Total Pageviews

Saturday, August 18, 2012

lessons in tracking .... daytrek through chinnar wildlife

We set out at around 830 for our trek through the forest . First question to the guide even by the " animal knowledgeable" me was will we see animals during our walking trek . I realised that was a very stupid question as this is not a zoo for all animals to come before us one by one just because we have come to visit them . And seeing the gaur (wild buffalo at close quarters ) 2 days before at night has made our expectations realistic . We were there to enjoy the jungle trek and if we see animals its a bonus . 

Hardly had we moved around 20 metres our guide told us look down . City bred "knowledgeable" people we are but lesson number one in the jungle is use all your senses not just looking straight  ... We were about to set foot on a pug mark and it was the pug mark of a leopard which had walked through that place the previous day . Further walk took us to a watch tower and the guide showed us sambar deer herd which are large deer which are the favourite food of the tiger . Its wise always to bring a binocular to jungle trips ..

We walked further and elephant dung was there and our guide showed us the trees and twigs crushed by the elephant and even the direction in which the elephant had moved .  The guide was from tribal community and he was an expert in tracking .  He showed us the place with large markings were elephant had lied down to rest . Fascinating art .  We ascended a small hillock and saw deer 100 metres away . On our way we saw a large porcupine quill and guide explained that they use it with deadly accuracy on its predators . Nature has both attack and defence built in . We trekked to a forest river . Had a bath in the river it was really refreshing . They are planning to build a loghouse there so next time i will come there .

We saw peacocks and their mating calls were fantastic .. I think the peahen ??? (its wife ) will be impressed .  In the forest checkpost there were two large families each with around 25-30 members of all ages . They were monkeys of two varieties and their antiques were funny and interesting . We saw another breed of monkey with hair shaped like spiked and realised our barbers copied it for our teenage boys  . 

No comments:

Post a Comment