Vanishing tracks

To the uninitiated it8217;s quite intriguing. In Munnar8217;s environs one comes across little townships with odd names like Anachal...

To the uninitiated it8217;s quite intriguing. In Munnar8217;s environs one comes across little townships with odd names like Anachal Elephants8217; path, Anaveratti Chased by elephants, Anakulam Elephants8217; lake, Karadipara Bears8217; rock, Kaduvashola Tiger forest, Mankulam Deer lake, Manpatty Deer village, Pambadumpara Rock where snakes dance and Bison Valley, to mention a few. Quite naturally, these names conjure up images of abundant wildlife. This was so in the distant past but, sadly, not any longer.

Yet, these highly evocative names tell true tales. In the 1940s bisons or gaurs were so numerous in Bison Valley 8212; then a vast forest 8212; that they were said to greatly outnumber the local settlers. Today not even one of these splendid bovines survives in Bison Valley, now a flourishing township.

Places like Anachal, Anaveratti and Anakulam owe their names to the herds of wild elephants that ranged freely there till the 1950s. Today, of course, there8217;s absolutely no trace of them there thanks to unchecked colonisation. The only reminders of their former presence are the desolate clumps of bamboo one finds here and there 8212; one of their favourite foods. Similarly, in the 1960s and 8216;70s one often saw wild elephants near the popular Valara waterfall just off the Munnar-Cochin highway 8212; a sight as rare as the dodo today. Yet our apathy persists. Recently a wild elephant died in Munnar after ingesting plastic bags discarded by tourists, as confirmed by the post-mortem.

Mankulam and Manpatty, once strongholds of the sambar and chital respectively, are today devoid of these graceful deer, settlers having overrun their former havens. And looking at Kaduvashola today, or rather its pathetic remains, none would ever believe it was once home to tigers. Or that Karadipara was once a favourite haunt of sloth bears. Or, for that matter, that Pambadumpara once teemed with snakes. Even the ubiquitous jackal has all but disappeared. And, ironically, the early settlers reportedly never ventured out alone, fearing wild animals.

Once eminently appropriate, today these names are misnomers and a mockery, pointing to an undeniable fact that man is solely responsible for the alarming disappearance of wildlife and their habitat.