The Hindu Business Line : Rest in the heart of the forest

THE tale of forest rest houses, generally built by the British and royalty, has not yet been written. Forest rest houses alone could make visits to the forests worthwhile.

At Pal, on the border of the Yawal Wildlife Sanctuary, is a two-storied wooden rest house called Anupam, where we stayed for about three days. The Forest Department has added a two-tiered manicured garden, which my botanist friend, Pravin Kale, did not like. The area around Anupam should have been wild when it was built as one can still see the broken remains of a tall stone gate at the entry point.

Walking the grounds, one counted six mighty chillar trees with one massive tree in front of Anupam. Then there are the neem, bottle brush, bakul, eucalyptus and casuarinas alive with noisy bats (Indian Flying fox). From near one can hear the rain-fed Sukki river flowing by; it will fall silent in the summer when it turns into a stream.

Pal is a tiny village as dirty as Indian villages can be, with a dargah dominating the slushy pathways leading out. A teashop, an STD booth, a kirana shop and a few houses are situated to one side of the dargah. Every morning, tea and poha were promptly served by 8-year-old Irfan, who has never gone to school. He helps the cook and does other odd jobs. By about 9 in the night Pal shuts down, except for the STD booth which is open till about 10.30 p.m.

The small crowd recognises Kishor, Rushikesh and Varad with a smile as they have made many trips to the area in the last few months. On the first day, we drove past the backwaters of the Sukki dam to Bhadak Nala, parked the vehicle and went for a walk. In the afternoon, while bathing in the flowing stream, Kishor talked of a point in the area where Sukki meets Bhadak Nala. The next day we made it to the place after an up-and-down trek. We entered a stony gorge where the two meet and then moved upstream to a 50-ft waterfall carrying fresh, cold water. It took some time to get under the waterfall and settle down for the strong tongues of water to beat loud notes on our backs. Varad and Rushi swam in the deep pool at the foot of the falls while we sat and watched. "This fun is for free and cannot be bought," said Varad while Pravin got down to collecting leaves and flowers. "Botanists are lucky. Plants do not run away like animals. A botanist gets enough time to collect and photograph specimens," he said, pointing to Pravin who refused to react.

Varad is probably right, when one saw him struggle with a giant tree gecko to take a snap. Every time he caught the gecko and placed the animal on a rock to click him, the fellow would slip away. After some struggle, the gecko gave up and stayed still on the rock for Varad and Ishan to take pictures.

We were not as lucky in the case of the forest owlet, which was roosting in the trunk of a tree on the way to Manjel village inside the sanctuary. As usual Kishor spotted the owlet first and one saw it for a few seconds through the binoculars before it flew away.

It had turned dark as we drove back home when we saw a jackal walk across our path. It stood in the pool of light made by the headlamps of the Gypsy before making its way. For the first time one watched the pied crested cuckoo call from the top of an anjan tree in the morning and had the pleasure of seeing from close two black-bellied finch larks with their sandy brown top and black below.

Seeing them moving on a grassy patch Varad raised the issue of common and rare birds with me. "At one time everything might have been common but now most birds are becoming rare. Tell me, everybody dismisses the common house sparrow though none has made a detailed study of the bird. Today, the house sparrow is finding it hard to live in cities. Every forest and every species has its own style and character," argued Varad. One did not argue as Varad had made a valid point even though a birder will get excited spotting a lesser florican than spending time on a sparrow.

On the morning of the last day Varad and Ishan dropped out to prepare an inventory of their catch of reptiles while the rest of us drove down to the backwaters of the Sukki dam. Five black ibis flew over the lake while three white-necked storks daintily walked up and down the water edge in search of food. On the way back Kishor and Chavan saw a baybacked shrike atop a tree before it was time to turn back to Mumbai.

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