Melghat!

Baby Rhesus Macaque by the roadside. He begged for food for a while, making a cute noise at us and even standing up on his hind legs. Truck drivers and other people have got monkeys into the terrible habit of hanging around in the road for handouts. Many get killed in car accidents thanks to this stupidity. What a pity Indians think it kind to give unnecessary snacks to so many creatures. It would be kinder to leave most of them alone.





Above: In the forest



Above: Gajanan, who along with Pradeep conducts the education programme of NCSA in the 39 villages of Melghat's Multiple Use area. This is next to the Sipna river at Semadoh.



Above: Chital



Above: Snake skin

Below: Fallen Mahua flowers. These are used by tribals to make a liquor of the same name. It's ironical that there happened to be a matchstick lying next to the flowers. Villagers often start fires under Mahua and Tendu trees, to "clear" the ground before the flowers and leaves fall. They often "clear" large sections of the forest as well.



I made my first trip to Melghat Tiger Reserve earlier this week. It was a very brief trip, just one and a half days, but there was a lot of new information I tried to absorb in that short time and I am trying to let it all settle into my head!

This was the only SF/NCSA project area I had never visited. So I decided to make a quick visit after going to Pench for some follow-up work (more on that later). It's always a privilege to talk to SF President/founder Kishor Rithe, and I was lucky to have his company for the whole trip. As always I plagued him with hundreds of questions which he answered very patiently. This is such a vast region and the issues impacting the tiger are so varied and complex that my questions will probably never end, but I am certainly a lot clearer in my mind about lots of things - exactly how reforestation is being done at Akot (south of Melghat Tiger Reserve), how barren land is made fertile, agro-forestry, forest legislation from the 1870s till the present day.

The first part of the trip was spent exploring the Community Resource Centre belonging to NCSA. I'll put those pictures in another post. In the evening I accompanied the Duda education van to a village called Chikli. The next morning was spent exploring the tourist zone of the Reserve. This series of images are of the forest and wildlife.