This is the blog of Satpuda Foundation and Nature Conservation Society of Amravati. We work to protect wildlife and the forests of the Satpuda Tiger
Landscape of central India. Even though most of us are city-dwellers. This blog is about how we urbanites can help to stem the tide and save our national animal from extinction. And in turn, save ourselves.
A one-month residential training programme on Vegetable Science and Nursery Maintenance was successfully completed in October (September 12 - October 6, 2009).
Church of North India Social Services Institute (CNI-SSI), National bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) and Satpuda Foundation jointly organized the training.
A total of 25 candidates were short listed out of which 10 candidates were selected, all from villages situated in and around Pench Tiger Reserve, Maharashtra.
The training focussed on teaching farmers intercropping. The participants were imparted practical training on growing various kinds of roses, flowers and vegetables and on developing lawns, all of which represent opportunities to augment their income as there is demand for these items in urban areas.
Experts who guided the trainees in the field, included Shri. Ingole (Krushi Sahayyak Adhikari, Nagpur) Shri Wankhede and shri Jog (Nursery department, Nagpur) Shri. Chawre (Vayvasthapak ,Zilla Udyog Kendra, Nagpur ) Shri Sudhir Bhange, (Prasikshak) under whose guidance the training was successfully completed.
The training was conducted at Khandala village on the outskirts of Nagpur where CNI-SSI has a development centre. Training started on September 12 and ended on October 6. Besides classroom lectures, the trainees also learnt on the job by working at the development centre.
In addition, they were taken on visits to successful flower and vegetable farms in Nagpur as well as to a farm which specialised in developing lawns.
These visits helped the trainees interact with successful farmers and learn firsthand from them the potential in this line of farming.
The trainees have returned to their respective villages with plenty of new ideas and have promised to try out some of these ideas.
Satpuda Foundation in collaboration with the Wildlife Department of Maharashtra, Sant Gadgebaba Amravati University, Environment Education and Conservation Global( EECG) and Nature Conservation Society, Amravati (NCSA) has organized an international course in ‘Education as a tool for species conservation with a focus on tiger in India.’
This will be the first such course of international importance to be organized in India. 15 selected delegates from several countries including India will participate in it, Vice-Chancellor of SGAU Dr Kamal Singh and Environmentalist Kishor Rithe told reporters on Monday.
The course will be conducted at SGAU as well as in Melghat and Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserves from November 2 to 20.
The course has been organized to prepare emerging environmentalists so that they can create awareness in people about climate change, environment conservation and other environment-related issues.
Different complex problems about environment will be taught and discussed during this course and measures to solve them will also be tackled.
Participants include six delegates from Bangladesh, Nepal and Thailand and nine members from Jammu Kashmir, Assam, Andman and Nicobar and Maharastra.
Above: Hunt of Sambar, interrupted (unintentionally) by our arrival
Below: Dhole dragging killed Chital fawn away
Below: Dhole pup swimming, Pandarpaoni meadow
My regular driver in Tadoba (Bandu) can't quite understand my obsession with the Dhole.
He finds it odd that I can sit for an hour or more staring at Dholes instead of rushing around the reserve trying to get a tiger "sighting."
To me, and many others too, this animal is a stellar attraction in the jungles, as magnetic as the tiger or leopard. I am, after all, as much of a dog person as a cat person. And the Dhole or Indian Wild Dog is one of the most fascinating members of the canid family.
I've been very lucky: these beautiful little dogs have honoured me with quite a lot of their time, on my visits to Tadoba-Andhari, Pench and Nagarhole. Sometimes they've sat in the grass just 40 feet away from our vehicle, playing and rolling in the grass like village pups, casting a glance at us from time to time but not particularly bothered by our presence. Sometimes they've marked territory. Once we drove some distance behind three Dhole bitches as they bounded along a path.
I can't agree with Kipling's unflattering depiction of them in the Second Jungle Book, in which they feature as villains. Here's how he describes their peculiar hunting screams: "...a hideous kind of shriek that the jackal gives when he is hunting behind a tiger, or when there is a big killing afoot. If you can imagine a mixture of hate, triumph, fear and despair, with a kind of leer running through it, you will get some notion of the pheeal that rose and sank and wavered and quavered far away across the Waingunga..."
It is a strange sound actually, like a whistle. Last year I watched a pack of fourteen Dholes hunting (in Tadoba) and the air was full of these high-pitched shrieks. It took me a few minutes to realize who was making the sounds - they are so un-doglike!
That hunt was an unforgettable event in my life, a miracle of co-ordination and teamwork. We were right inside it, surrounded by it! I have this memory of the panicking Chital herd running like lightning, handsome stags and does and fawns, and Dholes streaking all around us with their bushy tails flying: both predator and prey at the absolute height of their power and skill. Because their lives, quite literally, depended upon their performance in this deadly arena. When a young Chital was finally brought down, I could only feel relieved that after all their effort, the dogs would not go hungry. A kill is not a pretty sight, but there is nothing "cruel" about wild predators hunting. It is simply the way they eat and make it to the next day. It's a rare privilege to get such a glimpse into the real life of the jungle.
These dogs have an electrifying effect on herbivores. Everything runs when Dholes appear on the scene, even huge boar and sambar many times their size. A hunting dhole pack seems to inspire more fear than the big cats even. Having witnessed the focused ferocity of such a pack, I'm not surprised by the herbivores' reaction. I've seen these pretty little dogs clear the huge Pandarpaoni meadow in Tadoba in just a few seconds. I was once told of a pack that even "treed" a tiger.
Unlike many big cats, these animals don't seem uneasy in the presence of humans, at least that has been my experience. They give you a measuring look, as if trying to figure out whether you are likely to bother them or not, but they don't look nervous or scared. I would almost imagine that they are curious about us, and not unfriendly, but I don't want to jump to such conclusions. It is well known that we humans view domestic dogs through a cloud of delusion, and this may extend to wild canids as well.
If you've never seen a Dhole, my advice is to head to Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve and spend a few days there.
If you're lucky, Kipling's "Red Killer" will cross your path.
Note: Due to technological incompetence, I am unable to upload my photos in a way that retains their true colours. Dholes in real life and in my original images are much redder than they look here.
We recently did a post about the IT education and spoken English classes we are planning to introduce for tribal and other village kids living in/near/off tiger reserves.
The computer literacy programme is the brainchild of SF volunteer Kirti Chavan, who is an IT professional himself and formerly worked at NIIT. Our appeal for used computers was circulated by members of our Facebook group "Tigers of the Satpudas" (scroll down for the link), and we have been donated a laptop by Gautam Berry and two desktops by Bhaskar Shetty.
We will possibly tie up with a well-known education non-profit to launch this programme, but more on that later. Kirti has just returned from his first trip to Pench, where he visited two villages to profile the students-to-be.
Here's his account of the trip:
I am not very good at organizing things for myself specially when it comes to travel, but when I planned my trip to Pench Tiger Reserve, I somehow got everything organized in time. I got my days planned out and I even got confirmed train tickets. But there was a high level of uncertainty in my mind. I did not know how I was going to meet the local tribals and how I would get the information I needed for profiling prospective learners, and how to explain that IT training and the English language would benefit them. I had started to think this visit would not really give me any clear picture about how we would implement IT training in these remote forest locations.
But in the end all went really well, thanks to SF Vice-President Giri Venkatesan, Anoop Awasthi and other local field officers. We first went to Ghoti village in Pench - Maharashtra. About twenty school children greeted us in English...quite a delight to hear the children say "Good morning sir," and "thank you" when asked to sit down. There were ten adults from the village who had come to find out what we had to offer and discuss their plans and ideas for employment. All this reflected on one thing for sure, some people do want to move ahead in life and want better for their children, but they still have limited access to resources and information.
We met Vinod Ramdas Chaple, a young lad from Ghoti village who scored 71% in his 12th standard exam two years back but did not go to college, as he was told that college education would mean lots of money. So he didn't bother even inquiring in nearby colleges for any grants or schemes that could work in his favour. So now he has been at home doing nothing for the past two years. We encouraged him to go back to college and check for some schemes that he can utilize. I just hope this boy still has faith in himself and that two years of doing nothing hasn't eaten up his ambitions.
But I still think there are many more Vinods out there who could get proper guidance and support from us and can do good in life.
After meeting the ambitious, curious, enthusiastic villagers of Ghoti we went on to meet the even brighter, more ambitious and upping-their-village-standard people of Sawra. At Sawra the children were very enthusiastic and ready for an on-the-spot English and reading test. I must say most of them performed better than I had thought they would. I should add that there were three other children who travelled 20 kms just to come to the study centre and get a little extra group study time - something that is unthinkable when it comes to city children, who would probably go to the neighbouring building to their friend's house with a collection of their favourite DVDs in the name of group study.
Another very impressive piece of progress that's worth mentioning is about the lantana furniture making (see our earlier post here, Lantana: the new bamboo). The very idea that you can make money out of a destructive weed that would otherwise destroy the forest is superbly well-executed, and like Giri says it has a knock on effect. I saw a few young lads from a neighbouring village who came to check the lantana work because they had heard a lot about its progress and demand from the cities.
And what better way to end this great trip than to see an authentic tribal dance performed by men from Sawra. Satpuda Foundation is encouraging the villagers to perform for tourists, as this is not only getting the villagers some extra income but also spreading awareness about this almost unknown tribal culture.
There's a child prodigy that I would like to mention here, a little girl and her sister, I forget their names but not their singing. They were truly gifted. The elder girl had been sent to Delhi - first time ever some one from that village ever went to Delhi - and she won competitions and accolades. And the younger one was even more gifted! I wonder why she is not on one of the many children's talent shows on TV.
A couple of days ago TOI reported on its front page that Andhra CM’s copter went missing in the “naxal & tiger-infested” Nallamalla forests. This same sentiment has been blatantly echoed across most media without even a thought about its veracity.
Firstly, I do not need to be a wildlife expert to understand that humans and wildlife cannot exist together….especially when it’s the gun-toting and ruthless kind of humans. So one simply cannot say ‘naxal & tiger infested’ in the same breath. In 2004, I had visited Srisailem, the pilgrimage site and we had passed through the some parts of the dense but dry forests of this region. NSTR (Nagarjunsagar Srisailem Tiger Reserve) is spread over 3568sqkms region in the Nallamalla hills and in 2004 it was totally out of bounds for the tourists then as it is now. The reason being, that the forests were infested with Naxals at their peak of subversive activity. Nobody talked about the condition of the wildlife then. By 2006, the confrontation between the Naxals and the Greyhounds were in full-swing and the tigers and rest of the wildlife had retreated far inside the forest. Now, most of the Naxalite groups have moved away from this region to other neighboring region due to this operation. Now this region, I should say, is ‘infested’ with villagers and their cattle.
Secondly, if the forests were really ‘infested’ with tigers as the media announced, then we really shouldn’t be worried about the declining tiger population in the largest reserve of the country. This reserve considered the last bastion for the tigers have only 60 tigers as per the census of May 2009. The census as we all know is done by the archaic and unscientific method of pug mark counting. Our experiences in other national parks and tiger reserves have shown that the actual numbers can be much much less that what this method usually throws up. So, in an area which is as large as 3568sqkms, a tiger population of less than 60 tigers is considered ‘being infested’.
This is the reality of the story told by media which now-a-days is based purely on sensationalism. This coupled with corrupt politicians can only bring anarchy in the future. The truth, it seems is getting more and more difficult to find.
In some forest regions, SF has been successful of getting most or all the villages resettled outside the forest. In some places, the struggle continues. The villages prior to resettlement have always been dependent on the forest for their resources and there is always an umbilical chord which keeps them tied to the forest. Though the government gives a good amount to each of the households for resettlement, the money will not last forever. Especially for the children of the villages.
Hence, there is a need to provide them with options which will help them generate a source of income in the future and thus keep them away from the forest. The first step towards this is but logically, education. Education in areas which can be used as a platform to leverage their skills – namely IT literacy and knowledge of English language.
This idea was thought and mulled over by us for a couple of months looking for ways to take it forward. Along with Kirti, one of our enthusiastic volunteers who have been involved in the “Hole in the Wall” project by NIIT, we have finally come to a point where the idea seems to be taking some concrete shape.
Early next month, we will be able to give you more news about this. For updates and requests, please join our facebook group - Tigers of Satpuda.
Traditionally, village craftsmen in forest areas have used bamboo for making fences, furniture and household items such as baskets. With the rapid shrinking of tiger habitats this has become a serious problem, since bamboo is an integral part of many forests. For instance in Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve the undergrowth is almost all bamboo.
Recently Satpuda Foundation organized a workshop for villagers near Pench Tiger Reserve (Madhya Pradesh). Participants were taught to make items out of lantana wood instead of bamboo. Lantana is an introduced species and it has become a problem in India, as it is invasive and harmful to native vegetation.
The group in the first photo have taken up this craft full-time and have already received orders from a local resort and other clients. I took these pictures in the village Turiya. The chair is as tough as bamboo - our Conservation Officer Anoop Awasthi demonstrated its strength to me by standing on it and jumping up and down!
This is part of our regular capacity-building training programmes, through which we empower villagers to earn better livelihoods and reduce their dependence on the forest. It's a win-win situation for all as wildlife and the environment obviously benefit when deforestation stops. It would be great if we could encourage this initiative by placing orders for lantana items. Please contact us at satpuda AT gmail DOT com, or else email me at rajashree DOT khalap AT gmail DOT com
After coming back to Harisal I along with Rohan Mukerjee (MBA intern)and Saurabh Shanu ( ICFAI intern )went for Socio-Economic survey in the nearby villages.Survey include general information about family, agriculture,other sources of income etc.
"Taraubanda" was the first one. A big village by Melghat standards with population of around 1200. It was located on a plateau. It has water pipe line and electricity line though only nine houses had electricity connection. While doing survey Rohan and me inquired villagers about Resettlement scheme undertaken by Govt to relocate these villages in Plains under Project Tiger. We were quite taken aback when we asked a villager What does he feel about reservation and would he like to get resettled? And he said “ Sahab Hum mar jayenge”. It set both of us thinking. These villagers has spent their whole lives there and now we want to resettle them. They had been and are living in perfect harmony with jungles. The animals in the jungles had been sharing space with these villagers. But then there is other side which concerns with protecting tigers and other wild animals. There are very few of them in Natural Environment and there is urgent need to protect them before even they become victim of human greed.
( above- with villagers in Tarubanda village )
Next i want to “Chikli" . There were same sentiments expressed by people. A woman even asked me to get out of village thinking that i was a government official.
Doing door to door surveys in these villages provided me new insight into problems these people were facing. People don’t have ration card. Irregularities in NREGA. People getting work only for 15-30 days instead of 100. Also work was provided in rainy season when they wee busy with agricultural activities and not in summers. Electricity is a luxury there which not many people can afford. No reimbursement for crop loss which is as high as 50% in many cases. And many more...
While returning to Harisal we saw a herd of around 30 deer. But ran away as soon as they saw us. These surveys left many question unanswered. More about that later...
It all started when I realised that i had nothing constructive and interesting to do in my 3 months vacation after my first year at IIT Delhi. So i thought over my options. Staying at IIT itself and doing some project was out of question as it wouldn’t be either constructive or interesting. And over that Delhi’s hot temperature was a big no for me.The other option was to stay at home and spend time watching TV Shows and movies and partying with friends. It would have been interesting but not constructive. Soi thought why not go for volunteering with some NGO. That way i could work on something closer to my heart and it would be constructive and interesting as well.
So i went off to Melghat Tiger Reserve to work with Satpuda Foundation . This was first time i was off to something like this as earlier whenever i volunteered, it was at some familiar place. Here i was , at unknown place, alone, and no idea about people i was going to meet and what to expect. My journey to Nagpur was no less interesting. I couldn’t get a Train Ticket so have to do with bus. I reached Bhopal after 18 hrs journey in Rajsthan Roadways Blue Line bus . I thought that Bhopal being a capital city, buses from here to Nagpur would be frequent. But it wasn't so. So i have to wait for a whole to catch a bus. And i couldnt' get a ticket in that too. I have to sit behind driver seat in cabin for full 12 hrs on way to Nagpur with “minor” hiccups like a punctured Tyre and a RTO Check.
So when i landed in Nagpur, I was exhausted to the hilt. Kishore Sir, President of SF briefed me about the work i have to do. In the initial first week i was supposed to work with Duda Education Van on Melghat education program. If you're wondering what "Duda" means, it's this charming little bird, the Forest Owlet. Duda is its name in the language of the Korkus, a tribe that live in Melghat Tiger Reserve and elsewhere in the Satpudas. As mentioned in previous post of Rajshree, Duda Van goes into tribal villages twice/thrice a year. They put up atforest rest house and cover nearby villages visiting a village a day.Children and adults are taken for nature walks around their village, and educated about the many treasures there. They are taken for forest safaris in the Duda Gadi. They play games specially designed for these workshops, including one called "Web of Life" . In the evening when the adults are free, they are shown films about wildlife and nature and its protection.
So next day i went to Harisal 300 kms away in a taxi. SF have a Community Resource Center there. Stayed overnight there. Duda "gaadi" was being prepared for its journey for next fortnight. On 3rd June, Wednesday in afternoon we started for chawrakund. 11 kms from Harisal. There were four of us. Ratan ji ( Driver ), Gajanan Shanware, Saurabh ( ICFAI Internee ) and me. We inquired for forest guard in the village as he had the keys for forest rest house who came after 1 hour. Rest House was amazingly well furnished with a solar panel. But I soon realised that i have to cook food on "Chuhla" and that too by myself. Saurabh had no clue about how to make rotis. So i went off with making Rotis. After seeing the pathetic cooking skills of mine for 2 days Ratan ji said “Sir please let me make the rotis. “
(below- forest rest house)
I then spent the evening enquiring about past Duda Van Programs in the villages with Gajanan and Ratan ji. Next day after having Lunch , we started for Tangda Village. It was a small village of around 80 families. I had heard beforehand that Duda Gadi was quite popular there so as soon as we reached there children were all around chasing our van. People came out of their home to see what’s happening. We decided that it would be better if we conduct activities with children in the evening as it was noon and schools were closed for summer holidays, So we went to house of Polis Patil to get some information regarding village. He was busy with some official work. So we inquired with villagers (gavkari) about the development work being carried out and problems of village . We also inquired about educated unemployed who wanted to learn something or do some work. Whole afternoon was spent in that. After that children gathered around our van. We played different games like “Web of Life” with them. Also sang some song like "Pahadi pe ped tha..", "Jungle to pyaar ka mangal hai" together. In the evening we set up our projector system and showed the movie "Lands Of Tiger" to the villagers. I was surprised that whole village was present. Someone from village brought as Tea and Man!!...It was tasty.
(below- interacting with Children )
Next day we went to Bhuturm . 25kms from chawrakund. This was an experience i wont forget. There is village where electrical lines were laid down 30 years back and there is no electricity in them and had never been, This is irony of development. As i enquired with villagers about development, they werent too bothered about it except a few. There was no telephone or mobile network in village. Forget about water pipeline. Suddenly my problems seemed very small. I was wondering how these peoplelive without what we consider basic necessities of life. In the evening when we setting up our projector for movie screening someone protested saying that we want to pollute mind of their teenagers. Saying that we were part of Project Tiger.That we want to resettle their village. I was quite taken aback by this response. Those people were quite apprehensive of government activities. Somehow we managed to convince him with help from Local people. When we returned to Rest House there was no electricity and it wasn't there for next 24 hrs.
(above- villager arguing against movie screening)
(above- village girl )
Khokmar was next village in line . It was 20 kms from chawrakund , on way to Bhutrum. This village was same as Bhutrum except that there is a State Transport Bus Service till here and not to Bhutrum 5kms away and there were solar lamps provided under project tiger to each house. There was a public dispensary also. I could see the difference between two villages quite distinctly. When we were movie screening was going on in the evening, the projector screwed up due to extreme heat output. We tried to fix it but had to return Harisal very next day to get it fixed permanently and to get a TV .
(below- interacting with villagers)
(Above- Villagers with Duda Van )
Chawrakund was the last village. This was most developed village inall four. There was a primary school till 7th. There was a post office and people were quite educated and aware of their rights and duties. Next day i left for Harisal in the morning as i had to do socio economic surveys in the nearby villages .
(below- movie screening in village)
But after these four days i spent in these tribal villages , my perspective of how i see things changes. As I wrote earlie, Suddenly My Problems seemed very small . These villagers were content with what they had. Sure they had some issues, but they were trivial.I met people who doesnt even heard of nagpur forget about mumbai, delhi. I met people who dont know what the idea of India or Bharat is all about. Amravati was like final destination for them. Some of the Womenfolk over therehaven’t ventured out of their village ever. As my driver Ratan ji put up the whole experience in few words "Sir, aap melghat ko kabhi nahi bhool paoge.Jo ek baar melghat mein rah liya wo kahi bhi rah sakta hai"
The hot dry day gave way for a sudden thunder shower in the night. The rain lashed down the whole night and the morning turned out to be wet and chilly. I wrapped a dupatta around me as the jeep lined up in front of the forest gate. Forests and Safaris only meant this desire to spot a tiger…and I was looking forward to my ride.
Thankfully it was the beginning of the week and hence all the weekend tourists were gone. There were only a couple of jeeps, much much to my relief. Our turn came and we drove in…immediately spotting a few deers grazing nearby. A good start, I thought. As we drove on, the forest started to unfold. The silence, the occasional twitter of the Indian Bluejay, the mating bark of the male deer and the darkness with the first golden rays of the sun trying to push its way in through the trees. But what I loved the most was this fresh smell of the forest after the previous night’s shower. I was spellbound.
Everything around me looked and felt alive. I had forgotten how good it feels to breathe in the fresh morning air, to be with nature at her finest. And although I did get to spot bisons, jackals, wild boars, sambars, spotted owl, grey hornbill, a variety of ducks and geese/storks and a leopard, the best part was to just drive silently through the forest and soak in the atmosphere….to know the forest, be a part of one.
It’s a good feeling when the forest also accepts you in return.
Above: These calm and placid waters are the lair of the Marsh Crocodile, or "Mugger." If the tiger rules the jungle, it is this creature who rules the water... at least in Tadoba Lake!
Above: On most of my Tadoba trips, my Mugger sightings have been restricted to heads bobbing briefly above the water, or equally brief glimpses of scaly backs. Last monsoon I got lucky. I saw several of these magnificent creatures at the edge of the lake.
They seem to come from a much more ancient world than this; from the age of reptiles.
This one reminded me of a poem from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland...
"How cheerfully he seems to grin, And neatly spreads his claws, And welcomes little fishes in, With gently smiling jaws!"
