Amchang Wildlife Sanctuary: An Experience

It was a rainy morning but I loved the way it was .I remember some photographer saying that “you should experiment with any kind of weather” .I climb the bus it was around 5.30am in the morning but inside it I didn’t felt that way as it was jam-packed . People of all kinds of profession were there to start their normal livelihood. I made a space for myself and went for my journey with the music of Robert Plant in my I-pod. It reminded me of the hills, the mountains and Shangri la, although I was repeatedly disrupted by the occasional shouts of the handy-man. After a few minutes I got down on my stoppage, to get to my final destination I had to take a rickshaw to my cousin’s place as he was waiting for me .He had a pretty good idea about the place we would visit today for photography . As I climb up the rickshaw, I felt the breeze brushing my face. I relaxed until I saw the hills full of light clouds. It was so near to me and so green and beautiful which I never sensed for quite a time. But I don’t know why I resist myself by not taking a snap of it. Finally I reached my cousins place, he was ready. We headed towards the forest with essential things like water bottle, an umbrella& a packet of biscuits. The road was fine but muddy but as we reached the opening of the forest the route became uncomfortable but quite exciting. We began the actual journey here...it was a hard work for me as over the months I had gained a lot of weight, it made me exhausted in a few minutes but for him it was a daily kind of job as he usually come here to spend his time with his thoughts . I was amazed to see such density in a forest, there was large number of tree everywhere and especially in Guwahti which was on its way of claiming itself as a cosmopolitan city.

My cousin said to me:

“I think only in this part of Guwahati where you will find forest and cultivation” .And he was correct becaue when I last visited this place it was full cultivation (3--4 yrs ago) but now 2/3^rd was of the cultivation area was full of houses. We kept on walking until we met a man who was brushing his teeth and asked about ourselves.

“She my cousin and we have come to take photographs”; my cousin said

I nodded with him. And the man said well “you have to take permission from the Ranger”

“Well then can we meet him” I said

“No you can’t, he sleeping”, he said

“Ok then while returning we will meet him”; I replied

“Ok then”

Now we were off, but I was little surprised because I didn’t meet anybody here when I visited last, my cousin told that this place was given a wildlife sanctuary status since 2004. I was glad to know about that I also noticed newly built houses inside the reserve which I guess was for the forest rangers. I felt really nice because Govt had taken the initiative to preserve a rare place inside a city and to keep it safe .I also heard that this place was a house for many animals and different bird species like Chiness pangolin, Slow Loris, Flying Fox, Assamese macaque, Rhesus macaque, Capped langur, Hoolock gibbon, Jungle cat, leopard cat, leopart, Elephant, wild pig, sambar, Barking deer, Porcupine,phython squirrel, Civet Cat etc. & Lesser Adjutant stork, Greater Adjutant Stork, white – backed vulture ,Slender billed Vulture, Khaleej Pheasant, Green Imperial Pigeon, Lessar Pied Hornbill, Parakeet etc. respectively . Guwatians should feel blessed to have such a heaven inside the city itself.

We proceeded further; made a semi-circle turn form our normal route until he showed me a newly built dam .I was looking curiously at it and examining its length and breadth until he showed me the next big thing. There was huge group of mountain full of clouds …which somebody will definitely mistake for Tawang and yes it was a marvelous sight to see. After appreciating the nature’s beauty we went to the Ganesh temple situated little downwards which we had to go through a nature made steps. People usually comes to worship here, this place was full of huge rocks and three to four sculpture of Ganesha is here since time unknown. A little stream of water passes through here that later on joins Bhramhaputra. Our observation was suddenly interrupted by an unusually heavy rain. One of the interesting fact was that we had one umbrella with us and no other shelter to hide our head. We thought that the rain would not last that long but we were completely wrong, its went on for 2 hours. …even though we had an umbrella, we were completely soaked in the rain that too in the middle of the forest , it was like as if we two were on expedition from the National Geographic. We hurried back home & that was an experience.

But we didn’t felt bad at least we got lots of pictures of a rainy season and I planned to stay at my cousin’s place that night to see what the next day holded for me. I was lucky as the next day was a sunny day. But today we meet with lots of obstructions: starting with the forest officials who started to threaten us. There were four men and one lady official but without their uniform. Out of the men the lady seems to be stricter and was stubbornly misusing her power.

“Yesterday you went there, without any permission, we got such a scolding from our forest ranger and you didn’t pay the charges also” she said adamantly

“But in this office there was nobody, we meet another official there” my cousin replied

“Ok then sorry for yesterday, please let me talk to the ranger”; I said

‘No, you can’t, he went to his home”

“Please give us his number”, I requested

“We cant, he keeps his mobile switch off when he in home”

“So now whom can I talk too”; I said

“You can talk to me, as I’m now in-charge”

‘I said ok then tell me what am I suppose to do now’

“The D.F.O will be coming at 2pm, you can meet him or else come day after tomorrow”

“It will not be possible for me to come tomorrow, so please give me his number, I can talk to him”

She totally denied. So at last I asked

“Tell about the charges I will pay it now”

“You are not allowed, come some other day”

She seems to be so arrogant, we thought she was showing her power, well then you keep your power with yourselves...I thought.

(But later from inner source we came to know that there is no such charges to be paid and she didn’t got any scolding from the higher officials.)

We came out disappointedly but I definitely didn’t got upset as it was a huge forest, covers around 78.68 sq. km & had different openings. So my cousin called up his friend who stayed nearby and we went through some other routes which were too difficult then before. It was very steep and we had to go through the backyards of people’s houses. I got some really nice shots there but not the “perfect picture” which I was longed for.

He felt my disappointedness, so after bidding goodbye to his friends we took another route, it was through the middle of the cultivation all greenery, cows were grazing, we were tired and the heat was rising. But after walking all about 15 kilometers a simple sound made me feel refresh and it was the sound of the water fall. We went according to the sound and came across huge trees and amidst that 3 kids were sitting in silence .We asked them to accompany us; what I notice here was the density of the trees were more that before. We also happen to meet a woodcutter on our way. As we were walking we saw the view of the fall: it was the same stream I talks about .The stream from there falls here through some huge rocks .But to reach there again we have to cross the same stream .We were tired, so prefer to rest there and what I saw there was little bunch of butterflies sitting in the rock and I suppose they were sun-bathing. They were so beautiful that it seemed like that they wore purple frocks. The amazing thing was these little butterflies didn’t fear us. They were completely with themselves. After the rest our journey was on, the boys took us to the waterfall and just imagine we were walking upward towards the fall .This boys were the inhabitants of the forest itself so they knew everything about the forest. There were big stones, we have to put off our shoes as the stones were slippery; we walked against the waterfall until we saw a cave. Those kid s began to open their clothes & bath .We clicked some amazing natural shots until we were hungry …sitting in the shade we had biscuits and water. Although the sun was really hard on us but the relaxing sound of the fall made us very relaxed .We really enjoyed with these boys, if not wrong to say they were God send .But it was too late now, we had to run home, but at the end of the day I was satisfied because I got my perfect picture.

I specially want to thanks to those officials who denied us from the entering into the forest, if they wouldn’t denied us then we can’t have this experience on the other end of the forest and I’m also sorry for them, because of such type of person our beauty of nature is being unexplored. They are being very strict to us but what about the trees that are always being cut and traded illegally in that forest itself and the case of poachers who earn millions from here. It’s a shame not only to them but to the whole society .They are giving orders without their uniform, this is not the law written in our constitution. I don’t want to blame the whole Forest Department: you people should be thanked for the care you are taking for this sanctuary but I just want you people to be beware of such officials that are serving in your department.

Moramee Das