Stream of Winged jewels...

The Journey

I have been planning to go to Baghmara for quite some time. Baghmara is the district head quarter of South Garo hills district of Meghalaya, the place where I had worked for sometime with Samrakshan Trust. Picked Baghmara for numerous reasons – firstly I love the place, feels like home to me and I haven’t been there for almost three years, second and more importantly one of the best places to see butterflies and lastly I needed a break from my day to day office routine and just wanted to disappear from modern civilization!

Guess it was end of July when I finally fixed the dates for the visit after having a discussion with Dr. (Yaranajit Deka) and also considering my office holiday list! Dr. is one of the vital forces behind setting up Eco-tourism camps at different butterfly hot spots in South Garo hills. The plan was for a 7 days trip in the first week of October. Though November to March is considered to be prime butterfly(ing) season but I wasn’t provided with much choice by my office! So the plan was set and I begun to prepare for the trip.

As the days passed and the date came closer, incidents one after another begun to take place which made me rethink my plan and even cancel it! At first heavy rain in mid-September resulting into flood/landslide in Assam, Meghalaya. Though rain stopped but roads and bridges to Meghalaya were washed away by flood water! And moreover a gloomy weather is not at all favorable for butterfly watching, one of the main reasons of my trip! But I stuck to my plan because I knew if I miss this opportunity the trip will get postponed for months, may be years!

The day came and after spending 4 times the money and double the amount of journey I finally reached Baghmara. Such a relief it was but my happiness was short lived! Due to the recent flood Baghmara was out of electricity and fuel (diesel, petrol etc.) and due to power and server breakdown the only ATM at Baghmara was out of order too! So there I was at the bus stop with ninety bucks in my pocket waiting for my local contact to pick me up. Luckily the Karwani Eco-tourism camp site was just a couple of kilometers away, so we walked.

The Camp site

Where butterflies dwell

Karwani is a small village, having around 30 households, named after the stream which is its lifeline. The village is right at the edge of Baghmara Reserve Forest. Having such a unique geographical location of community owned forest surrounded by BRF and a stream running through it, makes Karwani rich in biodiversity. Karwani had always been a butterfly ahoy! Dr. teaming up with different butterfly experts had undertaken numerous surveys for many years to ascertain the butterfly diversity of Karwani and identified it as a butterfly hot spot! Karwani being just a few kilometers away for Baghmara and having good connectivity of motor-able road made it the ideal choice for an Eco-tourism camp.

The location for the camp was selected wisely. On the bank of karwani having good forest cover on either side! Home stay style accommodation is provided having all the basic facilities. I enjoyed the local food and service. The hosts were quite warm and friendly people, which made my stay much more enjoyable!

Butterfly Trek – Day 1: Day of Glory!

Glorious! It is

I accompanied by Jonseng Marak (one of the members of the family I was staying with) started pretty early for our butterfly trek. Just a few steps from the camp on the bank of Karwani where some kids were playing, I saw something flash off, Big and blue! I didn’t want to believe what I thought it was! Jonseng sensing my excitement warned the kids to stay away. With absolute disbelief I tip toed towards the butterfly. As soon as I focused my camera my heartbeat escalated, it was a rare and beautiful Jungle Glory! A big round winged butterfly, brown in underside and bluish in the upper. There could not have been a better start to my trip. Hoping for a glorious day we pressed on.

Pure Nawabi taste

Due to heavy rainfall Karwani had swelled into a small river making it quite difficult to maneuver across it. We stopped by an open grassland/marsh looking for butterflies and they were there. I saw Common Rose, Red Helen, Knight, Fluffy Tit, Common Sailer, Dark Archduke and many more species there. Back to the stream and sand banks we found many butterflies but none of them allowed me a chance to photograph them. A Five-bar Swordtail teased me many times and for once had settled on a leaf beside me but winged before I could get my camera ready! Jonseng spotted something amidst the stones and signaled me. It was a Twany Rajah feeding on some animal dropping, but didn’t allow me to photograph itself. But this time I was determined to wait as long as it takes to get a photograph. It was worth the wait, it returned along with a Pallid Nawab, an uncommon and handsome butterfly. Rajahs and Nawabs being true to their name are hardcore non-vegetarians and prefer animal droppings, animal/insect/fish carcass!

It was a good day, had seen more than 30 species of butterflies and photographed some too! Back at the camp had a fun time watching and identifying the day’s photographs (in candlelight) with some kids, Jonseng and a few adults! They were no less thrilled than I was. But due to power failure I was in a power saver mode so to conserve my computer and camera batteries, slept at 7!

Butterfly Trek – Day 2: Day of Rarities!

Twirling around

Charged by the previous day’s sightings I was eager to go to the butterfly spot as soon as possible. While brushing I show something small prancing by the wash room. Having learnt the lesson well that at Karwani luck could pay off anytime anywhere, I rushed to get my camera. It was a rare Orange-tail Awl, a small brown butterfly with a white band. But before I could finish admiring it, saw a blue flash in a nearby garbage dumping pit. It was so well camouflaged that I failed to figure out its location until I almost stepped on it. After a lot of adjustments, I finally got a clear shot, a Common Duffer! Name says common but it’s an uncommon medium sized dark brown butterfly. Just couldn’t believe my luck, without even stepping out of the camp I photographed an uncommon and a rare butterfly!

Wary Red eyes

Good fortune repeated itself quite a few times during the day. I snapped an uncommon Banded Lineblue feeding on bird dropping nearby the stream. I also managed to shot a very rare Black-veined Branded Redeye! We were exploring one of the waterfalls which feed karwani, when its dark red eyes got my attention. The second day was even better, saw many other common/uncommon species like – Chestnut Angle, Common Tit, Elbowed Pierrot, Studded Sergeant, Color Sergeant, Glassy Tiger, Common Yeoman, Commander, Common Five-ring, Lemon Pansy, Striped Blue Crow, Common Jay, Common Bluebottle, Grey Pansy and others.

In the evening Jonseng came rushing to my room and said ‘Current aa gaya!’ but I needed a confirmation, he smiled and replied ‘Yes’! After a few tweaks and tugs, the connection to my room finally worked and it was bright like never. A perfect ending to an amazing day!

Butterfly Trek – Day 3: Day of admiration!

One of the titans

For the third day we ventured into Panda, another butterfly hotspot. The location was about 15 kms away from the Karwani camp. As we began our upstream trek a Common lascar greeted us! The location was similar to Karwani but had less forest cover. The butterfly diversity was also considerably lower. With hope we continued.

Soon fortune turned into our favor, when Jonseng alerted me and whispered ‘birdwing’! I never thought I would be able to even come close to this butterfly. It was a Common Birdwing, one of the largest (probably the largest) black and yellow colored butterfly, found everywhere but flying high up in the canopy. Got a decent photograph!

Rajah in command

But general butterfly sightings were quite less so we adopted a different strategy to explore a small stream till we reached the waterfall and it worked. We found Yellow Helen, Common Mime, and Tufted Ace near the wet muddy areas at the edge of the stream and Common Batwing, Restricted Demon, Powdered Baron in the plants and bushes! But the experience at Karwani had made me avaricious so I was unhappy.
To lift my mood up nature did through a few surprises at me! While heading back got a good photograph of Common Nawab and on the sandy banks of panda a butterfly flew in and settled right at my feet. It was a Rajah but both Jonseng and I agreed that it looked different than what we had seen so far, it was a rare Black Rajah! It sat there for just enough time for me to take a photo before flying off in typical Rajah Style.

Butterfly Trek – Day 4: Day of exploration!

Continuing our exploration we decided to search for another butterfly spot at Bhowanipur. It’s a border outpost of BSF, which I remember going once some years back. I saw butterflies in around the stream near Bhowanipur outpost. But both I and Jonseng were not sure about the exact location of the spot. We drove through Baghmara Reserve Forest and proceeded towards the BSF outpost. Either we were at the wrong location or the butterflies had moved away due to border fencing construction, but we didn’t see much, rather any butterflies! On our way back decided to explore another spot near Simsung River. But there too had similar not so very good result.

The Swordtails

We returned to the camp at midday. To compensate for the loss of time and efforts begun to explore the forest near the camp on the bank of the stream. And yet again Karwani didn’t disappoint me! Photographed – Centaur Oakblue, Clear Sailer, Chocolate Pansy, Common Albatross, Courtesan, White Dragontail and Five-bar Swordtail (mating).

In the evening visited Baghmara and the old familiar places, like Tourist Lodge, Baghmara Market etc. and recollected old memories! Baghmara seemed to have improved/developed a lot in recent years but not sure at what cost!

Thanks to continued electric supply spent the night sorting and identifying the photographs.

Butterfly Trek – Day 5: Day of final show!

After having explored Karwani for couple of days, the plan for the final day was to go further upstream and search deep into the adjoining forests and sub streams!

Colored elegance

While walking through the forest photographed a Common Four-ring, Common Lineblue, Common Palmfly, Dusky Diadem and Dark-banded Bushbrown. Continuing our quest upstream we struck gold when we found more than 10 different species enjoying their morning drinks in a moist/sandy patch near the bank! Though I approached cautiously they all winged. I stabilized myself at a proper spot keeping a safe distance. Soon they begun to hover around me and landed eventually. There was a Yellow Helen, Red Helen, Common Raven, Common Jay, Great Jay, Common Mormon, Twany Rajah, Pallid Nawab, a couple of Chocolate Albatrosses and a few Branded Straw Aces! Later a Great Orange-tip had landed there too.

All of a sudden my camera battery died! Possibly the worst thing that could have happened while I was surrounded by such amazing butterflies. While I was kicking myself for a great opportunity lost, Jonseng looked baffled and calmly said ‘Charge karke wapas aayega’ and then I realized it could be possible. Though we were almost 2 kms off the base-camp, it was just 11 O’clock by then. So we ran!

Sporadic royal

Without waiting for my camera battery to get fully charged, we rushed back. Couldn’t go directly to the spot, had to stop a couple of times to photograph an uncommon Yellowdisk Tailless Oakblue and a common Suffused Snow Flat! We reached the spot, luckily some of them were still hadn’t left. Having photographed them well, we decided to head back. But the final show wasn’t over yet! We took a different route through the forest while returning. In the late hours of the day Karwani gave me Goodbye Gift! Photographed a Chocolate Demon, Common Snow Flat, a rare Double-tufted Royal and another butterfly which is yet to be identified. With a sense of fulfillment we walked back!

For more butterfly photographs of the trip check the link -

http://img.gg/Pfs9NvN