Gazelles of Supe

Whoso list to hunt, I know where is an hind,
But as for me, hélas, I may no more.
The vain travail hath wearied me so sore,
I am of them that farthest cometh behind.

Yet may I by no means my wearied mind

Draw from the deer, but as she fleeth afore
Fainting I follow. I leave off therefore,
Sithens in a net I seek to hold the wind.

Who list her hunt, I put him out of doubt,

As well as I may spend his time in vain.
And graven with diamonds in letters plain,

There is written, her fair neck round about.

Noli me tangere, for Caesar's I am...!

And wild for to hold, though I seem tame.

                                                                                    - Sir Thomas Wyatt -

                                                                                    (1503 - 1542)

The rising sun cast its golden hues on the road ahead that stretched wide and unbelievably long. The whirring sound of my zipping machine was the only urban pleasure that I had intended to bask in when I hit the road passing small civilizations, deep gorge valleys and scrub forests of the Sahyadri in the western ghats of India.

This journey held a level of excitement that is indescribable, the reason for which was that, in addition to my first visit to a habitat that exclusively preserves the Chinkara or Indian Gazelle (Gazella Bennetti), this was the first time I was about to venture into the wild stacking my subject on foot. The excitement was never mixed with fear owing to the understanding that the forest I was about to venture into did not have a high predator population and certainly did not house the Leopard (Panthera Pardus), the wild cat most known to live close enough to human settlements. But the forest does house its share of Dhole- Asiatic Wild Dog (Cuon Alpinus), Hyaena (Hyaena Hyaena), Indian Wolf (Canis Lupus Pallipes) and the Indian Fox (Vulpes Bengalensis) in addition to poisonous reptiles like the Cobra and the Krait Viper.

 

As I drove off the Expressway, through the city road, into the state highway that connects the city of Pune to the sugar-cane rich plains of Solapur and took the council road to the right from the village of Chowphule, my first observation was a gradual change in the topography... What was farmland till miles either end of the state highway was now slowly turning into thorny scrub vegetation with gradually reduced civilization. 

Mayureshwar Wildlife Sanctuary, located in Tehsil Baramati in Pune District with an area of 5.14 Sq.Kms consists of dry deciduous scrub forests with interpersed grassland. There are four main entry posts to the protected area of which the one closest to the village of Supe is the main gate with the Forest Office in close proximity to the gate.

As I drove 10 miles ahead I saw the first gate for the protected area pass by my right. Further up the road towards the bend to the right is the forest office, a smartly camouflaged place that hosts an office, an information center and a room for the local forest ward.

After the initial customary formality of registration, I headed straight into the protected area accompanied by a member of the local forest vigilance team. Mayur Shitole, the forest vigilance guard who accompanied me was a fine young man about twenty-six years old and had been working with the Forest Office for over six years. The Forest Department, understanding that conservation of wildlife and protection of wildlife habitat cannot happen without the support of the inhabitants of the surrounding villages have appointed a Forest Guard, who recruits and oversees a team of youth who are trained in managing the forest.

As I parked the car, my side-view mirror clearly gave away three mature male Indian Gazelles (Chinkara) grazing about 30 yards away. I wondered... stalking in the wild couldn't get easier than this, could it? Mayur was hesitant to let me switch my engine off. He said that the gazelles are very sensitive to the sudden silence from the disturbance of a car engine. Gazelles in these parts are quite used to the sound of car engines due to adjoining roads on both ends of the sanctuary and the one right through it. It is only when a moving car stops and the engine is suddenly shut off, that an immediate sense of alarm spreads among the Gazelles. They wait a quick second to introspect their next move. And then... one among them looses its nerves and bounds away into the jungle. The rest only wait for someone to make that move and the pack heads as fast it can in the direction of the thickets and scrubs.

The moment I shut off my engine off and unlocked my door to step out, they bound away in quick jumps into the thick jungle. Disappointment crept in when I realized that stalking the wild in the wild is not for amateurs, but for the seasoned and jungle-toughened individuals of three types, the conservationist, the hunter and the poacher.

 

The Indian Gazelle, known locally as Chinkara, features in the International Union For Conservation Of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species in the 'Least Concern' category, however, its population is in sharp decline due to it being hunted for game. It is preyed upon by the Leopard and Dhole- Asiatic Wild Dog, and was common prey of the Asiatic Cheetah. It is also believed by some wildlife experts, although not conclusively, that the sharp decline of the Chinkara population has been one of the main reasons for the extinction of the Asiatic Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus).

                                          

 It was now imperative that Mayur and I walk through the scrub forests for sightings as it was 1100 hours, a typical resting time for my subject and after feeding on the high grassy areas close to the road, they venture deeper into the jungle for shade and water.

Chinkaras are found through the various topography of indian jungles; grasslands, desert areas, shrub lands and woodlands. They are commonly found in Big-Cat territories including Gir National Park (The Asiatic Lion's Home) and Bandhavgarh National Park (The Royal Bengal Tiger's Lair). Hence, like other members of the deer family, Chinkaras have developed a strong sense of vision, hearing and particularly, a very strong sense of smell. Since most of their breeding ground is close to human settlements in Supe, they are not averse to human beings. But familiarity is the key to close encounters, as they say. Mayur told me, my presence will not be welcome and they can sense my presence with the wind carrying my scent from afar. He said my mere entry into the forests would have put many in the immediate surroundings on red alert.

The success criteria to tracking Chinkara (in fact, most things wild) is clearly three:

1) Wind Direction

Approaching wild animals upwind, naturally carries one's scent to them. Thus, approaching them down-wind is important, although not the singularly important thing. In many situations, understanding wind direction is not an easy task. Under normal circumstances, wind direction can be assessed quickly by the direction in which grass, leaves and shrubs bend, however wild animals do not necessarily require speedy winds to catch scent. The problem appears when not a blade of grass, leaf or shrub sways. Under these circumstances, there are two ways to assess the direction of wind. The first, light a matchstick and then the direction will give itself away. If it fails, adopt the second, take your index finger, shove it into your mouth, wet it completely with saliva and point it upwards facing the east. One side of the finger shall feel cooler that the others. The wind blows from the direction your finger feels cooler.

2) Camouflage

Deciduous Scrub Jungles are a mix-bag of greens and browns. Any color other than the two will make one stand out distinctly to the wild's sense of vision. It must be understood that heavy material must be worn. Though inconvenient, they are a must as scrub jungles are full of thorns that stick through your clothes and make life miserable. However, purely wearing camouflage alone is not sufficient. Camouflages are worn to blend into the environment, and the environment we refer to here is unfamiliar ground for us. Moving through shades and keeping close to scrub thickets and trees (well... trees can sometimes be harmful as well... and I have a story coming up soon on that) are some basic must-dos. Avoid gold (chains) and silver (watches) as they cast glints in sunlight that gives one away more often than not.

3)  Soft Footed Movement

Slow noiseless movement is essentially not normal human behavior. But this is the only way of survival for wild animals and hence must be adopted, if tracking. Wear rubber soled shoes (boots are obviously preferred) as they are soft soled and will not create noise when moving through dry grass. Slow movement is also essential for observation. In the wild, what might look like a pair of dried wood sticking off the bushes might as well be the slender, yet powerful horns of a Chinkara.

In our case, all the three were against us. The wind was blowing from the east, resulting in us having to go around the forest, cross the hills to the north and enter the forest from the west. We were well camouflaged, but my pants were lighter. It made movement in high grass very painful as the grass thorns would stick to the pants and break away, leaving the tiny thorns on the pants which would sting every-time the pants graced a leg. And finally, my rubber soled shoes gave away even before I got to the jungle and hence I had to do with leather boots on hard rubber soles that would make a distinct noise every time I would step over high grass or dried twig. And to top it up, the lens I was using was a Canon EF 300mm / f4L IS USM, a reasonably long and large white colored lens (I always wondered why Canon made their L-Series Lenses white in color. They say that it helps reduce wear & tear and protects it in adverse weather, which makes sense... but what the heck... It makes a wildlife photographer visible...)

After a long trek, we reached the western end of the sanctuary and entered it. I'm a big fellow, so stealth was necessary. Right through the trek we saw a number of birds and managed to come up close to a few of them and get decent shots.

Purple Rumped Sun Bird (Female)

Green Bee-Eater

Hoopoe

Indian Roller 

 

Chestnut Bellied Sand Grouse

Southern Grey Shrike

Paddyfield Pipit

In addition to the above, we also sighted a Little Brown Dove, numerous Black Drongos, a Crested Lark, a couple of Magpie-Robins which I unfortunately could not shoot.

The day was getting along all right, but only if we were not in the forest looking out for Chinkaras. We realized that maybe we need to head deeper into the jungle as the sun was scorching the ground and the Gazelles would normally take cover in the thick jungle beyond. So off we went.

As we ventured deeper Mayur told me to slow down my pace and keep close to the thickets and trees as we may sight one anytime now. I moved over to my left to take cover under a tree when Mayur suddenly signaled to me to move away from it. Realizing something was not quite right where I stood, I quickly moved about eight feet away from the stump when Mayur rushed towards me pointing into the tree. And behold... this was my first serious life threatening experience in the wild, for deep in that seven foot short tree, I could now clearly see the crawl of that majestic reptile feared and worshiped by many in India, and also the cause of the most deaths due to snake-bite. Before me, in the thicket of the branches on that dense tree (sometime ago, right above my head...) was an agitated Indian Cobra that was moving away to avoid two on-lookers, one of whom was dazed with the thought that he was so close to that deathly bite that will not allow one to hold on to dear life for more than fifteen minutes.

Slowly fear gave way to curiosity and we went around the tree as it went winding around the branches in circles. Realizing that it was being trailed, it moved faster and sensing the opportunity, I moved the other way to be able to come face to face with it to take what I would have called a Cobrait instead of a Portrait and lifted my camera towards the tree. I saw it for a moment through my lens and the second I was to fire my shutter away, it was gone, and the next moment I heard a thud.

It had dropped from the tree out of fear of being taken. Now fear filled me as I stood motionless watching a five footer cobra six feet away blazing its tongue with an open hood. That was when I suddenly realized that man understands survival as well as animals, albeit a little slowly. I somehow knew that the lifted head was a half hearted threat and not a serious admonition. The moment this thought came through me, the cobra slid away and quickly crawled through the bushes nearby and took with it the closest memory I shall ever have, at least until now in the wild that spelled 'Death'.

So yes, being close to bushes and trees for camouflage while tracking gazelles is important, but, you better look out for what's in there before you take cover. Keep this in mind in case you ever venture into the wild on foot.

Now obviously, after this incident, Mayur was insistent that he lead the way into the forest and I follow the track he takes. I did not have a good reason to refuse it, so I followed foot-mark to foot-mark and as I watched him walk, step on a tall grass, the grass flatten out for a moment and then spring up slightly pointing in the direction he went, I knew what hunters mean by tracking.

And wonderfully, this is what we got to do. Mayur quickly spotted a resting place where it seemed like a bunch of Chinkara had rested only until a little while ago. The mud off the spot was cowered in circles where a large Chinkara would have snuggled cozily after a good meal. To add to that, the place was littered with droppings that at first sight looked fresh and behold! the path ahead had grass spring up similar to the ones that sprung up when Mayur walked ahead. The difference, of course, were two fold. One, neat grassy patterns of two front and two hind legs were paired. So they quite walk with their feet firmly together. And Two, at every fifteen steps it seemed like one of them sat down making itself comfortable for a few seconds and then moved ahead. Mayur told me, that there are high chances that there was a fawn in the group.

Suddenly, as I walked a few more steps Mayur ducked, and so did I, as soon as I saw him do so. But that was enough movement. What seemed a second ago like four wooden sticks buried in the ground, suddenly sprang up alert. Once stood facing us and the other twist itself around and glanced suspiciously in our direction. They knew we were trespassing and the look was surely not very inviting.

And then with one call, at least three more sprang to their feet and bounded for cover. But three hours of jungle lessons were enough for me to know when to not lose an opportunity. Knowing time would be short, I fired my shutter away and managed two moments. One was that surprised looked when we snooped up and the other of a family running for dear life when there was actually no threat at all.

Some decent tracking we had accomplished, but nothing that really got us close without being seen or sensed. Now the important thing in tracking for the purpose of photography is that even after you snoop up close, the first sound of shutter will make the gazelle bolt into hiding. So you get one, at most two shots, and you have to take them without messing it up. The trick is simple, better set yourself before you even attempt it. Make sure your camera is switched on, the lens cap is off, the metering is done. All that should remain should be the pressing of the shutter button.

As we went further into the jungle, we could clearly see a Chinkara lazily resting across a thick growth. I was determined this time to get close, so I told Mayur to stay where he was while I tracked it myself. Well... has anybody seen military training where one lies on his/her tummy and crawls using the leg. That's what I did. That military thing is perhaps easier. While doing so, they don't have to bother being careful about their rifles, but we have to about our cameras.

There were three thickets that I had to cross with the third being closest to the Gazelle. I managed the first without a sound, broke a twig halfway to the second. This alerted the Chinkara and it turned in my direction. I lay motionless like a rock. Convinced that nothing was wrong, it turned away. I was by now certain, that if I attempt to get to the third thicket, I would surely miss a shot, so I crawled into the second, got my focus in place and fired my shutter exactly at the time it got up and stretched. At the very first tap, it took off like there was no destination.

Now this was the best attempt for sometime to come and the next few attempts failed before they even started. They did, of course offer me decent photographic opportunities from a composition perspective.

As we wandered about in the jungle, Mayur took me to the water-holes and salt-lick where we sighted some pea-fowl, but were too far to get decent shots. He also helped me understand the forest office counting process for Chinkaras and took me to the camouflaged tree and ground machans which are used during counting. He took me to places best suited for filming a Chinkara's life, right through the places, where over time, birth and death of these beautiful animals have been observed.

A thought crossed my mind to plan a small film on the place, its host and its surroundings. And the plan is firm. We shall see it happen someday, sooner or later.

But for now, it was back to tracking. After another hour of looking around in the scorching sun, I announced that I was famished and needed some food. So with the thought and promise to come back some other time we tracked our route back to my car.

This time we didn't have to go back the way we came fortunately and reached my car in twenty minutes outside the gate.

I dropped my camera in the back-seat, got into the car and roared my engine on, when Mayur with the glee of a child who has found his mate in a game of hide-and-seek excitedly pointed out of the window.

And voila! A large male Gazelle stood just twenty yards away in between two trees with no clue of our presence despite the whirring sound of my engine. The distance was perfect to get it into my frame.

Tap... at the sound of the first click, it turned and looked in our direction... It seemed as if it was looking through me... Tap... at the sound of the second click... it spun around and ran into the forest. For some reason, it had been in deep thought and had not realized us walk up noisily talking to each other, open the door, sit in and fire up the engine. Now... it was dear dear life... all the way. So off it went.

But, for me, out came two photographs I shall always hold on to, at least until another one replaces it...

I went home, a satisfied man... Not that satisfaction was achieved at the very last moment. Even if the moment had not come, I would have felt equally satisfied, because another human, I, now understand the need for the preservation and conservation of fauna and the role it plays in negating the impact of the ecological damage that we, the object at the top of the ecological chain, bring about; not realizing that death of the forest means a closure to our very existence.

Note : The first photograph in this blog was a Chinkara that was accidentally wounded by a car while crossing the road that cuts through the sanctuary. It is being nursed back to health by the local forest authorities, is recovering rapidly and is expected to be released into the forest soon.

This blog and its associated photographs are a property of the author/authors and should not be used for any purpose without the consent of the author.