The Hindu Business Line : Rain-drenched forest bristles with activity

For long, one had wanted to walk and watch a forest in the rains and that happened when Kishor Rithe took me round my favourite tiger sanctuary blessed by the Tadoba Deo, the resident tribal god. One has not visited many sanctuaries but for me Tadoba is the best, far ahead of the much jazzed tiger sanctuary with Ranthambore as its first name.

Driving along one of many trails at Tadoba on my third visit, we spotted a two-year-old, mature leopard raising its head over a tree clump even as a chital let off a string of alarm calls alerting its friends.

It was around 3.55 p.m. and the light was quite clear for us to have a satisfying glimpse of the spots on the animal. For a minute, the leopard looked steadily at us from a distance of 50 ft. before making his way into the thick jungle.

In Mumbai, one has not seen a leopard at the Borivili National Park, even when they were preying on humans making a nuisance of themselves. At a late evening chat, Dr Shesharao H. Patil, Conservator of Forests and Field Director, Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR), was surprised at our kismet in spotting a leopard, a wily and shy customer at all times. "In Tadoba, you can see tigers and but rarely a leopard," he remarked.

The rains fell steadily outside with the raindrops tapping a waltz on the canvas roof of our vehicle. In the forest quiet, they did a jingle as if busy in some sibilant gossip.

"A steady rainfall is good for the land as the water drives deep into the soil. It is better than heavy rains which take away the top soil," explained Kishor.

The green sheen to the forests sometimes sparkles when the sun, breaking out of the clouds, falls on them and no paint company in the world can offer that shade to its customers.

Life breathes in the tall, teak trees with thali-sized leaves, while others like the aged jamun and mahua indulge themselves in the cool air like senior citizens happy with a mark-up in their deposit rates.

As we drove into Tadoba, we were met by a crowd of boars, more than 40 strong and of all sizes from four adults to new-borns.

They scrambled across our path with one little fellow scampering last as Kishor braked his Gypsy. We did not see tigers but that did not disappoint us as we had seen them in our previous trips.

One morning, we ran into a swarm of cheetals - about 500 in number - with their coats glistening from feeding on fresh grass put in place by the rains. They did not run away; they watched us from a distance of about 10 ft, wagged their short stumps and continued munching the grass.

"Tigers and leopards are sure of their feed," remarked Kishor as a few sambhars came into view.

Around the famed Tadoba lake, near to overflowing, one saw a crested serpent eagle with a white bar across its tail. It flew over us and landed on a bare tree to have a view of things around.

Birdman Dr Salim Ali writes of the bird: "An inhabitant of well-watered country and forested tracts, hill and plains. Keeps a lookout for prey from a branch high up in some lofty tree, preferably one commanding a clear view of the surrounding country. Commonly seen in pairs soaring in wide circles high up in the heavens, calling." We did not see a pair nor did the one we noticed called.

Departing from Tadoba is wrenching as the presiding tribal god never disappoints anyone, at least not this writer.

The sanctuary is well managed despite the many pressures with one being resettlement of six villages.

The approval of the villagers of Kolsa and Botazhari for the scheme are in place, while Palasgam, the third village is still unwilling.

The two villages are being resettled at Kesalaghat in compartment 524 of Mool range, north Chandrapur division, north Chandrapur circle.

Work is on in building homes, wells and two tanks costing Rs 1 crore.

Arun Tikhe, Range Officer, Mool range, Chandrapur, in charge of resettlement, explained the villagers will get land for land in the reserve forest of the Mool range.

For instance, a villager in Kolsa owning say five acres will get the same in the resettled area, free; the landless will get two acres. In addition, the centre and various departments of the Maharashtra Government are putting up for free, homes, electricity, roads, playgrounds, school, health services, gram panchayat offices, bazaar, police, anganwadi and post office. Only a bank is missing.

There are many categories of house plots (apart from free farming land): 277 sq. metres, 370 sq. metres and more with some of them being built by the displaced villagers under a food-for-work programme; the landless will get plots of 188 sq. metres.

Kolsa now has 127 houses and Botazhari 74 with a family of at least five to each house.

The Union Government has cleared Rs 4.63 crore, while the State Government has brought in Rs 6 crore and the total cost could come to around Rs 12 crore, says Tikhe.

"I expect the two villages inside the sanctuary to move in by January 2007," says Tikhe.

At present, the status of the land is reserved forest and the Centre and State governments have moved the Central Empowered Committee of the Supreme Court to dereserve the land taken up for resettlement. "That should come any time," hopes Tikhe.

Apparently, some senior forest officials of the State based in Nagpur have not appreciated the construction work ahead of getting the land dereserved. When questioned, Tikhe laughed away the issue.

The deal looks good as there is no financial load on the villagers though some in Palasgam are demanding an extra cash compensation.

Birds have started visiting one of the tanks and one could see a dainty, little blue kingfisher making a sublime dive into the waters to snap up some floating object.

Along came the lesser whistling teal and one hoped they will be around when the families move in.

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Rain-drenched forest bristles with activity