On a dry, sunny day of November, my parents came to visit me in Mysore. From there, we headed to Orange County, a forest resort that is able to reflect its construction in the flow of the Kabini river.
I was mesmerized by the moist deciduous greenery that spread over fifteen acres of land, giving way to rectangular plots that erect cottages.
My dad and I engaged ourselves for a nature walk within the campus itself. Our Naturalist, Mr Shanmugha raised my interest about the environment. I learnt to open my eyes a lot more to witness, understand and to spiritually enjoy the life that surrounds me.
What fascinated me the most were the African snails (the largest of the snails- can grow upto the size of your palm)we found in the resort. They are a result of foreign invasion and causes severe crop damage. Their population increases infinite-folds just after rain. This causes competition to other snail species.
I am a firm believer of “Nature has a way”. The African snails are cannibalistic in nature which serves as a good measurement to reduce their own population.
The next day, we went for a safari in the Nagarhole forest. I spotted one of my favorite trees-Matti. The Matti trees are fireproof. Burn down an entire forest but the Majestic Matti will only shed off their outer bark and stand taller than ever. This is the reason why I love this tree. It inspires me to rise taller than before after a fall. Hence, this tree is my personal Phoenix Guru.
We were lucky enough to spot the ever peaceful Brahminy kite, crested serpent eagle, pond heron, grey jungle-fowl(I thought it looked malnutrition-ed), Indian peafowl, Malabar pied horn-bill(they are more noisy than I expected; fighting for a place on the fig trees against the chattering languors), common kingfisher, magpie robin, and wagtail(this one was rare because it was wagging its tail side-to-side instead of up-and-down). The Indian bison, a wild cattle which fortunately has ended up unsuccessful to domesticate posed himself for us to take his pictures.
The spotted deer were numerous in number, all spread out in groups. The languors found our presence disturbing and started to send caution signals to each other. I was awed to find one sambar deer with a ripe sore throat. I wish to find out more about the significance of sore throats on sambar deer.
I went back to the room refreshed after the safari. It was enlightening. The smell of the forest rejuvenated my senses. I felt human again. I wish to go for more safaris like this. It made me wonder why we enclose our minds within four concrete walls planning for a future in hopes to change our fates when we could just step out into an open forest and untangle our spirit from the materialistic world.
