In the Land of Thunder Dragon

Author Abhaya Raj Joshi, on 28^th February 2023, published an article titled, “Himalayan catfight looms as tigers, leopards venture into snow leopard land” in online journal Mongabay. In this article, author mentioned, “A warming climate threatens to push Nepal’s three big cat species — tigers, leopards and snow leopards — into closer proximity to each other, with unknown consequences for the survival of each.” In this article it was also mentioned that researchers studying tigers say there is no evidence yet suggesting that tigers may prefer living at higher altitudes. Kanchan Thapa, a conservation biologist at WWF, was quoted in this article, “I believe that most of the tigers we have found in high altitudes are transient tigers that are exploring the habitat after separating from their mothers.”. He said to author that, “the grasslands in the south are going to be the home for the core population.” However, in warmer Indian tiger landscapes, it is not so uncommon that in head-to-head conflict between tigers and leopards, tigers have displaced the latter to fringes of their habitats., as both of them have a similar prey base. Although, a little is known about how tigers interact with snow leopards, as in India and Bhutan, the tigers been photographed even higher, at roughly 3,600 meters and 4,000 meters altitude, which is essentially snow leopard territory. Due to climate change, the lower altitudes are getting warmer and higher altitudes are becoming suitable not only for Bengal Tigers but also for human. Therefore, not just tigers are in search for new habitats in snow leopards’ territory, the human settlements are also moving north. Thise could pose a serious threat to conservation and ecotourism at same time.

A view of Eastern Himalayas from Air while landing at Paro International Airport, Bhutan

Among the four Bengal Tiger range countries of this subcontinent, Bhutan has a very special regards among environmentalists and ecotourists. Bhutan is the first carbon negative country (that is absorbs more carbon than it emits) in the world, absorbing six million tons of carbons every year. The Constitution of Bhutan places a high premium on conservation of its natural environment, mandating the country to maintain at least 60% of its land under forest cover for all times to come. The ecotourism companies in Bhutan claim that more than 70% of land in Bhutan are in forest cover. When I travelled across length and breadth of this country between 8^th and 26^th January of 2024, I did not have any reason to disbelieve in this claim.

I landed in Paro, then travelled further North to Thimphu and via Dochchu La reached at Punakha; after that I went further up to Phobjika, the wetland protected under Ramsar convention. Then I ascended further at 3800 meters, and crossed Thrumshing La. There after I started descending towards South and crossed Tingtibhi, Panbang and Gelephu, which is on India and Bhutan International border. After that I moved again towards North-West direction and crossed Tama La, Tsirang, Wangdue and finally did an excursion at Chele La, at close to 4000 meters. In these days I spent 10-12 hours a day in field, and 50% of that was involving trekking and bushwalk through forests of various categories. It was alpine-sub alpine of Northern Bhutan to montane-sub montane of Central and Western Bhutan to tropical-sub tropical of Southern foothills of the country. I did this exploration in varied climatic condition, where minimum temperature range changed from 10^oC in Southern foothills to -6^oC in Great Himalayan landscape of Bhutan. I was overwhelmed, as in these days, with the help of my local nature guide Sonam Tshering, I could spot and shoot around 270 bird and 10 mammalian species. Out of that 48% of them I saw very first time in my life. Almost every day in these three weeks I saw at least one new bird or mammal.

The top few mention worthy bird species, I spotted, are white-bellied heron, rufus necked hornbill, beautiful nuthatch, black necked crane, Ward’s trogon, Himalayan monal, rufus throated wren babbler, fire tailed myzornis, yellow rumped honey guide, rufus faced warbler, and blood pheasant. The top mammals are golden langur and Himalayan yellow throated marten. Many of them are very region restricted species. Especially golden langur, long considered sacred by many Himalayan people, also known as Gee’s golden langur, is an endangered species as per IUCN. It is an Old-World monkey found in a small region of Western Assam, India and in the neighbouring foothills of the Black Mountains of Bhutan (between Jigme Singye Wangchuk and Royal Manas National Park).

This wonderful and overwhelming exploration in Great Himalayan, inner Himalayan and Southern foothills of Bhutan with this outcome, happened in an arguably off season. According to my guide Sonam, the peak seasons of biodiversity exploration in Bhutan are spring and autumn, and that time one can easily spot between 300 to 400 faunal species of these landscapes. Most importantly, the phenomenal ecotourism prospect of this one of the four tiger range countries of this subcontinent, does not depend upon one single species called Bengal Tiger.

Now, how Bhutan could stay away from this commodified single species centric ecotourism, which the other three countries struggle to achieve. I think the answer lies in Bhutan’s iconic concept of integrating mindfulness and sustainability in their way of life.

In my Paro bound Druk Air flight from Delhi, I got a chance to flip through few pages of Druk Air’s inflight magazine Tashi Delek (A Dzongkha phrase for have a good day or life; Dzongkha is a Sino-Tibetan language that is the official and national language of Bhutan. It is written using the Tibetan script). In that magazine, there is an article titled, “The Mindful and Sustainable Nation: Compassion and Loving-Kindness”, written by Dr. Ritu Verma, an anthropologist and researcher. In that article, Dr. Verma mentioned, “Now, more than at any other time in history, the need for mindful reflection and sustainable action has never been more pressing. As the world reels from multiple crises – climate, environmental, social, economic, and political conflict – travellers are increasingly seeking antidotes in the form of moments, spaces and experience of calm and peace, informed by age-old wisdom.”

The author also opined in her article, “In response to these calls for regenerative travel, experiences, the terms mindfulness and sustainability have become common in popular language and social media circles. Entire hospitality business, online-apps and travel companies have been created, or are taking up the idea of promoting or facilitating these concepts, which are closely inter-linked to ideas of compassion and loving kindness.” The philosophy of Buddhism put forward the idea of compassion and loving-kindness. Dr. Verma explained, “a shift in mental attitude towards compassion allows for acts of kindness to follow and that is loving-kindness. On the other hand, compassion is the ability to feel concern for the suffering of others, no matter who they are, or what they are – human or non-human.”

This inclusivity and equality of human and non-human is nothing but the core principle of bio-spherical egalitarianism. Here in Bhutan the Buddhism holds hands with Deep Ecology, thus give birth of a concept of regenerative ecotourism which does not commodify nature or any of her inhabitants. This philosophy was well resonated in my guide Sonam’s attitude towards the ecotourism offerings he had for me.

The unexplored ecological wonder of North-East Hill landscape: Maguri Beel

Maguri Motapung Beel is a wetland and lake located near Dibru-Saikhowa National Park and Motapung Village of Tinsukhia district in Assam. Maguri Motapung Beel serves as a natural home to wildlife and provide a source of livelihood to the local communities.

On May 27, 2020, a fountain of crude oil polluted the waters of the wetland, and it caught fire on June 9. Conditions have recovered since then, and one highlight for the Maguri Beel wetland post the disaster has been the sighting of a Mandarin Duck in the lake for the first time in 118 years.

*Maguri beel in dense fog of winter morning*

On 17^th December, at around 5:00 PM we reached at Maguri beel. Our nature guide Palash has his own resort there. He also lives in a nearby village. After reaching there Palash took us to couple of nearby tea estates to search for brown hawk owl, oriental and collared scops owl. Eventually in the village itself we found hawk owl and in the front yard of Palash’s house we found quite a few collard-scops owl perching on trees.

Next day as early as 5:30 in morning after a short boat ride we reached at the other side of the Maguri beel to explore the grassland which is also part of Dibru-Saikhowa National Park. There we spotted hen harrier, endangered swamp grass babbler, golden cisticola and straited babbler. Then at around 7:00 AM we went to another side of the grassland across the water body near the Baghjan village. The village is also known as the victim of one of the recent environmental disasters. A blowout, explosion, and fire lasting more than five months, from 27^th May to 15^th November 2020 the natural gas well of Oil India Limited (OIL) at Baghjan in Assam’s Tinsukia district has resulted in the loss of an estimated 55 % of the biodiversity in the affected Dibru-Saikhowa landscape. As many as 1,632 hectares of wetland, 523 ha of grassland, 172 ha of area covering rivers and streams, and 213 ha of forest were damaged to varying degrees.

During our exploration in the grassland of Baghjan, we spotted the vulnerable and elusive marsh babbler. Besides that, we also spotted dusky babbler, chestnut capped babbler and puffed chested babbler among other regular birds.

In this whole trip of Dehing, Namdapha and Maguri Beel-Dibru-Saikhowa, I saw around 100 different birds and 80% of them were spotted for the first time ever in my life. That was why it was one of my memorable biodiversity and photography trips in India. Forests of Arunachal, indeed, have much more to offer than tigers and elephants. However, the Forest Department of this country was always sounded hopeless about the forests of Arunachal Pradesh for not sighting of tigers and elephants.

*Swampland between Maguri beel and Dibru-Saikhowa*

Based on an article written by Rupak Goswami in 1^st August 2023 edition of EastMojo, “At Namdapha Tiger Reserve (NTR) in Arunachal Pradesh, none of the Range Officers stays inside the NTR area, and the responsibility of on-the-ground protection is largely delegated to the contingency staff, who are about 150 in number, out of which 50 are part of the tiger protection force. This sensitive landscape of 1985km² with unique biodiversity, is managed by three ranges with a very meagre staff. The infrastructure for protection, like roads, patrolling paths, anti-poaching camps and motorcycles is very poor. The tiger reserve is hit hard by encroachment issues due to the increasing populations of the Lisus and other tribes. The Lisus are expanding their areas under cultivation and cardamom has a ready market as a cash crop. As of now, it is reported that there are eight Lisu villages with 311 families occupying the critical tiger habitat.”

As per this article, the presence of elephants of late has not been reported from within NTR. We know only one tiger was reported in 2022 NTCA tiger status report. The Management Effectiveness Evaluation Report (MEE) of the Namdapha Tiger Reserve said, “it is apprehended that probably the elephant population has adversely been impacted by hunting by tribes which might have found a ready market in the neighbouring countries”.

Although I said before that, forests of Arunachal have much more to offer than tigers and elephants, but one cannot deny that to protect this exquisite biodiversity, tigers and elephants are required too. Otherwise, human greed will eventually perish the biodiversity abundance of the “Land of the Rising Sun”.

“The wise use of wetlands”

Mangalajodi Bird Sanctuary , part of Chilika Lake, A Ramsar site at India’s East Coast

To respond to various social, economic and environmental crises, today’s humankind seek compassion and loving-kindness through ecotourism. The most successful form of ecosystem services ecotourism, is wetland tourism. 2^nd February each year is World Wetlands Day. It marks the date of the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands on 2^nd February 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar on the shores of the Caspian Sea. World Wetlands Day was first celebrated in 1997. Since then, government agencies, non-governmental organizations and groups of citizens at all levels of the community have taken advantage of the opportunity to undertake actions aimed at raising public awareness of wetland values and benefits in general and the Ramsar Convention in particular. More than a decade ago in 2012, the World Wetlands Day theme was Wetlands and Tourism and was linked to the theme for the next meeting of the Conference of the Parties, COP11: Wetlands, Tourism and Recreation, which took place in June 2012, in Bucharest, Romania. In COP11, the benefits of wetland tourism both locally and nationally for people and wildlife were recognized – such as stronger economies, sustainable livelihoods, healthy people and thriving ecosystems. As per the World Wetland Day Reports 2012 from the contracting parties, “at least 35% of Ramsar Sites around the world record some level of tourism activity and this percentage is consistent throughout all regions. Of course, it is important to consider tourism in all wetlands – not just those designated as Ramsar Sites – since the Contracting Parties to the Convention are committed to managing all wetlands. Tourism is only one of the services that wetlands deliver. Ensuring well-managed tourism practices in and around wetlands and educating tourists on the value of wetlands contributes to the health of the world’s wetlands and the long-term benefits that wetlands provide to people, wildlife, economics, and biodiversity.”

Ecotourists row through this creeks in Mangalajodi for bird watching

The largest wintering ground for migratory birds on the Indian sub-continent, home to several threatened species of plants and animals is one such great example of wetland tourism. Chilika Lake is the largest brackish water lagoon in Asia and second largest coastal lagoon in the world, spread over the Puri, Khordha and Ganjam districts of Odisha state on the east coast of India, at the mouth of the Daya River, flowing into the Bay of Bengal, covering an area of over 1,100 square kilometres. The lake is an ecosystem with large fishery resources. It sustains more than 150,000 fisher–folk living in 132 villages on the shore and islands. The lagoon hosts over 160 species of birds in the peak migratory season. Birds from as far as the Caspian Sea, Lake Baikal, Aral Sea and other remote parts of Russia, Kirghiz steppes of Kazakhstan, Central and southeast Asia, Ladakh and Himalayas come here. These birds travel great distances; some of them possibly travel as much as 12,000 kilometers to reach Chilika Lake. In 1981, Chilika Lake was designated the first Indian wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention.

Mangalajodi is one of the many villages located in and around the Chilika Lake. The village is located about 5 km from Tangi in the district Khordha, 60 km from Bhubaneshwar and situated at Northern side of Chilika. It is a freshwater zone with marshes, reed beds and rich birdlife. What sets Mangalajodi apart is that every winter thousands of migratory waterfowl descends upon its marshes, transforming the area into a carnival as they jostle about with resident birds.

As per an article written by Aditya Panda, in Conservation India, titled as, Mangalajodi — A Village of Bird Protectors in Orissa, “up until the mid-90s, this winter carnival was often rudely interrupted by humans. As night fell on the noisy bird colonies, the sleepy villages surrounding the marsh would wake up. Dark shapes would lurk, gliding in canoes, crushing water-lily pods and lacing them with the deadly poison, Furatin. When dawn broke, hundreds of the birds would feast unknowingly on the deadly pods… canoe-loads of dead birds would thus be ready for meat markets far and near.”

Based on a booklet on Mangalojodi, written by Chinmaya Bhujabal, “poaching was causing irreparable damage to the avifauna of Managalajodi. There were about 80 poachers in the village, proficient in various techniques in killing birds. These birds are regularly sold in the open market, at rates varying from Rs. 20/- to Rs. 60/- per bird, depending on the species and method of killing. A proficient poacher can earn anything between Rs. 10,000/- to Rs. 40,000/- in a year. There was a huge damage to the wetland habitat due to rampant poaching of waterbirds.”

Another related article written by Himanshu Nitnaware in Thebetterindia.com, “the grim picture has transformed over the years, as poachers themselves have become conservators. Hard to believe? The figures prove that from a population of 5,000 birds in the early 1990s, the number has steadily increased to over 5,00,000 in 2021. This change has come around owing to the efforts of Nanda Kishore Bhujabal, who strived for years to work closely with villagers and help change their mindset. Earlier a poacher himself, Nanda realised his wrong ways during the early years of his life, and this made him bring about a change in others. At present, 25 such ex-poachers work towards bird conservation and as tourist guides for visitors.”

The ecotourism association in Mangalajodi, once they were poachers now they are protectors.

Chinmaya Bhujabal, who is none other than the son of Nanda Kishore, mentioned in the booklet on Mangalajodi, that in the winters of January 1996, Nanda Kishore along with some more persons, who later all came together to constitute an organization called “Wild Odisha”, had visited Managajodi village. That casual visit, to view migratory waterfowl, revealed a whole new world. Chinmaya mentioned, “It was late afternoon, and the whole place was resounding with gunfire. They saw many people moving around with guns and shooting, it was truly nightmarish!”

In 1999-2000, Nanda Kishore led the Wild Odisha team in Mangalajodi, could gain confidence of poachers/hunters for controlling poaching. During December of 2000. Sri Sri Mahavir Pakshi Surakhsya Samiti of Mangalajodi was born, consisting of poachers and hunters. Poaching was brought under control since then.

Between 3^rd and 5^th December of 2023, I visited this marshy wetland and stayed at Godwit Eco-Cottage which conducts ecotourism activities in Mangalajodi through Sri Sri Mahavir Pakshi Surakhsya Samiti. My first boat-ride in Mangajodi started at 10:30 AM with guide Ganesh. Each ride is typically for two and a half hours duration. Ganesh was particularly paranoid on that day by the local peasants. The 44 km² marshy wetland of Mangalajodi is also a grazing ground of buffalos. That was the reason of annoyance as the gazing of cattle was shooing the birds away and causing harm to his ecotourism activity. As Mangalajodi has evolved from a poaching hell to birds’ heaven, the influx of world’s ecotourists and wildlife photographers, like any other ecotourism destinations, has set a different expectation from local nature guides. That was opportunities for getting “eye-level” shots of birds in action. These actions could be fighting of two birds, mating, hunting, feeding on prey or flying. The small country boat on shallow water of wetland, can take tourists and photographers very close to these birds without making much noise. Therefore, such expectation appears “reasonable” to this wetland’s human visitors.

This marshy land is also grazing ground for livestock

During my visit, in altogether four boat rides I saw 52 different species of migratory and resident birds including gadwall, spot billed duck, garganey, Northern pintail, Northern shoveler, ruddy shelduck, black-tailed godwit, black headed ibis, glossy ibis, Asian openbill stork, painted stork, Oriental pratincole, whiskered tern, marsh sandpiper, wood sandpiper, spotted redshank, little stilt, and few raptors such as peregrine falcon, Eastern marsh harrier etc. All two days were cloudy and gloomy with light shower, thanks to the suddenly developed cyclonic storm, in Bay of Bengal, called Michaung. Because of that the days were not so warm, which kept the birds less active. Despite such weather I could capture plenty of “action shots” by birds such as catching of snake by grey and purple heron, catching of fish by pond heron, catching of frog by ibis and plenty of flying shots by various waterfowl and raptors. Such is the enormity of Mangalajodi’ s photography and ecotourism potential.

Grey heron catching snake

A peregrine falcon taking off

Poacher turned conservationist Nanda Kishore’s wildlife photographer son Chinmaya rightly mentioned in his booklet on Mangalajodi, “This place is today one of India’s top wildlife tourism destinations having been placed firmly in the tourist circuit. The critical and catalytic role played by Wild Odisha, an organization for conservation of wildlife and nature, in a novel initiative of wearing away poaching and ensuring an alternative livelihood for them, has been documented as case studies. This initiative stands out today as one of India’s best practices in wildlife conservation.”

A Garganey taking off

Tourism which got initiated during 2002 by Wild Odisha with the support of the Chilika Development Authority, is today one of the chief bread earners for the families of the onetime poachers. From the Mangalajodi conservation and ecotourism model the world has understood that regulated, low-impact tourism has the potential to be a vital conservation tool as it helps win public support for wildlife conservation. During one of my four boat rides, another guide Anand told me that he was also a poacher. But now as nature guide, he may earn less than selling bird meat, but feels happier than before for not killing any innocent life.

A pair of migratory Northern pintail