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(Left) Forest officials on the trail of a tiger in Kawal Tiger Reserve in Adilabad district. (Right) A tiger at KTR.- Photos: By Arrangement -
The arrival of a couple of wild cats within a span of three months at the Kawal Tiger Reserve (KTR) in Adilabad district has already had conservationists raising toasts.
It should be renamed as Kamal Tiger Reserve,” suggested an excited
tourist at the Kawal Tiger Reserve (KTR) in Adilabad district as he
animatedly discussed about the trend of tiger influx in the park.
The arrival of a couple of wild cats, a male and a female, within a span
of three months has already had conservationists raising toasts.
“More tigers will come as they feel safe here,” predicted KTR wildlife
researcher Jogu Yellam. “A lot of effort has gone into strengthening
anti-poaching activity,” he stated, giving reasons for tigers to arrive
at KTR in the coming months.
There is also the talk of urgency in developing tiger tourism even as
conservation efforts are strengthened at the facility. “Kawal should
soon become an ecological paradise and tiger tourism here should rival
the one at Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve in the neighbouring Chandrapur
district of Maharashtra, if not improving upon it,” observed K. Ashwin
Rao, a realtor from Hyderabad, also a well known eco-tourism enthusiast
from Hyderabad.
Even those who are not die hard wildlife enthusiasts are likely to
welcome development of tiger tourism at the place which is evident from
the excitement of Srinivas Reddy, a medicine and drug store owner from
Karimnagar.
He became the first tourist to have sighted a tiger in the wild from the
safari jeep on which he was moving in the jungles on December 20.
“The government should look into this aspect seriously as there is a lot
of potential for tiger tourism at KTR,” stated Mr. Rao from his
experience of the park.
“The management of the place should be professional, locals should be
trained to become naturalists before incorporating them in the scheme of
things,” he suggested some of the measures.
The conservation enthusiast also underlined the need for sensitising
tourists about some of the finer aspects of eco-tourism. The eco-tourism
enthusiast drew underscored the need for people maintaining silence and
refraining themselves from polluting the area.
“We have plans of increasing protection for the tigers and a Tiger
Protection Force unit has been sanctioned for Kawal,” revealed KTR’s
Jannaram Division Deputy Director B. Ravinder.
“In view of the vulnerability of the big cats, we will monitor the
movements of visitors too,” he added, while giving details of the
conservation plan.
KTR should soon become an ecological paradise and tiger tourism should
rival the one at Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve in Chandrapur district of
Maharashtra, if not improving upon it.
-K. Ashwin Rao, Eco-tourism
enthusiast.
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