A Life Changing Experience

Aamir Bin Masood recalls how he fine-tuned his personal skills by a visit to the Dachigam National Park


In Nature’s Lap: The Best of Times


Being close to nature is an experience worth remembering. I was the
luckiest among my batch mates in the Environmental Science department
of Kashmir University who were given different project topics relating
to various aspects of Dachigam National Park as part of the M Sc
programme. Though my project topic was not of great interest, but the
sheer joy of working in Dachigam made me exuberant. This initial joy
turned out to be a life changing experience. I felt as if my dreams
were partly fulfilled.

Dachigam Park, located about 22 kms from Srinagar, is easily
accessible. The park is home to wide variety of flora and fauna. Black
Bear, Brown Bear, Leopard, Blue Sheep, Red Fox, Marmot, Pine Martin
besides the Kashmir Stag (Hangul) is found in the park. Based on
topography, the park has been divided into two sectors – Lower
Dachigam and Upper Dachigam.

I first visited the park in April last year and I found myself in
nature’s lap. I knew it was the beginning of a great year remaining
close to nature and wildlife. I have always been passionate about
nature in general and wildlife in particular since my childhood.
My next visit to the park came in the month of May, which marked the
beginning of our project work. I had four study sites for my project,
which were located in four different vegetal types of Dachigam. This
made me acquainted with different plant species. I came to know about
a tree species, locally called ‘Arkhor’, which is said to have
irritating properties vis-à-vis skin. I also came across many
medicinal and aromatic plants. During summer months, fruit bearing
trees are in bloom much to the delight of Himalayan Black Bear and
various birds. It is a pleasure to watch fruits like wild cherry,
apricot, walnut and different kinds of berries. The park presents a
colourful view in summer. The gushing Dagwan stream (Dachigam Nallah)
has more water than in late autumn and winter seasons. The greenery is
just exquisite, though the park also presents a magnificent site in
the autumn. From dense forest to grasslands to alpine meadows, it has
everything for nature lovers.

But I was more interesting in the wildlife of the park. In the first
few months, I could only find a few Himalayan grey langurs, small
deadly black scorpions and some lizard species, though it is a bird
watcher’s paradise during this part of the year. The birds which I had
never seen before like grey heron, vulture, yellow-billed magpie, etc.
could be seen in good numbers. Snake sightings were also reported
every now and then. But my dream of seeing Hangul in wild still seemed
to be a distant dream. It wasn’t until September 2004 that I along
with four of my friends came across a large Hangul herd comprising of
about 10-15 animals at around 5:00 pm in an Oak patch, which is
adjacent to the road leading to Draphama guest house. Gotcha! What a
moment for all of us. Luckily one of my friends had a binocular, which
made a close view of the animal possible. The time virtually stopped
for me. It was the most wonderful moment and a dream come true for me.
We felt extremely fortunate because Hangul is nowadays a rare sight in
wild as its population is less and also because of the shy character
of the animal. I played Archimedes saying Eureka! I have found it. We
could not control ourselves and decided to go a step further deep into
the Jungle. Langurs were busy dropping walnuts to the ground. I felt
like it was a welcome gesture for us. In the meantime, the herd
disappeared into the woods seeing us approaching. We wanted a closer
look and that prompted us to go further ahead. But some of my friends
were too reluctant to follow the Hanguls and we decided to move back
to the road. As soon as we landed on the road, a Himalayan Black Bear
appeared at the place where we were standing a few minutes earlier. I
couldn’t believe my luck. I was witnessing some of the wild mammals of
Kashmir in wild. We were extremely fortunate in that we saw two
beautiful mammals in a row. We also felt lucky to have avoided a
confrontation with the black bear. The day ended with a lifetime
experience. After all, we had seen Hangul, which I believe is one of
the most wonderful sightings in Dachigam. We could not have asked for
anything more.

I was also fortunate enough to see a well-grown Pine Martin in
December. The animal is quite shy and didn’t allow us to see it from
close. I was a regular visitor to the Leopard, Brown Bear and Deer
enclosures, which have been kept in the park. I also used to make a
visit to Laribal fish farm every time I was in the park. It was also a
great experience. Talking about the bad experiences, I once found two
black bear carcasses inside the park, which is a highly protected
area. Within weeks, they were consumed by birds of prey and the little
soil-dwelling decomposers.

I enjoyed the company of my friends, who were with me most of the time
though I also had two bad experiences. But that’s life – bad
experiences come along good ones.

On the whole, during my entire course of work, I felt very much close
to nature. I witnessed scorching heat in the grasslands, shady comfort
in the woods, a typical forest downpour and what not. Dachigam to me
presents a typical jungle, which everybody has in imagination. I was
so close to the city, yet so far from it.

All my experiences in Dachigam National Park whether good or bad
turned out to have a great impact on me – really a life changing
experience. My backcountry skills, my personal skills, survival skills
etc have all been fine-tuned. I am quite satisfied with all the
experiences I gained that year. I learned a lot about myself, my
interaction with other people and nature. This was probably the best
and the hardest time I've ever had. In short, I can never ever forget
those days. I still dream about them with the hope that those days
will get revived soon in one way or the other.