The best safari is an ethical one!
Violation of any mentioned rules will
invite legal action and fine.
“Aapkna naam?” Your name? “Ramaji Verbe Tadoba, van major," pat comes the reply. Evidently, this ‘forest worker’ identifies with the park, Tadoba that he has walked and protected for over 30 years! He has served Tadoba in every which way—done foot patrols, tracked tigers, assisted in tiger census, been part of teams to rescue injured wildlife and helped in the process of village relocation, particularly of Jamni and Navegaon. He came to Tadoba when barely out of his teams and spent the first few months in abject fear of wildlife, and even more of the sudden loneliness of living, and working, in a remote forest.
Over the years, that changed. Now, ‘Mama’ as he is called affectionately, feels more at home here than even in his own house on the Warora highway. “It’s too noisy, " he grumbles. He misses the silence and the stillness of the jungle. And the tigers he is well-acquainted with and has seen grow up from tiny cubs to mothering their own litters, even more than his own children!
Wild animals have never harmed him, nor does he fear them. Caution, yes. Reading their language. Respecting their space. And while he has a healthy respect for camera-traps and drones (udne walla camera!), he swears by foot patrol which can never replace even the best technology. Walking, he says, keeps you alert, in sync with the language and the rhythm of the forest, and its animals. It keeps your eyes and ears attuned to any change in the forest, alerts you to any intrusion. “When we walk, we notice all wildlife signs, it helps monitor tigers on a regular basis. It helps us ‘read’ the forest, the wildlife,” he says, adding that this understanding and boots on the ground, “ultimately, keeps the forest, and its protectors safe.”
What I treasure in my trips to the forest is meeting such foot soldiers of the wild, and hearing their stories and their earthy wisdom.
