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imageI have been selected to go to Melghat Tiger Reserve which is located on southern offshoot of the Satpura Hill Range in Central India, called Gavilgarh hill in the Indian state of Maharashtra for this entire week for my organization. I am going there as a part of Melghat Bio Diversity Impact Study where we will be volunteering to help the villagers to reduce their dependency on sharing the natural resources with the Tiger.

Melghat area was declared a Tiger Reserve in 1974. The northeastern boundary of the Reserve is marked by the Tapti river. Melghat is the prime bio-diversity repository of the state.

Protection and habitat management are the main inputs here. Issues related to high degree of man-animal conflict are tackled on a priority basis. The Reserve area has been divided into three zones for management purposes and to strike a balance between bio-diversity conservation and ecologically sustainable community development.
Gaurs
During monsoon, special protection squads carry out foot patrolling to curb the hunting of sambar and wild boar by the local people. Similar squads are established during the summer for fire protection works. Injuries and killing of human beings by tiger, leopard and sloth bears is another conflict.

Some of the species that are usually spotted there are the Tigers, leopards, sloth bear, wild dog, jackal, sambar, gaur, barking deer, nilgai, chital, chausingha, ratel, flying squirrel, wild boar, langur, Rhesus monkey, porcupine, pangolin, mouse deer, python, otter, caracal, blacknaped hare. More than 700 naturalised plant species have been enlisted in the Flora of Melghat. These species belong to about 400 genera representing as many as 97 families.

Sunset At MelghatThe activities that we are to undertake are to study bio diversity signs such as wild herbivore sightings, pellets and spoor; signs of tiger and other carnivores; tree and grasses and bird life. It seems that there are some 365 types of species aka reptiles that live and breed in those jungles.

This is going to be so much fun, as this is going to be my first wild life adventure. They have advised us to carry lot of warm clothes as the temperature drops down to 8 degrees and we will be living in tents. Now, for me this surely is an experience of a life time. Never done it and doing any thing first time has its own sets of anxiousness and a level of excitement as well. I am looking forward for that eerie silence of the night, the alertness of walking through the jungles, the rush to spot a wild animal ooooo just can’t wait.

Adios till next week.