CALL OF THE WILDS...
Tired of the hustle and bustle of city life, me and a few of my friends decided to escape…run away to neverland!!! Escapists that we are, we found the nearest neverland in the heart of the Chandaka Forests. After some rounds of discussions with some forest officials we knew of, we planned to spend the weekend in elephant country!!
Nearly 6 kilometres inside the deep forests of Chandaka, from the clichéd Deras dam, lies the Ambilo guest house…a haven for wildlife watchers. Untouched by the humdrum of civilization, apart from a watch tower-cum-guest house, the place would spend chills down one’s spine with its sheer calm, interspersed with the sounds of the jungle. Africa would be the only place to beat it, maybe.
Having already booked the guest house 3 days in advance, eight of us set out for the venue, on 2 cars and a bike. The adventurous Priya was on his bike, with Santosh in tow…seeming like the “Holmes-Watson pair off on a mission” scene. The rest of us, afraid of the dark, followed in the safety of our car. Driving off the highway towards the Kalinga Studios, and then following the dirt track till the Deras dam, in the darkness, past the villages and the lone villager making his way home after a hard day’s work, the only thing we had for company was the sound of our engines, and the yelling winds, which for some reason, had decide to rev up their speeds that day. Having lost our way a couple of times in the pitch black darkness, we finally somehow managed to reach the forest office at the Deras dam. Once there, we were given strange looks by the officials there, who kept wondering what these 8 guys were upto. Once they intimated us about the dangers of riding an open bike through the next wildlife infested 6 kilometres, good sense prevailed and the two bikers decided to jump into the car.
After driving for half hour through the twisted dirt tracks, with strict instructions to avoid using horns, music, indicators and flashlights, we finally somehow reached the Ambilo guest house. There was a shabby guard house beside that, with a seemingly pre-historic man (the guard) looking at us with inquisitive eyes. He informed us that there was no electricity supply/water supply to the guest house. The only source of light was a decrepit solar light, that produced less light than my cellphone, and the source of water was a rusty old tube well, that puked yellow water. As we settled in our rooms, which, by God’s grace were clean and airy, we gradually began to take in the beauty of the surroundings. Pitch black darkness outside, noisy crickets singing their hearts out, and distant birds turning restless and producing strange sounds that enhanced the mystery of the jungle. Dense foliage on each side as far as the eye could see, the blowing winds producing strange noises as it passed through them. The moonlight, coming from behind the clouds gave a more haunted look the atmosphere.
Once done with freshening up, we all moved to the third floor terrace, that has been converted to a viewing area, to watch wildlife coming to the waterhole just beside the guest house for drinking. We were told that we were late by half hour, as we just missed a family of elephants making merry, bathing and spraying water at one another. Sorry as we were listening to that and brooding over our delays, we decided to put to sleep the rats playing havoc in our bellies. We unpacked the biryani and kebabs that we had packed, and washed the warm delicacies down our throats with bottles of cold drink, which we also had taken with us. What an irony it was…feast fit for a Sultan, in the midst of the wild.
After the food, came the real wildlife watching. We sat on the bamboo benches, gluing our eyes to the water hole, for any trace of wildlife. But the only proof of the wild that we sensed were the periodic calls of some distant elephants, that reverberated through the forest, and subsequently answered by some other elephant at some faraway corner of the forest. The experience was superb. Then came the icing on the cake!!! Slowly but surely, all of us saw a jumbo silhouette , a silent goliath treading his way to the far end of the pool. The guard came out of his quarters, and flashed his light at the beast for a second, so that w could have one look. The next half hour was the most intimate time we had spent with nature…we stared open mouthed as the animal slowly walked to our side of the pool, stopping to break a couple of bamboos on the way. Silently we saw the silhouette growing larger, till we could see two large tusks and a herculean chassis…the famed INDIAN ELEPHANT was there before us, in all its majestic glory, proving to us what awe is, what intimidation is!! Sitting three floors above it, we, the measly humans were sweating at our spines, our hair on end…and marveling at what we saw. The animal went beside the guest house, through the dense foliage, and emerged beside our cars. Spending a couple of minutes beside our cars, the only competitor of the king of the jungle finally decided to stroll away into the darkness. The experience was something we shall all remember for the rest of our lives, and turn into stories for our grandchildren, who I am afraid would never be able to understand what an elephant was.
The rest of the night passed away in whispering about our experience, and some more straining our eyes to catch hold of some other fabulous creature that might turn up. But all that we saw were a couple of squirrels climbing up and down the banyan tree nearby. As the night turned into day, at around 4 AM, we decided to put to rest the wildlife enthusiasts in us, and catch up with a few winks. We again woke up at around 5.30 AM, running to the terrace to view if some creatures would turn up at the pool for an early morning drinking…but alas, the animals were late risers I suppose!! We saw a quartet of Kingfishers circling and diving into the turbid pool. The noises of the jungle, as well as the cool morning breeze, made us fall in love with the jungle as we never had been. We understood what mankind is losing with the rapid deforestation.
Time to wrap up, we quickly but silently packed our bags and entered our car. No one was in the mood to speak a word, after the experience, and spoil the mood. Each one of us was in a kind of daze, the forest and its citizens having mesmerized the eight of us to submission. We turned to go back to civilization, but, with a vow in each one of us to do our bit to preserve the serene and pristine jungles for the coming generations to marvel at, just as we did. I still feel the smell of fresh morning air as I write this account…..the invisible peacock making a din somewhere nearby, and my soul wanting to get back there…yes I hear the call of the wild…and want to get back…..
posted by Babni @ 3:09 AM
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