Re-discovering Koraput : Day-5

Route : Jeypore-Balia-Boipariguda-Ramagiri-Gupteswar

            And return via the same route.

The trek up and down Duduma waterfall on day-4 had left us high and dry. We were sleeping on the verandah of our farmhouse. It was nearly 7 when we woke up and someone handed me a glass of steaming hot decoction of tea dust and sugar, a very good beverage to refresh the senses. Thankfully the fatigue of the previous day was gone to a great extent. I wasn't feeling tired from the muscle anymore. The morning was bright and chilly. Birds were singing their morning songs everywhere around. A pair of black-hooded oriole and the magpie robin were singing much closer to us on the two Mohua(Madhuca indica) tree in-front of the house. Listening to the bird calls Udayan remembered the promise I had made to him earlier. He had not yet seen the Red Avadavat or Red Munia(a small and colourful bird of the size of a sparrow, males are bright blood red in colour with white dots). I had promised to show him the birds in our farm where they are found in very good numbers. The parts of the farm which is left uncultivated is always invaded by weed and wild grass and the flock of these Munia are very fond of feeding on the seed of these grasses. I have seen flocks numbering 200 birds feeding in our farm. These flocks generally consists of  more than three or four species of Munias. We set off on a walk through the fields in the hope of finding the munias. Though there was grass in some patches of the field but the birds were not there. 

Here let me tell you something about the location of our farm. Our farm is situated 12 kms south-west of Jeypore town, near the place where the gorge of river Kolab ends and the river runs off out to the flatter parts of the plateau. One has to take a right turn from the state highway at the end of Patraput village and traverse exactly 1.8 kms towards the village Durgabhatta and our farm house appears on the right hand side. My maternal uncle bought 15 acres of land in the year 1997-98 here. Later in year 2003 my father bought another 15 acres adjacent to it. River Kolab flows 200 mtr south of our farm and we draw water from the river for irrigation purpose. My uncle and my brother look after the farm. We grow a variety of crop here. Aromatic plants such as Jamarosa, Vetiver, Lemon Grass and Citronella are major crops at the farm. A small distillation unit has been set up there to extract the oil from these plants. These aromatic oils find various use in cosmetic and other such consumable goods.

When we didn't find our target species of bird we proceeded towards the small perennial stream that skirts our farm towards the north boundary. The bank of this stream is overgrown with scrub and shelters many passerines. The birds that I always spot near the stream are Long-tailed Shrike, Common Hoopoe, Scaley-breasted Munia, Indian Silverbill, Yellow-eyed Babblers, Ashy Prinia, Common Tailor Bird, Common Quail,  Grey Francolin, Black-shouldered Kite , Indian Nightjar, White-throated and Common kingfishers and many more. A pond was dug out nearer to the stream, half an acre in area. It dries up as soon as the rains are gone but the deepest part of the pond remains wet till early summers and it is this wet part that is overgrown with Ipomoea weed and many small birds have made it their safe heaven. We did not have to search too far. There they were. The Red Munia's. A few males and females were going in and out of the Ipomoea bushes. A small blue kingfisher was also perched on a Ipomoea branch. Udayan went after the munias to take a record shot. I sat on the bank of the pond, basking my back in the morning sun. I kept my promise, Udayan saw his bird. It was time to leave for Jeypore.

A frugal breakfast was awaiting us at Purunagarh(my ancestral home). We lost no time in finishing off whatever was served. Our ancestral home at Purunagarh was built by my grand father way back in 1970's. The house is more like an old British bungalow with a porch and large garden space. All living quarters and bedroom doors open to the verandah, the kitchen and store have entry from the back yard. The garden borders the house on the east and north. The garden to the east is a jasmine garden that was very lovingly planted by my great grandmother way back in the 70's and it continues to bloom every summer without exception. To the south of this jasmine garden there are two mango trees, two tamarind trees, one neem tree and two coconut trees. One of the mango trees is much older than the house itself. Though its fruits are not so great to taste but it provides the much needed shelter to many birds of the garden. A colony of common myna and a jungle owlet share the tree. The jungle owlet being nocturnal uses the dense foliage and the hollows of the mangifera as a day time resort. The mynas do not mind sharing their territory with the owlet as it doesn't harm them or their fledglings. But they are at constant threat from the pair of shikra who nest close by on the bigger tamarind tree or the silver oak in our neighbours compound. The jungle owlet was also a bird that I had promised to show to Udayan. It didn't take us long to find the bird as it was sitting on an open branch of the neem tree, doing up its feather in the sun after a busy nights wandering.

We returned to Bada Maa's house to snatch an hours nap and then got ready for our ride to Gupteswar. Since we had a late breakfast we decided to have lunch either at Boipariguda or Gupteswar. We left Jeypore close to 1 o'clock. The sky looked fantastically blue with blotches of clouds in the western horizon. Sidhu was accompanying us this time and was riding my Enfield and I retired to the pillion to take pictures. We reached Boipariguda and bought some refreshments there. Then we rode on to Ramgiri village which is a sizeable village at the fringe of Gupteswar forests. Gupteswar is exactly 13 kms from Ramgiri. The road from Boipariguda bifurcates at the beginning  of Ramgiri village. The right one leads to Kundra and the left one proceeds to Gupteswar. I had visited Gupteswar on two occasions earlier. Once from Jeypore and from Kundra on another. Due to my misjudgement we proceeded a furlong along the road branching off to Kundra but the open farmlands and the absence of a police outpost made me realize that we had been going in the wrong direction. I signaled Udayan to turn back and we were once again on the right path. The police outpost of Ramgiri was blown up by the naxalites a few years ago and a small company of BSF jawans now man the outpost. Few sentries are always kept on guard in the bonkers and they keep their assault rifles aimed on to the road all day and all night. The sentries gave us penetrating looks as we passed on the road. Forest proper begins a couple of kilometers from the police outpost.

"The sky looked fantastically blue with blotches of clouds in the western horizon"

"An Abandoned iron suspension on Sati river on the way between Jeypore and Boipariguda"

SIDHU WITH THE CLASSIC 350

LANDSCAPE BETWEEN BOIPARIGUDA AND RAMGIRI

Gupteswar forests are the remnants of a vast forest scape that was known as Dandakaranya. The loot of forest resources from Koraput, by natives as well as outsiders, in the last few decades has reduced this forest to a mere few hundred square kilometers of dis-integrated forests dotted with numerous human habitations, leaving little or no room for the diverse wildlife that once inhabited them. Notwithstanding these facts wildlife has subsisted in the remaining patches of less disturbed forests. The pristine vegetation is one of the few remaining patches left in India today of its kind and the birdlife is astoundingly rich. My subsequent birding ventures in these forest has yielded as many as 100 species during the span of a single day.

FOREST PROPER BEGINS 

As we pushed ahead the vegetation got denser. We stopped at the famous "Dalkhai" shrine that marks the beginning of a steep ghat named "Dokri Ghati", (Dokri in Koraputia means an old lady). The steep road looses elevation of nearly 100 meters within a distance of half a kilometer. This slope was even steeper in earlier days which made the ghat a treacherous road to travel on. Negotiating the ghat either way on bullock carts and other vehicles was a nightmarish experience. Even vehicles with four wheel drive found it difficult to traverse. Many of them have rolled down this ghat resulting in human or animal casualty. Travellers pay a darshan at the Dalkhai shrine and pray for a safe passage through the treacherous ghat. The obeisance is paid in the form of a small branch or a bunch of small branches that is laid at the feet of the deity "Dalkhai". This is a custom that is followed by travellers very religiously and local people sell bunch of branches, a rupee apiece, and make a small income out of it. We also paid our homage at the shrine and had a small chat with the pujari(priest) of the place and enquired about the wildlife in that locality. Since the shrine is located at the shoulder of a hill, it commands a majestic view of the surrounding forests. Forest stretches upto the horizon in the west. The hills clothed with pristine sal forests roll down up to the river Kolab. The other side of river Kolab is Chattisgarh forests. I took a few photographs from this point and we rolled down this steep ghat. I have on earlier occasions trekked in the southern aspects of this forest. Now I recall those experiences with a lot of delight. But the forest looked a whole lot different while riding through it.

DALKHAI SHRINE 

FOREST AS FAR AS YOUR EYES CAN SEE -VIEW FROM DALKHAI TEMPLE 

THE ROAD DOWNHILL-DOKRI GHATI

AT THE END OF THE STEEP DOKRI GHATI

We reached Gupteswar at around 3 o'clock and went straight to the bathing ghat on river Kolab(Sabari/Saveri). This place offers a spectacular view of the rocky river and surrounding jungles. We went for a stroll upstream along the river expecting to sight a few birds but all in vain. Except heaps of human excreta we saw nothing. Retracing our step we went to the small market place near the shrine where petty vendors sell sundry items to tourists. There are a few eateries that serve tea, snacks and frugal meals. Few shops sell the goods that is offered to lord Gupteswar as offerings and some locals also sell local forest produce such as honey and sal resin(also known as Jhoona). Here at this market place we met a person from Jeypore who has taken to the life of an ascetic and living in one of the caves near Gupteswar since last one and half decades. He used to be a computer hardware and software professional at one point of time and somehow got fed up with his banal existence and resorted to a living that he regarded diviner. He greeted us in fluent English, taking us to be tourists from far off places. But once I gave him my introduction , over cups of tea, he opened himself up through a fulsome conversation in the course of which we discussed things ranging from wildlife to computer languages. He also told me that he knew my father well. We said good bye to him and went loitering down the narrow concrete pathway that leads to the caves of ""Parabhadi"which are situated on the other western side of the same hill that houses the main Gupteswar cave. The name means "abode of pigeons".

KOLAB/SAVERI RIVER 

THE CONCRETE PATHWAY LEADING TO PARABHADI

Hardly did we know, as we ambled down the pathway, that the the next couple of hours will turn into an jamboree of bird sighting. The first bird to appear was a Velvet-fronted Nuthatch. As typical to the birds belonging to nuthatch/creeper family, this bird was also creeping upside down on the branches. A Velvet-fronted nuthatch is impossible to miss in a tree due to its bright and contrasting colouration. The sighting of this bird thrilled us.To be honest I was least expecting the bird in the vicinity of the cave as this area is mostly frequented by bipeds. The next hour or so  turned out to be a pleasant surprise as we spotted many interesting birds like Vernal Hanging Parrot, Indian Yellow Tit, Brown-capped pygmy woodpecker, Brown-cheeked Fulvetta, Tickell's Blue Flycatcher, White-rupmed Shama etc.

BROWN-CAPPED PYGMY WOODPECKER

BROWN-CHEEKED FULVETTA-THE SKULKER OF THE BUSHES

VELVET-FRONTED NUTHATCH- THE ULTIMATE ACROBAT

VERNAL HANGING PARROT

SONGSTER OF THE INDIAN JUNGLES 

TICKELL'S BLUE FLYCATCHER

The birding sprint drew to a close as light started to fade away rapidly. We decided to head back to the road where we had parked our motorcycles. On our way back I had an interesting chat with a elderly man who was happily puffing away at his tobacco leaf(colloquially called a "sutta", "dhungia" or "pikka"). He was a man from nearby Siribeda village which is mostly inhabited by a tribe named "Dhurua". Pointing to the hills to our west the old man told me "Babu, you see that huge rock? Last year in the month of  "Pus"(peak winter) I had seen a "bagh" and its cubs playing and basking in the sun. Not on one occasion but many times. Not only me but many people from the bazar also have seen it". Now a "bagh" in Koraputia can mean anything from a tiger to hyaena. Secondly after years of interaction with my jungle dwelling friends of Koraput, I have learnt to take their words with a pinch of salt as their narration of events is very very prone to exaggeration. Hence I assume it to be a leopard if it was a big cat at all. Because no tigress, how bold it may be, would not raise its cubs so close to human settlement and in a place that has very depleted prey base. On my part it is only wishful thinking that big cats continue to roam these beautiful forests and live in harmony with human beings.

ENTRANCE TO THE PARABHADI CAVE

TIME FOR SOME BIRDING 

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The ride back to Ramgiri and onward to Jeypore was a cherished one in complete darkness of night. Time of twilight had also elapsed by the time we were heading back. There were no stops till Ramgiri. This was not for the first time that I was running down that road at night. But this time the road had an  eerie charm of its own. Centuries old sal trees towered on both side of the road. Their huge trunks and the retro-reflective plates fixed to them by the R&B division reflected the beam of my bright motorcycle head light. The constant motion though the towering trees carried me away to the games that I used to play as a child on computer. The lone rider going through the forests of night. Not a single human soul passed us in those 13 kilometers. Only a lone jackal, a jungle cat and a fox at three different locations were all that of wildlife we saw on the way. In my class 3 books there was this true story about the chowkidar of a forest bungalow of Mathpada(very close to Ramgiri) and his blood-curdling encountered  with a tiger inside the bungalow compound. Those were the days when tigers were plenty in these forests. So naturally these were the favourite hunting grounds of  Maharaja of Jeypore and his guests. But now there is no sign of any tigers nor their prey. I will not talk about the destruction brought upon these forests here. I have written a detailed passage about it some time earlier on this blog.
Just after crossing Ramgiri we stopped on the road near Mathapada. Parked our bikes on the road side and sat right on the road to soak in some silence and tranquil environ of the sal forest. Except for the constant trill of the cicada there were no other sounds. Not even the familiar hoot of an owl. But I imagined, sitting on the lonely jungle road, somewhere deeper in the forest a Brown Fish Owl must be perched on its vantage point besides a stream, awaiting its night meal. On some high branch of the sal tree a Scops owl must be hooting away its constant childlike muffled syllable -Unh-Unh-Unh-Unh..... Not too far away a bruin must be searching and digging termite mounds to suck out the juicy white ants as there is no dearth of them in these forests. A cunning and clever jackal must have taken its position near some village hut to chance upon a chicken from the pen. A good 15 minutes we sat there in silence until a pick up van passed on the road at full speed.

A cursory visit to some of our relatives  and  a few cups of hot tea later we left Boipariguda and headed for Jeypore. On the way again a jungle cat crossed our path. I stopped the bike and Sidhu went down to the road edge to see where it had gone. The cat after seeing us approach had gone into a paddy field were paddy was almost waist high. The cat had gone into a bush and its eyes were reflecting the light of Sidhu's torch from a bush across that field. The cat had its lair in that bush where it was perhaps tending is kittens as we could hear the meowing of the small kittens and also the resentful snarls of the mother cat. Just then Sidhu tried to step down into the paddy field with the light still on the bush. The mother cat let out a shrill snarl and jumped into the paddy field and came leaping though the paddy grass like a bouncing ball, snarling repeatedly. I watched all this from the elevated road. It stopped after coming half way down the field. I called Sidhu back and told him to leave the family alone. It was really a lesson that even an animal as small as a jungle cat can charge down on human beings to protect its young.

At about 9 o'clock we reached back at Jeypore and headed straight to the famous Girija fast food joint which serves Jeyporias their daily share of chicken soup and egg roll. This small treat was to celebrate the successful close to Day-5 of the trip.

The forests of Gupteswar hold a special place in my life. I have always enjoyed trekking up and down its densely wooded hill sides the most. Watching its birds and wildlife gives me immense joy. One of my candid confessions is I wish these forests are protected and restored to their former glory, full of life and full of gods beautiful creations. So that I can drive down these forests, as an old man,  in a jeep with my grand children and point to them a sambar stag scratching its antlers against a tree, a sloth bear rubbing its back against a scaly sal tree, a colony of hill mynas whistling their sweet notes, a beautiful leopard bounding across the road and melting away into the bushes, to take them on a stroll along a stream bed and to enjoy a cold lunch of sandwiches. Is it too much to ask for? I think our coming generations have every right to these small pleasures of life. Don't they?