What Are Indian Hotels Doing To Conserve Wildlife During Summer Months? | June - 2020
What Are Indian Hotels Doing To Conserve Wildlife During Summer Months?
We got in touch with some of India’s luxury safari properties to know how they are conserving wildlife in India’s scorching summer during the current crisis. Here is what they had to say. By Team T+L
1. Sarai at Toria, Madhya Pradesh
Joanna Van Gruisen: “To conserve wildlife – whether in the forest, grasslands, gardens, or parks – it’s best to let them live as naturally as possible, and that is what we have done at Sarai at Toria. It is a refuge for birds, small mammals, and ungulates like wild boars and nilgai. Our natural landscape provides animals with exactly what they need for sustenance. We even have a perennial river nearby, so animals have a readily available water source all year round. However, due to the current pandemic, these exigences could increase the demand among animals. It is, therefore, important to support the Forest Department in their protection work, especially those on the ground working to reduce poaching and damage to our protected areas.”
2. Bera Safari Lodge, Rajasthan
Shatrunjay Pratap: “With the summer heat rising, water is important for wild animals. Since there is no natural water available for wild animals in the area anymore, we have created a big waterhole in the core area of the forest. We are also setting up camera traps in various places to regularly study wildlife and keep a count of the animals. Our trackers also help ensure no illegal activities are taking place. We are also setting up these camera traps near water points to monitor whether the animals are drinking from there. By doing so, it even helps us monitor the spread of foot and mouth diseases from domesticated livestock to wild animals.”
3. Jim’s Jungle Retreat, Uttarakhand
Daleep Akoi: “Under normal circumstance, our staff would have been helping with patrolling activities along with the Forest Department for anti-poaching efforts, or going to village schools and panchayats to educate local communities about conserving wildlife. Now, however, we are ensuring that the water bodies of our 15-acre property are filled and maintained so that birds, small mammals, reptiles and amphibians have access to water during the dry months. We have several of these bodies dotting the landscape, each providing water to species like the flap shell turtle, the Burmese python, jackals, monitor lizards, porcupines, jungle cats, mongoose, deer, antelope, etc. We are also using our camera traps on various trails within the property grounds to monitor the presence of various species that visit us. We will continue helping the Forest Department when they require support in filling their tankers to refill waterholes in various parts of the park during summer. And, while we wait for the monsoon to arrive, seed collection is ongoing and the nursery is being prepared for the next round of plantation during the rains.”
4. Reni Pani Jungle Lodge, Madhya Pradesh
Aly Rashid: “The Reni Pani Jungle Lodge grounds are characterised by forest patches, grasslands, seasonal river beds, and a couple of water holes – a landscape typical to Satpura. The summer months see a larger influx of animals as the waterholes maintained at our lodge become an important microhabitat. The diversity of this habitat is also suitable for nesting birds in the summer months. By providing water to animals and protecting our lodge grounds, we are able to attract a lot of wildlife within the property.”