Our Second Assignment
Past two weeks have been quite busy and uneasy following the death of 50+ cattle around Bandipur due to some unknown cause (yet), and 14+ Pond terrapins near the resort in a Waterhole probably due to Cold shock by Hailstorm on 12th April 2012. Our dear friend Mr. Rajkumar D. from the Wildlife Conservation Foundation had been very active in the whole process of finding the cause and prevention of further cattle-death in Bandipur.
While all these incidents kept us inclined on the Wildlife side, our Mangala School teacher, Ms Anthony gave a shocking news that at least 30 young students from two tribal colonies have discontinued to attend school. We immediately helped her with a vehicle to rush to these colonies to find the exact cause of this discontinuation.
The youngsters from Kaniyanapura Colony seemed to remember us from our first Consignment of Trash cleaning in Temple area and came running to greet us. They not only gave a list of their discontinued friends but literaly presented the team in front of us. The same team was brought back to the school, given books, a short and friendly lesson, the mid-day meal and dropped back to their colony hoping to see them the next day.
But the scene in the other colony, Bargurhundi, was different. Here, the number of discontinued students were at large and they fled immediately after seing the vehicle as if we had gone to capture them and put them in jail.
To our amazement, their parents were not bothered towards sending the wards back to school giving excuses of the school being far and that the road wasn’t good which made their children walk more before getting to the bus stop.
So, we have our second consignment. We are in process of finding a solution to make sure that these children reach the school safely everyday and get their right to education in time.
Any suggesstions are welcome from our well-wishers and friends…
Giving the right Exposure…
Friends of Bandipur,
Now here we go with an alternate to the long discussion everywhere regarding INR 500. We have maintained that INR 500 should be paid and stand by it that the forest department Karnataka should be geting the revenue. Jungle Lodges is at the moment only a sevice provider with vehicles that it has or rents out as their own vehicles are not enough. What I am saying require discipline from all of us and F.D. Karnataka. I dont know if government bodies posess that trait but strangely animals do and so I assume we do…:) 
Hereunder our thoughts to deescalate and bring in order in the unruly mess
1. INR 500 will be collected from all SLR with lenses more than 300. Reason? Size. and eqipment that goes with it, bags to carry the cameras, lenses, tripods, monopods, filters, hoods for camera and self and the ever so present TOEHOLD bag so lovingly created and sold by my friends Jayanth and Giri that it takes its place in every vehicle with almost every photographer. It actually makes me happy to see it in the vehicles. Of course in the lighter vein the spouse that espouses similar photogaphic ambitions or supports it with her love by being there in the vehicle.
2. I will say the photography fees can be even made INR 1000 if a proper vehicle is given and is dedicated to those on this spree of photography, either to use them commercially or as a ego-booster on FB 
And now comes the real thing:
All of us know that only a number of persons and a number of vehicles can enter the park for safaris. Let me not dwell into who is entering illegally or has better connections. The vehicles that enter the park cannot be all of one size. We are no communists I think. The safari structure and number of guests on a given day demand a bigger and smaller size. As we have seen in the past JLR uses all its smaller vehicles for its guests only and the photographers have been used to reserving seats in front or back of the camper or jeep. All the other guests have been herded into buses and mind you those FIT’s have been paying more, sometimes even INR 2000 per Person, have been staying in facilities in and around the park, thus sustaining livelihood of the people who work there. Isn’t he supposed to get a chance to enjoy the safari without children around him or noisy tourists which are a reality. Isn’t he to be placed higher than the photographer who has driven whole night, burning fossil fuel and boards the jeep paying just the safari cost and is getting his ‘reserved’ seat. Aarakshan of another kind just because you hold a camera? No.
I suggest that only 2 vehicles are earmarked as vehicles that can be given to these photographers and the booking has to be through a facility or lets have it democratic… ONLINE with a credit card guarantee as the seats in these vehicles will be premium and have to be paid with the premium of INR 1000 which I mentioned earlier.
And lets ask ourselbes some questions:
- Must I land up everytime to the place sometimes doing 500 Safaris in a year… Can’t I wait to come another day? Having this extra fee is making sure we dont see the same faces every weekend and reduce the pressure on the park and the Forest Departments gets a proper control over the number of persons and vehicles entering the vehicle. Has any one asked if the park can carry 1000 visitors per day?
- Also lets ask if its fair to create such a hue and cry over just INR 500 now.- It wasnt affecting us as long the ride was FREE without a so called Camera tax…
Time to think and not run to TADOBA…
Wild Regards
Karthik
PS: Join me at Dhole’s Den, support us in making the realisation that Bandipur and the Wilds in general ist more than just a Safari. And yes by the way you can also stay with us at Dhole’s Den if you still haven’t
Safari Sambaar on 25th April
Friends of Bandipur,
we have been reading various comments regarding the INR 500 Fee imposed by Jungle Lodges on SLR and professional cameras and as a responsible operator in the park we wish to lay down our view to the same and how the fee can be put to use. To make it short am giving the same hereunder:
1. The Camera fee should be applicable to SLR from 300 mm onwards, reason being that all new cameras are almost SLR’s and the fee should be collected by the Forest Department itself. Just like how its collected for Video. The Video photography need not be charged as for amateur videos as many have them and are shooting video clips. Again professional ones can and should be charged.
I know many may say its too much to pay but lets call a spade a spade and note that many of the photographers are using the same commercially (Not to forget the Facebook Photographers 
… ). If you make money from it, pay. Period. The same law is applied at all monuments in India.
Not just Charity begin at home, even Conservation does and Conservation , you will agree costs and doesnt come for free.
Birth of a New Idea
Dear Friends,
Dhole’s Den has from its inception as an idea has been always a home to new thoughts, ideas, views and sparks. It was our wish to give the work that we do for the community and the areas we are in, a name a form and a purpose and of course a future.
Thus The Dhole’s Den Research Foundation has been found. Now many of you would ask why another one when there are already so many in the scene. But we hope to make a difference in our field in our own way.
The foundation as its name suggests is born out of a sheer love for the Dholes and animals in general and to facilitate research in knowing them better as knowledge has no end. This knowledge and the information that we can get from the result of the research should allow us to understand the world of the wild so that we don’t do more harm. The foundation sees its work also in working with the new generation. Awareness is already there but implementation and practice is the need of the hour.
We had our first program with the Mangala School and it was to collect plastic and glass bottles from the Huliamma Temple, a small temple on the edge of Bandipur National Park. The temple gets regular visitors once a week every Tuesday and we were glad that our visit coincided with that. In full sight of the temple visitors the boys and girls who were divided into groups by Sukanta and given bags to segregate plastic, glass and paper.
It was interesting to see that a parent approached my colleague Sukanta and requested the children not collect the glass bottles. Apparently these glass bottles are left behind by people who misuse the place to have a dose of alcohol and pollute the temple that is the forest as another friend Mr. Rajkumar refers it to when he talks about forests.
The whole visit was accompanied by the various school teachers from even the primary schools in the Bandipur area. It was more than heartening to see the children cry out in gusto: Ban plastics from the forest whilst the visitors were busy cooking around the temple.
Finally one of them did approach us offering his help to burn the garbage, which we refused explaining to him that even that is harmful to nature and we were carrying the garbage all the way to Gundlupet, far away from the park.
We at Dhole’s Den will be very actively involved in the activities organized by the foundation and are excited about the work that we will be involved in. Click on to see the first of our initiatives organised by the foundation and feel free to come to us with ideas…
A Very Happy Ugadi to everybody..
We had a New visitor to our Bird-bath this morning. My Chef had a belief that Rabbits/Hares do not drink water directly from a big water source such as Waterholes, Ponds or lakes and fullfil their thirst by licking the dew-drops from grass, but to his astonishment, a Black Naped Hare came to the Birdbath in bright daylight around 9am, looked around and had a long sip before running out of the property. Guess he wanted to wish us a Happy Ugadi too….
Maha Shivratri at Dhole’s Den
Friends of Dhole’s Den,
not that we want to join the likes of Salman Khan and all the other jing bang celebrating Maha Shivratri in limelight or shall we say to hog it in some way or the other. We had our humble celebration at Dhole’s Den.
The reason for the festivity was the sensational find of the 5 Shiva Lingams a couple of days ago while my staff while doing some garden work. Add to it the presence of Sarathy our rescued young bull. These are too many things for which we dont have an explanation as to why these were now found after so many years. I take it s a sign for us and all who live there with us.
Those of you who have already stayed or visited Dhole’s Den have noticed the votive stones that were found on Dhole’s Den some 7 years ago by me. I would date them esily about 300 years and will be glad for a exact dating whenever possible.
Now just enjoy the pics and ofcourse our most loved ones were also there and were part of the celebrations as usual.
Wild Regards
Karthik
No Teddy Bears these…
Teddy Bears one would think of when they see the smiling face of this dark andd handsome bear…Another set of photos for friends of Dhole’s Den to enjoy and be happy about.
Mail us on what your thoughts are, we are glad to hear from you out there…Pictures are taken around 8 pm, dinner time for us and the bears.
Wild Regards
Karthik
Memories from Bandipur by Ms.Claudia and Mr. Elmar
This is what they said : ” Finally we send you pictures of the tiger we met the january 18. 2012 when we stayed at the Dhole’s Den. It was very impressive.
We enjoyed our stay at your place and your company very much.
Kind regards
Claudia and Elmar”