Tiger and Nature Photography Workshop November 2009

Mr.Kalyan Verma Famous wildlife photographer is organizing a 4 DAYS workshop on Wildlife Photography at The Celebration Van Vilas (Luxury Wildlife Resort) of Kanha and Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh, from 14th to 17th Nov 2009 at Kanha and 17^th to 20^th Nov 2009 Bandhavgarh.

Kanha National Park is spread into 1945 sq km, Kanha support one of the largest populations of the tigers in the country and some of the other larger animal species found in the park are sloth bear, leopard, spotted dear, wild boar, jungle cat, Dholes (Wild Dogs), Gaur (Bison) and a variety of monkeys like Macaque, Langurs etc.

The only National Park in the world to spot Hard Ground Barasingha (Swamp Deer) in wild.

Bandavgarh National Park is having highest density of Tigers in the world. Bandhavgarh National Park is not only famous for tigers it is also famous for its historic (oldest fort) and landscape.

Kanha and Bandhavgarh supports Over 200 spices of birds have been spotted in the park.

This particular workshop will provide immense opportunity to the participants to enjoy nature in its epicenter and splendid opportunity of wildlife and nature photography.

The participants are requested to bring their equipments for the same including camera body, lenses, tripods and enough batteries and storage devices.

The following is the schedule of the tour.

14.11.2009 – Arrive at The Celebration Van Vilas, Kanha National Park by 2:00 PM followed by Lunch.

At 4:00PM Introduction session will be organized among Participants and Mr.Kalyan Verma, later followed by brief description on Kanha National Park.

Dinner at 8:00 PM

15.11.2009 – 5:00 AM wake up call followed by Tea at Restaurant, leave for Morning game drive inside the Kanha Tiger Reserve, breakfast inside the core forest of Kanha.

At 12:00 PM photography seminar will be organizes, followed by lecture by Mr.Kalyan Verma.

Lunch at 1:30PM

At 2:30 PM leave for evening game drive

Dinner at 8:00 PM

16.11.2009 – 5:00 AM wake up call followed by Tea at Restaurant, leave for Morning game drive inside the Kanha Tiger Reserve, breakfast inside the core forest of Kanha.

At 12:00 PM photography seminar will be organizes, followed by lecture by Mr.Kalyan Verma.

Lunch at 1:30PM

At 2:30 PM leave for evening game drive

At 7:00PM lecture by Mr.Shivaji Chavan Sr. Landscape Coordinator of WWF

Dinner at 8:00 PM

17-11-2009 – 5:00 AM wake up call followed by Tea at Restaurant, leave for Morning game drive inside the Kanha Tiger Reserve

After Lunch Leave Kanha For Bandhavgarh National Park (5 hours Drive) Return back

Arrive at The Celebration Van Vilas, Bandhvagrah National Park

At 5:00PM Introduction session will be organized among Participants and Mr.Kalyan Verma, later followed by brief description on Bandhavgarh National Park.

Dinner at 8:00 PM

18.11.2009 – 5:00 AM wake up call followed by Tea at Restaurant, leave for Morning game drive inside the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, breakfast inside the core forest of Bandhavgarh

At 12:00 PM photography seminar will be organizes, followed by lecture by Mr.Kalyan Verma.

Lunch at 1:30PM

At 2:30 PM leave for evening game drive

Dinner at 8:00 PM

19.11.2009 – 5:00 AM wake up call followed by Tea at Restaurant, leave for Morning game drive inside the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, breakfast inside the core forest of Bandhavgarh

At 12:00 PM photography seminar will be organizes, followed by lecture by Mr.Kalyan Verma.

Lunch at 1:30PM

At 2:30 PM leave for evening game drive

Dinner at 8:00 PM

20.11.2009 – 5:00 AM wake up call followed by Tea at Restaurant, leave for Morning game drive inside the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, breakfast inside the core forest of Bandhavgarh.

Back to the resort and after lunch free for onward journeys.

Cost:

The cost of all-inclusive safari either at Kanha or Bandhavgarh is Rs 14,800 per person (but not inclusive of travel till the National Parks). The same rate applies for each participant regardless of whether they are doing photography and participating in the safari, or not.

If you choose to participate in both the safaris together, the all-inclusive trip (including drop between Kanha and Bandhavgarh) will cost Rs 27,800

Accommodation is two persons to a room. If you wish to have a private room (single occupancy) there will be a supplementary charge of Rs 3000

Top Five Reasons Why You Must Act to Save the Tiger

1. Tiger Supports Livelihood

Tourism is the world’s biggest industry. On the ecotour front, the tiger is a star attraction for not just the Indian tourists but also for the people coming from other countries. There are foriegners who come to India only to have a glimpse of the tiger and then there are others who return more than once for another such opportunity.

The look in the eyes of a canter that has just come out of a National Park after sighting a tiger is very different from the look and feel of a canter that could not sight any. This eventually impacts the tourist influx thus impacting everyone from the tour companies to the local tour guides. A healthy tiger population thus supports livelihoods as well.

2. Tiger Protects Genetic Diversity

Tiger is an umbrella species. It’s conservation automatically ensures the conversation of a large number of flora and fauna and entire ecosystems. Thus, a properly planned tiger conservation programme is actually a programme to protect and save large number of species.

However, a dwindeling tiger population and news of declining number of tigers only implies an immediate threat to what is remaining of our natural ecosystems. A healthy tiger population thus also protects all that remains of our natural ecosystems.

3. Tiger brings Rain

A tiger is a both a guardian and an indicator of a healthy forests. A healthy forests. Few understand that a live bird or insect is far more important to the economy than a dead one. A live tiger brings rain – a dead one brings nothing but devastation.

4. Tigers Prevent Climate Change

A healthy tiger population lives in large forests - which are nothing but the natural sinks of Carbon. The more tigers we can save, the more healthier reserves we have, larger is our national carbon sink. A tiger should therefore be entitled to carbon credits in the form of protection.

And last, but never the least…

5. Tiger is a symbol of our National Pride

This is what India.gov.in has to say about our National Animal:

The magnificent tiger, Panthera tigris is a striped animal. It has a thick yellow coat of fur with dark stripes. The combination of grace, strength, agility and enormous power has earned the tiger its pride of place as the national animal of India. Out of eight races of the species known, the Indian race, the Royal Bengal Tiger, is found throughout the country except in the north-western region and also in the neighbouring countries, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh.

Courtesy:- Delhi Green

Tiger Tourism in India

There is a movement a foot in INDIA to severely limit and even ban tourism in the core area of tiger reserves. "Tourists are to be banned from the heartlands of the 37 national tiger reserves in India amid fears that their presence is hastening the demise of an increasingly endangered species," quoted a recent news story. "Tourism creates a disturbance through vehicles, noise pollution, garbage and the need to provide facilities," said the government-run National Tiger Conservation Authority, alarmed that the tiger population has plummeted from 3642 in 2002 to just 1411 last year.

There is no doubt that there needs to be a plan that will make tiger conservation and tiger tourism complementary and sustainable. And there is no doubt that some tourist zones are overcrowded at times and greater discipline is needed to control the drivers and guides who become bug-eyed steroidal cowboys when a tiger is sighted. But to imply that tourism has caused the plummet in tiger numbers is misleading and unfair.

•The tourism industry provides jobs and income to countless individuals who might otherwise be tempted to seek money from other sources. The hotel and lodge industry has an immense financial stake in the survival of the tiger. The millions of dollars invested in the lodges surrounding Ranthambhore, Kanha, and Bandhavgarh would dry up overnight if there were no tigers.

•The two tiger reserves in India that have lost every single tiger, Sariska and Panna, had minimum tourism. Bandhavgarh, on the other hand, possibly the most tourist-intense tiger park, has its tiger population flourishing in the core tourist area.

•Vehicles driving around with tourists are, in effect, anti-poaching patrols, often in the notable absence of official patrolling. Word of mouth among drivers and guides is an excellent source of keeping tabs on where the tigers are and where they are not.

•Tourism could and should be used in support of tiger conservation. The Mountain Travel Sobek Save The Tiger trip I lead has taken 146 people into tiger country and generated a significant amount of money which has been put back into the field in India and Nepal for tiger protection programs.

•Many people who have seen a tiger in the wild have become fierce tiger advocates and continue to support tiger conservation efforts.

•Tourism is not killing tigers. Tigers are being killed by the loss of habitat, poachers, wildlife crime syndicates, and the perpetuation of the myth of the efficacy of tiger medicines thousands of miles away.

Source: The Fund For The Tiger Newsletter, Summer 2009

Madhya Pradesh (Land Of Tigers) Sets Up Special Force To Protect Tigers

BHOPAL: With its tiger population dwindling sharply over the last two years, a worried Madhya Pradesh government will deploy a Special Tiger
Protection Force in its three tiger reserves of Kanha, Bandhavgarh and Pench to arrest the big cat's rapid decline.

The state government took the decision as it does not want to lose its 'Tiger State' tag to Karnataka due to the falling number of the big cats, according to a forest department official. The number of tigers in the state is reported to have dropped from 300 in 2007 to 232 in 2009, he said.

A tiger census conducted by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) in 2007 put the number of big cats in Madhya Pradesh at 300, followed by Karnataka with 290. However, another census conducted by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) in 2008 has put the population in five tiger reserves in Madhya Pradesh at 232 - with 89 big cats in Kanha, 47 in Bandhavgarh, 39 in Satpura, 33 in Pench and 24 in Panna.

However, in April this year a four-member central inquiry committee announced that Panna had no tigers since January. "It is regrettable that not even one tiger is left in Panna," committee chairman and former NTCA director P.K. Sen had said after visiting the tiger reserve in eastern Madhya Pradesh.

Concerned over the report, the Madhya Pradesh government formed a six-member committee to look into the matter. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan also transferred the field directors of Panna, Kanha and Bandhavgarh national parks late last month. "Now a Special Tiger Protection Force is on the anvil to protect the big cats in the various tiger reserves of the state," a senior wild life official said, not wishing to be identified as he is not authorized to speak to the media.

The state Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, H.S. Pabla, admitted that the tiger population in Panna had decreased but said the figure has remained constant in other reserves of the state.

Minister of State for Forests Rajendra Shukla last week instructed departmental officers to expedite the constitution of the Special Tiger Protection Force. Every company of the force would comprise 112 jawans, three sub-inspectors and six head constables and be headed by a deputy superintendent of police.

Constables of the force will be on deputation from the local police department and be below 40 years of age. Their deputation will continue till the police department creates permanent posts for the force.

The force will work under the control and guidance of the tiger reserve's Field Director, who will send a monthly report about it to the National Tiger Protection Authority. The cops will be exclusively for tiger protection and be empowered to use firearms in dealing with poachers and organized criminals within the periphery of the reserves.

Officers of the state police department and central forces will impart training to the constables on skill development, dealing with poaching and acting on information.

News Courtesy:- Economy Times

CEC opposes NHAI Road Project in Pench Tiger Reserve

NEW DELHI: In a boost to wildlife lobby, Supreme Court-appointed Centrally Empowered Committee (CEC) has shot down a controversial proposal of the National Highways Authority of India's (NHAI) to widen a road passing through Pench Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh, contending that it will be a threat to animals and the fragile ecosystem.

In the report submitted to the apex court last week, the CEC members said that the widening of the road connecting Nagpur to Jabalpur from two lanes to four lanes will increase traffic frequency in the area, scaring the animals, including endangered species like tigers and gaurs in the region, which may fall victim to the speeding vehicles.

The CEC also rejected the NHAI's alternative Rs 600- crore plan to build 13 bridges and underpass on the route so that wildlife movement is not hampered, a source said.

The highway project which is a part of the North-South corridor covers a distance of 8.7 kilometer and passes through the tiger reserve and the reserve forest contiguous.

It was referred to the panel after the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) moved a petition for stopping the project alleging that road widening would fragment wildlife habitat and restrict movement of already dwindling wildlife between Pench and Kanha Tiger Reserve.

The members have, however, have not sought closing down of the road but suggested that only light vehicles at a specified speed should be permitted while a complete ban be imposed on night traffic to prevent animal casualty.

News Courtesy Economic Times

Centre clears translocation of 4 big cats to Panna

New Delhi : After losing all its tigers to poaching, Panna Tiger Reserve is set to get a second chance. The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has cleared a proposal to trans locate two tigers and two tigresses to the reserve. But in a letter to Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the MoEF has made it clear that it expects action to be taken after the “Panna disaster”.

The letter, sent by MoEF Minister Jairam Ramesh, calls for “urgent administrative and ecological actions”, saying “responsibility should be fixed on erring officials as pointed out in the SIT report and disciplinary action be taken”. Seeking personal intervention of the CM in Panna, the letter has asked for a follow-up action report and directed that a site-specific security plan be drawn up for Panna. As already reported by The Indian Express, a probe by the SIT, set up by the Centre, found that senior officials ignored all warnings regarding Panna, resulting in the loss of more than 40 tigers to poaching.

“I solicit your personal intervention for early action indicated, to avoid Panna-type disasters,” said the letter, and asked for the phasing out of tourism activities from the core areas of Panna and moving it to buffer areas. “The guidelines and red alerts sent by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) were ignored (in Panna),” the letter points out, citing the SIT observations.

The states ignoring NTCA’s warnings is a common occurrence since wildlife is a concurrent subject. This is now set to end as the Cabinet has okayed bringing the position of NTCA member secretary at par with the Chief Wildlife Warden at the state-level.

“This will strengthen the NTCA’s position,” Ramesh told The Indian Express.

In the past, states have often ignored NTCA advisories on issues like transfer of officials, culling of maneaters and notifying buffer zones for tiger reserves. This had reduced the NTCA to little more than a fund-giving body for the Centrally sponsored Project Tiger scheme.

Madhya Pradesh has been at loggerheads with the NTCA on the Panna issue, declaring that it had enough tigers in the reserve as late as March 2009. However, a Wildlife Institute of India camera trap survey in February showed that tigers had completely vanished from Panna.

The genetic stock of Panna was lost after all its tigers were poached between 2002 and 2009. Currently, the reserve only has two tigresses, translocated to Panna from Kanha and Bandhavgarh after it was learnt that there were no big cats left in the reserve.

The four tigers will now be moved as per a new tiger trans location protocol. The new protocol is a response to a spate of local tiger extinctions in the country, starting with Sariska in Rajasthan in 2005, and now Panna, which necessitates moving tigers from other parts of the country to these reserves.

Conservation Through Photography: Grand Success of Wildlife Photography Workshop by Kalyan Verma Celebration Van Vilas Kanha National Park

Celebration Group of Hotels and Resort pleased to inform that The Grand Sucess of Workshop on Wildlife Photography held at Celebration Van Vilas Kanha National Park from 21 to 23 May 2009.

Mr.Kalyan Verma clear the doubts on wildlife photography, he also helped participants how take better picture in wild. This workshop helped the participants how to go in advance level of photography from basic.

The workshop contains lecture on photography with reference images and how to improve your skill while taking the images.

Spacial thanks Mr.Chavan of WWF who gave his lecture on Wildlife conservation.

Overall the workshop was big hit among the people.

In the month of November 2009 second workshop will take place at Celebration Van Vilas Kanha and Bandhavgarh National Park respectively.

For more information on 2nd Workshop on Wildlife Photography please call Mr.Rajesh Singh (Group GM) 09425203151 or email at vanvilaskanha@yahoo.com and sales@celebrationworld.in