tadoba-guide
The Guide of Tadoba
He may not have the looks of Dev Anand, but he is like Raju, the protagonist of R K Narayan’s ‘The Guide’, the tour guide who turns a spiritual guide. For Vasant Sonule, who is a guide at the Tadoba-Andhari National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary at Chandrapur, he not only tells tales of tiger but also couples it with nature, philosophy and spiritualism. The most sought after guide, he is in high demand among Indian and foreign tourists – and as a matter of fact, he mesmerises his customers from the volume of information that he has on every subject under the Sun.
“You cannot be an angry young man inside a jungle,” says Vasant as he starts the tour of Tadoba, one of the places in India where tigers can be seen roaming in the jungles. “Chances of spotting a tigers are not that easy in the jungles, much of it depends on luck. You may not be able to see it, but he is seeing you all through, this much I can say with assertiveness,” says Vasant as he sits on the adjacent seat of a car and guides me, Poonam Tiwari, whom every third man in Chandrapur knows, astrologer Kaushal Thakar and fellow journalist Om Prakash Tiwari. We headed to the jungles after visiting the famous Mahakali temple of Chandrapur.
As we enter the Project Tiger Reserve, he reels out the history of Tadoba – as the saying goes derives its name from the local God, "Taru". The legend goes that the village chief "Taru" was killed in an epic fight with the tiger. All the local villagers worship him as the deity of “Tadoba”. Today, the Tadoba National Park is often known as the ‘The Jewel of Vidarbha’, which is located in Chandrapur, the city of coalmines. He takes us to the deity situated next to the lake inside the reserve, during the course of the trip.
“Tadoba a haven for wildlife enthusiasts, is a rich dry deciduous forest, a great place to walk and enjoy nature,” points out thirty-something Vasant, who is a graduate, and an avid reader. Hailing from a local village in the periphery of the famous reserve. For facts, Tadoba-Andhari Tiger reserve was created in 1995. The area of the Reserve is 625.40 sq. km. This includes Tadoba National Park, created in 1955 with an area of 116.55 sq. km. and Andhari Wildlife Sanctuary created in 1986 with an area of 508.85 sq. km. “Visiting Tadoba is a must, it is unique in many aspects,” points out Maheep Gupta, the Conservator of Forests, South Chanda Circle, when we meet him hours before we set for the tiger trail.
This is a “southern tropical dry deciduous forest” and is one of the best in the country, points out Vasant – as we embark on the tiger trail. Then he starts reeling out facts at figures in one go – as he highlights the flora and fauna of Tadoba. The forest has 43 tigers, 22 leopards, 425 barking deers, 2,700 cheetals, 1,150 sambhars, 2,800 langoors, 170 beers, 150 wild dogs, 325 Neelgai, 120 wolves and so on. “These are figures as per the last census,” he clarifies. “Teak and bamboo comprises the main fauna,” he said. In the Tadoba lake, says Vasant, one can find crocodiles. And birds – there are several of them. In fact, it had a crocodile breeding center also. Tadoba Crocodiles Project became operational on November 5, 1977. The centre was very successful and many lakes and waterbodies including Tulsi lake in Mumbai were stocked with crocodiles from the breeding farm. By 1994 as the breeding centre had met its objectives and was closed. “Snakes including python and cobra are also seen here,” he said.
Then he goes on to explain what forest means – F for food an fruits, O for oxygen, R for recreation and rain, E for energy and environment, S for soil and T for tourism, tiger and trees. And finally – forest also means “for” “rest”. Vasant speaks at ease on Adam and Eve, Hindu philosophy and then gives a lecture on the importance of vegetarian food.
“Not that I have never taken non-vegetarian food, but since the last 10 years, I had turned vegetarian. The human body suits only vegetarian food,” he said.
Vasant has not only fan-following in Maharashtra, but also in Austria. “Some tourists came from Austria. It is in Europe, don’t confuse it with Australia. I showed them birds, in fact they sent me a CD and asked me to visit Austria,” he said. He also encountered some German tourists – with whom he had a debate on Hitler. “I have read Adolf Hitler’s ‘Mein Kamph’. We should take good things from everybody,” he said. “They said that it is banned in Germany. But when I told them the good things, they agreed to read it,” he said and pointed out that the whole issue started with a debate on ‘Swastik’ symbol.
He is currently reading about forts of Maharashtra - being a devotee of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, the great Maratha warrior. "I want to see all the forts that Shivaji built - but I do not have the means to visit every fort, hence, I am reading as many books as possible on this," he says.
As we come out of the tiger reserve – we see an interesting board at the gate – it reads “Dhanya-Wagh” and not “Dhanya-Baad”. We may not have been able to spot a tiger, but took with us the memories of this ‘Tiger-Man’, Vasant – The Guide. “The best time to spot a tiger is February, March April,” he says as he bids us goodbye.
He may not have the looks of Dev Anand, but he is like Raju, the protagonist of R K Narayan’s ‘The Guide’, the tour guide who turns a spiritual guide. For Vasant Sonule, who is a guide at the Tadoba-Andhari National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary at Chandrapur, he not only tells tales of tiger but also couples it with nature, philosophy and spiritualism. The most sought after guide, he is in high demand among Indian and foreign tourists – and as a matter of fact, he mesmerises his customers from the volume of information that he has on every subject under the Sun.
“You cannot be an angry young man inside a jungle,” says Vasant as he starts the tour of Tadoba, one of the places in India where tigers can be seen roaming in the jungles. “Chances of spotting a tigers are not that easy in the jungles, much of it depends on luck. You may not be able to see it, but he is seeing you all through, this much I can say with assertiveness,” says Vasant as he sits on the adjacent seat of a car and guides me, Poonam Tiwari, whom every third man in Chandrapur knows, astrologer Kaushal Thakar and fellow journalist Om Prakash Tiwari. We headed to the jungles after visiting the famous Mahakali temple of Chandrapur.
As we enter the Project Tiger Reserve, he reels out the history of Tadoba – as the saying goes derives its name from the local God, "Taru". The legend goes that the village chief "Taru" was killed in an epic fight with the tiger. All the local villagers worship him as the deity of “Tadoba”. Today, the Tadoba National Park is often known as the ‘The Jewel of Vidarbha’, which is located in Chandrapur, the city of coalmines. He takes us to the deity situated next to the lake inside the reserve, during the course of the trip.
“Tadoba a haven for wildlife enthusiasts, is a rich dry deciduous forest, a great place to walk and enjoy nature,” points out thirty-something Vasant, who is a graduate, and an avid reader. Hailing from a local village in the periphery of the famous reserve. For facts, Tadoba-Andhari Tiger reserve was created in 1995. The area of the Reserve is 625.40 sq. km. This includes Tadoba National Park, created in 1955 with an area of 116.55 sq. km. and Andhari Wildlife Sanctuary created in 1986 with an area of 508.85 sq. km. “Visiting Tadoba is a must, it is unique in many aspects,” points out Maheep Gupta, the Conservator of Forests, South Chanda Circle, when we meet him hours before we set for the tiger trail.
This is a “southern tropical dry deciduous forest” and is one of the best in the country, points out Vasant – as we embark on the tiger trail. Then he starts reeling out facts at figures in one go – as he highlights the flora and fauna of Tadoba. The forest has 43 tigers, 22 leopards, 425 barking deers, 2,700 cheetals, 1,150 sambhars, 2,800 langoors, 170 beers, 150 wild dogs, 325 Neelgai, 120 wolves and so on. “These are figures as per the last census,” he clarifies. “Teak and bamboo comprises the main fauna,” he said. In the Tadoba lake, says Vasant, one can find crocodiles. And birds – there are several of them. In fact, it had a crocodile breeding center also. Tadoba Crocodiles Project became operational on November 5, 1977. The centre was very successful and many lakes and waterbodies including Tulsi lake in Mumbai were stocked with crocodiles from the breeding farm. By 1994 as the breeding centre had met its objectives and was closed. “Snakes including python and cobra are also seen here,” he said.
Then he goes on to explain what forest means – F for food an fruits, O for oxygen, R for recreation and rain, E for energy and environment, S for soil and T for tourism, tiger and trees. And finally – forest also means “for” “rest”. Vasant speaks at ease on Adam and Eve, Hindu philosophy and then gives a lecture on the importance of vegetarian food.
“Not that I have never taken non-vegetarian food, but since the last 10 years, I had turned vegetarian. The human body suits only vegetarian food,” he said.
Vasant has not only fan-following in Maharashtra, but also in Austria. “Some tourists came from Austria. It is in Europe, don’t confuse it with Australia. I showed them birds, in fact they sent me a CD and asked me to visit Austria,” he said. He also encountered some German tourists – with whom he had a debate on Hitler. “I have read Adolf Hitler’s ‘Mein Kamph’. We should take good things from everybody,” he said. “They said that it is banned in Germany. But when I told them the good things, they agreed to read it,” he said and pointed out that the whole issue started with a debate on ‘Swastik’ symbol.
He is currently reading about forts of Maharashtra - being a devotee of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, the great Maratha warrior. "I want to see all the forts that Shivaji built - but I do not have the means to visit every fort, hence, I am reading as many books as possible on this," he says.
As we come out of the tiger reserve – we see an interesting board at the gate – it reads “Dhanya-Wagh” and not “Dhanya-Baad”. We may not have been able to spot a tiger, but took with us the memories of this ‘Tiger-Man’, Vasant – The Guide. “The best time to spot a tiger is February, March April,” he says as he bids us goodbye.
Comments
Planning to visit Tadoba in May. Do you have contact for this guide? Please email on kalyanikol@gmail.com
Thanks and regards