The Hindu Business Line : Tadoba struggles to preserve identity

The Tadoba National Park celebrates its 50th birthday on April even as it faces many pressures. The Maharashtra Government wants reserve's forest management to mimic Kanha in Madhya Pradesh to promote it as an eco-tourism centre.

Chandrapur (Maharashtra) , Feb. 19

"Saab, bagh (tiger)," whispered 20-year-old Samir Majid Sheikh and Manish Moghe braked and cut off the Maruti Gypsy's engine. It took a minute for Manish, Nishikant Kale, myself, and a few others to locate the two-year-old lying behind tall, dry light yellow grass some 50 ft away to our left.

Behind the tiger was a bamboo clump providing perfect tactical cover and if Samir had not been there we would have driven past the tiger in the Kolsa range. From 4.10 p.m. to around 5.30 p.m. we watched the tiger with its fresh healthy yellow coat marked with black stripes. For a few minutes the cub rose on his haunches, scrutinised us before dropping down on the forest floor with his left ear constantly twitching.

We moved forward hoping to catch him walking over to a water hole nearby which is a meeting point for tigers in the area, according to Samir. But the tiger lay still before walking away from us for about 10 ft to lie on the ground with an occasional swish of his tail and a yawn. There is something about the tiger, which roots one to a spot and holds one still. The animal takes you over.

In the morning, we had made a round of Pandharpauni range but had nil sighting. While we were having tea at the hotel near Tadoba Lake one of the tourists showed us shots of one tigress and four cubs taken on a mobile phone at Kolsa. We cursed our luck and to make up for it started for Kolsa early under a strong afternoon sun. Samir was sure of sighting tigers as there were reports of a few moving in the area. Manish, Nishibhau and myself had a hunch that the trip would turn out well as the previous evening we had seen sambar, spotted deer, gaur, wild boars, common nightjars and Franklin nightjar on our drive into Tadoba.

The Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) has never failed this writer. It has offered its best face giving glimpses of all it holds. The TRAR is made up of the Tadoba National Park and the Andhari Tiger Sanctuary with the national park being the oldest in Maharashtra. It has been named after the Gond chieftain Taru and the resident tribals offer prayers to Tadoba Deo located on the edge of the Tadoba Lake. They believe in spraying their fields with the waters of the lake as it always yields a good crop.

The Andhari Tiger Sanctuary derives its name from the Andhari river originating near Pandharpauni to flow through the sanctuary before meeting up with the Vainganga River. Systematic fire protection started in Tadoba National Park in 1873, and in 1905, it was closed as a shooting block for tigers except for a few with special permits. The first forest rest house was built in 1907, and, in 1931, it was closed for shooting of all animals. In 1935, a spread of 45 sq. miles around Tadoba Lake was turned into a sanctuary for all wild animals except wild boar, and, in 1955, it was declared the Tadoba National Park.

April 2005 is the 50th birthday of the Tadoba National Park even as it faces many pressures. There is the proposed Human Dam and recently the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court has stayed the coal mining operations of the Western Coalfields Ltd at its Durgapur Rayatwari Colliery in Chandrapur district, near the reserve following a public interest litigation by the Nature Conservation Society, Amravati. Now, the Maharashtra Government wants the forest management of TRAR to mimic Kanha in Madhya Pradesh to promote it as an eco-tourism centre (one had heard of the idea on a visit in April 2003). It has tentatively provided Rs 260 lakh over the next five years with the focus areas being: nature, its beauty and biodiversity; culture, richness and diversity; tribals, their way of life; water as a source of life and joy; and lastly the tigers. There is a plan to purchase mini-buses and create camping facilities such as log huts and tree machans at Kolsa and Moharli outside the sanctuary. Conservationists are unsure of the plan as the eco-tourism schemes such as tiger shows have been disturbing the peace of the Kanha Sanctuary. "There is a regular tiger circus there. Too many resorts have hurt the place," says a wildlifer. Why should Tadoba be like Kanha? Why should not Tadoba have its own identity as in the process of promoting eco-tourism, forests and tigers always get a second preference.

At the Moharli gate, one saw a male, female and a male cub elephant chained by their legs to trees throwing dust on themselves. It is not their habitat. Inquiries show that the tourists will use the elephants to spot tigers as in Kanha. In 2000-01, the expenditure on TRAR was Rs 209.17 lakh dropping to Rs 166.61 lakh in 2003-04 and there is a view that the funds set apart for tourism could be spent on the upkeep of TRAR. The number of tourists has dropped from 35,975 in 1999-2000 to 26,775 in 2003-04 explaining the desire of the State Government to get a bigger crowd forgetting the fact that forests are not for making money.

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