Every year when November arrives, it brings with it the delightful chirp of the winged visitors to many neighbouring green zones. Birders in the city would wait with bated breath to set off on bird watching trips. This year, however, the situation may be different. The impact of Cyclone Hudhud is echoing through the city, ripped off its green cover.
Perched close to the city, Kambalakonda Eco Tourism Park gives a picture of nature’s devastating effect. Spread across 7,139 hectares of area, the park has suffered great damage when the cyclone hit the city. Several trees have been uprooted and the green cover has turned into a dull brown with dry tree branches all over. The forest department estimates the damage to be around Rs 50 lakhs in the park alone and around Rs 17.58 crore in Visakhapatnam division.
“A number of trees in the Kambalakonda Eco Tourism Park have fallen due to the high intensity wind speeds. All the cottages were damaged. We are right now in the process of removing the fallen trees because they are a potential threat for forest fires. Once the debris is removed, the plantation drive will start,” says Visakhapatnam divisional forest officer (social) in-charge P Ram Mohan Rao.
The forest supports nearly 150 species of birds such as tree pie, lapwing, bee-eaters, flycatchers and some vulnerable species like white bellied sea eagles. Apart from this, every year the water body inside the park would welcome winged visitors like the spot-billed ducks and other migratory species.
With the cyclone leaving behind a devastating trail, the forest area has not seen any bird activity within the earmarked activity zone in the past three weeks. “By October, the park bustles with the chirp of birds. But after the cyclone, the birds haven’t returned here yet. It’s sad to see the place devoid of the once rich green cover,” says Murali, one of the guards of the park.
Gearing up for the plantation drive by the middle of November, forest officials are hopeful that the winged visitors will return soon to the park albeit a bit late this season. “We are in the process of getting plant saplings of species like Neem from Anantapur and Chittoor. These species can withstand cyclonic storms. Already a fresh leaves have started regenerating in the branches. We can hope that the birds will soon make a comeback,” says Ram Mohan Rao.
Around 107 hectares of the forest area of Kambalakonda falls under the Community Based Eco-Tourism project, while tourism activities are restricted to the 37.5-hectare area. The five cottages of the park have been completely ravaged by the cyclone. The forest is home to five panthers, hundreds of deer, sambhars, wild boars, and also supports several species of resident and migratory bird species. Apart from birds, the park is the habitat of animals like porcupines, deer, sambars, snakes, foxes, a host of nocturnal animals.
Kambalakonda was also a trekker’s delight and had five trek routes of three km, four km, five km, seven km and a short steep uphill trek route. With uprooting of trees on a massive scale, the trek routes are all inaccessible now.
With the city’s other bird watching zones like the Biodiversity Park in RCD Hospital in a shambles after the cyclone, the birders at present left with little option this season.
