The yellow pansy

I visited Uganiyam on the last weekend of 2010. We  travelled on bikes anticipating a really bad road that could either break our back or spare us with a few scratches.

 We had very little time since we entered the range at around 2pm, we hurried through on the loose gravel road where the 2 bikers admirably made it through albeit a few scratches each.

As we made our way, I had a chance glimpse of this buttefly, at first glance seemed to be like a danaid but whose spots were yellow. I dared not stop the bike, which would have meant us surely sliding headlong into the steep road. I was trying to figure out if I know this one, when a second butterfly caught my eye with the self same yellow, and then it opened its wings and took my breathe away, there at the bottom of its upper fore wing, on both sides lay a  blue spot like pupils. That was my first ever encounter with a yellow pansy.

For more details on this butterfly check - http://www.naturemagics.com/butterfly/precis-hierta.shtm

BUTTERFLYing at Anshi

The 340 square kilometer National park adjoins the Dandeli wildlife sanctuary and are together called Anshi-Dandeli Tiger reserve. It is situated in the North Western Ghats montane rain forests and moist deciduous forests eco-regions. The forest in this area was declared  Dandeli wildlife sanctuary in 1956. Subsequently, Anshi national park was carved out of this in 1987. Anshi and Dandeli were granted the status of Project Tiger sanctuaries in 2007.

Wildlife week celebration by KANS in Hosur Forest Division

Day 01, 09/10/2010 - Nature Camp

As part of the wildlife week festivities, KANS conducted a nature camp for the students of Sishya and Titan School, Hosur at Aiyur eco-awareness camp.

The idea behind conducting this camp was to bring into sharp focus of the students the area of Melagiri, its history, diversity and to bring into them a sense of responsibility to protect this 1480 sq km area of forest cover falling into Krishnagiri district.

The students, a total of 10 each from the 2 schools were picked up from the Sishya School. On reaching Aiyur they were immediately taken to a short walk on the road leading to the Samieri lake from the camp. During the walk the students were made to listen to the various sounds of the forest and appreciate the diversity of creature that have made these forests their home. The students were briefed about spiders, birds, trees and the various animals that are found.

THE GOD THAT LIVES IN THE FOREST

Whether the temple sustained the forests around it or the forests welcome the temple within them has long been a raging debate. But, it is also true that there are instances where the  forests have completely degenerated or disappeared around some of these temples.

 I had the opportunity to visit the temple Sorimuthayan with the Atree team who has been working in the KMTR region for quite a  while now. The festival that attracts a crowd of whooping 5lakh  pilgrims (tourists) for almost a period of 10 days leaves  tell-tale signs of post festival debris and other effects that would  take the forests a long time to recover from. The festival has  been celebrated by the villages that were under the Singampatti  Raja for around 150 years now. What was a earlier a crowd of  5000 has now blown out into 5 lakh attendees, with more and more  villages adopting Sorimuthayan as their family God. Families camp  inside the forests clearing the forest cover to put temporary  tents for a period of 10 days bringing along with them food  packets wrapped inside plastic bags, and a variety of other  items that gets discarded inside the forest.

SUSTAINABILITY OF THE FARMING PRACTICES, AND MAN-ANIMAL CONFLICT, IN KANI TRIBES OF MUNDANTHURAI PLATEAU

 I spent a good amount of a week weaving in and out  of Kani Settlements in Mundathurai Tiger Reserve  in Tamil Nadu as part of field work and project  execution of the 15 day course on Conservation  Science conducted by Atree. A project submission  together with a Full blown report and Power Point  presentation was mandatory to successfully complete the course. Me and Pradeep Kuttava teamed  together to make a mini project of finding if  Kani Tribe practiced sustainable way of living in the  Mundanthurai plateau. We picked up this project  since both of us lacked the scientific knowledge  to do more prospective projects that directly  dealt with environment and species. You can find  the report and PPT at these locations.

MISTY MOUNTAIN HOP - KUDREMUKH

A trekking plan to that took nearly 6 months to to materialize found 10 of us headed from the hustling steaming Bangalore to the cool monsoon blessed land of  Kudremukh, The largest protected area of a tropical wet evergreen type in Western ghats.

A THREE SECOND RAINBOW

 
800ft above sea level nestled between the  willowy mountains of Anaimalai, Top Slip  presented us a beautiful promise of get-away  from the eternal hustle-bustle of the tough  Bangalore life.

We planned a 3 day trip starting a Friday night  to Pollachi. Vivek, a native of Pollachi and a  wildlife enthusiast, arranged all our  accommodation through his many contacts and  opened us, to a unique opportunity to  experience the forests of Top-Slip first hand.

Annaimalais , a chain in the western ghats  abruptly stops to open into the plains that surround Pollachi. They form the link in the  Nilgiri bio-sphere thus home to the endemic  species, the Vulnerable- Nilgiri Langur,  Endangered- Lion Tailed Macaque, Malabar Trogon,  Sri Lankan Frogmouth etc., that  are unique to this habitat.