India
f you've sampled the writings of Jim Corbett, the name 'Mohan' (also spelled Mohaan) might ring familiar to you. The late hunter-turned-conservationist immortalised the village of Mohan in one of his globally-acclaimed classics The Man-eaters of Kumaon, in the chapter ' The Mohan Man-eater ', in which he tracks and slays a feline gone rogue.
Far-flung, non-descript, and picturesque, Rathuwadab seemed like an unmapped destination. It is a little hamlet that rubs its shoulders with the northern boundary of Corbett National Park. But unlike the better-known parts of the Corbett landscape, this one isn't a tourist magnet; in fact it lies on the opposite end of spectrum.
Like every Indian, I too lament the many ills inflicted upon us by the British while they held sway over our country. But, despite their wrongs, there is one remnant of the raj that I will always hold dear: the forest bungalows left by the British.
While Kaziranga's field staff has undoubtedly worked with admirable will power to counter the impacts of the flooding, a series of applications filed under the Right to Information Act by Rohit Choudhury - a researcher with the EIA Resource and Response Center (ERC) - have exposed gaping lacunae in the park's management.
My friend Puran, who grew up in a village at an arm's distance from the jungle's embrace, and I, a thoroughbred child of the urban jungle, bounced along in our gypsy towards the forest rest houses of Dhikala.
While tracking tigers from a Gypsy is undoubtedly a pulsating affair, being confined to a vehicle ensures an inauthentic jungle experience. Jim Corbett once said that the fear of death added zest to the life of all jungle inhabitants, and the best way to imbibe that zest is to experience the forest on foot.
"Humans are more of a menace in these parts, the fence was erected to curb instances of unwanted trespassing," Sagar replied warily to my pressing query about an unsightly, metallic fence that had caught my eye. An aesthetic blot on the landscape, it looked woefully out of place.
Sultan the tiger sparked a massive uproar on social media when he vanished without a trace from the tiger haven of Ranthambore national park. But irrespective of the entire online clamour following his disappearance, and the rampant fear-mongering, the forest department tracked him down within a short span, of a few months.
Grumpy Traveller: Is Amateur Photography Ruining Wildlife Safaris? - Outlook Traveller If there's one creature you're guaranteed to spot at a tiger reserve today, it's the battle-hardened, testosterone-fuelled, amateur wildlife shutterbug.