NINETY MINUTES IN PARADISE: Dzuleke village, Nagaland.

 

NINETY MINUTES IN PARADISE: 

Dzuleke village, Nagaland.

I was in Nagaland on a birding trip organized by Nature India with Mandar Khadilkar as our group leader and tour organizer. Our ‘all male’ group of eight was housed in the village of Khonoma, which has the apellation of being the first eco friendly, 'Green' village in India following the adoption of eco-friendly policies by the villagers which includes a total ban on hunting (which was part of the culture of the Naga people), and eschewing plastic articles which has paved the way for sustainable eco-tourism.

Our first day there was a trifle disappointing because of unseasonal rain during the night and fog throughout the morning that made birding difficult and photography unfeasible in the poor light. Worse were the numerous leeches that pervaded the undergrowth and were abundant even on the tarred road!

We were to visit Dzuleke the next day and left at 5 30 am with a little trepidation as it had rained in the morning prior to our departure. However, the Gods were kind and we had no fog but bright sunshine on the way out there.
Birding on the way, we stopped at the Memorial to the Naga Youth Forum for breakfast and from that vantage point saw the rare rufous crowned prinia (Prinia khasiana), that is reportedly encountered only in Nagaland. There was also a majestic flypast by a black eagle and above it soared a mountain hawk eagle.

Rufous crowned Prinia

By this time the sun was uncomfortably bright and scorching hot as we motored up to the village of Dzuleke reaching it at a quarter past ten in the morning. I was tired and hot and irritable as we had already been out since 5.30 am.
But my mood was to change soon and a serene calmness settled over me for the next hour and a half.

Dzuleke is a small hamlet of 150 souls twenty kms from Khonoma at an altitude of 1600 meters. It consists of neat houses built along the sides of a mountain over looking a picturesque valley through which flows a river fed by several streams that flow from the surrounding mountains. The mountains are covered by lush verdure of the primeval forests that are encountered in most parts of Nagaland.
The river is home to a species of rainbow trout which is good sport for anglers. There is no internet, no ambient noise and all that one hears is the gurgling of water as it flows crystal clear over the small rocks in the river bed.

Dzuleke has several camping and picnic areas along the river and gets crowded on the weekends with visitors from Kohima and Dimapur.

Our cars dropped us at one such spot at the far end of the valley and as we got off,  the weather changed, clouds filled the sky, blotting out the harsh sun, accompanied by a cool breeze.

There was a sudden change in my mood as the quiet and peace of the place combined with the mellow weather made me connect with the environment leaving behind the world that I came from.
We had some bird sightings at the river, namely, a slaty backed forktail and a white capped water redstart.

I soon fell behind the others as I started appreciating the alpine valley that we were traversing, with its meadows of grass, tracts of ferns, clumps of wild flowers of beguiling hues and a winding path that crisscrossed the valley with rickety wooden bridges on the river. Raising one’s eyes revealed thickly wooded mountains that ringed this valley and kaleidoscopic patterns of cottony clouds through which the blue sky peeped through.

I was alone in what felt like paradise, mind totally synchronized with nature that was revealed at its best.

The others pressed ahead to look for the chestnut bunting, a bird that eluded us, but we had the consolation of encountering its cousin the little bunting.
The skies were devoid of birds but the ground had small beauties like a female crab, a horned beetle and an enormous hairy moth caterpillar as well as a crowd of mud puddling butterflies.

Horned beetle

                                                   

     mud puddling of butterflies                                               

The walk of approximately two kms ends at a sturdy bridge beyond which begin the houses that make up this village and where we were to repair for our lunch.

It had taken me ninety minutes to traverse the valley, my ramble in paradise, my mind at peace.

But paradise was short lived and ephemeral and it all ended as soon as I crossed the bridge, for the clouds retreated and the hot scorching sun beat down on us, tiredness engulfing me as we made our way slowly uphill to the homestay where lunch awaited us.

Maybe it was a dream, a trick of light and mood, but those ninety minutes are imprinted on my mind as my visit to paradise, a brief, perfect communion with nature at its best.