Wildlife in India - Multitude of Experiences

There are those for whom viewing wildlife is an outing, and for some it is a passion. If it had not been a passion for me, I could not have been at it from 1968 onwards, partly for the thrills of the experience and partly in discovering the panorama of life all around.
India is blessed as few countries are in enjoying varied wildlife landscapes: from the heights of the Nandadevi and the Kanchenjungha National Parks at 12000 feet or more, to the Desert National Park near Jaisalmer and the Marine National Park near Jamnagar in Gujarat. Added to this are the fifty odd Tiger Reserves all over India covering more than 70,000 sq. kms. and the Protected Areas such as National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries designated under the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 (including the tiger reserves)  numbering over 600 and accounting for about 170,000 sq. kms. across India.
Having started visiting these wilderness areas over fifty years ago, I was able to see many of them, and not once but several times, over these years. Also, regulation of visitors was not so strict in those times and I could move around on my own or with a tracker in many places, especially in Palamau, Simlipal, Dudhwa and Corbett.

I had many interesting  impressions and experiences over this time and I wanted to share this with others who may not be able to spare the time to go out frequently into the forests, and this resulted in the book "Walks in the Wild", published in 2002 by Penguin. The book was well-received and was
favourably reviewed by the Bombay Natural History Society and the Sanctuary Asia magazine; the review by Sanctuary magazine is given below:

"Palamau, Simlipal, Betla, Bandhavgarh, Dudhwa, Corbett, Ranthambhore, Bharatpur, Manas, Kaziranga, Madumalai, Nagarahole, Bandipur, Chilika… all magnificent wildlife destinations that every nature-lover dreams of visiting.

For decades, Prosenjit Das Gupta has explored the wilds of India from evergreen forests to scrub habitat driven just by his passionate interest in wildlife and nature. In this pursuit of adventure and his quest to record the beauty of nature, he has been charged at by elephants and rhinos, has had a tiger walking right towards him and has been stranded all alone in the middle of the forest.

The book covers his fascinating experiences of his sojourns to various sanctuaries and national parks mostly between the mid-70s and early 90s. Central and northeast Indian reserves are more widely covered in the book, probably because the author is based in Kolkata. He writes of his first love – the Palamau National Park, tiger sightings in Kanha, birdwatching, exciting afternoons spent on machaans and his gratitude to trackers and knowledgeable forest guards who taught him so much about wildlife. His experiences at a Goalpara police station in Assam, an elephant exploring with its trunk and trying to catch the scent of the author, who was crouched on a machaan and seeing flying lizards make interesting reading.

His wild encounters on foot, elephant back and bicycle are written with humour and captures the high drama of the jungle. It reveals the author’s love for the wilds and his passion for wildlife photography. Unfortunately, the black and white plates in the book are reproduced rather badly and are quite unremarkable. The author also touches upon the pioneers of wildlife biology and conservationists in India and also discusses the ill-effects of tourism. A compelling read that will want you to drop everything and set off on a trip right away to discover wild India.

http://www.sanctuaryasia.com/conservation/reviews/book-reviews/1232-walks-in-the-wild.html"

That this brought me several new friends was an unexpected bonus. There are plans now to update and enlarge this publication.