Back

A hike inside Bandipur NP - 27, 28 Sep 2003

Bandipur National Park, 220kms from Bangalore, is one of the first parks to be declared under Project Tiger. The park, together with its adjacent Nagarhole National Park (NP) to west and Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary (WS) to south, form a core tiger habitat, and tremendous efforts are being taken to preserve this habitat and save the tiger. All these three reserves are in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, which constitutes of several other sanctuaries such as Wynad WS, Mukurthi WS.

Bandipur, due to its proximity to Mysore(90kms), together with Nagarhole, was the favourite hunting ground of the Maharajas of Mysore - including Tipu Sultan - and tigers were hunted down in large numbers. In 1974, when Mrs. Gandhi initiated Project Tiger, there were a mere 10 tigers in this sanctuary, previously known as Venugopalaswamy Wildlife Sanctuary, owing to the local deity - VenuGopalaswamy - whose temple is situated on Gopalswamy Betta, the highest point inside the park(1400metres above MSL). Since then, much effort has gone into the protection of the tiger and its habitat, and it is noteworthy that the 2002 tiger census estimates the population of tigers in the reserve as 79. Today, various NGOs are working closely with the Karnataka Forest Department, in the region to protect the tiger, against poaching, hunting and other illegal activities.

Youth Hostels Assn. Of India(YHAI) organized a two day trek inside the park, starting at the Bandipur tourism zone and culminating at the Gopalswamy Betta. Such a trek, through a National Park, requires the permission of park authorities, and is usually given to known trekking parties and is difficult to procure. I've been to Bandipur tourism zone many times, have rode through the Mysore - Ooty road passing through the park often, have climbed to Gopalswamy Betta once, but walking through the park, staying inside the park at forest camps isn't easily doable by individuals like me, so I decided to utilize the opportunity and participate in YHAI's trek.

We were a team of 14, comprising of a big batch of 9 boys from an Engineering College in Bangalore, a businessman and his young son, myself and two organizers, who were familiar to me. We also took along a cook and rations with us. We left Bangalore at 10.30pm on Friday 26th in a van, and reached Bandipur reception - in the tourism zone - at 3AM. We slept for a couple of hours in the room behind the reception, and waking up at 5.30AM, were ready for the morning's first safari at 6.30AM. The safari wasn't much fruitful as far as wildlife sighting is concerned, except for common chital, sambar and a Malabar Giant squirrel.

At 9.30AM, the Deputy Conservator of Forests - Mr. Yatish Kumar - met us and talked to us for 30 minutes. He was a young and modest man - as most committed forest officials are - and gave us some very good ideas to ponder over. I list down some of the highlights of his talk here:

• The situation is grim. The department is fighting a losing battle towards the saving of the tiger and its habitat.
• The monsoon failed this year, and there is a severe water scarcity in the region. The animals are suffering.
• Man, for all his genius, cannot survive without water and air.
• In his quest to rule the earth, Man has destroyed and continues to destroy Nature, without any respect for it; on the other hand, all animals live in harmony with Nature.
• From the termites that maintain a temperature of 18 degree centigrade inside their mounds of sand, to the wood pecker whose beak moves at 40kmph when striking the bark of a tree, Man has much to learn from Nature. But as Man grows up, considers himself much knowledgeable and that there is nothing new to learn.
• Man is not meant to hurry through his day. Look at the birds - they wake up, and very cheerfully go through the day, in a relaxed manner, unlike man who hurries through the day in a busy manner, and lies in his bed at the end of the day with a thousand worries for the next day. Man, isn't meant to be like that.
• And man is considered to be the wisest of all. Let us not hurry through the day. Let us stop and listen to Nature, and what it has to say. Let us learn something anew each day. Let us be curious.
• Let us not waste our short lives. Let us educate our friends and create an awareness about these things. Let us do our own small parts, each day of our life, in the proper way. Small things grow big.

It was - at least to me - a very touching and thought provoking talk. The DCF was too busy with many other things, and left soon after the talk.

We were given three Forest Guards and two rifles. The Forest Guards were Kempanna, Gujja and Madha. All three were tribals, and lived in the hamlets in and around the park, and have spent all their lives in these forests, and hence, their knowledge of the jungle and its ways is invaluable. Madha had the misfortune of being kidnapped, along with some other forest officials, by Veerappan in 1997, but was fortunately released later. All three men were short and lean, and while Madha was cheerful and was open for conversations, the other two were men of few words

The plan was to walk some 6kms to forest camp 'Dhanahatti' and after a night halt there, move to Gopalaswamy Betta the next day doing a 3000ft climb.

We started from Bandipur tourism zone at around 11.30AM after the DCF's talk. Madha and Gujja went ahead of us, to keep a look out. Myself and Kempanna were at the end of the line. It was a slow and pleasant walk, observing all that the jungle had to say - Tiger pugmarks, scat, porcupine shit, marks, wild hare kill, etc. A couple of kilometers later, as we approached a four road junction - where we are supposed to rest before taking the right turn towards Dhanahatti - all of a sudden there was chaos. Some of the boys started stampeding back, and I saw Madha very rapidly retreating, looking to the right, and shouting 'hut, hut', and Gujja raising his rifle and about to fire in air. At first I thought it is a tiger charge, for I was thinking of tigers, and then I realized it is a tusker charge. A few seconds later the everyone calmed down as the tusker at the last moment went into the thickets and I caught sight of it as it moved through the thickets in a threatening manner. Apparently, the lone tusker was coming fast from the right side path and almost ran into the leading Madha and Gujja. It seemed it had come to within some 30 feet, no safe distance at all for a wild elephant, and that too a lone tusker almost mad in search of water.

After these anxious moments, we spent sometime in that spot, relaxing, while Madha went around and saw to it that the tusker didn't come back in this direction. The trek resumed thereafter, and at around 2pm, we had lunch atop a hill with the Gopalswamy Betta hills directly in front with a deep valley in-between and dense tree jungle around us. A very pleasant afternoon - I dozed sitting a little away from the boys leaning on a tree, the forest guards also dozed lying a little distance away and having a now and then look out, and the others just chatted away. Thereafter, a relaxed walk, and we reached Dhanahatti camp at around 4pm.

There were 5 Karnataka Special task Force(STF) men getting ready for their night out. They all were very friendly, and I had a good chat with them. A little later they left, and we had tea. After tea, we again went on a trek into the forests around the camp, with Madha leading. We spotted a lone elephant inside the thickets, and maintaining a safe distance, we got away without being detected, downwind. Madha took us into very thick jungle, and we crawled through elephant grass taller than us, and through many lantana bushes. As it grew dark at 6.30pm and still we were crawling and negotiating through thorns and lantana without getting to the road. Some of the boys got anxious and as imaginations go awry at such situations, started imagining all possible things that can happen, and eventually some fear set in. Madha kept proceeding in a rapid manner, but the line couldn't keep up with him, and the light faded away faster. However, after some anxious minutes, we got to the road, and walking fast reached the safety of camp - not before the lone elephant that we passed sometime back gave a big fright by bringing down a tree, and the sudden sound in the dark made our hearts skip a beat.

A lengthy campfire - through which we discussed, debated on wildlife and conservation. I am sure the boys came to know much in the subject which they never knew before. The forest was silent, except for the occasional bird call and sound of insects. After supper, the boys again sat down around the fire for singing and other entertainment activities. It was a very silent and memorable night, and I went to sleep peacefully, thinking of tigers and leopards out there on the prowl, wild tuskers bringing down trees all of a sudden, and the STF men moving through all these.

The early hours were very cold, and I got up at break of dawn. I had a good hour of bird watching, and managed to identify Golden Backed woodpecker, black headed munia and red jungle fowl. After tea and biscuits, we set out on a walk through the forests again. We went to another forest camp - Kullan Betta - 4kms away; en route we met the STF men coming back to the camp. After tea there, we went down to a small waterhole - only one in many square kms - and sat down. Madha gave us a lengthy talk on wildlife, behavior and movement of animals, his encounters, the park and such things. An hour later, we climbed back to Kullan Betta camp, and then walked back to Dhanahatti for brunch at 12 noon.

Through the brunch, we again had a good chat with the STF men. Thereafter we left Dhanahatti - wishing the STF men good luck - and started our climb to Gopalswamy Betta. Through the climb, we had some luck and spotted Gaurs and Sambars at a distance. We reached the Betta at 3.30pm.

Though I've been on several visits to Bandipur and the adjacent forest land previously, this visit gave me some insight into the situation that is prevailing in the forests - with regard to conservation, habitat preservation, wildlife management and the problems faced by the park. Poaching, smuggling have been controlled to a large extent, but village cattle grazing the forest land continues to be a major threat to habitat degradation. Human pressure on the habitat is immense. The forest department - with committed officers like Yatish Kumar(DCF) leading- continues to work hard in these matters, but the seriousness of the problem is huge that the department finds it difficult to keep the situation under control.

This year the rains have failed; no water for kilometers around; the animals go long distances in search of water; and whatever is available has to be shared with other animals; in addition to this cattle from adjoining villages grazing inside the park; villagers take away minor forest produce. Moreover, in their quest for water, the animals - especially elephants - are not in a very good mood and are prone to charge anyone in sight; as it happened when we came in the path of the lone tusker rampaging about for water.

I guess you, the reader of this trip report, are sitting far away from Bandipur forests, probably in an air conditioned room before a computer terminal; listening to some music; you can have any much of clean, (mineral) water by going across your room; you don't have to worry about food, which you can have whenever, how much ever you want; you can go to your nice home at the end of the day; watch television; sleep safely and snugly in a cushioned bed; in the morning you just have to open the tap for clean, running water - how much ever you want;

Now, Imagine a lone tusker running around in a dry forest on a hot day for a mouthful of water; Imagine sambar deer at an altitude of 4000ft trying to find shade under a blistering sun; Imagine a tiger seeing the hot day through lying in some shade, knowing that it has to conserve energy to stalk and hunt down its next prey for survival; Imagine 5 men moving inside the forests from camp to camp for weeks together through the nights in search of one man, eager to avoid snakes, tigers, leopards, bears and wild elephants;

I hope I have given you a small picture of a grim situation that prevails in the Bandipur forests right now.

But, in difficulty lies hope; hope that rains come and wet the land; hope that the tourists to Gopalswamy Betta will some day realize the value of our forests and will not litter the place; hope that the menace that is haunting the armed forces of three southern States for more than a decade will end; hope that the thousands of men searching this menace can at last go home in peace; hope that the drivers on the Mysore-Ooty road will drive slow when inside the park and avoid killing animals that live here; hope that the villagers will some day realize the value of forest cover and stop grazing their cattle inside the park.

It would be great if we can understand that all life forms are inter related. That if the tiger is dying there, it will affect us in some way here; if we can spread awareness that we should preserve our fragile planet - in simple ways that we can do daily - by not littering the place where we live; by using minimal water that is essentially required; by minimizing noise, air, water, land pollution; if only we can do our small roles effectively; if only we can live in harmony with other creatures; Like the DCF of Bandipur and his men putting up a very brave fight against all threats to the park and its game; Like Madha, Kempanna and Gujja who very passionately live among the game of Bandipur in perfect harmony;

Let Us Think.