We the students of Bhavan’s Rajaji Vidyashram, Kilpauk, set off for the WOW (Wonders Of Wilderness) camp from our school, early in the morning to reach Nanmangalam Reserve Forest, near Tambaram. Forty five students accompanied by three teachers and two CEE Naturalists, formed the WOW camping team.
The high spirits of the students made the hour-long journey pass in a flash. We reached the Nanmangalam Reserve Forest at dawn, right time to see the beautiful birds emerge from their homes.
A couple of CEE naturalists, who were waiting for us at the forest, welcomed and oriented us on the programme ahead. We were divided into two groups, with each headed by a couple of CEE Naturalists leading the groups. The groups set off into the forest to enjoy the Wonders Of Wilderness at the Nanmangalam Reserve forest.
As we got ourselves ready to set out, we were briefed on the do’s and don’ts during the trail. Each of our group was also given two large plastic bags to collect any un-natural thing that we get to sight along our trails. The Naturalists informed us on how even the little chocolate wrappers dropped by us, may be eaten by animals and make them sick or even die. This had all of us in the group, keep our papers safely inside our pockets. We disposed them only after we reached the Forest Extension Centre for lunch. When we were at the forest, we also picked up litter that others had dropped.
The CEE Naturalists gave us an insight on the basics of how to recognize and record the birds, butterflies, reptiles and other wildlife in the forests. The naturalists often remarked that we were lucky to sight a large variety of flying jewels, the butterflies. The colourful insects fluttered around and posed for our cameras.
Look at the slideshow on the top right corner of the page to get a glimpse of some of the wildlife we got to see during our trails.
The sighting of colonial spiders, stick insects, seven-spotted cockroach, had all of us in the group yearn for seeing more. We wanted to see many different things that we have never seen before. We wanted to learn about every little plant, trees, flowers, insects, birds, animals and generally everything about nature.
The sighting of the Blue-Tailed Green Bee Eater, Drongos, and Babblers, Malabar tree-pie, the migrant Rosy Pastor, kept up the spirits of the group high and excited.
Around 9:00, when we reached near one of the abandoned quarries inside the forests we decided to stop and rest a while. The shades of a solitary tall Ficus tree, provided the right ambience to have a brief break for our breakfast.
After our breakfast, we were asked to find a comfortable position (sitting or lying down) to open up our minds. A CEE's Personnel guided us through a meditation exercise in the natural surroundings of the Nanmangalam Forest Reserve.
The exercise which began with a few deep breaths, helped us feel relaxed and brought our sensations to the present. We were asked to realize the feel of the temperature of the air on our skin, the feeling of the breeze and the sun; hear the sounds around us — birds, bees, crickets—and listen to the symphony of nature. Our mind and soul was brought back to the sounds and sensations of being in nature.
We felt that the experience had woken something up inside each one of us, and helped us to set our minds into a more natural rhythm. With our mind and body open and easily favouring the experiences of nature, we were guided to become poets.
The CEE Naturalists guided us to writing the French style of writing Poetry, Cinquain. This was one of our favourite activities during the trail. A cinquain is a five-line poem that describes a person, place, or thing.
The first line has one-word, the topic, a noun; The second line has two describing words (adjectives) on the noun in the first line. The third line has doing words (verbs), again on the topic of the poem. The fourth line has a four-worded short sentence or phrase on the topic. The fifth and the last line has a synonym for our title, another noun.
It was simple and we were amazed at our own skill of penning a poem. This session was very interesting as some of the members came up with poems on many different topics from the clouds, the CEE Naturalists, the LIC Towers, the list was long.
We decided to have a couple of group photos taken of the poets, in us before we again became the naughty self. We were then challenged to trek up a small hillock ahead of us. It was an adventurous trek, felt ourselves like the Tensing Norgay and Edmond Hillary, climbing the Mount Everest. We reached the pinnacle around 12:00 and what a sight it was to behold Chennai from the top. It was a birds-eye view and we frantically wanted to locate the direction of our school and our homes.
We then had a brief time to ourselves to enjoy and appreciate the nature around us. Some of our friends went about watching the many different beetles and insects that were around and observed how beautifully they have camouflaged themselves in their surroundings making it difficult for us to spot.
We tried having a couple of our smaller group photos as well. With only the sky as the backdrop, our photos indeed came up magically alive. After a 30 minute sojourn in Nature and its wonders, we descended down the hillock. All along we discovered many insects, interesting beetles, beautifully shaped rocks and stones. True to our programme name, they were really Wonders Of Wilderness!
When we reached the plains, we settled closer to a banyan tree. Here we played the “Human Knot” a game that kept us all winding and un-winding ourselves with our hands clasped.
For this game we were divided into four smaller groups of ten to twelve people. We stood in a circle and placed our hands into the centre of the circle. We were asked to clasp hands with two different people, neither of whom was standing next to us. A human knot was born! The goal set to us was to untie the knot without letting go off our hands. We learnt to be respectful of your our neighbours! What we do may not be the best for others, so check it out before you work it out. We learnt to work as a team, respect and consider each others viewpoints, to see successful results even in a complicated situation.
As we set out to return to the Forest Extension Centre for having our lunch, we sang the old celebratory song “When you are happy and you know it clap your hands…” It was fun to develop the song with lines on the number of activities that we got to perform during the trail. Even the teachers joined us in our fun and frolic!
All the campers were really in a good happy mood, even after the tiring six-hour trek-up and down the hillock.
When we reached the hall at 13:30, we were hungry for lunch. Everybody was hungry enough to devour the food. We relished the tasty food, which was from a very popular vegetarian hotel in the city and left nothing to waste.
After relishing our lunch we headed towards another direction in the forest, surrounded by the Eucalyptus trees, on our way we sighted the Calotes, the garden lizard and a Female Sitana, the Fan Throated lizard. The CEE Naturalists held it high, for the entire group to observe the reptile. Many of us wanted to hold it on our hands and “feel” its skin. However, the CEE naturalists pointed out the soft bulging tummy of the reptile and observed that she was pregnant and set it free onto the ground.
We then got together to play the bird migration game. In this game we were divided into smaller groups. The CEE Naturalists informed us that we now have to assume ourselves as a migratory bird (Rosy Pastor (Pastor roseus), a starling) in the region. Like most of migratory birds, we were born in a different area and visit Chennai only during the cold winter time, when the food becomes scarce. We were asked to fly along with many other migratory birds (groups), to five warmer destinations where food is abundant and the living is easier. Then, every spring we return to our beloved homeland for breeding. However, our migratory journey is never easy; it is long and full of challenges. The game gave us a chance to experience the whole journey all by ourselves.
Soon after the bird migration game, we played a new CEE-special game called quizzola! We had a good time playing this game, which helped us recollect all that we learnt during the trail. You should have seen some of the friends jump in joy when they got a question, for which they knew the answers!
We packed off with a heavy heart, and conveyed our heartfelt thanks to the organisers and filled in the feedback forms distributed to us.
