonderful sight to behold, comparable to the male tiger Charger, from Kanha. He frequents a nallah in the centre of the park, and often his calls can be heard echoing up into the forests. His presence is often shown by scratch marks on the trees, the highest of which started at just over seven feet! A tiger spends most of his day resting, and hunts at night. Tiger sightings in Pench have slowly been increasing as the mahouts have been getting a feel for the local tigers, where they like to rest up during the day, where they come to drink, where they like to hunt. There is nothing like the experience of moving slowly through the forest, your giant taxi stopping here and there to pull a branch off a tree for a snack, then suddenly stopping, your mahout points, you peer and suddenly the white, black and orange stripes appear, blending in seamlessly with the foliage – he raises his head, and you look directly into the large round eyes of a fully grown tiger.


  Another attraction of the park is the Elephant camp, Alikatta, situated some fifteen kilometres into the park. The park currently uses four elephants, which, in the middle of the night, set out with their mahouts to track tigers. Mohan Bahadur and Jeng Bahadur are the males, enormous imposing creatures with massive ivories and a sense of immobile power – but they like nothing more than having their trunk scratched and being fed “elephant chapattis” which they take delicately with the tip of their trunks and then post into their bubblegum pink mouths, while eyeing the next snack appreciatively. The ladies of the group are Chanchal Kali, Saraswati and Damini. Chanchal Kali is presently not working, as she has a year old calf, Pench Bahadur, born on May 10th, 2003 – a very cheeky chap! Visitors, thinking he is approaching them to greet them get a shock as he suddenly puts on a spurt of speed, sometimes chasing them right up the steps of the mounting block! A highlight of visiting Pench must be a trip to the Elephant camp, where, if the timing is right, you will see the elephants being bathed and fed.

  Of the four lodges in the area, Bagh Van (which, literally translated, means “Tiger Jungle”) Lodge has recently been built to the highest standards to provide the perfect base from which to explore the reserve with trained naturalist guides on staff. The lodge, consisting of twelve rooms, is set amongst Saja and Mahuwa trees on the edge of a nallah, a small streambed which becomes a roaring torrent during the monsoon. The décor in the rooms is warm and rustic, using earthy colours which blend in beautifully and add just the right touch of elegance and comfort. Leopard are often heard calling in the nallah, and sometimes even tiger. Ask to see the flying squirrels – a Bagh Van speciality!

  Throughout this chapter, the reader has had the opportunity to read the accounts of four people, other than me; each of them bringing the same passionate enthusiasm to their wildlife watching and their respect and admiration for those who assisted them to see these various beautiful animals in their natural habitat. I can think of nothing better than to be with all of them and young Chris Brunskill, (whose book ‘Tiger Forest’ is a beautiful pictorial record of the Tigers of Ranthambhore) over a period of time in perhaps January or over Christmas watching and ‘drinking in’, as it were, the sheer beauty of the wild experience. Certainly, Graham and I will go to those places we have not yet experienced and if circumstances allow, return to those we already love.

  The Earth has enough for everyone’s need, but not for anyone’s greed.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  CHAPTER

  EIGHTEEN

  My Personal Reflections

  on Departure

  I was driven to Mumbai International Airport in very good time to catch my flight back to the UK. The stringent security at this airport is to be commended. It seems to far outweigh anything I have experienced in European airports. The meticulous way the officials go through one’s hand luggage is very good. Oh yes! It proves profoundly embarrassing for some because the man unpacks the luggage in full view of the other passengers waiting in the secure departure lounge. I saw many people feeling so awkward and agitated that they left their vital documents or mobile phones behind on the counter. My advice would be not to have any dirty laundry or ‘eccentric’ items in the hand luggage, they are frequently held up for everyone to observe and, believe me, everyone is so bored and tired their eyes lock onto this activity! As I already mentioned, I had a small polythene bag of herbal medicine which was questioned, fortunately its pungent aromatic smell made it quite clear what this was. The BA cabin crew were put through equally stringent inspections just before boarding the aircraft to receive us passengers.

  In August of 2003, Mumbai again experienced two evil bombings that left a young family orphaned. The second bomb was detonated right next to the Gateway of India and was obviously planned to create a symbolic tourist outrage, never mind who else tragically was affected. India will understandably tighten up its security and I know it feels under siege from these evil forces, that are possibly operating from a neighbouring country which sadly has been subsumed by terror and elements of sectarian extremism. In no worthwhile belief or philosophy is there a directive to hate, torture, rape, terrorise, subjugate or kill one’s fellow human beings. How many times fanatics in every belief have twisted doctrines to achieve cruel ends but that is all man-made and self-serving, as we are witnessing elsewhere in the world.

  Being on my own, I had plenty of time in which to indulge in reflection and there are some quite comfortable lounger chairs in one part of the departure area which mean that one can virtually stretch out, while keeping a watchful eye on the hand luggage at the same time. I went into a kind of reverie whereby my mind was reflecting on all that I had enjoyed and also on all that troubled me about India.

  Wisdom makes light the darkness of ignorance.

  Six simple words that encapsulates all one’s thoughts, uttered by the Buddha thousands of years ago. They are as effective today as when they were first written. India is entitled to have a pride in the nation’s Hindu heritage, but constructive pride leads to benevolent behaviour whereas destructive fervour and hate leads to a downward spiral. India and its great worldwide diaspora must ensure that the country does not implode with hatred and destruction with regard to the Hindu and Muslim conflict of belief. The birth of Independent India was accompanied by tragedy and we do not need to see any of it reenacted for the horrified eyes of our grandchildren.

  This does however require people to be civic minded and not feel that they can continue to enrich their personal lives but leave the welfare of the nation to someone else. Inevitably, the resulting moral vacuum will be filled by someone who has a greed for power and self-aggrandisement, usually with psychopathic tendencies as a characteristic. The twentieth century was full of leaders like that both in the West and the East. Africa as a continent continues to display some of the worst features of humanity when people accrue total power and dispense with democracy.

  India should be a permanent member of the Security Council of the United Nations, and I know that there is currently a huge lobby seeking to achieve this with which I agree but, were there to be further sectarian violence and killing, that would become an empty achievement.

  India, however, is justifiably proud in being the world’s largest democracy, now embarking confidently on its 21st century journey as a prosperous global power. It seems to me to have shed its mantle of saintly third world developing country. Indians, in their energy and enthusiasm, are, whenever possible, embracing the modern world and I think India is going to be the giant of this century; indeed Indian expertise in so many scientific fields is immense and most particularly in the IT industry. The call centre industry is already huge with perhaps some negative aspects but McKinsey predict that by 2008 IT services and back-office work will swell fivefold to a £57 billion annual export industry employing four million people and accounting for seven per cent of India’s GDP.

  China is perhaps India’s biggest foreign threat. Their economic growth has made theirs the fastest growing economy in the world and in two decades it will overtake not only Britain and France but Germany and Japan to join the United States at the top of the international wealth rankings. There are, however, global repercussions in the emergence of China and the US has discovered that there is a trade deficit of $100 billion a year with China and is considering a bill to impose a 28 per cent tariff on Chinese imports. China has a standing army of 2.3 million and a longstanding sense of grievance that for two centuries it has not been accorded the world respect it deserves. Underneath the perceived westernisation and integration into the world, an aggressive streak still lurks. India suffered from this form of imperialism in 1962, and I was in Calcutta (Kolkata) at the time and experienced the humiliation of India who had allowed herself to be totally unprepared with vain leaders who did not see the vital importance of a well-equipped efficient army and naively thought that having turned a blind eye to the invasion of Tibet they had no reason to fear China. That has, however, been rectified in
the intervening years with India’s army now up to strength and very well-equipped, and by having become a nuclear power. China seeks international respect in the world and that quest for greatness can be potentially a breeding ground for ultra nationalism.

  The official view in both Britain and America is that as China becomes more prosperous it becomes more relaxed and therefore less of a threat. However, the recent meetings of the South East Asian Nations and Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation gave people a reason to think again. They have an ambitious proposal to create a free-trade zone to cover more than half the world’s population from India eastwards. At the APEC meeting in Thailand, it was obvious that everyone was behaving in a sycophantic way towards the next economic giant. However, its economy is overheating, its banks are heavily indebted, yet any correction would unleash a revolutionary wave of discontent. Tens of millions of workers are being laid off from state-owned firms. A banking crisis coupled with an economic downturn could put a halt to China’s renaissance and challenge the rule of the Communist Party. Either way, China is a challenge, because if the country succeeds economically and becomes the supreme global giant then the country will seek to shape the world in ways that benefit China. If, however, China fails then she might embark on military imperialism once again. Either way, she is a significant threat to India.

  India, I am convinced, could be the real global economic giant of this century for a variety of reasons. Firstly, being the world’s largest democracy, that immediately appeals to other countries and earns their respect. Secondly, India has in the last three years reformed its whole economic strategy. These reforms have created companies that are capable and willing to compete in global markets. However, the competition for foreign investment is easily won by China, whose government wisely put in a good modern infrastructure with which to attract foreign investment. India mistakenly seemed to want foreign investment in her infrastructure which naturally did not have the same appeal to the outsider.