Whose land is it anyway?

Mahima was walking down to her school when she came across the 14 feet large Tiger- Rudra. She ran back to her house in the village and bolted the door behind her. And here I was, having traveled to Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) from Mumbai in the hope to spot the big cat. What is everyday life for her, is an interesting vacation for me.

4 safaris over 3 days, yet every minute spent in the Jungle has a different type of thrill in it. On our first safari, we saw a 14-foot large male Tiger- Rudra sleeping peacefully (maybe not so peacefully) on the grasslands. Nothing could wake him up. Not the sound of people talking, nor the sound of cameras clicking. Not even the sounds of jeep tires crunching the fallen leaves, the jeep engine running. Not even the flies hovering over him could wake him up. Every so often, he twitched his ear, in what I assume to be frustration. Occasionally he would lift his head, wag his tail and move his paw, trying to get the flies to leave him alone, and all this while we waited patiently for him to get up and walk for us...

Now that Rudra had retired back to the jungle for a nap, Mahima jumped back happily into the fields. Village life, from the little I have seen, seems totally different from city life. No pollution, no constant honking of the vehicles.

The pink and orange sky, the vast expanse of land which the villagers have converted into fields, and, part of the land that has been used for houses and breeding of cattle, all seemed very welcoming. The sun looked like an orange ball of fire. The fields were a pleasant mixture of green, yellow, and red. Occasionally we saw stacks of hay. There was a very soothing scent in the air as we drove through the entire village. The Invention of bullock trucks looked highly worshipped here. Even at 6:45 pm, work in the village was still going on, similar to the cities and towns we live in. There were a lot of women and men taking their cattle home, probably back from the farm or the grasslands. Some women were walking balancing baskets on their heads, probably carrying home twigs and wood to light a fire to cook the day end meal. Men were riding the bullock carts with some senior citizens, kids, and other things that to me looked like compost and some grains.

There is a 1200-year-old Shiva temple on the top of a hill in the thick of the forest. The priest and his partner live in the temple itself. People from the village go to the temple to pray even today. The priest often comes across wild cats and animals paying their respects to the deity in the temple complex, after all, whose land, is it?

Talking about human and wildlife interaction, I realized that humans fear animals. Animals, especially big cats, are very territorial. The rising Tiger population, and the expanding human population, have meant that the boundaries between the human and animal settlements are blurring, the animals are finding their way into the buffer, closer to the human settlements, and even venturing into human establishments in search of food. Same with humans, who risk their lives daily and venture close to the buffer to graze their cattle …. and then the 2 come face to face... once again we get reminded of whose land it is.

Throughout the Jungle, we saw small pillars made out of bricks. These are supposed to have been made by the members of the Gond tribes. One theory is that they used it as a trail to go from Chandrapur to Nagpur. Another theory that scientific study shows is that the tribals were going to build a railway line on the pillars.

We also chanced upon Junabai, a female tigress, mother of 4 cubs. In the process of protecting her cubs, she had to leave one 3-month-old cub in the wilderness all by itself. After ensuring that the other 3 cubs were safe, Junabai stepped out of the deep forest in search of the stray cub, food, and to mark her territory. We saw her cross over, and walk into the grass on the opposite side. She walked along the trees for a while before walking straight on the road, right towards our jeep. Once she reached close to us, she walked towards the slightly denser trees where she rubbed her neck on the tree and sprayed as a way to mark her territory. She walked in the open for almost 20 minutes before she went very deep into the grass to look for her stray cub.

While the sight of Rudra scared Mahima, the chirping of birds probably went unnoticed by her. Whether rare, near extinction or as common as a crow, it was a joy to see them play around the forest! The elegant black napped monarch, the colorful Orange-headed thrush, Montagu’s Harrier, the bright and colorful Tickel’s flycatcher, and the majestic Crested Serpent Eagle.... the variety and diversity never fail to surprise one no matter how many trips to a national park one makes.

With a promise to be back to the forest post-monsoon, we signed off for this time.