Mad Madrasis at Melghat

We did make it!

75 + birds species

Dry - I mean really dry - teak forests

Five dry rivers

Brown everywhere

Including the gaur, sambar and wild boar

MTDC horrors at Chikaldhara

A leopard seen while on foot

Bone-rattling jeep drives

Dahi rabdi at Semadoh

40 degrees + temperatures with no power

New friends - Sajid the driver and Neelkant the make-shift cook boy

MNS camaraderie

Endorphins released to last us a year, I think!

Nothing-is-impossible Vijay

Been there done that Mr Ramanan

Ever giggling and helpful Divya

Sweet-tempered Shoba (doesnt anything make her mad?!)

Mr Ranjan from Kochi

Deepika and Shoben - between them we had everything from a knife to bottle opener to kakras and teplas

Raji - our quack doctor with her Himalaya ayurvedic supplies

Stoic and wry Sekar

A trip full of memories and incidents to last a lifetime.  Pioneers, maybe we were?  I wonder if there is anyone in madras who has been to Melghat?!

More, as and when I recover!

Continued here.

Will we make it to Melghat?

Our train tickets to Badnera are still waitlisted, for our journey to the Melghat Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra.

So, silence for the next ten days on this blog means good news, and that we did make the train.  Else, I'll be back and blogging my blues away.

Where is Melghat?

Good question!  I was also ignorant until a month ago, when the MNS trip was announced. Now, I know that its in the Gavilgarh hills, which is an offshoot of the Satpura mountains in northern Maharashtra.   

What I am looking forward to is the 5 tributaries of the Tapti for which it is the catchment area supposedly, as also the peak Vairat, which is at a height of 1,000+m, and the forests and the cool weather (I hope!).  Maybe the Gavilgarh fort as well.

How are we getting there?

We are taking Navjeevan express from Chennai to Badnera, a 19 hour journey, and then driving down to Chikaldhara, where we will probably stay at the MTDC accommodation.

And will we see the increasingly rare tiger?  

Here are some links about the state of the sanctuary:

Project Tiger Status Report for Melghat, 2001

The Business Line report on the state of the sanctuary in 2003

Sanctuary Spotlight in The Hindu, 2005

While I was away....

it looks like my husband was busy with the birds (thankfully the feathered kind!), and caught our daily visitor in fine form.

(To really enjoy these lovely photos, please click on them and see them full-size.)

Now, I am quite convinced that he's the same chap whom I wrote about here. He knows us so well, that he doesn't budge even if we eyeball him. Should probably take to modelling. Look at the fine pose he has struck, and since he didnt fidget this time, these picture came out really sharp.

He obviously spends a good deal of time on his daily toilette. Notice how all the white on his chest is really white. I mean he does this without soap or detergent! They look so soft and downy as well. All the brown feathers are groomed and not one is out of place. And then on his head, look at the lovely grey streak all the way to the back.

He stops on the ramp, then turns around and allows us to see his tail as well! And all the while he goes chirrup, chirrup, and looks at us impatiently. Should name him... What though? ... Sparky... Perky.... Chirpy... Cheeky... Ginger...

The red-capped postman

Thats what he reminds me of. (Actually my postman is dressed in blue and has no red cap.)  Or is it a schoolboy in uniform?  Or maybe a fireman from a Noddy book?

Sinna kukuvaran in tamil....

Or Chempukotti in malayalam

Or Coppersmith Barbet

Or Megalaima haemacephala

Another sparrow-sized bird, that goes tonk-tonk outside my bedroom window, on the Millingtonia tree! My husband was lucky with these pictures, as Mr Barbet usually shows up early morning, when the light is poor.

As he sits there, his head moves jerkily back and forth as he calls out in that repetitive tonk-tonk, sounding like a melodious version of the worker banging on the steel rods in the construction site next door.
I never tire of looking at this bird, its lovely red cap and red chest. And that stout bill.

Poor Mrs Barbet, she has no such adornments and is a rather plain green, as you can see below. Unlike the sparrow, its rather shy, and flies off at the least movement at my window.
I wonder if they eat neem fruits, since they are frugivorous, and that's the only fruit tree on our street! They're supposed to feast on figs, banyan and peepul fruit..

There are some great photos on Flickr of this little bird.    My favourite is Ryan Brookes, who has captured the bird in that large urban sprawl Mumbai.  Its amazing how amidst all the noise, dust and hustle bustle, you can still find these treasures, if you only look.

Another great one is Pixelography, who's got two of them on a branch, in Chennai.

Memories of Central Park

"Where else can you get a half a million things,
All at a quarter to three", sang Huey Lewis and the News, about New York.

Our summer of 2005 was spent at New York, and besides the wonderful times with our family there, I have very happy memories of Central Park. It was my first chance encounter with birding as well.

In Madras, one has to live near the beach, and in New York you have to be around Central Park!

We arrived, just at the end of the winter, and as we drove in and through the park, the winter brown was contrasted with this lovely burst of yellow.

In a fortnight, though, it was different, the lawns were green, and the trees too, and New Yorkers just hung out taking in the sun. So did we. 

I remember in the bad old days, we Indians would be terrified of Central Park, and were constantly told how innocent Indians would definitely get mugged there. During my previous visit I was given strict instructions by my mother not to wander alone in the park!


Then came the flowers, and the tulips, in colours to take our breath away. I went crazy and kept clicking away, I remember. Digicams zindabad!

My son, ten years at that time and I would hang around the conservatory pond, where you could rent a remote-controlled sailboat, by the hour, and watch it zip across the water as it caught the breeze. Each visit there would be something going on - a wedding party, the horse patrol, and of course the Hans Christian Anderson statue.

What I remember with amusement though is Pale Male, a red-tailed hawk, which had taken up a nest in one of the buildings across from the park, much to the excitement of local birders. Back then, I had not been introduced to the strange and quixotic world of birders and birding, and was tickled pink to see a Pale Male viewing telescope, set up at the pond! There was a lot of buzz around Pale Male that summer of '05, since the building residents wanted to get rid of the nest, but naturalists and birders united in protest and successfully stalled the operation.


There is also a small boating lake where we came across these turtles, sunning themselves. The whole area is filled with birdcalls generally.

Going through the papers one weekend, my sister-in-law mentioned that there was a morning walk to see the birds of Central Park that Sunday. Out of curiosity, and the thought of another walk around CP, we both went off the next morning, bright and early. I think between us we had two fungus-filled binoculars. And of course, since we were going birding, it had to be a drizzly, overcast morning. (This has been the story of my birding - overcast skies and rain, be it Pulicat, Penchalakona or Central Park!) There was a group of older, white women (we were the 2 oddities there I remember), and our leader was a man (David I think) who had run up a list of some 800+ odd birds seen in his life, and was looking to cross a 1,000 that year. Anyway, off we went through the parks lesser used paths, and every now and then he would stop and point out some lovely bird and there would be oohs and aahs all around, while my sis-in-law and me would squint desperately through our binoculars and not see it most of the time. I think I managed to spot one robin and a wagtail! After a bit of this, the birder could not bear it anymore. He suddenly thrust his binoculars into our hands, and said take a look through this.

It was then that my eyes were opened - quite literally almost - to the beauty of these little birds, and the joys of birding! I resolved to get a good pair of binocs, which my husband eventually indulged me with, before he was also drawn into this pastime, and then we needed 2 pairs.  Oh well.

So, to cut a long story short, my new-found interest in the birds can be traced back to that day in Central Park, and to my sis-in-law, I say thank you!  There is a Birds of Central Park site, and also a book called Club George:  The Diary of a Central Park Birdwatcher.  

Then there was the day we hired bikes and went riding up the Greater Loop, only to get lost, with my son having better navigation skills than me.  On top of that, those bikes did not have a conventional brake, you know the kind we have on the handle bar,  Instead you have to pedal in reverse to stop the bikes!  I shall not go into the details of my undignified cycling, but it definitely kept my son amused.  

And how can we forget the Central Park Zoo?  More on that, soon, as well as our encounters with Gus, Ida, Breezy and gang.

Golden oriole!

This Golden Oriole came visiting - to the Neem tree outside my second favourite window. (If you remember, my most favourite window is the one with the view of the Millingtonia.)

I was at work, on my computer, when its sweet call caught my ear, I looked up to see it sitting there! Lovely bird isnt it?

I hurried off to get my binoculars, and grabbed the only camera at hand then, and came up with these two grainy pictures!

It has a striking streak of black around the eyes, and this male bird that I saw has black on the wings. The female, which I have not seen, is supposedly a duller colour without this much black styling.

Salim Ali has a lovely description of its nest - "A beautifully woven deep cup of grass and bast fibres bound with cobweb, supsended hammock-wise in the fork of a leafy twig, 4-10m up". Lets hope I come across one some time, as the eggs are spotted as well.

New age birds these. Papa and mama share all domestic duties!

Appointment with the Olive Ridley babies

Sunday 5-15pm:  Walk through the Urur Olcott Kuppam towards the SSTCN hatchery, to see the baby turtles being released.  Unfortunately, only my mobile phone camera at hand.  

Sunday evening, at the turtle hatchery on Elliots beach outside the TS gate

Checking to see if the eggs have hatched.

The eggs take 45 days to hatch we were told. Each of those poles marks the spot where there is a clutch of eggs.

The first few hatchlings

As soon as they are taken out, they seemed stunned and lay still without moving.

More of them....

See the hatchlings as they begin to move!

A volunteer explains about the sac on the tummy of the turtle which serves as nutrition, until the hatchlings get to the water.  They need to get to the water within 24 hours of birth.  Survival rate into full grown adult is only one in 1,000, under normal circumstances, they told us.  But with all the lights, fishing nets and trawlers, it has become one in 2,000.  

If this hatchery is releasing say a 100 a day, on the average in breeding season, then does that mean that each season is resulting in only one adult?  That is appalling.  I hope I have my numbers wrong...

The wonderful designs on the sand made by their flippers and bellies.

The sand is smoothened to allow them an easy waddle to the waterline.

Off they went!

Unfortunately, it was not to be.  After this, they were all hastily recollected, poor things, and placed back into the basket, as a phone call came saying that the turtles were to take part in a research on their reactions to different colours of light.  

I wished I could tell the babies to calm down and relax, but they continued their frenzied movement in the basket.  We left, (my son and I) as it got dark, and it would be another couple of hours before they would be actually let out again.  I hope they were not too tired to make their journey into the sea...

Maybe I will go for the complete walk next time - from Neelangarai to Besant Nagar, though the thought of no sleep is a bit intimidating - the walks are through the night.

Nice to see the amazingly dedicated and enthusiastic volunteers who do this day in and day out, year after year.  Low budget, no fanfair, minimal overheads, and a lot achieved.

The Mamandur sanctuary

For some reason, the Mamandur posting has gone down here:

The Bungalow on the Hill

Orang!

The one-horned rhino

WWF had announced a trip to Kaziranga, and as my husband and I dilly-dallied on should we shouldn't we (go I mean), the group was filled up. So, a set of MNS regulars went off to Kaziranga, and a few proceeded to Orang. Dont ask me where Orang is - I dont know!

Well, I just looked it up. Its 140 kms from Guwahati, closer to Tezpur. The Orang National Park is a small park - less than 80 sqkms and is in the Darrang dist.

So, here's Chitra's account of the trip, with pictures from Geetha and Arun:

Got back from a memorable trip to Assam – Kaziranga National Park and Rajiv Gandhi Orang National Park on Saturday, 22nd.

Our visit to the former was organized by WWF-India and was a well planned, orderly trip with our stay in a posh resort and visits into the park arranged by the resort for WWF.

We returned to Guwahati on the 16^th, when the WWF camp got over.

Completely in contrast to this was our trip to Orang. Out of the 12 people who went to Kaziranga, 4 of us decided to go to one other sanctuary in Assam having come this far and we chose Orang, a small sanctuary (78sq. km) 145 km to the North East of Guwahati.

When I decided to join Preston, Arun and Geetha on the trip to Orang, I thought they knew what they were about and was planning to just be a passive member of the group. Arun had downloaded an article on Orang that said that for a small sanctuary Orang offered good sightings of Rhino, Tigers, Hog deer and even the Bengal Florican besides having some beautiful untouched wilderness. The descriptions in the article sounded really inviting.

All that was before we set off for Orang on the 16^th…

Once we started making enquiries for taxis/jeeps/buses that would take us to Orang… I found that all of us had only a vague idea of where the sanctuary was actually located! When the forest ranger, Mr. Joyonto Deka, was contacted for permission, he seems to have mentioned vaguely the non-availability of transport or food near the park, and asked us to bring provisions with us for our duration of stay. Of course, we didn't believe him completely, but we did stock ourselves with rice, daal, turmeric powder, chilli powder, oil (mustard), salt, tea, sugar, a couple of loaves of bread, jam, a few packets of Maggi noodles (If we had allowed Arun to buy the provisions we would have been stuck with bread, noodles and biscuits for the whole trip!), potatoes, tomatoes, onions and thanks to the vege vendor 4 large cauliflowers!

We managed to get a Maruti Omni driver to drop us off at Orang (after much debating whether to bus it), and the driver assured us that there were jeeps to be had at the park entrance for going around and we believed him. On the way we stopped at a place for directions and were told that Orang was a Bodo area and there was bound to be trouble there. Our driver, not the bravest of persons told us to keep our eyes peeled for signs of trouble. As soon as we heard this Arun stuffed all his money into his socks in the hopes that the smell would keep the Bodos at bay!

We managed to reach Orang safely around 7.00 ish and met the Ranger, who told us where we were to stay and introduced us to our cook cum guard –Rohit, who was to take care of us during our stay there. He did warn us that there was no running water or electricity but there was a hand pump for water. That was when he also told us that there were no vehicles in Orang save his own jeep!

So we were actually stuck there with no vehicle.

The guest house from the rear

The taxi took us 4 km into the forest and we found the guest house that was to be home for the next three days. It had two rooms, a dining room with a fancy glass topped dining table, and six porcupine chairs, and a fancier sitting room with cane lounge chairs and a cane roof! There were two more dining tables that hung around in the porch area. There was a kitchen with a single wood stove and store along with a room for Rohit in the adjoining building. We found that there was solar lighting in the rooms though the toilets were all in the dark. The less said about the toilets the better. That was when we discovered that we hadn't bought candles or matches. We managed to beg another guard to get those for us the next day.

Rohit prepared rice, daal and aalu subzi and we had eaten our first meal we were all set to crash when we heard a series of loud snorts so close that we thought that it was from outside the sitting room area. We all rushed to the windows of the sitting room only to confront pitch darkness outside. Rohit calmly informed us that it was the Rhinos snorting. We spent a slightly uncomfortable night when we realized how inadequate the locks of our rooms were and how close any animal could get to us!

Next morning the dawn chorus got us up and we got to see the breathtaking location of the guest house. We were perched on a high land, behind us were huge trees that formed a sort of small wood. Behind the trees was a sea of grass – mostly burnt out, rhino land. In front and below the guest house about 30 feet below stretched grasslands, immediately below us were the short grasses (up to ankle length) and beyond them were the elephant grasses interspersed with silk cotton trees (Semul) – a lush green vista.

Adjutant stork

There were a couple of small ponds with water in the smaller grass where the adjutant storks, would come and solemnly hang out. There was a grey fishing eagle that haunted one semul tree in front of the house. Our early morning visitor, was a shy blue whistling Thrush, who would take off at the slightest movement from us!

Black-hooded oriole

The ranger arranged for a vehicle for our first ride – but it turned out to be a Tata Sumo – not the kind of vehicle to go into the park and he (the Tata Sumo Owner) charged us the earth for the two hour ride that we decided to have no more rides – but we managed to cajole him into taking us to the nearest village where we got some more provisions. We did try to travel rooftop initially on the vehicle but before long we realized that we'd have no backsides to speak of if we continued.

The park has about 20 trained elephants which are used by guards for patrolling and which are also used to give tourists rides once in a while. We requisitioned two elephants for the three days we were there.

Chakradhar

Padma and Lohit

The first evening we had two elephants – one tusker called Chakradhar, who came all three days and one sixty year old matriarch – Padma who came with her latest baby Lohit a two year old shy and yet inquisitive elephant. Both elephants seemed well fed and huge! The little fellow was a delight to watch. He would gambol between the two adult elephants, but what was really fascinating was his attraction to the dung dropped by his brother Chakradhar (also Padma's son). Every time Chakradhar defecated this little fellow would joyfully break the ball open and pick a choice morsel out of it and eat it. We were horrified, but were told that all babies do that.

The elephant grass is truly huge growing to well over 10 -15 feet as we discovered on our elephant rides. Either the people ahead of us appeared to be suspended in mid-air or disappeared completely in the grass. Geetha and I rode Padma, while Preston and Arun had Chakradhar. On our first ride out, we saw many but it was going through the grass that excited us the most. About an hour after we set out, Chakradhar stopped suddenly and our mahout whispered 'Rhino' and eased our way abreast of Chakradhar. I had just had a glimpse of the rhino, and as I was getting Geetha's camera ready for a photo shoot, things happened quickly. There was a shout and I saw the Rhino charge, both mahouts, who were armed with guns fired simultaneously, the baby elephant charged into the grass behind us and Padma, catapulted and bolted after her with the Rhino at our feet snorting away! I never knew elephants could move, maneuver themselves so fast. Anyway the Rhino gave up the chase and went back to her baby which had been there all the time. To my surprise the mahout turned direction and we went back the same way, but we found that the rhino had moved off with her baby.

We had two more rides on the elephants – but nothing as exciting as the first day happened though all the rhinos we approached were all set to charge if we attempted to get close, which we judiciously didn't. We also found that Chakradhar was chicken hearted! Every time we sighted a rhino, he would about turn and refuse to proceed till he was whacked a couple of times. It seems he was attacked by a rhino when he was younger and has been traumatized by that since then! The last day Geetha and I had a Makhna called Indrajit (Makhnas are adult male elephants without tusks and are usually aggressive males). He was a stout hearted fellow and seemed unfazed by the presence of the rhinos. I believe he was attacked once by a tiger which tore one ear up. As tourists are rare in the park, these elephants are not used to wearing the howdah (seats) and after the first day, fussed and protested. But the mahouts would give them a couple of whacks and get them to wear them. Chakradhar would then come all the way to the mounting stage trumpeting loudly and with tail raised. It gave us the heebie-jeebies to see him thus!

On our second night there we experienced tremors, and were told that tremors were common there.

We met the Ranger formally on the third evening and he told us the sad story of Orang. For a 78 sq km sanctuary he is the only ranger with 40 guards or so. Poaching is rampant there, and the guards have no vehicles to move around, and have to rely on walking or the elephants. Till last year they didn't have wireless radios or even a phone for communications. So the guards are armed at all times. There is no electricity in the park. With poachers, Bodo rebels, Bangladesh refugees as well as all the animals to keep track of, the guards have a lot in their hands and not much help from the powers that be. I understand that for a sanctuary to get funds they have to meet some requirements which Orang apparently doesn't. I would have thought that with both Rhinos and Tigers (they have 28) Orang would have qualified for more funds for the upkeep of the park. Popular parks like Kaziranga and Manas seem to grab most of the funding. Assam has a number of small parks like Orang that may soon vanish for lack of funds and government attention. It would be a pity if like Manas, Orang loses all its rhinos and tigers to poachers due to lack of support and funds.

On day three we realized if we didn't get the ranger's vehicle we'd never be able to get out of the sanctuary! Both Arun's and Preston's mobile phones were not working and we used Geetha's phone sparingly and anxiously watched as the charge slowly get lower! The ranger went off to Guwahati the day after we arrived and got back only the day before we left… more anxiety for us but the poor man readily offered his vehicle to us when we asked for it.

Yet, We almost didn't make it to the airport on the last day. We were to be dropped at the nearest bus stop (Silbori) by the ranger's jeep early Thursday morning from where we were to take a bus to the main road and from there to Guwahati. But when we reached the Silbori bus stop we were told by a few villagers that there was Bodo trouble and buses wouldn't run. Just when we were beginning to show signs of panic the bus driver got into his vehicle and started the engine… Needless to say that there was no trouble at all and the villagers were indulging in some mischief.

We all flew to Kolkata, where Preston and I parted ways with Geetha and Arun. We were taking the train back and it was due to leave at 11.45 pm. We hung around at the airport till 8.00 before trying for a prepaid taxi and found that the taxi queue was a serpentine one! It took us more than 45 minutes to get a taxi! More anxious moments!

When we got to the station we found that the whole of Kolkata and the north east had decided to travel by train that night! The station was packed with families/ full tribes parked everywhere. We walked all over in search of dinner at 10.00 pm before we found a place! Did I mention that it was raining?

Our train arrived around 11.30pm to the platform and there was a mad rush to get in, Preston was traveling a/c and his compartment was quite close to the start of the platform but mine was a km away at the other end! Anyway that was the last I saw of him.

For any of you readers intrigued enough, please contact Chitra!

Great Knot 'LW' tagging record - India

Great Knot 'LW' tagging record - India

Remember E7, the bar tailed Godwit? Scientists put a radio tag on her, when she set off from New Zealand. She went from NZ-China-Alaska and back. The rounds trip lasted from 6th February to 7th September, and was a total of 30,000 kms or so.

Now the amazing thing was that on her return, she did something like 11,570kms NON-STOP.

Well, here are examples of further such epic journeys.

One, of a Great Knot tagged as LW was spotted in Bengal's Henry Island after flying in from China and Siberia! The link gives an account of the excitement of the birders who actually found the bird.

Another is of a Bar-headed Goose, C6, seen in Veer Dam, Maharashtra.

I shall keep my eyes peeled for such tags!

Should I join the Earth Hour?

A friend of mine pointed me to an "event" - Earth Hour
2008. The event is a strange one - no big party or
lights or anything.

Quite the opposite. We all have to turn out our
lights, for an hour on Saturday 29 March 2008 at 8pm!
Not only lights, but TVs, computers and the works I
guess.

It sounds like a strange and whacky way to make a
statement. Its really not a big deal in India, I
guess, with power failures a way of life, but coming
to think of it, here in Madras, the voltage is
appalling, but we really dont have so many failures
anymore....

So, will I be able to convince my son and husband to
turn out the lights, for an hour?!

Will let you know on the 30th!

You can sign up for Earth Hour by visiting
http://www.earthhour.org/sign-up and join the
movement.

Spread the word!