Relentless Pursuit.....Pays off !!

As any other Indian, Cricket has been a passion for me. I had played the game while in college days & then for couple of clubs & the organization I was working for in the State cricket leagues. However, it being only a passion and not a professional sport for me, passion for other things caught up. Wildlife, nature & adventure always fascinated me & whenever there was an opportunity, I grabbed it & explored to enjoy it. I have been frequenting couple of spots down south in the recent past esp., the Nagarhole Elephant Sanctuary & Bandipur Tiger Reserve.

During the last fortnight, I was fortunate to catch up with an ex-colleague & a dear friend of mine. He has been a professional cricketer during his playing days & was also in the state team. We had played together for the organization we worked & were proud winners of the first corporate cricket tournament in Hyderabad. While he was passionate & vigorously competitive in his playing days, I never knew he was a wildlife enthusiast as well. Our common interest apart from Cricket, lead to us planning a visit to the Tiger Reserve he has been frequenting for quite some years now. So, we along with 12 other young wild & nature lovers (few first timers & few multi-timers) set sail for a 4 day get-away. The Central India has a few wildlife sanctuaries & amongst them the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) situated in Chandrapur district of Maharashtra in the Vidarbha region is a unique habitat of wildlife. The TATR which was declared a National Park got its name Tadoba after the local Gond warrior named “Taru” who died fighting a Tiger & the temple dedicated to him. Andhari is a river flowing through the sanctuary (although not a drop of water was visible in this hot & dry belt). The total area of the park & sanctuary is said to be about 625 sq kms. The major part of dry forest is teak & bamboo thickets. Very quite, with only the frequent fall of dry leaves, alerting of the sambars occasionally of the danger in sight, chirping of the birds, pecking of wood by the majestic woodpeckers, lou lou (sounds created by peacock) heard, the best time to visit is supposed to be between February-June, which is usually burning, with temperatures rising in the peak to about 45+ degrees celsius.

Tigers, the most magnificent of all the cats (unfortunately on the verge of extinction) is found in some parts of India. The TATR has fairly a sizeable number of them (45) considering the size of the reserve. This dry & thick reserve is home to others as well & amongst them, Bison, Sambars, Spotted Deers, Peacocks, Langoors, were prominently seen. Trailing the pug marks, which was visible almost every stretch that we explored lead us to nowhere. However, it was quite evident that the reserve was home to many of the cats & probably explained us to not loose hope & keep exploring. As in every other thing, you needed a bit of luck, blessings & ofcourse the talent to study & analyse the movement of these beautiful beasts. The well-managed park provides guide, who are fairly well aware of the habitat of these animals with every safari. These guys were helpful in studying the movements through the marks left by them on their stroll. While, the first one was spotted after almost 32 hours albeit at a long distance, these wonderful shy creatures made us wait relentlessly. Although time was running out (we had just couple of hours to pack our bags & head back home) & disappointment writ all over our faces, we were hopeful with our prayers. The hope & assurance of our guide that they would be out to quench their thirst in the hot temperatures in the region led us to lay a bait & we quietly with all our cameras, camcorders fixed to shoot pictures, hid ourselves in our vehicles, which resulted in us spotting not one or two but three of them in close range, less than 50 metres. Well, they say, patience pays off, isn’t it? True! After a relentless pursuit of nearly 56 hours, the disappointment disappeared by a long (nearly 30 min.) glimpse. What majestic creatures these are but sad that they are poached by some selfish & greedy inhuman maniacs. Like we have laws for us to express freely, live freely, these creatures which are essential for our environment & future generations too have the right to live freely, fearlessly in their own environment. Don’t they? Hope the government wakes up & makes stricter laws & enforce stricter punishments to the breakers, be it poor or from the elite society.

I’m thankful to the new friends who made this journey special & in particular I want to appreciate & thank Zeeshan Ahmed who has been helpful in capturing some lovely moments on the cam while I have been busy handling the camcord.

While I have planned & reserved my next visit. Are you a nature & wildlife enthusiast keen to visit this reserve? Please write in to: venkat@pursuitwfs.com or Karthik.enumulla@gmail.com.

Check out pictures at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=18721&id=1784882844&saved