Kawal - A miracle habitat for tigers

The struggle for survival for a tiger – Kawal
Diya


On the northern most tip of Andhra Pradesh, lies the district of Adilabad. Nearly 40 percent of Adilabad’s area comprises of sanctuaries and national parks of dry deciduous teak forests. Situated amidst these forests, is the extremely scenic Kawal wildlife sanctuary.

Established in 1965 with the purpose of safeguarding the endangered species in their natural habitat, an area of 893 sq kms was set aside owing to the richness of Kawal’s bio-diversity.

The beauty of this forest immediately catches the eye as one venture’s inside. The entire Kawal range in the distance encircles a vast area of flat expanse where nature and its bounty once thrived.

It’s dense and thrilling once you start walking inside from any point of the buffer area. The saddest part is since it’s not declared as a tiger reserve although it has about 9-10 tigers as per the last census you can view the security lapse, good bit of felling everywhere. And the most interesting part is even after all this anarchy, tiger and other animals like sambhar, cheetal, Bear thrive with all the human population in and around which itself is a wonder.

Good combinations of Darwin’s theory of existence – thrive through mutual respect and fight it out for survival.

A 280 kms drive from Hyderabad via Siddhipet, Karimnagar, Lakshattipet to reach Jannaram village will take about 5hrs. A night long or early morning journey gives you the leverage of reaching there in the morning and straight head for the buffer area or the core parts by walking with the local rangers. The DFO office is at Jannaram and he will be helpful enough to get you a forest ranger to escort you towards Alinagar/Dongapalli side or Nirmal side of the forest.

The walk leads you through villages, small tribal encroachments together with hoof marks and paw marks of Bear, Deer. All kinds of living beings seem to live in harmony without any confrontation but sadly we humans don’t like to be at peace. So you get to see the major human interventions in the form of extensive felling everywhere in the name of cheap politics.

The only other lodging is the forest guest house in Jannaram which can be facilitated by the DFO. To understand and feel a forest in your own sweet time and pace nothing can beat Kawal since it is not commercialised or organised.

Tourism would be not only good for the forest due to increased publicity but is a haven for nature lovers for all its diversity.

Note: All nature lovers must be aware that Kawal is not like any other national park or reserve and one needs to be very responsible and respectful towards the flaura and fauna there. Special care needs to be taken with regards to maintaining sanctity and peace of the place due to its delicate balance between wild animals and humans. Since there are no specific rules, one needs to be more careful and take the help of forest officials when entering the forest. Responsible tourism is a great way towards giving focus to wild life conservation.