Day Two

It was 5:30am when I finally pulled myself out of bed. I opened my eyes expecting to see the walls of my room at home and the sight of the garden outside the window.

I didn't once need to use my morning alarm thanks to the healthy population of Jungle Fowl around the rest houses

The moment I realised where I actually was, it was like a rush of adrenaline and I was ready and raring to go. The forest guard there by the name of Kamlesh was going to be my guide from Sarapduli. He seemed like a nice guy, amazingly fit and smartly dressed in jungle clothes. The others in the area tend to have that wee bit of a belly showing up and there dressing sense doesn't normally give you the impression of a professional jungle guy. Kamlesh sure did. I mean, he was even wearing a green beret!

We shared a quick cup of tea after which I went to check out the new watchtower at Sarapduli. It offered an incredible view! After getting hold of the local young helper, named Taxi due to his abilities to zip around everywhere, Kamlesh joined me at the watchtower and we were on our way. I recognised Taxi from the previous census, only that time he was called by his actual name, Amit. I was glad to have him around as I had rarely seen anyone as sure-footed as him on the steep hillsides, except maybe mountain goats.

The Sarapduli watchtower offers quite a vast view of the river and stream that run along the boundaries of the rest house

The first one hour of the trek went along the main road. The idea was to cover as much of the main tracks before the vehicles got moving and then to move into the denser areas and onto the dry streams / riverbeds. We had been walking for almost an hour, with no luck yet with pugmarks, when we came across the first indications of elephants in the area. This began at the turn off for a point known as Crocodile Pool. The first sign was fresh dung, then came fresh footprints. Initially, one could see the footprints of many elephants but all but one seemed to have turned off to the right and entered the jungle uphill. Now there were clear footprints of only one elephant and it appeared to be huge!! We were still walking at our normal pace, when suddenly Kamlesh held up his hand. He crinkled up his nose, quite like a tiger when it is trying to pick the scent of it's prey. The two of us crept around the bend in the road and I was amazed at the accuracy of his senses!

I finally managed to click a snap only as the giant retreated into the trees

We stood there face to face with a huge tusker! He too had turned around to investigate the voices following . His tusks were not very large but he was massive. I was fascinated by him and didn't take any pictures due to Kamlesh's request, under his breath, of not to make any movement or sound that may upset the giant. After all he was just 10 yards away! While I watched the jumbo in awe, I could see in my peripheral vision that Kamlesh was checking out all routes of escape in case we got charged. Wow! This guy was cool and kept his wits about him.

I was just too excited and awestruck by this magnificent animal. I have to admit, I was also sweating!! The tusker suddenly raised his trunk and let out a huff that raised all the dust on the road between him and us! I even got a feel of the warmth and dampness of elephant breath! He then spread his ears and took one threatening step in our direction! We were ready for action and I looked for the nearest substantial tree or sharp high enough incline - anything!! Then, before we could take our first step, the giant suddenly abandoned his mock threat and took off in the opposite direction! This was becoming a habit! I remember wondering at the time if this unusual reaction this year had anything to do with the spate of poaching incidents earlier this year. Luckily for us, despite his size, he seemed to be quite a young tusker and was probably equally wary of us as we were of him. I finally got my camera up and got a shot as he disappeared into the trees. Wow!! That was some encounter. An encounter that seemed to have created some sort of an instant bonding between the three of us. We were the best of pals for the next three days.

A little further we heard another loud trumpeting sound but it was distant and in fact from across the river. We were at a spot known as Jhirna Jali. There across the river and on the opposite hillside was a beautiful herd of over 40 elephants. They had many babies among them who playfully ran among the adults, often letting out gleeful squeals. The youngsters are always some of the most pleasing animals to watch in the jungles. Their cute appearance and antics can keep you enthralled for hours.

It's always interesting watching the youngsters in an elephant herd

We however had to move on as we still had a little portion of the main road to cover before arriving at "Dhulwa Sot" where we would turn off. "Sot" is the local term used for streams that cut through the hills before finally joining up with the main river. On arriving there, we turned off to the right and began climbing up the almost completely dry stream. This is easier said than done as it is one continuous bed of rounded rocks of varying sizes. These are interspersed by small patches of sand that you are wary of stepping on because that is where your best chances of finding pugmarks are.

Although I had seen a bear before in Corbett, I had never seen signs of one in this area before

Almost at the point from where we decided to turn around, we came across our first set of pugmarks. However, they did not belong to any member of the cat family. They belonged to a large bear! This was the first sign of bears I had ever seen in this area of the park. A little later we met up with the beat from the Sultan Forest Rest House. No volunteers there. Just the forest guys. We relaxed a while as they all exchanged notes and gossip. We then headed all the way down the stream until we came to the river Ramganga.

Here we met the guys from Gairal. I got a big hug from all of them and I was asked by each one separately about why I wasn't at Gairal this time too. After clarifications and asking them to give my regards to Ram Singh, who was covering the area below Gairal today, we parted ways and moved on up the river in the direction of Sarapduli. We crossed over to the other side of the river at a shallow section to see if we could get a closer look at the lovely elephant herd we had earlier seen. They seemed to have climbed further up into the hills and we saw no further sign of them. Around halfway to Sarapduli, after over an hour of jumping from stone to stone, side-scaling low cliffs rising out of the water, we decided to rest on a large flat rock which stood next to a large deep pool formed by the river. As we sat there still and motionless, more and more fish started appearing. There were huge Mahaseer, river sharks and many more species. It was fascinating watching the larger Mahaseer splash into the shallow areas in an attempt to attack the smaller fish. Only once did we see one move off with a poor victim in it's mouth.

After moving on and just before we were at the final stream crossing before Sarapduli, we came across our first set of fresh tiger pugmarks. It was a young male and he was headed up the sot. We sat there and traced the pugmarks and also made a plaster cast out of it. The cast was be left to dry in its place and would be lifted later. We then returned to the resthouse and met up with the others who had also had an interesting trek. On their way out, they had come across the foul smell of a kill but found it to have completely vanished by the time they got to the same spot on their way back. Their luck with snakes seemed to be in, as the spotted a King Cobra right outside their rest house being violently harassed by a pair of mynahs. They were swooping in and pecking at his spread hood. He quickly retreated back to his hole among the rocks below a large shady tree. After a quick breakfast that they had kindly saved for me, which saved me a drive all the way to Dhikala, we had a few refreshments.

There was a little sadness in the air as they had been told that they were stationed at the Jhirna Rest house for the next couple of days. They had never been to the area but I told them to be ready to be pleasantly surprised by the jungle there, even though it was not in the main tourism area. I told them to specially check out a brilliant machaan in the area. Since they were all bird enthusiasts, I was sure they were going to have a great time there too. As we were saying our goodbyes and exchanging addresses, a very tragic news was brought to our attention. Ram Singh from Gairal, with whom I had roamed a majority of the time during the 1999 census, had slipped and fallen into a deep pool in the Ramganga and drowned! I rushed to Gairal, praying all the way that it should turn out to be a rumour spread by a wicked mind.

I told them they had to check out the Jhirna Machaan which was the best in the park

Ram Singh tracing a pugmark during the 1999 tiger census - may his soul rest in peace...

I knew it was true when I saw most of the guys standing by the river, setting up a temporary shelter to protect the still, covered body from the rain that had suddenly begun. I went and put my arm around Chhimbal, who had now been a friend and colleague of Ram Singh for over 15 years. Not a word needed to be spoken. We knew exactly how the other felt. He only spoke to tell me how it had happened and then we again stood there lost in thought, nobody even noticing that they were getting soaked in the rain.

The rest of the afternoon was spent there until the ambulance and cops arrived. The sight of the shattered son and other relatives was heart wrenching. The park director was there and ensured that everything was carried out properly. Then after sitting for a while in the verandah thinking of all the good times we'd had during the last census, I got together all the guys to go back to Sarapduli and left. I made sure there were discussions all the way back to ensure nobody slumped into depression, specially myself. The sight of an elephant herd heading upriver in the direction of Sarapduli took everyone's mind off the tragedy for a while. They expected the herd to arrive at the rest house during the night and do some damage.

After reaching back, I changed into some dry clothes and had some tea with Kamlesh. Between tea and dinner, he narrated a number of exciting incidents that had occurred in his life. I listened with envy. His wife prepared some excellent dinner, which made me overeat quite a bit. I thanked her and after a quick goodnight to the family, I returned to my room in the outhouse. As sleep took over the conscious mind, memories of how Ram Singh had gotten me equally interested in birds as I was in animals fluttered through my brain. Soon I passed out. The elephants came and the elephants went. The only damage they caused was to a new hut being built further away from the rest of the rooms and resthouse. A little baby elephant had managed to enter the room of the ground floor and had a field day flinging around the utensils of the terrified and silent construction workers huddled together on the upper floor. We only got to know about it the next morning.

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