Royal Bengal Tiger!
The most glamorous species I have ever seen in the wild (in my
opinion)
We have the Royal Bengal Tiger, the subspecies of tiger found only
in India and Bangladesh. I happened to visit the Kanha national
park in Dec 2003 as a part of the MSc Environment Science curriculum.
Kanha national park is one of the largest in India, with rich
biodiversity, covering an area of 1945 sq. km; centrally located in India, in
the state of Madhya Pradesh. It is one of the scenic and picturesque
national parks. Every national park has its own beauty and charm. As soon as we
reached the ‘Mogli resort’ in the buffer area of the national park, we were
divided into a group of 5, with each group in one gypsy. Our trails were
supposed to start the next day. It was a different experience, a trip with no
network, no mobile phones, no television, no traffic, no fast food, no
pollution, and most important; no concrete jungles could be seen to the
farthest sight. Thank god, then in 2003, it was a world without WhatsApp,
Instagram, Twitter, etc. Even now I do not use my phone and I am like ‘cut off
from social media’ when I am on a trip. I do cherish the moment I am in. I try
to connect with nature rather than social media.
Next day, at about 4 am, we got into our respective gypsy;
someone mentioned that one has to be lucky to catch a glimpse of the tiger.
Our gypsy driver and guide were with us to accompany for the next 4 days
on our trails. We all had crossed our fingers hoping that we see at least one
tiger during our stay of 4 days. Of course, we were not there just on a trip to
eat good food and go on trails, but also to analyze the forest management and
come up with strategic solutions on current problems.
While we were going through the kaccha roads in the forest, our
driver and guide were telling us stories of when and how many times they have
seen a tiger. As it is usual to see cows, cats, pigs, dogs on streets of any
Indian city, we could see Chitals (Spotted deer), Egrets, Langurs, Peacocks,
Bisons, Sambhar (not the South Indian dish!) while passing by different paths
in the jungle. We did also see Barasingha, Barking deer and Nilgai. Believe me;
you need to be lucky to see any animal in the jungle. Suddenly we heard that
the calls of Langurs and Chitals were different and then the guide said, “yahin
kahin pass mein hain woh”. Soon he spotted the tiger in the grassland and
everyone was very excited and all eyes were stuck at the tiger through
binoculars. That was the first time when I saw a tiger in the wild and I could
sense the power of the tiger in the wild. Other animals reacted and gave alarm
calls to each other to be aware as the tiger was nearby. There was a behavioral
change in the wild among all species. He was 8 feet in length and was
approximately 500m away in a perpendicular direction from the gypsy. As soon as
the tiger was located, everyone gathered there within 4-5mins. Some foreigners
went crazy and started taking shots of the glamourous cat with their Nikon
cameras. Unlike now, the silence was maintained so that the tiger should not be
disturbed and he should not leave the place. Now I feel the immense need of
really educating people and making them aware that you cannot make noise,
scream with excitement, try to click selfies… my goodness..it is getting crazy
day by day… After a few minutes, that tiger, that was sitting initially, stood up
and started a few steps towards us. All the people in the gypsy, about 8-10 of
them, all went reverse half km. Wow! Such power he could make us feel. Just
through his eyes-
“Hey it's me, I have the power. Get back to your concrete jungle,
this is my jungle” Yes! We had seen tiger roaming in the wilderness. It is
difficult to describe in words, but it is totally adventurous and thrilling to
see any species in the wild.
In 1972, tiger census was conducted and only 1800 odd tigers were
left in India. After that, ‘Project Tiger’ is the wildlife conservation moment
that was initiated in India in 1973 and was launched
at Corbett National Park to protect Royal Bengal Tiger. Various
Tiger reserves were created and now there are 50 tiger reserves in the country.
The number of tigers is decreasing. Poaching has to be stopped!
But despite measures taken by officials, poaching remains one of the biggest
threats as it is practically difficult to control such big areas. In addition
to that, loss of ecosystem, the niche that a tiger needs, is decreasing.
Encroachment, deforestation, urbanization, and industrialization have taken
away the home of wild species. It is believed that Chinese medicines use tiger
bones in their preparation. Because of such beliefs, one gets a high price and
poachers tend to kill wild animals. Environmental awareness towards conserving
such species is also essential. But, who needs to be aware? I suppose the
environmental officials are very well aware of conserving biodiversity. They
know the repercussion of loss of such species which is at the apex of the food
pyramid. Then where is the gap? The latest news is that PM announces New
Department of Wildlife under the Ministry of Environment and Forest.
We hope people become more aware and also environment officials
become more alert, then we have the hope to save the extinction of our national
animal. It is not only that the government officials are supposed to do their
bit, but we all should be alert and contribute our ways to save our own
National Animal - Tiger. I believe Eco tourism is one of the upcoming streams
and has good prospects. India, having rich biodiversity, will be able to earn
more revenue by conserving this species. Foreigners do pay handsome bucks
to see this species in the wild. Poaching activities would be at loss then and
ecotourism will be the profit face. Through means of ecotourism we could
generate revenue and thus to save tigers, we will automatically have to
conserve our forests.
Only 1411 left! Aircel’s initiative ‘Save our Tigers’ in 2008 was
creating a lot of awareness by showcasing sportspersons as their brand
ambassador of the campaign. I don’t know how this campaign will help at ground
level conservation measures, but surely, many initiatives like this and
conservation measures have increased the numbers to 3890 in 2016.
By
Jui Natu
Stuttgart, Germany
No comments:
Post a Comment