In the summer of 2022, wildlife photographer Sharvan Patel stood near a dried-up waterhole at Tal Chappar Sanctuary. The land around him lay cracked and exhausted, stretched thin by heat and time.
A herd of blackbucks hovered at the edge of a shallow pit, hesitating with every step as their hooves sank into dust. A mongoose rushed in, sniffed the muddy trickle left behind, and fled. Water existed, but it could no longer sustain life.
“That day, as I watched life wilt for the lack of water, I made a promise to myself,” Sharvan recalls. “I would bring back water for wildlife in the desert.” That moment stayed with him long after he left Tal Chappar.
On another visit to the sanctuary, Sharvan noticed something unusual on the ground. A small, freshly built pond sat quietly in the open. Locals called it a khaili, a structure designed to collect rainwater.
Forest guards told him animals had avoided the pond at first. Then, slowly, behaviour shifted. Hares paused to drink, mongooses darted in, peafowls gathered at the edges, and cautious blackbucks began returning.
Sharvan returned home with that image etched in his mind. The shallow pond spoke of survival, patience, and possibility. For him, it carried more meaning than any photograph he had taken.
The following summer, Sharvan built his own khaili with a small group of friends. They shaped it using local soil, added cement to reduce seepage, and kept it shallow.
At first, the pond stood untouched and still. Days later, camera traps captured movement. Blackbucks bent to drink, birds circled above, and mongooses arrived after dusk. The experiment had worked.
Sharvan shared the footage online, and the response was immediate. Messages poured in from across Rajasthan, each carrying the same plea. “Come here. Animals are dying of thirst.”
Building ponds proved easier than sustaining them. From March to July, natural water vanished, and tankers became essential. By June, each tanker cost Rs 2,000 and travelled 20 kilometres to reach the ponds.
To keep water flowing, Sharvan and his team asked people to donate Re 1 a day. Nearly 1,000 contributors came together, funding tankers, maintenance, and habitat care through the harshest months.
Today, more than 130 ponds dot Rajasthan’s drylands, keeping blackbucks away from villages and drawing birds and animals back to safer spaces. “Wildlife appears where there is water,” Sharvan says.
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