Dry forests around Kanha and the Mahadeo Hills around Pachmarhi are the best places for those interested in tree-spotting. Pradip Krishen’s latest book covers an area larger than France and includes five of India’s most-visited tiger reserves to serve as an ideal guide to wildlife travellers. The author shared details with Divya Kaushik
In case you love exploring the woods and making your own discoveries about nature, then you can find great company in Pradip Krishen’s latest book (published by Penguin). The book, which is a result of over four years of research, serves as an ideal guide to understand and know trees better. Forest in central India is one of the most paradigmatic wild locations which has vast deciduous environment region. It includes the Southern region of Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha region of Maharashtra and Chattisgarh which has dry deciduous trees. The area which is considered larger than France has national sanctuaries including Kanha National Park, Pench National Park and Melghat Wildlife Sanctuary. Apart from wild animals, the area also covers a varied and distinct plants and trees. Jungle Trees of Central India by Krishen is a book portraying every tree and plant found in this deciduous region. The book is compiled with more than 2,000 photographs and briefing on bark, flowers, fruit and leaves. “For those who travel to these regions, the book will turn them into an expert tree spotter,” says Krishen who currently works as native plants gardener and is director of 70-hectare Rao Jodha Desert Rock Park in Jodhpur.
About the revelations that he made during his extensive research, he shares, “One big revelation was discovering how endangered the forests in central India are. If you look at statistics, the government of MP claims it has forest cover upwards of 22 or 23 per cent. This really makes you question the whole business of estimating forest cover by satellite imagery. It tells you very little about the quality of forests that are being surveyed. The harsh reality is that we have lost nearly all of our forest cover on arable land. What remains is secondary forest on stony, hilly ground. May be this is inevitable, given population pressure and those sort of things. Government stats need to take that into account. The classic mixed deciduous forests of the central Indian region are now critically endangered.”
The author feels that there is an awareness and eagerness to find out about our surroundings but we lack tools to know about our natural wilderness. “There is a huge eagerness to know and understand. If you look at bird watching, for example, it’s phenomenal how popular it has become and how many different authors have begun to write about and photograph birds. And the numbers of young people bird watching and twitching in India is phenomenal. Once we have books that are easy to follow by laymen, you can expect a surge of interest. Whether it is trees, wildflowers, insects, whales, deodars or any other thing,” he explains.
The book includes five of India’s most-visited tiger reserves. The book targets wildlife travellers who, in their single-minded quest for the tiger, drive through some of the most magnificent natural areas in India. But research in the forests was not an easy task for the author. “The forest department is seldom helpful or friendly. Foresters as a tribe tend to look with suspicion on anybody — be it photographer, researcher or writer. At one level it’s just guarding their territory, but actually there’s no justification for it at all. The only way to get around cumbersome procedures and the problems of not getting permission is to make a few friends in the department, people who know and trust you. That makes life a whole lot easier. But in general, I had to operate like an ordinary tourist, entering and using the park like anyone else, within the matrix of the rulebook,” he says.
In the last few years there have been many efforts on tiger conservation. Are they showing any result on groundIJ “It’s very patchy. I think scientists and conservationists who operate outside the forest department have mostly come to feel that the forest department is not the agency most suited to look after the tiger and its habitats,” he replies.
The book mentions about some trees and plants that are now on the verge of extinction or are already extinct. There’s about 12 or 13 species of native trees that are adapted to growing in good, loamy soil with water fairly close to the surface. None of them are extinct yet, but very few are found in the jungle. “Take the babool, for example. It has virtually lost its wild habitat completely. You will find it growing in farmland bunds and cultivated but not in the jungle any more. Wherever it grew, it was like a flag that said, ‘Here lies good arable land.’ And the forest would be cleared and babool’s territory became new farmland,” says the author.
The two areas that the author is most fond of, from the point of view of tree-spotting, are the dry forests around Kanha — a large tract that used to be called the Banjar Valley. And the Mahadeo Hills, around Pachmarhi. “If anyone wants to go out (in the right season) looking at forest trees, I’d recommend these two regions. The right season is either early spring, when forest trees are putting on new leaves and starting to flower or the period after the rains, from about October to December, or perhaps a little later,” informs Krishen.
Many believe that green cover in certain areas, like Delhi, is increasing. Is it actually trueIJ Says the author, “It may be true that the Forest Survey of India has found that Delhi’s forest cover has increased but what kind of forestIJ If the vilayti keekar, which is an invasive pest, has spread to give us a few extra square miles of forest, is that something to feel happy aboutIJ The Forest Department in Delhi carries out ‘compensatory afforestation’ programmes. But from what I have seen, these are very small plots, often no larger than a tennis court, in which they plant 600 trees frightfully close to each other. They know that most of them will get crowded out and will die. So what good is it if these tennis courts figure in satellite images and tell us that Delhi’s forest cover has increasedIJ”