The Satpura, ’Seven Folds’, range feels old and ethereal from the first look. Standing beyond the rapidly depleting Tawa reservoir, the range of dramatically moulded forested hills rise high amid lower ones rippling around them. One can imagine the Denwa and Sonbhadra rivers cleaving their way under the cliffs of the range to emerge from the jungle here. A gate proclaiming Satpura Tiger Reserve’s Madhai core zone on the grassy banks needs no barricade. Adjoining it is a warning sign for crocodiles. Before you meet the wildlife in the jungle beyond you might be at the snapping end of a cranky croc in these backwaters.
Our hunt to sight the tiger has been on and the man and I differ on the tally. We are yet to see one I believe. Barely getting a glimpse of a butt of a sleeping tiger, artfully framed by leaves, seen in the distance in Ranthambore does not count but he differs. I don’t feel bereft… being in the forest, feeling the cold crispness in an open gypsy, the joy of sighting uncommon birds or any animal that does not want to be seen (voyeuristic much), discovering dramatic landscape is soul satisfying in itself.
Make Haste While the Sun Shines
We turn off the highway coming from Bhopal, having crossed the road leading to the Mesolithic caves of Bimbetka, speed over the solidified waves of low hills of Ratapani, the newest tiger reserve here, over the Narmada and then the sandy bed of the Tawa, enjoying the shade of tree tunnels, a relic of the past, pretty much like the winding roads that have been ironed out. An attempt at making the journey a perfunctory process. The range rises in the distance and we make our way between harvested fields, golden where they have not been burned to cinders. This land is as old as time itself. Occupied for millennia, first by hunter-gatherers and now their descendants, the Gonds.
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The Satpura Tiger Reserve, part of the Satpura National Park which also includes the Bori Wildlife Sanctuary and the Pachmarhi Wildlife Sanctuary is our destination. Capt. James Forsythe in search of Tantia Tope in the aftermath of 1857 chanced upon the Pachmahri plateau and what followed was history. The Bori Forest was the first declared forest reserve in India in 1865 and over time the protected areas expanded to preserve this veritable natural bridge between the peninsular south and Himalayan north.
Walking in Mahua and Machan Land
We reach the gate of Jamani Dev buffer zone early in the evening after a short rest and change for a walking excursion. The adjoining fields are dotted with thatched domed machans and mahuas in bloom. The fresh garnet red flowers contrast strikingly with the golden fields.
Three guides accompany us- Varsha, Gopal and Ranjeet. We get off the dirt track immediately and head towards a rocky ravine. The resident Rock Eagle owl is not at home. Below the end of the ravine where there is water and fresh grass a few enormous wild boars snout around. We cross the rocky bed of a bone-dry waterfall and come across a mahua with the most sweet and heady aroma. The tree is central to life here. From food to drink, it feeds culture and the economy of the locals. A sack hanging nearby tells that the produce of the tree- daily yield of flowers and the fruits to follow, have been claimed. A small delicate yellow fruit is offered to us. I have never much cared for the taste after eating a whole mouthful in one go in the hope of getting high as a teenager. Instead of any instant high I had ended up with a lingering taste in my mouth and a queasy belly!
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We cross a ravaged anthill. The handy work of a bear who apparently is more dangerous than the tiger since it is often mistaken for a rock from a distance and it does not mock charge like a tiger might. If it looks like its coming for you it is! Ranjeet once was mock charged thrice by a tiger while walking with a visitor…I think I would have had a heart attack in the first one itself, although any cat owner knows the chase is what goads it on even more. Even then, to stand ground and say, ‘bad kitty’ to a tiger is not my idea of a better option but those are the laws of the jungle.
We reach the reservoir bank without encountering anything, much to my relief and the man’s disappointment. The forest across the low water and the range behind, glow in the warmth of a setting sun. A few canoes with fishermen complete the picture. Retracing our way we cross a tendu tree and I return with a rich bounty of a leaf and a piece of the buoyant bark of a cork tree. A junglefowl scampers noisily in the undergrowth letting out a loud cry. Uprooted lantana, a very sly weed, has been stacked upside down. It will throw down roots immediately otherwise. While searching for the owl we see a Greater Flameback fly into its home in a tree and disappear for the night. So should we since the sun has almost called it a night.
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Tree Tales and Temple Trails
We are out before the sun the next morning waiting to get into the boat to take us across the reservoir for the safari. A perfect half moon hangs in the inky sky. Satpura might be the only reserve with an entrance like this. As we dock across, the sun makes an appearance in a sky pink with promise.
Driving into the jungle we are seen off by a few spotted deer and a discarded bleached antler. We cross drying creeks, the receding water exposing green banks, beds and rocks, sculpted and smoothened into poetic perfection. The langurs let out a coughing call and we chase it back and forth but nothing emerges. They return to feasting on the mahua.
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We explore scattered small pools and the track twists and turns through the dry forested hillocks drained by streams lined with green jamun trees. As we make our way down a steep slope and take a crazy bend I can only very intently admire a khejri tree to take my mind off the angle of the vehicle. We are rewarded with the surprising sight of twin temples. Villages have been relocated out of the core zone but these centuries old stone temples are rooted here as much as the trees surrounding them.
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A Malabar Giant Squirrel, its burgundy coat burnishing a deeper shade in the sun, nibbles high up on a mahua, spreadeagled to get to the last bunch on the branch. We reach the fertile floodplains of the reservoir and halt near a causeway over a stream. There are fresh pug marks of a male tiger from the morning heading to Churna zone but we cannot cross over. We return after being stared down by an irate Serpent Eagle and watching two others having a very verbal face off.
Jungle Jamboree
The junglefowls are active early the next day and we hear them crow raucously and catch a glimpse of a big grey rooster. A rare leucistic Gaur calf with a herd on a rocky mound is pointed out to us.
We soon chance upon a massive bear feasting on mahua flowers. These big black beauties with grey snouts love mahua but get high and then sleep off. Sounds familiar! We get a fill of him while he gets his, of the flowers on the forest floor.
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A drive on flat rocks sloping into a puddled stream puts us in a beautiful valley where the Sonbhadra curves sinuously between wide grassy banks. While the forest here is populated with crocodile bark trees with scaly grey trunks, in the placid water a crocodile languidly makes it’s way.
At one watering hole the langurs let on about a leopard that wants to head to the hillock across the pond. It has more patience than us and we give up and head for breakfast at the elephant camp nearby. As we start back for the same pond our guide spots her. The leopard blends beautifully with the foliage and if she were not on the move we would have missed her. With an unhurried gait she makes her way silently through the undergrowth, soon disappearing. She clearly does not reciprocate our enthusiasm for an encounter.
With every missed tiger sighting I have discovered the joys of the jungle, realising that every forest has a fable. We need to turn the page or we will miss the woods for the trees.
Fact File-
Satpura Tiger Reserve is 170 km from Bhopal.
Apart from jeep safari one can explore STR on foot, by boat and canoe.
For details refer to- https://www.satpuratigerreserve.org/
Note-
As per a Supreme Court ruling mobile phone photography has been banned in national parks. Only cameras are allowed.