forests

For a while now, farmers in the Ranmala village of Pune district have been carefully observing the trend of leopards venturing into their villages. While they were troubled with the attacks on their cattle, pets and even fellow villagers, they understood that these predators would not enter human territory unless they were desperate.

Walking the paths of the Himalayas, in the Ganga and Brahmaputra valley wetlands as well as the Sunderbans and the Western Ghats- is a fascinating cat–one that may not pop up on your top three wildcat lists–the fishing cat.

The man had previously made headlines in 2013 when his efforts as the Chief Conservator of Forests led the Shahdol Circle of Madhya Pradesh Forest Department to create a new Guinness World Record (GWR). They had managed to plant over 17,08,181 trees in ten hours on a single day.

This follows the age-old tradition of the relationship between man and nature, and any tree protected by this relationship cannot be felled or damaged, as per government rules.

One way to experience a forest is to walk through the dense foliage, enter water bodies and live inside it.

Meet the Mannans, the tribe that has lived in the forests of the Idukki district for centuries and has preserved its ancient ways of life and traditions.

The 60-plus Kusum Dahivalkar is a retired plantation officer of the Social Forestry Department in Nashik. And her life has been all about the forest, the flora and fauna.