Roads less travelled...

If you’ve grown up in a big city, living in a rainforest for even a short while can be a vastly different experience. Having lived in a bustling, noisy, and rushed city like Bombay, I’ve become immune to the early morning roar of the BEST bus driving past my house.  At Agumbe Rainforest Research Station (ARRS), situated in the midst of tropical moist evergreen forest adjoining Someshwara Wildlife Sanctuary in Carnatic Western Ghats, I woke up blissfully to the sweet whistles of the Malabar Whistling Thrush and the distant calls of langurs and macaques. My volunteering for seventeen days at ARRS has been a thrilling experience that has definitely pushed me out of my snug comfort-zone and has helped me overcome phobias by the day.

The Western Ghats is known for the diverse habitats and rich biodiversity. Agumbe is famous for its highest annual rainfall in South India. The humid, tropical climate provides the quintessential conditions for prolific forests consisting of many endemic as well as migratory species of animals. Leopards, Wild dogs, Lion-tailed macaques, Gaurs, Wild boars, Slender loris, Malabar Giant Squirrels, Indian Flying Squirrels and Mouse-deer, are just few of the mammals that comprise the Ghats’ Megafauna. However, when it comes to the small critters that actually hold the ecosystem together, Agumbe Rainforest has an extremely diverse variety of arthropods, reptiles, amphibians, and birds. Prior to my experience at ARRS, I was horribly afraid of insects, and terrified of venomous snakes. Post my experience, I began to appreciate the intrinsic beauty of these animals. I learnt so much about their magical ecology, and actually loved nature even more.

A typical day of a volunteer at the Research Station is rather eventful. I woke up early every morning and went for a walk as part of my field work for “Biodiversity Monitoring Program”. In a nutshell, I walked on forest trails and through grasslands in order to spot wildlife: beautiful birds, camouflaged skinks, hopping frogs, coiled-up snakes, burrowed scorpions, and even timid mammals. Being a photographer, I have never found it more challenging to take photos of animals. After a simple but wholesome breakfast, I would assist with field work for amphibian survey or maintenance of the extensive library. Every day I learnt many new things through assisting on-station researchers with their work, as well as bonding with fellow volunteers and visitors from all around the world. After basic but tasty lunch, I’d do a variety of things: manual labor, maintenance work, studying about wildlife, or just have “me time” to introspect and reflect upon various aspects of my life and the world. Believe it or not, being in nature really broadens one’s understanding of humanity and its impact on the world. A typical evening could include assisting researchers during “human-snake conflict mitigation”. This term does not simply mean catching venomous snakes from human habitation but educating people about the ecology of these creatures and how to live in harmony with them. It could be a baby Spectacled Cobra that has found a cozy spot in a nearby school’s classroom, a massive 12 feet King Cobra stuck in a well, or even a 10 feet Indian Rock Python threatening domestic animals. ‘Mitigating’ the conflict between humans and wildlife allows smoother coexistence between mankind and the natural world - something that has rapidly enervated in a burgeoning populace. The evenings could also include assisting researchers to set up their complex apparatus, such as Light Trap to study moths at night. Dinner could sometimes be followed by a night walk that could be immersed in suspense: hearing a deep moan - potentially of a leopard - just a few meters into the dense foliage on the side of the trail, or even waiting for an eye-shine that gives away the refuge of a Slender Loris. On one of the night, during a walk into the Myristica swamp - a critically endangered ecosystem - I encountered a little Indian Black Turtle that was completely oblivious to my presence.  At night, I would edit my photos, played-back my videos, reflect upon the day, used the internet to identify the biodiversity that I see during the course of the day or read the herpetological journals to learn about research and conservation.

Personally, I used the time away and the geographical isolation from home as an opportunity to beat the stresses and constrictions of my monotonous and insipid routine of life back home. It’s not to say that I didn’t miss home, but it’s to elaborate that sometimes a digression from the stagnant routine of city life can be a refreshing experience that has numerous positive outcomes: a deeper understanding of nature, a fresher perspective of mankind, and an appreciation of the efforts of people trying to conserve nature. I found it so easy to bond with the people working here even though some of them couldn’t speak English, and barely understood Hindi. It was the common appreciation of a greater force - nature - that enabled such harmonious coexistence. As I mentioned previously, I overcame phobias by the day. I became less afraid of the insects that usually had me dashing away from their random dive-bombs, and learnt to appreciate their ecological value. Although basic, the facilities at ARRS enabled a hygienic as well as environmentally sustainable lifestyle: appropriate waste-management, solar-power generation, and hygienic sanitation (hot water, purified drinking water etc.)

The instructors during my ‘volunteership’ were Ajay Giri and Dhiraj Bhaisare. The former’s expertise is human-snake conflict mitigation and I accompanied him on quite a few of these ‘missions.’ His intense experiences with snakes and propensity to understand the behaviour of snakes of all types makes him adept at carrying out his work with an ethical and efficient approach that not only respects the snake but also the people who often come in conflict with these animals. The latter supervises the internal research and co-ordinates with all external researchers as well as administrates volunteer and intern activities. His meticulous and professional approach, compounded with his extensive knowledge over different domains of ecology, be it taxonomy or behaviour of animals, makes him a very accomplished conservationist. His ongoing conservation efforts - data collection both qualitative and quantitative - have greatly inspired me.

As a whole, this experience was monumental in my development as a person as it not only educated me, but also helped me grow as an individual. I feel like I can adapt better to different circumstances by just getting immersed in it. What those same circumstances can offer: in this case, a beautiful, prosperous ecosystem.

Article by: Arjun Doshi, Mumbai
Volunteer: 10^th September to 9^th October, 2014