Dear friends on the 10th and 11th of May-2019 we were at Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve at Moharli and went for two safaris in Junona and Devada Zone.
It was really disheartening to see the urbanization of the Jungle. Here in the picture, you will see a circular concrete water hole created for the wildlife to quench their thirst, especially during the harsh summer months. This water hole seems to be like a swimming pool made for the most sought after animal in the jungle which is nothing but the Tiger.
This water hole is filled automatically by a Solar Pump fitted on a bore well. Just opposite the solar panels and the water hole is an Iron machan.
Just 10 meters away from the man-made water hole, a Solar panel fitted on the tube well and the Massive iron machan is situated a concrete structure. This iron machan is the sheer wastage of government/ public money and either deterrent to the big cats or making them domesticated like JAI (mysteriously disappeared from Umred Karandala wildlife sanctuary) and his siblings. If the purpose of the machan is to monitor the wildlife coming to the water hole, the same would have been achieved by sitting inside the concrete structure or the wooden hut mounted on the concrete structure.
It seems all these structures had been built without APPLICATION OF MIND. Nothing like COMAFLOUGE AND CONCEALMENT had been taken into consideration. This is nothing but turning the Tiger into a more sophisticated and urban creature than a wild beast.
If the department is really thinking about the water provision for its wildlife, such water holes need to be deep inside the jungle in the core forest which is out of reach for a normal tourist but the forest personal.
It seems that such water holes along the safari route are to showcase the tiger to the tourist. Tiger sighting in the jungle has to be a matter of luck and not these manmade water holes, if marketing the Tiger is the only criteria then the forest department should cage them in big encloser.
This sort of urbanization will either shy away from the big cats and force them to migrate to other less human inhabited jungle or make them totally domesticated and man-friendly that they come close to the tourist Gypsy’s and play with the side view mirror and even sniff the butt of the tourist sitting in the gipsy like a sniffer dog.
The concrete structure mounting the wooden hut is supposed to be for Machan tourism. A humble request to the planner is better to promote homestay in the three Villages i.e. Junona, Devada, and Agarzari involving the villagers if you are really concern about uplifting their socio-economic condition. CONSERVATION WITHOUT THE INVOLVEMENT OF THE LOCAL POPULATION IS A DISTANT DREAM.
Please don’t boast of few odd jobs provided to the locals but work on a plan to improve the standard of the entire community without snatching away from them their cultural identity. We can help the department with solid sustainable plans for holistic development and not just an eyewash.
Sincere request to remove the iron machan and concealing the solar panels and giving the water hole a natural look or this most sought after Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve will lose its identity as a natural Jungle and will be known as open zoo like the Banhargatta in Karnataka near Bangalore.
PLEASE REMEMBER THE REAL TIGER IS THE ONE WHICH IS IN THE WILD, WITH ALL ITS WILD INSTINCTS. URBANIZATION OF THE JUNGLE AND ITS WILD LIFE IS JUST BREEDING COSMETIC TIGERS.
DR. Vinod Thakur,
drvlthakur@gmail.com
