Our First Long Road Trip - Part II

Continuing the account of our Road Trip into MP:

Day 8: We commenced for Chilphi enjoying the smooth broad roads of Chattisgarh and scarce traffic on the highway. We were feeling lucky that with all the adventures of Kanger Valley behind us, this seemed such a God given relief. Close to about 10:30 a.m. we saw the first signpost that we were approaching the border of Chattisgarh & MP. We drove on for half an hour and were soon greeted with a large archway proclaiming “Welcome to Madhya Pradesh”. A kilometer down the highway, the smooth road transformed to semi-repaired roads with freshly laid granite stones. Instinctly we could feel the strain on the tyres. The road was leading into the jungles and ghats and we wondered if we were on the right path. Suddenly the road worsened to a typical jungle trail – only stones and mud. Somewhere we saw a jackal run by. We continued to drive on and the continuous jolting also increased the pressure on our bladders. At the back of our minds was the hope that the shellac seal would not give way. An hour later, we passed by a lone cyclist and we stopped to reconfirm the route or seek alternate routes. The youngster mentioned that this was the only route towards Mandla and this jarring stretch would continue for another 50 kms! Our hearts sank and the physical discomfort was becoming unbearable. What should have been covered in an hours drive, took us 2 & ½ hours. At Anjania, where we were to take the detour towards Kanha, we stopped to inspect the state of the vehicle and also take a bio break. What a relief it was!

We drove on till we came upon 2 routes to Kanha. One was a 30 km route to Mukki gate and the other, a 120km route to Kisli gate. Since our resort was at Kisli, we chose to take the longer route, only to realize later that we could have taken the road to Mukki gate and driven through the park itself. It would have been much shorter! Checked into the resort and slept like a log!
Day 9 – 11: The next three days were spent in safaris in the morning and afternoon, followed by nature walks in the evening. Our resort, Wild Chalet Resort was a beautiful one by the side of the river Banjar. Tiger sighting was done through the “Tiger Show”. Honestly, I would have preferred to leave the animal alone and see it only if it crossed our way. But since my wife had not seen a tiger in the wild, we went along with the show. It was the most irritating way of enjoying a sighting. Loud cackles of the tourists, more than 50 jeeps around the site creating a big ruckus, and finally 4 elephants that were ferrying the tourists to the spot and back, surrounding the poor animal. Even at the spot, instead of maintaining silence, most of the tourists insisted on having conversations as though they were on a picnic. The tiger, a full grown one, had just finished its meal of a sambar and was beginning to get irritated with the continuous interruption to its siesta.
We quickly did the touristiest thing of taking photos quickly and made our way back. Never again, will we ever indulge in this mockery of a sighting called “Tiger Show”. We sighted a fair amount of wildlife, the barasingha, wolf, jackals, a host of various birds etc. We also heard the mating calls of the tiger - tigress across the maidan at Kanha. Again there was a mad scramble and a jamboree of vehicles converged to the same spot where the likely sighting could happen. We stayed for about 15 minutes and moved on, not wanting to be party to the crowd.

Day 12: Onwards from Kanha, we drove past Dindori and came across a Fossil Park. This piqued our interest and we explored the Ghughwa Fossil Park. We were the only tourists there that day and so the guide had all the time in the world to show us around. The park spread over 24.417 hectares had fossils of various trees and were dated more than 6.5 Cr years old.
It is believed that most of the trees belonged to the coconut / palm variety which once grew near a major water body. These during certain violent earthquakes and volcanic activity had got covered with the lava and thus turned into fossils. There were interesting fossils of a beehive, leaves, insects as well.
An hour later we were approaching the Umaria gate of Bandhavgarh and we checked into Tiger Trails resort. The experience at the resort was a mixed one. While the facilities were good and care was taken to provide nice hot water bags to keep us warm at night, the sheer over-hospitality being shown to the foreigners at the cost of other tourists was a complete put off. Our take was that finally, tourists coming to stay at the resort are paying the full tariffs. While we do understand that resorts make more money off foreigners, it is unfair to shortchange us by not giving us exclusive safari vehicles especially when we had paid for them. This was the sore point in the whole trip.

Day 13-15: As we entered the park the next day, every guide we came across was confident about a definite sighting of the tiger. This was so because Bandhavgarh being a smaller park had similar or slightly more numbers of the tiger as compared to Kanha. Our luck however decided otherwise and during our entire stay there, we never really got to see the majestic animal. We utilized one of the mornings to trek up the Bandhavgarh fort. We reached the base of the fort on top of the hill and were greeted by a 35 feet reclining statue of Lord Vishnu known as “Shesha Shaya”. Onwards as we huffed and puffed our way to the top, we came across imposing statues of the various incarnations of Lord Vishnu. We were some distance away from the temple when our guide spotted fresh pug marks and tiger scat on the pathway. He immediately warned us that the animal could be lurking around and if we were lucky, we would be able to spot it. It immediately psyched us and the all pervasive smell of rotten kill played with our nerves. As we cautiously approached the temple, the priest mentioned that just a day before a tiger had killed a sambar and the remains were somewhere behind the temple. The tiger was a regular visitor!

It was hot and sweaty as the sun blazed into the ground and we made our way to one of the natural spring fed pools. It was a mossy lake with high walls of rock around. Roots of the banyan trees snaked down the walls giving the whole place a haunted look. We moved away with our spines tingling due to either a feeling of probably being watched over or the sheer trepidation of coming face to face with the King of the Jungle. On our return, as we shared our experience with the other guides at the gate, they felt bad that we had not been able to get even one sighting during our whole stay. (Our trips to Tadoba & Pench later on separate trips more than made up for this non-sighting! More about those encounters in later blogs)

Day 16: We moved on to Jabalpur from Bandhavgarh where we spent the afternoon and evening cruising along Narmada, marveling at the marble rocks at Bhedaghat. The mist and the gushing waters were a sight to behold. It is said that these are even more beautiful on a moonlit night. Maybe some night we would be able to see that too!

Day 17: Today we were returning to Nagpur and as we drove down the highway, we decided to cut short the drive at Nagpur as we had done more than 2500 kms and had to resume work back at Mumbai. We soon arranged for a driver to meet us Nagpur and drive the vehicle back to Mumbai while we took the flight back the next day.

Truly this was our First Long Road trip and definitely not the last!

PS: The Wagon-R having weathered all this, has been in perfect condition till we sold it off this year.

Prelude to the African Overlander

We had not done camping before together. Well, individually yes, before marriage, but together. Nah!

We had been toying with the idea of an African holiday and the Lonely Planet’s Africa on a Shoestring Budget was a good reference in terms of ways to work out the same out.
We thought that instead of a luxury holiday which would send our budgets through the roof, or a package holiday, which meant scores of touristy stuff and less of adventure, an overland safari would be a good way to soak in the culture, wilderness, adventure and thrill of Africa. We homed in on a 14 day drive covering parts of South Africa, Zambia and a week in Botswana. Little did we expect what this trip had in store for us.

But before I embark on the journey itself, I thought it would be useful to share the work that went into planning this trip. Maybe it could help other equally ambitious fellow travelers in their planning process as well. There were enough anxious moments even before the trip had begun which almost made us believe that this trip would never happen. But I guess this is a part of the jinx that we have that there has to be chaos till the last minute. So here goes..

Our first Long Road Trip - Central India

Wandering re-establishes the original harmony which once existed between man and the universe. ~Anatole France

November 2004:

A long road trip was overdue. Something that would last maybe 10-15 days, with some basic planning but with all the flexibility to do, see and travel at will. The jungles were an obvious choice and Kanha & Bandhavgarh were still to be visited. But dil mange more and we merged it with the vibrant culture and historic locations of Chhattisgarh. As we planned our journey, we toyed with the idea of driving through Melghat and then proceeding to Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.

The route finally read as:
Mumbai – Nasik – Jalgaon – Bhusaval – Khamgaon – Shegaon – Akot – Melghat (Kolkaz) – Parathwada – Achalpur – Morsi – Nandgaon – Nagpur – Bhandara (forests of Nagzira & Nawegaon) – Raj Nandgaon – Bhilai – Raipur - Kanker – Keshkal – Kondagaon – Jagdalpur (Chitrakote Falls – Kangerghati National Park – Dantewada ) – Narainpur – Raipur – Chilphi – Anjania (enroute Mandla) – Kanha – Ghughwa Fossil Park near Shahpura – Bandhavgarh – Jabalpur – Nagpur - Mumbai.

We tried to bounce off the route with many of our friends and acquaintances. Responses varied from “Just the two of you and such a long trip?” to “Its not safe, Chhattisgarh especially”, “Roads are bad in MP, you will have problems”. We got the basics on car maintenance and trouble shooting for the Wagon R, while getting it serviced. State maps were bought and scrutinized to locate the best possible routes. We also wrote to Outlook Traveller seeking their advice on the feasibility of the route plan (the response was published after we returned from the trip in the next month’s issue).

When the mind is made up, nothing really stops one from going ahead with what one has planned. We packed in the travel kit and also the sleeping bags and tent just in case we got stranded somewhere. Hotels were booked at Nagpur, Raipur, Jagdalpur, Kanha & Bandhavgarh. Rest we would manage as we went along.

Day 1: With a prayer on our lips we set off on the first day with an ambitious plan of reaching Melghat by late evening. How were we to know that a one hour delay in starting time could completely upset the plan! The journey upto Nasik was fairly uneventful with the entire concentration being on getting to the destination before 10 AM. With two way traffic on a single road we managed to reach only by noon. Two and half hours later we were crossing Jalgaon skirting the Yaval WLS enroute to Malkapur. Malkapur is a dusty village and we tanked up here to enable us to get to Melghat and out. Also discovered the network of SBI ATMs – one of the largest and probably accessible anywhere and everywhere! By now we knew that it would be next to impossible to get to Melghat the same day. At around 7:30 p.m. we were nearing Khamgaon and were told by the villagers to proceed to Shegaon which was a pilgrimage city and it would take a further 4 hours to get to Melghat via Parathwada since alternate routes were bad. We arrived into the noisy, festive atmosphere of Shegaon where the pilgrims thronged to pay their respects at the Samadhi of Gajanan Maharaj. Wearily, we checked into a tourist lodge near the temple complex, had a quick dinner and slept. Our first learning –never plan to do more than 450 kms in a day for it be an enjoyable journey.

Day 2: Started at 7 am and drove through the sunny fields to Akot onward to Parathwada. Melghat was 50-60 kms away. The route had started filling up with dense deciduous forests and the woody smell of that’s so typical of forests and we eagerly waited to get to Kolkas Rest House. By around 10 am we were at Kolkas and rest house provided us a stunning view of the semicircular-shaped river Sipna down in the not so deep valley. The guide shared with us anecdotes on sightings of the tiger and sloth bear. There is a canteen nearby where we asked the caretaker if we could have lunch. As he scooted off to buy the rations and cook, we cooled our heels at the rest house admiring the brown-green forests and soaked in the bright sunlight. Members of the avian variety kept us company till noon. Lunch was piping hot and spicy but tasty. Post lunch we started for Nagpur through the ghats via Parathwada to make up for the lost time, till we hit the main highway at Nandgaon towards Nagpur. It was already night by the time we reached Nagpur.

Day 3: Journeys have a way of throwing up pleasant surprises and we suddenly found ourselves in the thick green jungles of Nagzira & Nawegaon while crossing Bhandara on our way from Nagpur to Raipur. The weather had cooled off considerably and with the highway not having too much traffic, we proceeded towards Rajnandgaon on smooth roads lined with lush green trees on either side. We stopped somewhere midway to feast on oranges and were almost tempted to pitch our tents and stay put. We drove on and like all good dreams coming to an end; the lush green jungles were soon replaced with the concrete, polluted industrial jungle of Bhilai. We sped on till we reached Raipur by noon and spent the rest of the day lazing in the luxury of the hotel room.

Day 4: Raipur to Jagdalpur is a scenic drive through the Keshkal forests. This is said to be the famous Dandakaranya Forest of the Ramayan. We made our way through steep curves on the ghats and the wet fresh smell wafting in due to the slight drizzle drenching the earth putting us in a trance like state. Reached Jagdalpur by noon and were greeted by the manager at Hotel Rainbow. Before starting out on the trip, we had already fixed up with one Mr. Awesh Ali to meet us at the hotel and be our guide during our stay at Bastar. While we finished with our checking in and having lunch, Awesh came over and we quickly charted out the plan for the next 3 days. Today, we were to head out to the Chitrakote Falls – India’s Niagara. Kanger Ghati, Dantewada and Narayanpur were to follow suite.

It was a beautiful 40km drive through the fields to the Chitrakote Falls – India’s answer to the Niagara falls and it was turning cloudy and gloomy. As we neared our destination, we could hear the loud roar of the plunging waters. The monsoon had gone by and water levels had receded, still the 100 ft drop into the valley below was a sight to behold. We walked down to the base of the falls to watch the magnificence of the horse-shoe shaped fall. It was a feast to the senses – the smell of the water and forests around, the sound and the sight of the massive volume of water before us. We felt tiny in front of this mighty creation of nature! Soon it was dark as we made our way up the hill and it had started drizzling. We hustled into the nearby canteen and the caretaker offered some hot ginger chai! Bliss!!

Day 5 – We set off to first see the rare Hill Mynah at the forest conservator’s office. This bird is exclusive to the Bastar region and has the rare ability to mimic human voice. As the guide called out to the bird, we were taken aback by the near reproduction of the same by the bird. After spending a few minute, we proceed towards Kanger Ghati or the Kanger Valley National Park.
The drive was one through the countryside. It was dotted with interesting tombstones which were colorful and varied. Paintings of the things the person had owned eg car, bullock cart etc or the things he did (farming, teaching etc) in his life were depicted on these tombstones. If the person was a prominent figure eg a village headman, his tomb was almost like a shrine. These were along the highway with swaying fields of mustard & paddy behind them.

Awesh then offered to take us on a small detour to a tribal village, where we sampled the main breakfast/lunch of the tribals – a small cup stitched out of leaves containing corn gruel. Awesh informed that this was nourishing enough to quell the hunger through the day. In the evening, mahua (liquor made out of mahua flowers) is consumed along with the evening meal to provide a high. As we explored the tribal culture, we came upon the worship area of the tribals.

Every village has a god man / priest who provided solutions to the ills plaguing each member of the community.The temple consisted of a thatch worship area, a wooden swing (the seat of the priest) and an offering area where animal sacrifices were made. It was an eerie feeling!

From here we proceed toward the Kanger Valley National Park which has a rich biodiversity with a mixed forest of bamboo, teak and sal. It is believed to be the densest forest in South Asia and truly in some places, sunlight struggled to make its way to the roads. There were hardly any roads and we prayed that our poor car would not suffer too badly.

Deep in the forest we came upon a watchtower and alongside were limestone caves called Kutumsar. As we waited for the guide to get the lantern to explore the caves, we climbed the tower to get a birds’ eye view of the park.There were endless stretches of greenery all around – tall trees of 200 feet and above reaching out to the skies. Awesh then signaled that the lantern had arrived and we commenced our descent into the caves. The entrance to the cave was a small steel door not more than 3 ft in height. We crawled in for 10-15 ft through pitch darkness because the guide carrying the lantern shielded most of the light. We ended up bumping our heads against the cave roof as we stepped out to a slightly larger opening and we got our first sight of the limestone formations in the dim light. Further on we came across a shallow pool which we were informed had fish. Despite the absence of light, life forms are supported in this small ecosystem which surprised us. It was soon getting claustrophobic and muggy and we were anxious to get out of the caves before the lantern ran out of fuel.

As we came out, Awesh suggested an interesting wildlife sighting spot – Bhainsa Darha and we soon proceeded towards that. It was past noon and we were also getting hungry. So we decided to stop on the way and have a quick lunch of packed parathas. A tribal walked by swinging a stick making a strange whistling sound. On enquiring, the guide said that this was the local way of warning animals as well as signaling group members. We were keen on acquiring these as artifacts, which Awesh promised to help us pick up the next day at a village mart. We proceeded for about an hour and a half.

The roads were getting progressively worse. On the way we crossed narrow concrete bridges across jungle streams into thick bamboo thickets. We soon realized that we had reached a point which was extremely narrow and the absence of experienced forest guides and a good 4WD could end up leaving us stranded in the middle of nowhere.

We decided to call off the visit to Bhainsa Darha and retraced our way back. We were about an hour from the exit of the park when at one point we had to negotiate a steep descent from the ghats onto a narrow concrete bridge. To avoid hitting the edge of the slab, we inched the vehicle towards the bridge and were almost there, when a small lapse of concentration / patience resulted in the lower chassis and the engine striking the edge of the concrete slab with a loud THUD! Almost immediately, as I (Kartik) tried to engage the 2nd gear, I realized that something was amiss with the gear box. The vehicle could only engage the 1st & 3rd gears. We decided to exit the park as soon as possible hoping that the vehicle would hold out till we got back to civilization.

With great relief we managed to exit the park before dark and reach our hotel, whence we enquired with the manager for a Maruti Service station. While we were discussing with the manager, the guide brought to our notice, oil draining out of the gear box. It was now clear that if this is not fixed, the entire trip is in jeopardy and any significant delay would mean cancellation of our onward bookings. There was a service station nearby but was closing for the day and the next 2 days were holidays on account of Diwali. In panic, we called up the service station to enquire if the vehicle could be fixed the same day with inducements for higher payments. To our disappointment, we discovered that the service station did not have the requisite parts and anyways sourcing the same from Raipur could be done only after 3 days! The manager then came to our rescue citing that he had a local mechanic who could take a look at the vehicle. With lot of anxiety we took the vehicle to the mechanic, hoping to reach there before the oil completely drained out. The mechanic shop was a small one room tool shop with a lathe and we were wondering if he could fix what seemed like a fairly complicated problem. The mechanic then pulled out a small container and drained out the oil completely out of the gear box. He then diagnosed that the impact had bent one of the connecting rods in the gear box and the seal had been damaged. He said he could fix the rod and provide us a temporary seal for the gear box. While he straightened out the rod with the lathe and used shellac to provide the seal, we wondered if this quickfix would withstand the rigors of the remaining leg of our trip. We were yet to cover Kanha & Bandhavgarh. He then allayed our fears to some extent by stating that this would hold out unless we had the same misfortune again and recommended that we get the parts fixed in a more permanent manner at Raipur. We decided to hire a vehicle for the next day, so as to rest the Wagon R.

Day 6 – Today we were to explore the Dantewada region which was coming increasingly under the influence of the Naxalites. We were assured, that as civilians, we were unlikely to be targetted.

We covered a few temples, prominent among them being Danteshwari, Mama Bhanja and the three-faced Ganesh temple. We returned to Kanger region to cover the other main natural wonder - the Tirathgarh falls.

This is a cascade of water at seven levels – the cumulative height is over 100 ft.The first level is a straight fall of around 50 ft and forms into a pool below. With the crowds being thin at this time of the year, it was nice to just sit on the rocks with the feet in the currents and contemplate.

]Below this level as one makes his / her way down the narrow stairs and pathway, the water continues to cascade past a small temple (hence “tirath”) and finally flows as a river into the ravines.

Hot bhajiyas and tea gave us company when we were back at the top. On our way back to the hotel, we stopped by to see the Kangerdhara, a smaller but equally beautiful waterfall.

Day 7 – Our last day in Bastar started with a drive to Narayanpur enroute to Raipur. On the way, as promised, Awesh halted by a village market and we entered a small shop having various articles made out of bamboo and wood. We admired the workmanship and bought 2 whistling sticks which were beautifully carved.

Narayanpur, just a distance away, is a handicraft centre. Here we stopped by the house of an artist who specialized in bell metal works. It was fascinating delving into the metallurgical technology of those times and watching the whole process of the casts being made, metal being poured into it, baking the whole thing in a small furnace and finally chipping away at the casts to reveal the breathtaking figures. As we bid goodbye to Bastar, we promised to return to this beautiful region sooner or later. Our journey continued upto Raipur where we halting for the night. And it being Diwali, there was no way we could get our car checked again as suggested by that mechanic. We just decided to go ahead with our onward drive into Madhya Pradhesh and take things as it came.

More about the MP leg in the next blog!

Tryst with Nature

Our first tryst in conservation was through the wildlife census at Melghat. Had signed up for a 10 day stay and field work with forest officials and was looking forward to the walks in the wilds. The officials were kind enough to warn us that facilities would be real basic. The first day saw me and 15 others from various parts of Maharashtra assembled at Semadoh, where the forest officials briefed us on the method of census (pugmark casts) being adopted for the process. It would involve 7-8 days of walking / patrolling in the jungles for 10-12kms each day in the mornings, compilations of the findings and interactions with the forest officials. The last 2 days would also involve night stay at the machans to identify animals that visited the waterholes or sighted on the pathways during a full moon night. I was to be in a team of 2. Melghat is a dry jungle and in the peak summer was sweltering hot. The first day schedule started at around at 7:00 a.m since our guide did not turn up and we had to go wait for an alternate guide. It was a hot, sweaty walk in the jungles in search of pugmarks and some sighting. All we managed was a faint pugmark which could not be traced and gyan on some trees housing beehives, that were visited by bears. On our way back on the 12km trek we managed to see a nilgai.

The second day saw our frustration levels building up since our guide ditched us once again since he had to attend to some forest fires. We petitioned for an alternative beat with the census officials so that we could have more fruitful work done. We were then suggested to move to Koha-Koktoo, part of the Guagarmal Sanctuary. We were asked to carry with us rations since we would have to cook for ourselves and the location was quite remote from any civilization. As we drove down to 26kms into the core forest, we picked up the necessities in the local village mart. At around 8 in the night, we came upon a signpost indicating Koha 2kms, pointing to a kuccha pathway off the main highway. We drove down the pathway negotiating a steep decline through a sandy bank in pitch darkness. On the right side after about 1km we saw abandoned buildings which were in a semi-built stage. Further 200mtrs, we came across a gate which was chained and shown as Guagarmal Sanctuary. Not knowing whether to proceed ahead, my colleague and I alighted from the vehicle and opened the gate which was loosely chained and proceeded ahead. Suddenly in the light beams we could see sambar deer all over the place, staring at the vehicle. We sensed something was wrong as we seemed to be moving away from any possible tenement and decided to retrace the last 1km to see if we had missed any pathway or signpost. Suddenly we were surrounded by two motorcycles and forest officials, suspecting us to be poachers!! Hurriedly we pulled out the pamphlets signed by the census officials assigning us our new location at Koha. Then we were explained that the Koha village had been relocated outside the forest and our hideway was a 2 storied bamboo thatch machan right on the highway. With great relief, we made our way with the officials to our machan which was to be our home for the next 5 days. Bath under the water pumps, khichdi for meals and long walks in the dry thickets tracking animals.

The next 3 days were fruitless as there was no sighting. Even birds were scarce due to the heat and lack of water. On the 3rd night, after we had finished our dinner and were disposing off the remaining food near the fence, we saw a pair of red unblinking small lights approaching us. Our torches could not help us figure out what the source was, but as it came closer, we could make out the profile of a jungle cat, in the pale moonlight. Later, while getting ready to sleep in the machan, we heard a loud splash in the shallow waters of the tributary that we had crossed during the night of our arrival. Our forest guard who was with us at the machan immediately announced that this was due to a sambar trying to escape wild dogs (dhole) and it jumping into the water was a means to stave off the attack. A second guard immediately jumped down from the machan with a torch and ran to investigate. We controlled our urge to follow suit and waited with bated breath for the action to unfold. There was complete silence!! Fifteen minutes later the guard returned saying that it was indeed a case of the dholes chasing the sambar deer.

Early next morning, we set off in the same direction and as we entered the Guagarmal gates, the guard asked us to FREEZE! 300 meters ahead were the pack of dhole with blood streaming from their faces and in the distance, we could make out the dark stains of the blood soaked into the earth. The leader of the pack eyed us for a few minutes and then melted away into the tall grass, as the pack followed suit. We rushed to the place of the kill and the guard stepped into the grass to retrieve the abandoned lower limb of the deer. A little ahead we saw the half eaten forelimbs. We continued walking hoping for a tiger sighting, when the guard announced that having sighted the dhole, it was unlikely that the tiger would be around, they being fierce competitors. We proceeded with no sightings till noon, except for further footprints of the dhole and bear. We returned to the machan.

In the evening, we set out with a group of village labourers hired by the forest department, to ensure water supply to the artificial water holes set deep inside the forests. We were also to identify potential locations for the overnight stays in the forest. We boarded a tractor and set out at about 4:30 pm. After driving for an hour, we reached a concrete storage pond with a hand pump fixed to it. We took turns pumping the water for about half an hour to fill up the pond. Closeby was a watchtower. It was now getting dark. The laborers were to proceed ahead to fill a similar pond further deep into the forest. We were offered an alternative to stay back at the watchtower or accompany them. We decided to stay back. As the tractor disappeared into the forest, we made our way to the watch tower. After a few minutes, the overpowering stench of dead meat assailed us from the tall grass behind. It was indicative of a carnivore making its way to the waterhole. We waited patiently for the next half an hour, but it did not show up. Meanwhile, sambar and chitals came by to quench their thirst. As the dusk turned to night, the labourers returned and we alighted from the watchtower. As we narrated our experience, they said that no animal of the forest was to be feared except the sloth bear, because it is the most ill tempered and unpredictable animal one could come across. We traced our way back to the machan for a dinner under the starlit skies. The night cooled off with light showers, but that also meant that if this rain continued, the next day’s sighting could be a washout!

My wife was joining us the next morning for the machan stays and I set out to pick her up from Amravati. As we drove through the cool climes of the Melghat forest, I narrated the experiences that we had had so far. We eagerly looked forward to the night stay on the machan. Back at the machan, the guard told us that we would leave for the waterhole by 4:00 p.m. After a quick lunch of khichdi, cucumber and onions, three of us made our way to the waterhole along with the guard. The machan was at a height of around 15 ft from the ground and had to be accessed by climbing the tree. Childhood memories and skills were put to good use as we hauled ourselves up to the machan. It was a basic bamboo structure leaning out over the waterhole below. Ahead was an open area surrounded by the forest. Behind was a slight hillock which we had come down to get onto the tree. The guard then said that the machan was too small to accommodate 4 of us and so we three novices could stay there to keep vigil on the animals visiting the waterhole. In case of any attack, we were to protect ourselves with a 5ft wooden stick! He also had the grace to mention that sloth bears, gaur, wild dogs etc were abundant in the area. We looked at each other and wondered at our foolhardy decision to become sitting ducks for any wild animal.

As dusk fell, we could hear movement on the hillock behind. In the darkness, we could outline a herd of gaur making their way to the waterhole. The warnings of the guard played through our minds. Not that gaurs would attack us on a machan! The herd lingered on for some time and then was lost in the dark environs of the jungle. It was soon dark and all we had for company was the moonlight and the sounds of the jungle. In the dark, the human mind plays dirty tricks: magnifying every sound and movement. Even the sounds from crickets and nightjars pushed the panic buttons. A while later, there was commotion below. Loud shrieks and we figured they were jungle cats fighting. Soon this settled down.

Somewhere a slow rumble was heard – and our ears tried tuning to the sound. The rumbles intensified and we tried hard to figure out what the animal could be. Elephants are not present in this jungle and so it could not be them. Soon we narrowed it down to our own stomachs churning!! And we knew no way to stop them! As the hours progressed, there were periodic sounds of animals, the calls, the hooves, screeching of the insects all which made the night even more eerie. This was to be an overnight vigil and we were soon losing our nerves and patience. We took turns sleeping and waking up the other if they began to snore! The night went by slowly. The weather had turned cool, the smell of the forest was heavenly and we watched the moon rise and set.

The false dawn is one of the most interesting times of the day. Its when the world plunges to pitch darkness, the moon has set and the sun is yet to rise. One cannot even see ones own hand.. Boy! What a feeling that was.. complete silence.. beautiful yet creepy! It was a loooooooong wait for an hour before the first rays of the sun broke through and we heaved a sigh of relief. As the sun came up, we scrambled down our perch and surveyed the banks of the waterhole. There were several hoof marks, indicative of the visit the gaurs paid us and the small footprints of assorted animals. We quickly made note of them and started walking back to our base. Our nerves were so jangled that we just didn’t have the patience to wait for the forest guards to come and get us. As we reached the camp, we shared our notings with the census officials. Soon it was time to bid goodbye to the beautiful jungles.

As we made our way to Chikaldhara for the evening, we spied chameleons on the road. We stopped to admire the beauty of nature and we knew in our hearts that our tryst with the jungles had just begun.