Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher. Pic by Nishikant Tambe |
Located 20 km from the coast in Shiravli village of Chiplun taluka in the Konkan region’s Ratnagiri district, ‘Nandu’s Sanctuary’ is the name by which wildlife lovers, nature enthusiasts, trekkers and travellers know a 43-acre expanse of dense forest.
‘Nandu’ is actually Nishikant Tambe, 42, an animal rescuer, nature guide and photographer who has dedicated his life to rewilding the area around his ancestral home.
Starting with 11 acres of ancestral land, Tambe has been purchasing land from local farmers for two decades, resulting in a very slow but incredibly satisfying restoration of forestland. “I fund the purchase by adding a ‘conservation fee’ to the tariff of my package, which includes the homestay, nature walk, meals, cost of the expert guide, etc,” says Tambe. Another 10 acres is set to be added soon to this green expanse that was surveyed by two different forestry institutes and graded as ‘very dense forest’, or forest land with a canopy density of 70% and more.
The biggest contributor to his success, he says, is the Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher (ODKF), the smallest variety of kingfishers, a bird he used to play with as a boy but identified only later. The ODKF is much sought-after by wildlife photographers, and Tambe was the first to offer a ‘hide-setup’ for photographers. “People come even from out of India to photograph the ODKF,” he says, “and 95% of all the best shots of the ODKF in the Western Ghats are shot at my location.”
He says the bird, as is the case with other aspects of nature in Nandu’s Sanctuary, responds to his love by letting photographers capture extraordinary shots. “Mere kuch nahin hai, sab usne hi kiya (It’s not my success, it’s all the work of this bird.),” he says.
Tambe in fact contributed to the conservation of the bird, whose population has over the past decade grown magnificently in Konkan.
Nandu’s Sanctuary now has 246 species of birds, 21 types of mammals, and countless species of butterflies, moths, spiders, snakes and a vast range of plant species.
“We don’t encourage all types of tourists to visit,” Tambe warns. “There are restrictions, we want to keep the birds and wildlife undisturbed. At the very least, those who visit here should be nature enthusiasts—otherwise we discourage people from visiting.”
Asked how a forest is restored, he says conventional wisdom that full grown trees in old forests can be replaced by new plantation is misplaced. “It’s like expecting a baby to take on the responsibilities of an earning family member,” he says. The forest project, for him, is about conservation, restoration and rehabilitation, a slow process of letting nature repossess the land.
