Wilderness

The autumn season is here. This is a festive season. 

People are now rejoicing with their family and friends. Apparently, I also planned to spend some moments with the green warriors (forest guards) at Manas as I have not been able to visit Manas for a couple of months. I brought a few kgs of pork meat (pork meat is very popular among forest camp dwellers of Manas) and sweets (Jelabi) for the forest staff.

Visitors in front of the Kuribeel Camp

First, I visited the Kuribeel camp of the Bansbari range. There were two forest guards available and other dwellers on leave for the festive season. As my vehicle approached the camp campus, they greeted me with a cheerful gesture. Simultaneously, one of my ten years old wild rhino friends, Jamuna with her second calf (Jamuna A) too greeted me with a pose. Both mother and calf were then resumed grazing in front of the camp.

Jamuna was introduced in Manas in the year 2008 and rehabilitated at Rhino camp for about two years. She was then three years old and was rehabilitated inside a 1.5 sq km enclosure. She was rescued at Kaziranga National Park when her mother died in a flood. Just after the rescue, Jamuna was treated at the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) at Kaziranga for few months and thereafter translocated to Manas with another female calf named Ganga. The rehabilitated rhinos are eventually human imprinted and they like the human presence. But the calves were not human familiar and naturally avoid humans.

Adult Female Jamuna

I spent numerous moments in Kuribeel camp and met a number of camp dwellers past 12 years. Some of them were retired where some were transferred to other areas. Present camp dwellers do not have an idea about the past history of camps. So, I showed some of my old images related to Kuribeel. This camp was constructed under the funding support from the IRV2020 program. The Kuribeel place was selected as the old camp was destroyed during the social unrest period from 1989-2003. The present camp construction was started in the year 2006 and commissioned from the year 2008. The Kuribeel Camp is located in the midst of the beautiful landscape of Manas and habitat is suitable for all types of herbivores.

A fawn of hog deer

 

I spent almost half of the day in the Kuribeel and enjoyed the serenity of Manas and had a delicious lunch. Today, Kuribeel is under the tourist circuit zone of Manas. Therefore, all tourist vehicles visit the camp with tourists. I feel very happy to see the increased popularity of Manas among wildlife tourists. I hope it should be developed in controlled ways to maintain the sanctity of Manas.

A view of Manas at Mathanguri

I departed from Kuribeel at around 4:30pm and took Kuribeel-Uchiha and Charfuli road. In front of Charfuli camp, I met two forest guards.  They also greeted me with a happy smile. I offered one packet of Jalebi along with my festive wishes. It was a pleasant day spent blissfully after a couple of months inside Manas with my frontline colleagues.