A JUNGLE SAFARI
“No!” uttered my
elder brother (Dada).
“It’s not going to be
like any normal conducted tour. It will be a different sort of tour.”
“What about the
location?”
“Probably the
location that I will prefer, firstly & lastly a jungle”
“Ok! All right”
“I will decide the
spot & call you later.”
“Ok”
The line got
disconnected.
My Dada is always
bearing a free & judgmental mind quite apart from the orthodox ideas. With
keeping a balance between expense & location he chose the Kuldiha Wildlife
Sanctuary in Odissa.
‘Sign of four.’ We
were four heads- me, one of my friends (Soumyakanti), my elder brother
(Abhijit) & one of my brother’s friends (Arjun). My elder brother Abhijit
Bhunia was script writer cum sound director & photographer. Arjun Ghosh the
perfect zoologist I have ever seen teaches zoology in college. He also indulges
into the photography amateurishly, also has good command over the foreign
language like Spanish. I & my friend were just college students.
We boarded the Dhauli
express from Howrah
It was almost
mid-morning; the morning sun was on a little scorch. The Baleswar station was
sufficiently outfitted for the regular passengers, accommodating a number of
platforms.
We stood huddled with
our luggage, brushing off our pants & collars. The express whooshed past
us. A group of passengers were seen to be in hustle also with their luggage.
Concertedly we carried our luggage with spurning away the repeated trade cry of
the porters & auto drivers. We got out from the station.
A man having a stocky
figure approached us & introduced him with us. He was our guide, Shyamal
Dalui. He was appointed by my Dada prior to our tour. There was another man,
who was our driver. This long-haired man was quite amiable & every time a
faint smile was seen to be crossing his lips. They took our luggage gently
& made us seated in a white Tata Sumo.
Amidst the hilly
backdrop of Nilagiri & Kuldiha range our Tata Sumo made its way along the
national highway. We made our urgent phone calls on the way, as our guide
warned us about the unavailability of the network inside the jungle.
The driver wanted our
ID cards essential for entry to a forest. But my Dada, the main head of our
group was found to be forgotten his ID card at the eleventh hour of his packing
expedition who devoted the whole last night to pack his luggage. The ID cards
of the rest three solved the situation, also by the tactfulness of the driver.
Within few minutes
our car entered in the main fringes of the forest & it took a narrower road
leading through the jungle. Under the canopy of Sal & other deciduous Deccan plants the main jungle road prevails reclusively.
Our car hummed through this jungle road with a slow pace & made us wobbling
against each other.
We reached at the
Kuldiha FRH (forest rest house) & took a dormitory.
Kuldiha Wildlife
Sanctuary is about 300sq km of hilly landscape in Balasore district constitutes
the Kuldiha forest. It is close to Nilagiri forest towards north &
Mayurbhanj forest in northeast. Sukhapata & Gagua hills separate Kuldiha
from Simlipal. This thick wooded forest of the region accommodates wild animals
like the tiger, elephant, leopards, sambar, bison, gaur & giant squirrels.
It also houses a variety of birds like hornbills, hill myna & peafowl. The
streams drenching this area are also the habitat of reptiles. Kuldiha Wildlife Sanctuary
is the perfect niche for these endangered species.
At the very brink of
our dormitory there was a dense wood sloping towards the top, covered with the
lush of shrubs & trees, entrenched by a trench from the forest range area.
Our first wild visitor was waiting in an unexpected manner.
An intermittent
moaning noise was constantly running through our ears. Initially I
misunderstood it as a bird. But the sense of detection & instant
comprehension was quite high to Arjun Da. Caressing at our every footstep & cautiously restraining our every
footfall against the dried leaves we approached for it.
The mind-puzzling greenery of the trees &
the camouflaging attributes of our visitor put us in confusion to spot it.
After some fixed vision the reality came to light.
In naked eye from at
least thirty hands distance I could spot two brown figures resting on a bough.
My Dada & Arjun Da took a clear snap by their high definition camera.
Our first visitor was
a group of langurs!!!!!!
The entire forest
range area was made at a suitable location inside the forest. So abiding the
little inadequacies of here we got bustled. At day time there is no
electricity, making the solar panels to get excited to illumine the dormitories
at night.
We took our lunch on
a mahogany table, within the air of earnest reception & hospitality. Our
driver was seen to be a perfect jovial man who also took part in serving foods
to the guests. After a long exhaustion we ate our lunch with relish, which was
cooked delicately.
“There is a unanimous
fame about the Odia cooks all over the whole India
It was the second
turn to be familiar with our second visitor. Following the response & eager
eyes of others I settled down at my collars. For a while it seemed that I am
belonging to the fairy world of ‘Alice
With my first glance
it grabbed my attention by its brilliant red colour, lively & pure.
Sunlight gave it the extra tint with its magical rays. It moved within a flash
& started prancing all over the forest range area. The habituated eyes in
our nearby trees, orchards or railings got an awe-struck gaze with the morphological
magnification of a small squirrel. Yes it was a giant squirrel, quite larger
than normal squirrel with having the same homologous organs.
The third visitor
emerged just like a fugitive. With the air of nonchalance it started to roam
all over flaunting its many hued fantails. It cast a look of a royal unconcern
to the onlookers.
By the sheer stroke
of opportunity some people held their camera prodded by their instinct &
approached for it. Other eager people were also in haste to catch its view.
A rough female voice
crackled in the air!!! She cursed & shouted to all the photo catchers for hiding
it from their view in a spurt of arrogant Bengali tone.
That is why the wild
entities always tend to stay apart from human society. Sensing the upcoming
danger our visitor managed to flee with cocking a snook to us. It was an
adorable peacock.
The clock strikes at
three. We set out for a new location Jadachuwa, 9km from our resort. En route
we took a halt, got down from the car & followed our guide.
The swashing sound of
water hit my ears. It appeared as if I entered to the monolithic age (Stone Age).
I could sense the dampness & earthy smell of the place.
A stream took the
possession of the place, coming down step by steps naturally hindered by stony
obstacles. As we approached above, we could see that the stream was gushing
from a mossy lap of stones, taking the toll of the place.
By magical spell of a
wizard, the stones & boulders strewn all over, gave the place a solemn
& grave calmness under the shadowy shelter of the gigantic trees.
The guide took us to
a wetland situated at a corner of the jungle. We could spot a trail of big pug
marks approaching towards a pond. They were easily recognizable to be of
elephants. I could feel the thumping sound in my mind visualizing about the
jumbo animals, striding at a long foot steps. The guide told us that the pond
was a regular place for those elephants which served them water.
We drove towards
Jadachuwa. A few jungle fowls crossed our path.
There was a guest
house in Jadachuwa enough posh & suitable for the jungle visitors. But the
forest department imposed a closure on it pondering the safety of the wild
creatures.
At one side an empty
area was left, isolated by a big trench from the ambit of Jadachuwa guest
house. “It’s a saltlick in this jungle.” said our guide.
Soumyakanti looked curious
& proceeded.
“A salt lick is a
deposit of mineral salts used by animals to supplement their nutrition,
ensuring that they get enough minerals in their diets.” said Arjun Da.
“Is it made here
artificially?”
“Yah here it’s an
artificial saltlick”
“But I can sense its
commercial motive here.” urged Soumya.
“Artificial salt
licks are to attract wildlife such as deer & moose, along with smaller
creatures like squirrels. Animals may be attracted purely for the pleasure of
the humans who install the salt lick with the goal of watching or photographing
animals around the salt lick.” said our guide.
We spent that night
in our dormitory. In the faint light of our room we sat together.
Soumyakanti was in
mood to shuffle & rearrange a rubik cube, which he brought to kill his
boredom. But he was in mocking modesty to demonstrate its solving procedure to
others. He picked Arjun Da quite gullible to talk about it, but he found my
Dada contentious when he approached him.
“By the way I’m not
teaching you about it!” hurled Soumya after a light altercation with my Dada.
Arjun Da & Dada
was on a little tussle about the comparative theme between the Sherlock Holmes film
& TV series.
It was 24th
December. The exploring stuff of a new place & inner urgency made my Dada
to wake up earlier being a daily late riser. He pushed everybody to get ready
for the jungle trekking.
A narrow passageway
was leading through the jungle from the forest range area. We followed our
guide & this time he was another man, a staff in Kuldiha FRH. This time
there was another group of photographers in this trekking, also guided by him.
Arjun Da told us to
fix our field of view by 360* & to be aware of every minute sounds.
We walked under the
shade of the tropical trees. The benevolent morning sun was peeping through
leaves, singing the song of the immobility of profound silence, urgency of the
jaded leaves scattered here & there, grim toughness of the boughs… The long
eucalyptus trees stood adamantine. Somewhere various orchids were sprung out
from the ground or trunks of the long trees.
The presence of the
trees like Acacia, Arjun, Mahogony & Sal were also perceptible. There were
lots of parasitic trees, extending out their branches in geometrical pattern to
consume their host. Somewhere it is helical; somewhere it is serpentine,
annular, straight, curved & many other forms.
Some tawny (coloured
like copper) soil mounds (heaps) were seen to be amassed here & there.
There were various mounds to be seen; some were as big as mountain, some were
medium shaped & some were small. At a single glance it seemed to be brittle
(breakable) at a single stroke, but it retorted against my hands by their
solidity & compactness. It was damn hard like a stone! It was ‘Termite’s
mound’.
With a sense of utter
vigilance everybody’s eyes were running through all over; through the fronds,
bushes, boughs; through the slightest gap between the leaves; through the
hindmost trees, branches & leaves.
Playing giant
squirrels were common sight everywhere.
Professor Arjun Ghosh
was quite proficient in the realm of ornithology (the branch of zoology that
deals with scientific study of birds) as well as zoology. He was crammed with
all sorts of information especially about Indian birds as well as others. The
sense of optical & auditorial recognition seemed quite high to Arjun Da.
His black pair of eyes through the frame of the spectacle comprises the sharp
vision of a hawk. In the stark darkness he holds the ability to identify small
to smallest insects along with its species. The traits of a good zoologist were
imparted by his maternal uncle from his very childhood, who went on to the
expedition to introduce young Arjun to all sorts of birds in the lap of nature
without using any binocular. Arjun Da made us familiar to many birds visible in
the Kuldiha forest.
‘Sun Birds’, the
common & endangered family among the birds. Arjun Da & my Dada managed
to take lots of photographs of these birds with their exertion. Sometimes I
& my friend took part in spotting the location of the birds. Some of these
birds are quite restful; some are skittish, jumpy; some are moderate. The
species visible in Kuldiha are- Purple
Sunbird, Brown-throated Sunbird, Collared Sunbird, Rufous-winged Sunbird,
Red-chested, Spectacled Spider hunter etc...
Somewhere the wood
peckers were pecking the woods with making a hammering sound; somewhere the
colourful parakeets were on a hustle (busy) at the very top of trees. There
were also Hill Mynah, Drongo, Hornbill, Blue Robin, Kingfisher, Linet &
many others.
Our jungle way hits
to a small rocky hill. We started to ascend to the top with a slow pace. The
scattered dung-cakes here & there gave us the allusion about the frequency
of leopard, bison & other herbivores. At the very high point
From the very top we
got a panoramic view of the entire jungle. A verdant (green) landscape cradling
down & disperses all over. The entire jungle seemed to have cloaked by a
green blanket, emerged from an unfathomable abyss.
Here one thing must
be included, the swanky group of photographers seemed quite lacking of common
sense. Sometimes they were found to be calling each others with a loud tone of
voice, which was absolutely antagonistic of the basic rule of the trekkers
especially when they are inside a jungle. Surprisingly this guide was also
found to be quite uncanny. He did not hesitate for a little talking in his
special cell-phone loudly, perching on a big stone on top of the hill. He was
altercating vociferously with his phone in outright Odia accent.
We returned to the
FRH & spent few hours by bird watching in the vicinity. We took our lunch.
Our driver promised
to let us have a close encounter with the jumbos. The Tata Sumo revved &
made its way through the jungle road.
Seated in our car my
mind was drifting to the universalism of the elephants.
“In ancient times the
elephants played a major role in warfare as well as consolidating the security
of a territory.” said me.
“Please don’t get
dramatic again!” leered Soumya.
“But the sense
‘Drama’ was quite majestic to Indian history.” said Dada.
Arjun Da was silent. The Tata Sumo was racing
through the jungle road.
“Alexander reached
the borders of India Punjab , Porus deploying
his special war elephants. Looking further east again, however Alexander could
see that the kings of the Nanda Empire & Gangaridai could deploy 3000 &
6000 war elephants. Such a force was many times larger than the number employed
by the Persian & Greeks, which discouraged Alexander’s small band of men
& they effectively halted their advance into India.” enunciated my Dada.
Another Tata Sumo was
seen to be stopped in front. This time a ‘dantal hathi’ (tusked elephant) was
reported to be seen. A forest guard was on duty. He wore a traditional guard’s
apparel, held a stick & buckled a gun.
We happened to talk
with him. An elephant had just crossed the road & it was expected to exist
nearby inside the jungle. The guard & driver were made to be sure that we
could run if the elephant would attack.
They took us to the
nearby passageway leading through the jungle. With keeping aside the dangling
branches & creepers, brushing off the cobwebs & managing our every
footfall against the dried leaves we proceeded. Unsorted pug marks &
scattered dunk-cakes were foreboding about the constancy of the elephants
through this path. Somewhere broken stones, broken trunks, trampled foliage
gave the same allusion. Being blended with strange thrill & fear we were
walking on…
A tapping sound was
lingering in the air for a few minutes. We came near a bush from where the
sound appeared to come.
We stopped.
The guard &
driver, who were leading us, went to the different directions to perceive the
source of that sound.
“Try to find the
advance escape route!!!” Arjun Da whispered.
A jungle parakeet
cried! It momentarily perturbed the weighty silence prevailing all around us
& thereby causing my heart bits to pound upon my chest.
“Aren’t you feeling
scared?” whispered Soumya to me.
I was silent. I was
not in condition to express my feelings. A weird sensation of suspense was
hovering over my mind. There was no way left but to wait patiently.
Long silence…
The guard gave a
smacking sound to hint the driver from his position. They were again united.
“The elephant seemed
to have been moved more inside, hard to track them at this time.”
“After a while there
will be no daylight.”
“It’s better to
depart this place right now.”
He led us to another shortcut way to escape
easily, one part of which was through a narrow rocky passage beside a deep
chasmy gap. The only thing worried me that was my slippers, which I wore for
this afternoon presuming that there would be no trekking like journey. I was in
quite fidget in restraining my slippers against the topsy-turvy or jagged or
up-down stony obstacles, with avoiding a further slip or skid of my legs. The
passage way ultimately ends to the main jungle road.
I heaved a sigh of
relief. “You haven’t any idea about the danger we left behind. If the elephant
took a slightest attempt to chase us, there would not be any single way by
which we could escape our death!” said Arjun Da. My Dada gave a supportive
smile. Arjun Da has seen the condition of the human victims who were trampled
by an elephant. It was hard to describe about the condition of the contorted
corpses killed by an elephant.
“We the human beings
are dull-headed, but the elephants were proved to be more over smart!” said the
guard lecherously. The guard was also in utter tension about his five thousand
rupees, which he kept beneath his bed at night & forgot to keep it aside in
the morning.
One thing I forgot to
mention, our first encounter with the jumbo yesterday.
It was the exact
converging time between day & night, the twilight falls. The west horizon
was at dusk, hushed the entire jungle gradually as the daylight faded.
We were completely
engrossed at the very presence of two deers on the salt lick of Jadachuwa,
tenderly licking away the salt.
The news darted to
our ears unexpectedly!!!! Our guide took us to the nearby spot, where the presence
of the elephants was reported.
We stood on the main
jungle way, leading through the dark forest by two sides. There was the weighty
silence everywhere. Amidst the dark woods that evening seemed to be weird which
outwit our normal daily evenings, as if it was in attempt to unfold the most
sinister things from its core.
The normal humming
sounds of the birds was almost on the verge of ending & the crickets
started its chirping.
At the right side of
the road a herd of elephants were reported to be gathered inside the jungle.
After long silence a rumbling sound was heard from the jungle, as if somebody
is trampling the leaves & gnashing the boughs.
Long silence……
Again an intermittent
hideous thumping sound was heard. The guide made us aware that it was nothing
but the hitting sound of the heavy legs against the bark.
I stood froze at my
feet, feeling a long term trembling in my legs. I could hear my faster heart
bits.
The rumbling &
thumping sound was again on the board, made me feel that the sound was engulfing
the entire right side. It gave me instinctive caution that the jumbos were very
nearer to me & it would trample over me by any chance.
Everybody was talking
in whisper & I could sense the tinge of suspense striking everybody
including the guide too. Sometimes we proceeded & sometimes we retroverted
sensing the upcoming presence of the jumbo. In this regard our driver seemed quite
mercurial & fast, having a lithe figure. He & our guide were leading
us, every time they were seen to be speculating about the position of the
jumbos.
A faint trumpet (the
cry of an elephant) was heard!!!! After some moments the rumbling sound was
again heard & this time it was the sound of approaching.
It was almost dark, a
faintest daylight was left. Our driver outstretched his torch & alighted
the flash of the torch upon a front portion of the road. In that torch light
the most awaited entity materialized from the dark & gently crossed the
road to enter the other side of the jungle. I heaved a sigh of relief at the
first glance of an elephant in that jungle.
The guide made us
aware that there were still some elephants in the right side jungle & all
of them were in spree to return home. Resorting the same way we waited to catch
a glimpse of another elephant. But the elephants appeared to be more over
smart. The driver told us “Khub chalak!
Era ektuo norbena, protita step era bujhe bujhe fele” (They are very
clever! They will not move single inch of their body if they sensed danger.
They are decisive at their every step.)
We ventured to exert
our last effort to get the view of the jumbos. Our car drove us to a spot.
There was no sunlight left & it was completely dark. Our guide & driver
took us through a rocky path with lighting his torch. In the stark darkness I
could feel the eerie presence of bushes & trees by two sides, which
silently witnessing our trail to get the view of that gigantic grey figure.
It ultimately halts
at the top a reservoir, from where the entire view of that natural reservoir is
visible. It was completely night, made our view quite inaccessible in plain
eyes, but heralding its presence by the strong gushing sound of water. The
guide put his torch light on that water source; a small falls was seen to be merging
with a water bed, flowing torrent.
“The elephants used
to come here to quench their thirst. So the elephants are very common in this
place.” said the driver.
No. We still did not
get any another view of an elephant.
“Last Friday I got a
tip of 500/- from a group. The group encountered with a bear on the open jungle
road.” said the driver.
“You own self driving
the car?”
“Yes!”
“What about the bear?”
“It proved to be very
ferocious. It was in complete attempt to pounce upon the car & attack.”
“Then what you did?”
“I stroked the
accelerator quickly & managed to run the car with a full pick up! By the
way we came out of its range.”
“We also heard about
the presence of leopard in this jungle.”
“Yah it is. But there
is only one leopard is survived in this jungle.”
“Only one?”
“But it’s difficult
to get its view easily. It likes to live recluse.”
“Have you ever got
any view of it?”
“I work here for
seven years. But I only saw him once perched on a tree.” said our guide.
The last night we
spoke a lot with our guide & driver.
That day we hired
tents to spend the last night in Kuldiha. The tents were in the ambit of FRH,
rigged up quite luxuriously with an attached bathroom. I & my friend was in
a tent, my Dada & Arjun Da was in a tent face to face each other. We sat
together in front of our tents. My Dada was quite adept to narrate any incident
or any matter in his own ways. He cracked some solid jokes & funny
incidents about his school life, made us burst into laughter.
A scuffle was heard.
Somebody was heard scolding some group of people for a while in Odia accent.
The fracas was from the main office in FRH.
The five thousand
rupees of that guard were reported to be stolen. A group of workers were
suspected to stash the amount, who left FRH at noon. We felt sorry for such a
loss of that guard, who would earn a short amount of salary treading the entire
jungle everyday.
Under the
star-studded sky the long puff of marijuana seemed profound. The cosmic
consciousness was merging with the infinitude.
It was a long term
peace being adrift in the silence of the dark night. The life is not about
grasping bookish knowledge, not about filling pages in the answer script, not
about toiling hard on the text books, not about solely taking part in the rat
race; life is just like a breeze, just like ‘blowing in the wind’.
“How many roads must
a man walk down before you call him a man…” I could feel the immortal lines of
Bob Dylan on that night within me.
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