Footprints on the Mountainside

Its becoming a habit. I have a conversation with someone that sets me thinking and I come here and write about it

This time it is about Kanheri Caves and what is happening out there.

When I learnt climbing, Kanheri was a regular haunt of climbers. On Sundays and public holidays, the place was literally swarming with outdoor people. A public bus service ran up to the caves from the Borivli station. We used to use that shabby bungalow to hold training camps. Those were the good old days.

Today, the crowd is hardly there. For some bizarre reason, the authorities have forbidden climbing there. Probably something to do with their weird sense of preservation of ancient monuments.

Let’s face it. Rock cut caves that have withstood the centuries and have fairly nothing in terms of paintings or delicate art are not exactly going to crumble when they see climbers. In any case, no one actually climbs the cave walls (mostly - no promises - climbers are crazy). Climbers sweat a lot, but I am fairly certain that caves will not faint or erode from it.

Sarcasm aside, I see this as a situation changed for the worse:

1. The area has hardly any people any more, and trouble with anti-scial elements is on the rise. Earlier, the abundance of the climbers made it a pretty busy area with an abundance of fit and valuable free people who were passionate about the sanctity of the place likely to come across trouble makers.
2. Climbers generally have a well developed sense of affinity with nature and served as excellent policing of trash throwers and often brought back stray trash they found in remote spots. Today, you have families throwing garbage all over the place with no one to try and make them aware of the need not to do such things.
3. The social feel of the place. The climbing community, the families and the overall busy feel brought an impression of a busy, thriving place with immense value to a variety of people. Today, there are few people who dare to go beyond the main area for fear of the isolation, except for couples who use the caves like private bedrooms to make out in.
4. Monkeys are a menace there. A busy community makes it less likely for someone to be attacked and hurt. A simple suggestion of not bringing any eatables to the caves would have sufficed to discourage moneys over time when they realized that there was no food stuff forthcoming. However, the authorities are not interested in anything like that, even after repeated suggestions of solutions, complaints about monkey attacks…..

I miss the old Kanheri Caves, where I as a teenage girl could walk around without fear; where we were there to stop tourists from littering, rather than make occasional visits and be depressed by the litter; when monkeys could actually be scared away without resorting to extreme measures……..

I happened across this article on the net and thought that it was worth sharing. For once, it doesn’t speak of dwindling populations of animals and effects of pollution, but an astounding initiative.

Eco-tourism now includes adventure, anti-poaching - Newindpress.com

Eco-tourism now includes adventure, anti-poaching Wednesday April 9 2008 12:10 IST

BHUBANESWAR: The eco-tourism concept which, till recently, was the buzz word for nature lovers inside Chandaka Sanctuary, has incorporated new elements like hands-on experiences on anti-poaching activity, protection and adventure tourism.

While the visitors could now go with the forest staff on an anti-poaching drive to sensitise villagers on the importance of conservation of elephants — the flagship species of the reserved forest — they could also experience trekking along the odd forest paths along with forest staff and security agency like Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).

Even the sanctuary authorities have started a dialogue with the CISF officials at Mundali in this regard, says DFO Akshaya Pattanaik, adding for this visitors would be taken in groups or phases according to availability of accommodation and base camps within the sanctuary limits.

On the nature education front, to let the visitors know the various plant varieties, display boards are already in place at major tourist spots and boards on animals are in the pipeline, the DFO says.

‘‘A natural garden containing 30 medicinal plants and 30 herbal species is already commissioned near the main gate at Godibari. There is also a plan to start souvenir centres at Deras point and Godibari in future so that tourists can take some memory of Chandaka with them,’’ Pattanaik reveals.

The sanctuary has submitted a proposal of Rs 40 lakh for the information dissemination process which will also include a separate and dedicated vehicle to ferry visitors inside the forest area and to make the entrance point another major tourist hot-spot with state-of-the-art facilities for nature education, he adds.

What I enjoyed reading about this was the proactive feel of the whole thing. Most visitors to sanctuaries feel strongly about nature and being involved in safeguarding nature beats looking at it hands on. This move is brilliant because it achieves several admirable things at once.

1. Really, I cannot say it often enough. Its a cheerful, proactive step that is far more tempting than forecasts of doom and entreaties to do some vague “something”.
2. It delivers a far more real and intimate experience with nature to the visitors.
3. It serves to further develop a sense of responsibility and pro-activeness in safeguarding the environment and creates a belief that it is not impossible to create our bit of impact.
4. Makes people wiser about the natural life in the sanctuary, the local cultures that live in and around it and the role of the government on the scene.
5. Its viral. I can imagine far more people hearing about this and wanting to do it themselves than ordinary trips. So it should result in a revenue, public support and awareness as well as regular vigilance in the sanctuary.

Folks at the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, are ya’ll reading? Could this idea work to help get the park trash free?