Atin's Story
Kolkata, March 23, 2007

It was one of those off beat destinations I keep on taking with my family; and this time it was Bhitarkanika National Park and the Gahirmatha Sanctuary. The access to these twin sanctuaries is about 350kms from Kolkata through the NH-5, though one can take the convenient morning train-Dhauli Express and alight at Bhadrakh from where it is just 50 kilometers to the nearest ancient port town Chandbali from where one sails out to these island sanctuaries.

A journey to the Bhitarkanika is like snaking through the last few lazy meanders of an aged river melting in to the arms of Bay of Bengal. Our journey as usual was organized by the city based Silent Valley (Wilderness) Tours- a company specializing in tours to the lesser-known places, just matching with our taste of un common, un crowded places. Bhitarkanika their flagship destination that had won the coveted “Most Promising New Destination Award” in TTF-1997; and for some good reasons I couldn’t travel to this paradise lost in wilderness until this time.

It was good that we made it this time because Bhitarkanika had store for me something I was destined to see only this time. The largest fishing cat known to man: 4 ½ ft long and measuring 2 ½ ft at the shoulders on the Lonely Coast, locally called –Ekkakula on the Gahirmatha Beach. We reached Ekkakula a day after the sail in to the nearest island sanctuary – Dangmal from Chandbali. A journey to Dangmal is like an hours’ cruise into the Baitrani and Brahmini River followed by a cruise in the tidal creeks of the Bhitarkanika National Park having its’ entry point at Khola where one takes an entry permit.

The cruise through the narrow creeks is like a journey right out of the “Untamed Amazonia”! Reptiles here have made it to the top of the food chain. Estuarine Crocodiles measuring up to 22 ft are a common sight, basking on mudflats, slipping into the murky waters below the boat as it draws nearer. Kingfishers number eight in species and all prominently visible. The pneumatophores or breathing roots and the swinging branches on the lazy waters are a perfect hammock to the baby crocs and the 280 species of birds that make Bhitarkanika the perfect destination for the birding freaks like us.

As we progressed towards the Dangmal delta the narrow creek opened to wide turquoise blue backwater –a sense of timelessness around it with only the rising moon and it’s slipping over the withered branches of the tall mangroves and a few meteorites falling down from the starry heavens could tell it was night. With spotlight our fastidious steps took us to the herds of deer and a few wild boars foraging through the night. An eerie call of the spotted owlet breaking the silence of the night and the night jar’s ‘chock’ ‘chock’ kept echoing through the stillness of the night. Until it was dawn that broke with the shrill call of the White Bellied Sea Eagle that had its’ nest right above our cottage. After a brief ablution break we went across the backwaters to the real Bhitarkanika block of Forests that had a 3.3kms long serpentine Nature Trail at the end of which lay in ruins a Shiva Temple sculpted with tell tale signs of a civilization of pirates who probably lived here in times of the Kalinga when Chandbali served as the only port for the Maharajas sailed to the Bali Islands, hence the Balijatra till now famous with un written history embedded deep down in the waters of the Baitarani & Brahmini.

The trail had surprises we were not even prepared for: The crossing of about five to six Sambars across the trail ahead of us! Before this we had only seen Sambars from the safety of the Jeeps in Bandhavgarh and Kanha. At Bhitarkanika you are as free as the denizens of the jungle, so cautious steps are a bare necessity as apart from horse like Sambars you get to see on foot, sounders of Wild Boar, Deer, Monitor Lizards and the rookeries of migratory birds if one travels from December till March. The other side of the Bhitarkanika is the Bagaghana-the bird island, the floor is so slushy that one walk s on a wooden bridge that leads to a tower from up there the entire canopy of the forests is like an ocean of feathers. Name a wetland bird that has not made it up there it’s nest with the chick occasionally falling down to the mouths of gigantic Water Monitor Lizards, some measuring up to 8-9 feet long and about 1 ½ ft at the raised up head. It is a living residue of a Jurassic Park there.

The trail and the bird island was soon over and it was time for sailing out of the Bhitarkanika National Park in to the arms of the Bay of Bengal but in between lay the barrier that has kept alive the backwaters of Bhitarkanik. Yes, it is The Gahirmatha Sanctuary in the form of a narrow peninsula with one side the land, the other the Bay of Bengal and other two side the estuaries of Patsala and Dhamara Rivers. This island like peninsula is where the sands could only take our footprints and those of the wildlife including the long trails of the landing sea turtles- the most prominent among them, the Olive Ridley Turtles who make the most of these virgin beaches as their mass nesting sites every year from February to late April when the south winds take little hatching ridleys in to the warm blue sea.

This time apart from the stray striped hyenas and the odd jackals I had the most prized sighting my friend Sahir M. Latif of Silent Valley used to say, he saw some unusual pugmarks on his first landing on these beaches in July 1994. He though ignored the pugmarks as for the next 12 years there weren’t such a tell tale sign to suggest the presence of such a large feline predator on these isolated beaches. While my family and others in our group were busy making the best of these untouched beaches in terms of beach volley balls and Antaksharis when it was night around the bonfire with the crashing waves and the foam streak striking through the moonlit night as perfect bass effect to the songs with an intermittent interlude played by the laughing hyenas and the crying of the jackals. It was a memorable night but the next and last morning made the most of it , I ever experienced and brought back to the civilized world. Suspense?

It was the last morning and after I crept through the casuarina forest in to the serenading beach for a few perspective shots of the sunrise and the straying casuarina driftwood on the beach. The first surprise came ad I cursed my lens for not having enough speed to catch the dorsal fins of the 20 odd humpback dolphin’s school. My curses went upside down as I stood in awe looking back at the approaching of a huge predator from the forest end towards the sea, where I stood alone with a nimble like camera and nothing near me as a stick or a piece of wood that could scare this leopard like creature. I was really the old man with the devil on one side and the deep blue sea on the other side. In fright and excitement and the loneliness abounding me I froze for a moment and then quickly side stepped to a point from where I could do run to safety! The awakening came a little late; I realized I could share this moment with my family.

I picked up the camera with one eye open through the viewfinder and the other open naturally as if the gadget could have failed? One, Two, Three there was no stopping and all this happened and finished so soon that I barely could enjoy seeing this large fleeting feline creature whose pugmarks left unanswered questions in the mind of my friend-Sahir who having gone more than sixty odd times to this magical living mangrove eco-system, unique in it’s flora and fauna but could not see such a large Fishing Cat, possibly biggest in the world with length measuring up to 4 ½ feet long and about 2 ¾ ft at the shoulders. Only the relatively shorter tail of it distinguished it from the Leopard.

Bidding adieu to Gahirmatha and its magical waters we were rushing until the news of the large predator rang through the entire wireless communication system of the National Park. We had a train to catch and the Ekkakula Chowkidar informed us that we had to go through Gupti where the DFO arrived to have a look at the specimen in my digital camera. Thank God to the “Indian Stretchable Time” (IST) the train ran a little late as if aware of our plight and success.