As we got up in the mountains, the air became fresher and drier, the vegetation slowly changing from Sal into pine forests. We arrived in Devidhura on the 4^th of august 2009 and the first impression was that the festival brings many people from far away, bringing a lot of life to the village during this period. A market of clothes, jewelries, food and many other things was in place along the main street. We walked down towards the temple, there was a volley-ball game happening. We reached a spot where we were blissfully surprised to see about ten vultures sitting in trees below us, Himalayan Griffons, Lammergeier and Red-headed vultures. They were looking over to the place where the carcasses of buffalos are thrown, after each sacrifice. They were certainly waiting for the right moment to access the carcasses.

During the evening, we saw a show of local singing and dances, with the beautiful girls of kumaon wearing their traditional dress.

The day after, we went looking for a place with a good view overlooking the “battle field”. As we waited for the fight to begin, hundreds of people were arriving from almost everywhere, taking seats on the slopes of the hill, in anticipation of the fight.

When it began, we saw the teams that were about to fight arriving one after the other, in a ceremony of dances, drums, shouting and running, some men carrying large wicker shields. It looked very disorganised. There are actually four teams coming from four different villages, and they end up as two teams fighting against each other. While the teams were arriving, two massive clouds converged over the battle field, giving a mystic feel to the arena. After that, the fight began! As it did, the rain started falling heavily, too. The rain didn’t dampen in the atmosphere, everyone was very excited and the drums kept pounding on. Men were throwing rocks in the air to hit the other team, which is the goal of Bagwaal! In the middle of the field, a group of men carrying shields, covering themselves, were fighting with sticks.

The sight of the many stones flying through the air was astonishing but also scary since they could have hit us. The whole battle was absolutely incredible to see. To announce the end of the fight, an old man carrying a small copper shield runs among the men, waving a sort of plume around his head. After few minutes the men stopped throwing rocks and started embracing each other, the two teams mixing together. They would go to see the persons injured and congratulate them, with big smiles on their faces and also exchange their scarves. A great feeling of joy was palpable. We ended up drenched but so amazed at what we just had seen.

This festival was unbelievable and we could feel an astounding strength among all those people.

Being in Devidhura and especially during this astonishing festival could only bring us to one of Jim Corbett’s hunt for a man eater, as described in The Temple Tiger. In his story, he headed to “Dabidhura” (called nowadays Devidhura) in order to shoot a leopard man-eater that had tried to killed a man close to the great temple of the village. But when he reached the place, he decided to track and kill a tiger that was slaughtering cattle quite often in the area, a huge cause of concern for the local villagers who have very little possession. A strange thing that Jim was taught by the local priest was “I have no objection, Sahib, to your trying to shoot this tiger, but neither you nor anyone else will ever succeed in killing it”. What was so special about this tiger? A mystic feeling, once again, was covering the village.

In his many attempts to shoot the tiger, Jim faced several problems. First, he was not able to fire because of a new riffle that he didn’t know how to use properly. The next time, he shot at the tiger’s back but did not kill him or even seemed to injure him. After that, he missed the tiger by a few inches. Finally, the tiger went to Jim, while he was sitting up in a tree, waiting to shoot the cattle killer. But at this stage, Jim could not shoot him, and by firing in the air, he made the tiger disappear down the hill. After that, Jim left Dabidhura, hoping that the tiger, “this old warrior, like an old soldier, just faded away”.

Finally, the old priest was right; no one can kill the Temple Tiger.

]]> http://www.mahseerconservancy.org/blog/2009/11/07/a-story-of-bagwaal-by-frederique-lacraz/feed/ 0 http://www.mahseerconservancy.org/blog/2009/11/06/fishing-for-tiger-by-philip-game/ http://www.mahseerconservancy.org/blog/2009/11/06/fishing-for-tiger-by-philip-game/#comments Sat, 07 Nov 2009 05:15:07 +0000 Mahseer Conservancy http://www.mahseerconservancy.org/blog/?p=192 If you don’t spot a tiger in India’s Corbett Tiger Reserve, at least the fish are biting.

“Tiger is giving us dodge”, declares wildlife guide Hem Bahuguna, calling a halt near some tell-tale pug marks (pawprints) and scrapings. As the engine cools, then stills, we hear only the birds, the soft breeze and the distant chattering of monkeys. From time to time, another jeep materialises, stopping to exchange a few words. Otherwise, here in India, most crowded of nations, there is perfect peace.

Corbett is India’s first, perhaps finest, Tiger Reserve and is buffered by surrounding tracts of country. You can spend days chasing tigers or cast a line to tempt the golden mahseer. The Ramganga Reservoir provides year-round water for the animals and spawning grounds for the golden mahseer, which migrates upstream.

Tall stands of teak, with its strikingly wide leaves, and the equally imposing sal clothe the hillsides, and wide gravel river beds traverse expanses of waving grass. Gharial, the snouted crocodile, coexist alongside the mugger crocodile and the otter. Sambar, chital or spotted deer and the solitary muntjac or barking deer are all readily spotted, especially when browsing in the grasslands. Less visible, the wild boar, sloth bear and tiger all record their passing with spoor – paw prints and droppings.

The eco-friendly Vanghat River Lodge in the Corbett Tiger Reserve

Panthers, although endangered, continue to be sighted in the hill country – but, Bahuguna admits gloomily, Indian authorities have recently confiscated quantities of contraband skins.

Macaques or rhesus monkeys, the males’ buttocks comically inflamed during the present mating season, together with the larger langurs, enliven otherwise still forests.

At least, 500 of India’s 1,300 known bird species are recorded at Corbett: a hoopoe browses boldly; a lone rose-winged parakeet stands out against bare boughs.

Bahaguna has set up a pre-dawn rendezvous at Amdanda Gate, outside the town of Ramnagar. A pallid pink orb begins to burn through the mists which rise above forest and grassland as the jeep reaches Bijrani camp, where day-visitor facilities operate.

By noon, we have jolted across innumerable gravel river beds, wound up into the dappled shade of sal forest and back down again, and climbed a watchtower on the edge of a broad river valley. We have examined the bark torn and chewed by elephants, noting the bushes trampled by these huge and demanding creatures. Tiger pug marks and droppings beside the track indicate the age and health of the animal.

Tigers often prove elusive, but park director Rajiv Bhartari will explain why this is no cause for concern. At Corbett, an estimated 143 tigers range across 1,218 square kilometres of rugged terrain. This population density is considerably lower – and therefore healthier – than at some of the better-known reserves in western India.

Scientists are conducting a tiger census, and the numbers are coming in well above expectations.

Villagers in the community established by celebrated tiger hunter Jim Corbett

Jim Corbett, author of the best-selling Man-Eaters of Kumaon, became a larger-than-life figure in the Himalayan hill country before World War II. The British hunter tracked down and killed 50 man-eating tigers and more than 250 leopards which had terrorised local villagers, but believed that a taste for human flesh was developed only by ageing or wounded tigers. His concern for the tiger’s survival led to the reservation of what would become today’s Corbett National Park: the starting point in 1973 for the groundbreaking Project Tiger.

The hill people of Kumaon remember Jim Corbett not only by the reservations which bear his name, but for his dedication to the welfare of his tenant farmers for whom he created a model village at Kaladhungi. Choti Haldwani, Corbett’s bungalow where the life-long bachelor lived with his sister Maggie, has been preserved as a museum, whilst a walking trail meanders through the mustard seed and sugar canefields of his former estate.

He is passionate about nature photography and conservation of wildlife. He is extensively working in the field of community based tourism since last 03 years. He has been working in Jim Corbett’s own village- Chhoti Haldwani with a motive of creation of livelihood opportunities for the local community through eco-tourism initiatives and through this weans them away from forest based livelihood. He is heading a Non Government Organization, Corbett Gram Vikas Samiti (CGVS) based in Jim Corbett’s Village- Chhoti Haldwani.

Some of the initiatives of his organization are Income Generation Activities by the local villagers and marketing of their produce through a souvenir shop, Home Stays, Awareness Generation on Wildlife Conservation and Management of Jim Corbett Heritage Trail etc. He has developed a network of local villagers against poaching and other illegal activities in local forest area.

He has compiled a number of publications like a set of booklets and posters on White Grub Management, a set of five booklets on Self Help Groups, a set of 32 booklets and posters on various income generation activities and a documentary on Life Cycle of White Grub.

Rajesh is also the coordinator in Chhoti Haldwani regarding the Lantana furniture project and understand the whole process perfectly since he has already worked with women communities through his association.

To know more about Rajesh and his work, kindly visit his website on: www.corbettvillage.in