Today was the first day of the Jungle Lodges and Resorts’ Naturalists’ Training Program, and I went to the JLR Bannerghatta property to meet all the participants. Some were known to me, otherws were new….but I had a great time, as usual. Alas, I could not get permission to stay over, so I had to leave…but sighting a scorpion, getting a great talk on the differences between beetles and bugs, enjoying the pouring rain, laughing and talking with the others…
We generally dress in our oldest, dull-coloured clothes to go on nature trails, because many creatures are sensitive to bright colours, and vanish as soon they see such colours moving around. In Nature, blending in with one’s surroundings is often the key to survival…what stands out is often what’s eaten, and also what could be dangerous.
But there are creatures who manage to blend beautifully into their surroundings, and yet remain very colourful!
Where do they come from? Where do they go?
Why are they so tiny? Why do they glow?
Why do just some of them have wings?
What, exactly, is “bioluminicence”?
Is it a word that even makes sense?
Have you wondered about all these things?
I went, as usual, to meet all the people who took the NTP….this time, there has been a full contingent (the accomodation at the Bannerghatta property of JLR is 8 X 2, and 17 people had registered, which meant that three of the young women have had to share one tent!
I realized that I knew several members beforehand, but it was nice to meet others for the first time, too!
The group was a very nice one, including a mother-daughter duo, and another young couple who had brought their delightful five-year-old, Arohi, along with them. Arohi and I had a great time swinging on the suspended tyre in the campus, and trailing around the place while the others were getting edified!
Here’s the very intelligent, articulate little girl (sorry, young female person):
Mr Thomas finally said he couldn’t get spares for my wonderful MLC, the Canon S3 IS…so I am off to the Canon Service Centre on Brigade Road, to see if THEY can get whatever part it is that needs to be replaced….
Things have been VERY hectic lately….but we did find the time to go and see the annual visit of the glow-worms…
I don’t need to mention how I value the NTP that I took in March 2006. It’s given me access to Karthik’s immense knowledge, and brought me a lot of on-the-net and face-to-face friends, all of whom have unstintingly helped me in my learning about birds and wildlife.
So let me announce the next NTP….
Here’s the email from JLR:
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Greetings from Jungle Lodges and Resorts Ltd.!
We are pleased to inform you that the dates for the next Naturalists Training Programme has been finalised. The details of the programme are as follows.
This time we tied up with Wipro to do a cleanup at Muthathi; and on Saturday, the 30th August, we set off in two Wipro buses, with 49 volunteers. Sandeep, Anush and I went in Karthik’s jeep as Sandeep needed to go ahead and make arrangements at Bheemeshwari as well, regarding the plastic pickup by JLR. That’s going to be a different post (which will be an email to the Clean and Green group) so here are some images of the forest creatures I got during the trip:
On the way to Bheemeshwari, we were very lucky to spot the endangered GRIZZLED SQUIRREL in the canopy:
Of course my camera was still packed away, but at least one of the two squirrels was visible long enough for me to be able to get it out and get a couple of shots, before it, too, vanished into the green!
Karthik had told me that he would be free this weekend, so I tried to organize an outing; the weather was not very predictable, so he said that rather than Manchinabele, which was much further away, we should go to Lalbagh, where if it rained, we could do some id’ing of hot idlis and coffee at any nearby Darshini…
We were a round (well, none of us are ROUND, really, but…) dozen…Karthik the NTP Guruji, and the NTP members were, in alphabetical order, Adarsh,Anjali,Geeta,Pallavi,Prasanna,Vittal, and me; and then there were, also in alphabetical order, Vittal’s son Adu (it should be Jayaditya, but I want to put him first!),Vittal’s friend and potential NTP-taker Girish, Nisarg, whom I have met at various birding and wildlife locations, and Pallavi’s husband Preetam, who just took Sudhir Shivaram ‘s course on photography, and was there to try out all the newly-learned stuff….
I think it was very nice of Anush to do this, and help a very knowledgeable person share some of that knowledge with others. (I will not, of course, mention here that kalyan has also helped Karthik put up the website; as it is, he is saying that I have added “too much masala” to my account of him in my JLRNTP article!)
I am touched when I see youngsters who make such good-hearted gestures. Way to go, anushsh!
Deponti to the world 