More at http://www.sanctuaryasia.com | Conservation Action
PART I: THE ANGRY MOTHER
Jamuna is chasing her elder calf through
the Narenga grassland about a kilometre
from Mahal Camp. Grunt-grunt-grunt-
grunt she goes, punctuating her strides
with grunt-grunts and explosive snorts,
like a diesel truck chugging up a
steep grade.
'Baaaaaeee?' bleats the three-
year-old, bewildered at the sudden
change in her mother's behaviour. An
echoing bleat, softer, more plaintive,
from somewhere behind us gives us
a clue. Jamuna stops. We can see just
the fl icker of her ear tips through the
elephant grass as she listens. For a
moment everything is silent, the jungle
holding its collective breath. Then the
newborn issues another bleat and
Jamuna charges in our direction.
Mohan, the Forest Department
elephant transporting us through the
impassable monsoon undergrowth, does
the elephant equivalent of screeching to
a halt as Jamuna's 1.5-tonne bulk heaves
into view. She glowers up at us, horn
raised, nostrils fl aring: 'What the heck do
you want?' she harrumphs, stomping an
irate forefoot. Mohan executes a rapid
nervous half-spin, nearly pitching me off
his back. "Hold the rope!" Dr. Choudhury
shouts as I clutch the air in desperation.
We are in the Bansbari Range of
Manas National Park, a 950 sq. km.
Protected Area in the state of Assam.
Dr. Bhaskar Choudhury is Wildlife Trust
of India's (WTI) Head Veterinarian –
Northeast and heads the Greater Manas
Conservation Project, run by WTI in
partnership with the International
Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), the
Assam Forest Department and the
Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC), which
administers four of the fi ve districts that
Manas is sprawled across.
"Some good news," Dr. Choudhury
had said, grinning broadly as we sat at
a dhaba near the IFAW-WTI fi eld offi ce
earlier that morning. The WhatsApp
message he showed me had the same
photograph you see overleaf: JamunaJamuna seen from elephant back in the dense
Narenga grasslands, Bansbari Range, Manas
National Park.More at http://www.sanctuaryasia.com | Conservation Action