The Age from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia • Page 147

The Age 9 February 19MT EXTRAS GREG ROBERTS iurvral for the. fjgpa's fearful symmeiiry Illustration: JENNIFER BOWMAN Up to 200 people are killed by tigers each year in India. But the tiger is more under threat from man. ARAKH SINGH was get ting worried. Ten minutes had ticked away LH since his friend, the Brit ish naturalist David Hunt had wandered up a leafy gully in search of a pair of forest "3 lope and wild pigs.

Occasionally, as was apparently the case with David Hunt, they will kill a human who suddenly dls- turbs them, particularly if cubs nearby. In its natural environment, the tlgerf' weighing up to 230 kilograms, reigns. supreme. Its only potential predator is the Indian wild dog. One tiger seen fend," Ing off a pack of 25 dogs, killed J2't before succumbing and being by the survivors.

Some times a tiger wjil be driven from a kill by a large croco-. dlle, bears or hyenas, but generally the. cats are given a wide berth by other animals. Despite the success of Project and Delhi's conservation programs; man continues to threaten the of the species. Tiger skins are highly valued in Asian markets, where various parts of-the cat's anatomy are also prized alleged therapeutic or aphrodisiac" properties.

Government sources say.o tigers are regularly shot or trapped hi Indian reserves, sometimes with the- assistance of corrupt wardens. Manage- meat leaves much to be desired In some parks, where officials spend their sitting Idly in the sun or coping with an-" endless stream of useless paper More importantly, the pressure on" tiger reserves will Inevitably grow as-'o India's population of 880 million contin- ues to soar. The development of a care- fully managed tourist Industry could be' the cat's best chance for long-term vival. But as Harsh Vardhan says: don't know what will happen further down the track. If you have people', starving and needing land to grow food on, what do you do?" Hopefully the Indl: ans can resolve the dilemma.

The world would be a poorer place without "Route Two" offers the best chance of seeing tigers. One family from Bombay said they had travelled to Ranthambhor five times, done the Jeep drive 13 times, never drawn Route Two, and never seen a tiger. This writer was more fortunate during a visit over the Christmas break. Five tigers an adult male, a tigress and three large cubs were seen on Route Two on the first day, and a tigress the second day on another road. During visits to Corbett and Dudhwa, single animals were also seen.

In both these reserves, the favored way of finding tigers is from the back of an elephant. Guides sitting astride the elephant's neck find a tiger's spoor and track it until the cat is flushed from cover. Elephants are afraid of tigers, however, and the guides cruelly hit them, about the head with an iron rod, to make them follow the scent. At Ranthambhor, tigers are so accustomed to people that they allow vehicles to approach within 10 or so metres. The Jeeps are open, so observers have the somewhat disconcerting knowledge that with a single bound, a tiger could have them.

After lions attacked several tourists In such a situation in Kenya, that country's government decreed that all vehicles visiting its game reserves must be enclosed. Tigers generally are fearful of humans. A guide at Dudhwa, Mr Mohammed Nanseen, has stumbled across them several times while walking through the forest by himself. "They will usually just stand there and look at you before stalking quietly away," he said. "You are always conscious of them but you don't worry too much." Man-eaters are usually old or Injured animals that can no longer hunt their natural prey primarily deer, ante- come back after 15 minutes I went up there with two others.

We'd only gone 50 metres when we saw his body near a clump of bamboo. A tigress was lying beside him. I looked at him through my binoculars and I could see he was dead." Today, all visitors to Corbett must be accompanied by an armed guard when leaving the park compound at Dhikala. Even here, tigers can be a menace. Last year, one walked Into the home of a park warden and with a stroke of Its paw, removed half the unfortunate man's face.

Shortly before that incident, at the nearby Khinanaull Guesthouse, a young man gathering sticks in the forest was killed instantly by a tigress he disturbed. Tigers kill far more people than all the world's other big cat species put together. In the early 1980s tigers killed 120 people In 18 months in sugar plantations surrounding the Dudhwa Reserve on the Nepalese border. Somewhere between 100 and 200 Indians, nobody knows the exact figure, are killed each year. In the coastal swamps of northeast India, tigers are so feared that villagers wear masks tied to the back of their heads to frighten them.

Man-eaters notwithstanding, the Indian Government has shown a commendable determination to save its most spectacular animal from extinction. Around the turn of the century, about 40,000 tigers roamed across the subcon- eagie-owis ne knew lived there. Late March is a pleasant time to be in the Himalayan foothills of India. The cold, grey winter mornings are giving way to the exuberance of spring; the birds are in full song and the deciduous forests are clothed In green again. It was about this time each year that Hunt and Singh led a party of British birdwatchers through the 520-square-kilo-metre Corbett National Park, 320 kilometres east of Delhi, In search of some of the subcontinent's more elusive wildlife.

The park Is named after Jim Corbett, the English hunter made famous by his confrontations with man-eating tigers earlier this century. In a series of books, Corbett chronicled the cunning and ruthlessness of the man-eaters, several of which disposed of hundreds of people after acquiring a taste for human flesh. That was the furthest thing from David Hunt's mind during his 1985 visit to the park. Tired, his party sat down on a track to rest after a morning outing while Hunt, 51, ventured up the gully. Singh explains what happened next: "I told him to be careful, like I'd done plenty of times before.

When he didn't conservationists. He says that while people living near tiger reserves are understandably terrified of the animals, his countrymen generally are supportive of measures taken to protect them. In some cases these have been controversial; 13 villages were uprooted and their people displaced when the 400-square-kllometre Ranthambhor Reserve was established 200 kilometres south of Delhi. "It's something we accept we have no choice about," Mr Vardhan said. "This is a country where we have always valued our wildlife greatly." To prove the point, he notes a recent Incident where a man who shot an antelope was captured by enraged villagers and beheaded.

Most Hindus are vegetarians, and the extraordinary lameness of Indian wildlife is testimony to the respect and even veneration with which It Is regarded. In many Hindu homes, no matter how poor, the first meal of the day Is offered to a wild or domestic tinent from the high slopes of the Himalayas to the semi-arid plains of Raja-sthan and the mangroves of West Bengal. By 1965, only an estimated 1200 remained. The British colonialists, with their penchant for big-game hunting, slaughtered them In their thousands, while an exploding human population and improved agricultural techniques resulted In a drastic reduction of natural habitat. The last cheetah In the subcontinent was shot In 1948, and lions, once widespread, were reduced to a remnant population in the Gir Forest.

The alarm bells rang, and in 1973 the World Wildlife Fund launched Project Tiger. Nine tiger reserves were established across the country, and a ban on hunting and trade In tiger products was enforced. The tiger population in India today is estimated at 4200, including 2700 living in reserves, and numbers appear to be slowly Increasing. Mr Harsh Vardhan, the general secretary of the Tourism and Wildlife Society of India, is one of the country's leading Indians have only recently begun to realise that, as in East Africa, big game can attract big dollars. The tiger is fast becoming a major tourist attraction in India.

Ranthambhor, In the western province of Rajasthan, is probably the best place In the world to see wild tigers. They survived there only because the maharajas of Jaipur protected the area, regarding It as their private- hunting ground. The reserve is towered over by a vast citadel built In the 11th Century by a maharaja, Rana Hamir, as a base to give him control over the central Indian plains. Only 14 tigers remained in Ranthambhor in 1974; today there are 42. As many as 30 or 40 Jeeps line up each morning and afternoon outside the fortified gates of Ranthambhor.

As in other tiger reserves, walking is banned for safety reasons. A "lottery" Is held to decide which of four roads, in the reserve, each vehicle will drive on. This creates a great deal of angst, because it Is widely known among the visitors that DR FRANCIS MACNAB wi ptk on THE ART OF SEEING DIFFERENT POSSIBILITIES IN DIFFERENT PLACES Sunday 10 am VICTORIAN COLLEGE OF CLASSICAL HOMEOPATHY DIPLOMA IN HOMEOPATHY BLACKBURN GEELONG WARRAGUL Course commencing February 1991 PRINCIPAL: DENISE CARRINGTON-SMITH ENQUIRIES: (03) 877 7399. VICTORIAN COLLEGE OF TRADITIONAL MEDICINE DIPLOMA IN NATUROPATHY GEELONG WARRAGUL Course commencing February 1991 PRINCIPAL: GEOFF McWIGAN ENQUIRIES: (03)802 5991. St Mkhal' Uniting Church wnr.

ana Btnt ST MICHAEL'S UNITING CHURCH COLLINS STREET, MELBOURNE (Cnr Collins and Russell Streets) ANOTHER SIGNIFICANT EVENT ANOTHER OBJECTIVE ACHIEVED OPENING OF THE NEW ST MICHAEL'S HALLS and OFFICES Sunday 10th February 1991 Morning Service 10 a.m. Opening Ceremony 11.30 a.m. (St Michael's Walk: Next to the Church) HIKE Clearance? UTIOUL ROCK WUILV Western Red Cedar EVERY MONDAY AT YOUR NEWSAGENT Money rurniiure SCHOOLS INCLUDE: Billanook College Camberwell A.G.G.S. Carey Baptist Grammar School Caulfield Grammar School Christian Community Colleges Christian Parent Controlled Schools Fintona Girls' School Firbank Anglican School Gcelong Grammar School Genazzano F.C.J. College Hamilton College Ivanhoe Girls' Grammar School Kilvinglon B.G.G.S.

Kingswood College Knoxfield College Korowa A.G.S. Lowther Hall Anglican Grammar Melbourne Grammar School Mentonc Grammar School Methodist Ladies' College Morongo Girls' College Oxley College Penlcigh and Essendon Grammar Presbyterian Ladies' College Ruyton Girls' School Shelford St. Calhcrinc's School St. Leonard's College Strathcona B.G.G.S. Taylor's College The Ivanhoe Grammar School The Peninsula School Tintern C.E.G.G.S.

Toorak College Trinity Grammar School Wesley College Melbourne Deluxe Round 5 Pee Setting Extra larae table, wooden stools with ONLY ONE WEEK LEFT with 'The Age' on Monday. Your Invitation to Melbourne's first Independent Schools February 2223, 1991 World Trade Centre Melbourne's first Independent Schools Information Fair offers YOU, as a concerned parent, the opportunity to Meet principals and senior staff from participating schools in a relaxed environment, to discuss specific opportunities available for your child. a Learn more about these schools' Specialist and co-curricular programs Pastoral care and counselling services Facilities for students with disabilities Religious instruction Fee structures Attend seminars and see videos designed to help you make an informed choice about your child's future education. Participating schools include a broad cross section of Boys, Girls, Co-ed and Boarding Schools from throughout Victoria. Fair Opening Hours Friday February 22nd 1 1.30 am 8.30 pm Saturday February 23rd 1 0.00am 6.00 pm See the special lift-out supplement in "The Age" on Wednesday, February 20, for further details.

Square Pee Setting Comolete with Lazy Susan. backs all bulrose edged. Comes complete with a bonus Lazy Susan (normal value $35) (stools are without backs) tegular price Regular price Vrtfi Clearance price $145 Clearance price $399 5 Piece Cedar Setting As Illustrated, Boat shaped quality bullwiosed table with Dacnea seats, snon, 2 long). Seats up to 10 people. MICRO HALOGEN Regular price Wr Clearance Ipoce 299 Cautfield Arts Complex Term 1 Program classes available for adults and children.

Pottery Life Sculpture Portrait Drawing Fine Art Yoga Pre-School music and games Cnr Glen Eira and Hawthorn Rds Caulfield 5243287 Reg Our 1--J vJ ALl STOCKS Yarra Valley Anglican School Also available: price price Outdoor furniture covers U- Aluminium settings aH50off Many other oddments to select from, everything heavily reduced. Jteluxe Round 5 Pee Setting Curved stools with backs all bullnose edged. Regular price U6S Clearance price $245 Sat: 9am 4pm FREE ADMISSION! WORLD TRADE CENTRE Enter via Siddeley Street and take the escalators to the Galleria Level. Organised by INTRO Australia in conjunction with the Association of Independent Schools of Victoria. Proudly supported by "The Sun: 10am 4pm Chapman fc Foiter 926 Mountain Hwy, Bayswater.

3153 (near cm Dorset Rd Mountain Highway) Look for the SALE flags pt, 7294448 587 BRIDGE RD RICHMOND The sweet mountain air is so intoxicating, you can almost hear the flowers hiccuping. At the Thredho Alpine Hotel, right now, just $275 buys you 5 nights plus breakfast. Telephone 008 026 333 and ask about the Thredho "Rise Above it All" Summer Package I'KMCS 0ASCO ON Pt PtHSON tftlN SHUNtl Delight your Valentine with a gift from Georges. May wc suggest a Valentine's Day Presentable' -a pre-wrapped gift expertly selected for this romantic occasion. Our gift consultant is also available to help with your selection.

The gift will then be beautifully wrapped and personally delivered free of charge within the CUD by our 'bellhop' on his Vcspa scooter. And not forgetting, this Wednesday and Thursday llani'4pm a calligrapher will lie available to pen your Valentine's Day message. ft 0 coi.I.INs si mm aiimvo vmiii.rhi 1 1 sxjs.Ml till. I TOKV Jss M.nci si I) I KM. i'l I 1.