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January 2-9 - Line Transect Surveys for Estimating Prey Density, Bandipur National Park
I had the privilege to be part of a small team of volunteers for the Line Transect
Surveys for Estimating Prey Density at Bandipur National Park, carried out by Wildlife
Conservation Society(www.wcsindia.org) as part of its nation wide conservation efforts to save
the tiger.
Leaving Bangalore at 3AM by bus on 2nd, I reached Mulehole Range Office by 11AM, changing buses at Mysore.
From there, myself and the other volunteers - who had by then reached using various modes of transport including
autorickshaw and trucks - were transported to the base camp inside the park. We relaxed on the first day, and the
events of the subsequent 7 days proved to be as thrilling as it was hectic. The main objective of the programme
was to estimate the density of prey species of the tiger using the Line Transect method.
The 7 days were more or less similar in routine - waking up at 4AM, leaving camp at 5AM, reaching transect lines
in teams of two by 6.30PM and walking the line for 2 to 3 hours, and repeating the same in the evening too. The time
inbetween was utilised to tabulate and analyse data procured in this manner. Each person walked the lines with a
different partner in a different line each day. There were around 45 transect lines to be walked, strewn all over the
park.
Apart from the simple pleasure of residing inside dense forests surrounded by rich wildlife, far away from electricity
and mobile phones, the thrills and fears that I encountered while on the walks made the whole programme more interesting.
Since the walks were early in the morning while it was still dark and at dusk as the sun goes down, when animal and bird
life is most active, there was plenty of opportunities to observe them too.
I shall narrate one small event that happened on the evening of 4th while walking one of the transects.
My partner and myself were about to finish one of the best lines, counting Sambhars, Chitals and Gaurs. We had just
flushed a family of three gaurs, and minutes later, the terrifying roars of a tiger and the agonising cries of a gaur
thundered in the air, roughly 100 meters from where we were. The mortal agony of the gaur mixed with the blood curdling
sound of the tiger transfixed both of us, and we stood there, holding our breath. While my partner was more experienced,
it was a first hand experience for me, and made me breathless with anxiety and fear, mixed with great respect for the king
of the forests. The other gaurs had stampeded, and the air was filled with
alarm calls of Chital, Gaur and Langur, as the tiger continued to roar frequently. While this melee was happening, we
saw 3 elephants coming on to the line 50 meters in front of us. The elephants also seemed to be too terrified to proceed and
remained on the line. The king remained at his kill, roaring now less frequently, and the forest resuming its silence.
It was fast getting dark, but the elephants seemed stay put, so we abandoned the line, and negotiating through lantana and
tall grass made our way to the forest road, where 30 minutes later we were picked up. The whole episode left me in a state of
breathlessness for the rest of that evening.
Reading and seeing tigers in television and media is one thing, experiencing them on foot is another.
The following days also were eventful, as we kept hearing the king, sometimes afar, sometimes near. As for the gentle giants,
they were everywhere and one can just spend hours watching them graze, bathe and fend for themselves and their little ones.
The Spotted Hunter
continued to be elusive, but one team had a beautiful leopard walking past their jeep. As for the beautiful Sambhars, we saw
plenty of them, some prime adults flaunting great antlers, and standing tall, with their female partner adding a trace of
family spirit to the twosome. Chitals were aplenty, and only add more beauty to our forests. A pack of wild dogs one day,
a pair of porcupines one dawn, a monitor lizard another day, an Indian Hare running in front of the jeep, an owl on its nightly
flights one dusk, a kill opposite the camp one afternoon and white rumped vultures soaring above the next day
- no words of mine will do justice if I try to explain the
richness of wildlife and the spirit of our jungles. Walking through mist-drenched leaves in the thickest of the forests,
with a multitude of birds all around, the stillness of the hot afternoons, the evenings at waterholes, and the dark, cold nights
under a sky strewn with a million stars, when the great beasts roamed their home ranges where they are kings - the jungle has
to be experienced to be understood and believed.
The batch concluded on the 9th, with a small ceremony which the PCCF, DCF, all rangers and WCS leads like Ullas Karanth,
Praveen Bharghav attended.
As for me, I will spend 2005 reminiscing those memorable first 8 days that I spent roaming the deepest parts of my beloved
Bandipur National
Park, watching the greatest wildlife of our country and will look forward to the next line transect surveys. And as for those
gentle giants and the king of the forests, they
will continue to roam the star-lit nights of the forests, where they live free, where we try to protect them from the destructive
hand of man.
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