To Tadoba with Love

SPECIAL FEATURE TO TADOBA WITH LOVE #NeverStopDiscovering—that attitude alone has led wildlife champions Poonam and Harshwardhan Dhanwatey on a lifelong journey to protect the forests where the tiger makes its home. From the safety of a Land Rover Discovery Sport we get the insider’s tour. By Prasad Ramamurthy. Photographs by Arjun Menon SPECIAL FEATURE Poonam and Harshwardhan Dhanwatey in a Land Rover Discovery Sport, at their private conservancy near the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve SPECIAL FEATURE Poonam and Harshwardhan Dhanwatey, founders of the NGO Tiger Research and Conservation Trust (TRACT). Clockwise from above: TRACT staffers looking at photos of animals spotted at Tigress@Ghosri; a tiger inside the reserve; prayers being offered to a tiger idol; the TRACT team with local volunteers n earthen lamp sits to one side of the dead person’s village.” There are at TRACT, also drawn from the local area, of a small tiger statue erected dozens of villages within the buffer zone teaches locals how to live with predators Aby the road. A bunch of incense that surrounds the reserve and predators, – the dos and don’ts of venturing into sticks circumambulate the idol. The ever so often, do lift livestock from these the forest; how to deal with a wild cat if it hands holding them belong to a dhoti- villages. People, too, have lost lives. And enters a village; what to do in the event of clad man who appears to be praying so, such belief is only to be expected a forest fire; how to report any suspicious fervently. Another gent showers the idol considering the close proximity between activity. “For tigers to thrive, people with what seems to be vermilion. If you tigers and humans in a region that’s come have to be safe. If people are safe the are looking for a sign to tell you you’re to be known as the ‘Real Land Of The tigers will be safe,” adds Harshwardhan. in tiger territory, well, here it is. “When Tiger’. The reserve is said to house more “But we felt, to convince them of this someone is killed by a tiger their family than 80 striped cats and Harshwardhan they had to have a major stake in erects a statue,” explains Harshwardhan and his wife Poonam, a member of the conservation. They had to feel that the Dhanwatey, co-founder of the NGO, Maharashtra State Wildlife Board, are tiger belongs to them and not the forest Tiger Research and Conservation possibly the best guides to show us where department.” This led to a state-run Trust (TRACT), as he pilots the Land the tigers lurk. program, conceived by Poonam, which Rover Discovery Sport past this scene. The Dhanwateys have been studying provides villagers with, among other He’s taking us on a drive around the the tigers of Tadoba since 2001. In fact, things, electricity and cooking gas. This conservancy he and his wife afforested they were the first to scientifically map reduces their dependence on the forest. nearly two decades ago. We are on the far the area using camera traps and GPS. Another program, which has significantly fringes, just outside the Tadoba-Andhari The data obtained has helped create contributed to conservation and the Tiger Reserve, 130km from Nagpur, in pioneering models of sustainable cause of tourism, trains villagers residing Maharashtra. “Every year they come and conservation and eco-tourism where in Tadoba-Andhari’s vast buffer zone— pray to the idol,” he says, switching from both locals and the tiger benefit from nearly twice the size of the reserve—to the Discovery Sport’s General Driving each other. One of their earliest initiatives conduct safaris. The money from this mode to the Grass, Gravel, Snow option, was to recruit villagers as wildlife activity is theirs to use as they see fit. as the vehicle goes off-road. “They tie ambassadors. “We realised that people Build toilets, light up streets and create a string around the statue’s neck. The would accept life lessons only if it came better infrastructure for themselves. belief is that as long as the thread stays from those who face the same situations “This direct economic benefit is what on, the tiger will spare the other residents as they do,” explains Poonam. Her team gives them ownership of the forest and SPECIAL FEATURE the wild animals in it,” says Poonam. The haranguing the animal till it disappears behind it. What looks like a bovine hoof cumulative effect: better management into the undergrowth. Later, when two sticks out. The stories of the tigers and and protection of the forest and its sub-adult tigers make an appearance, leopards that frequent the property residents, specifically the tiger. a silent “thank you” seems in order. The come to mind. Images of them, caught One morning we see the program in honour/trust-based system appears on camera, and seen on the living room action at Agarzari, one of the buffer zones to be working. There are just six pairs TV flash past. The feet quickly backtrack that’s open to tourism. Devidas, a local of eyes watching the siblings swagger to the relative safety of the house. The who did odd jobs before becoming a down the road, rub their hides against TRACT staffers who man the property and forest guide, asks for our mobile phones the trunks of teaks, stretch and roll about patrol the grounds herd the visitors inside. to be handed to him. As the devices are in dry grass, weave their way in and Later that night the home-style dinner placed in a metal box and tucked under out of bamboo thickets – all for a good (starring puffing-hot phulkas and a kheer his seat, he says it’s a measure to ensure thirty minutes. And no noise to disturb my dreams are made of), is disrupted a tiger when sighted is not hounded by them or cell phones to distract us from by the sharp call of barking deer, literally visitors. That no one including himself the unadulterated joy of seeing these beyond the fence that runs around the can call and tip off other guides to the powerful beasts behave like kitty cat. swimming pool in the backyard. It is pitch tiger’s whereabouts. If you’ve ventured That fuzzy feeling lasts only for a short dark. The tall teak trees that surround into an Indian wildlife park before, you while. Out for a walk in the unmanicured the property compound the sense of know this to be true. All too often phone grounds of Tigress@Ghosri, the isolation. The deer are soon joined by the calls among guides and drivers results Dhanwateys’ six-room guest house, a band of langurs that live on the property. in dozens of vehicles scrambling to guttural growl-like sound stops me in All lights turned off, we wait. Our hearts the same spot, where tourists noisily my tracks. The high grass ahead stands are beating so loud the tiger or leopard jostle for that perfect photograph, tense, as if scared stiff by whatever is outside can probably hear us. SPECIAL FEATURE A room at Tigress@Ghosri; the Discovery Sport on the road to Ghodazari; a gaur inside the reserve Quickly we head to the living room to The success of the Tadoba model of chital, sambhar, neelgai, bison, wild boar check the live feed coming in from the conservation has led to an increase in —exists here, alongside, monkeys, foxes, watering hole nearby. When they bought the park’s tiger population. Sightings wolves, hyenas and a plethora of winged the seven-acre parcel of rocky, barren have been on the rise not just within creatures, both resident and migratory. land the Dhanwateys had created the the core or the buffer area, but also in All of this boosted Ghodazari’s case, little pool for monkeys and birds to get parts adjoining the reserve, like around which the Dhanwatey’s played a pivotal a drink from, especially in the scorching Tigress@Ghosri. “As the population role in making. Nudging the Discovery summers. The land was left to its own increases, tigers have been dispersing Sport on a beaten path along a nullah, devices. The belief that if humans didn’t from Tadoba looking for new homes which separates the Ghodazari forest intervene the forest would take over. And for themselves,” says Poonam. “And we from fields, Harswardhan tells us it was it did. Soon neelgai, deer, leopards and moved as they moved, into newer forests. the locals who lobbied for the creation of tigers began stopping by. “The caretaker That’s how we discovered Ghodazari.” the park, with the rider that the Tadoba called one day to say a nilgai had been The 159sqkm sanctuary, 45km from eco-tourism model be implemented here. found dead on the property and that a Tadoba-Andhari, is Maharashtra’s newest. The residents of nearly 60 villages hope tigress had killed it,” says Poonam. “We It includes the rolling Saatbahini hills, full to benefit from Ghodazari’s new status put camera traps and discovered the of trees endemic to the region—mahua, in the years to come, when the park is tigress, which had been coming here jamun, dhawada, char, bel and bakain – opened to visitors. “It’s an absolute win- to drink out of the watering hole. She perennial waterfalls and the life-nurturing win situation,” says Poonam, summing continued to come even after she had Ghodazari Lake. TRACT’s research has up the positive role played by tourism in cubs.

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