Gaurs like humans, humans like Gaurs - At Valparai

In my recent visit to Valparai, I heard and witnessed many instances where animals and humans live together, with & without conflicts. In Valparai, every single person, even a child would have a leopard story to tell. Same way, everyone will have an elephant encounter story too. I have heard from them that in night, sloth bears come and explore the recycle bins in the bus stand, which used to be a busy place in the day time. There are SMS system, where messages are sent to all estate owners and workers about elephant movements, every morning, just like we get traffic alerts in cities.

It is a common scene to see Gaurs in the middle of tea plantations in Valparai. The local people do not disturb them, and leave them alone till they cross the other side of the plantations. 

But, the tourists don't leave them.

We saw a huge herd of Gaurs - with 2 males, 7-8 females, 2 calves in the middle of the tea plantation. 

 

Locals don't care and leave them alone

While we were watching the Gaur herd from a distance, a car came and stopped right next to the Gaurs. They were not walking stable, might be they are all drunk. They got down the car and walked straight to the herd. Seeing them, the Gaurs started moving away.

They wanted to take pictures of the Gaurs in their mobile phones. They started shouting on the Gaurs to come closer. But as the animals don't understand their language, and they were all in a threatening mode, the herd started panicking. To add to the chaos, 2 of them started throwing wooden pieces and stones over the animals.

 

Tourists walking towards the Gaurs for a photo session

We didn't have a choice, other than shouting at them to move away. I shouted to the maximum, as I was the only one who knows the local language, and made them get into the car. But 2 of them still were staring at the animals, waiting for them to come down. We immediately called the forest officials using one of a local naturalist, and reported the incident. Later we came to know that they had to pay some penalty for their bravery.

While coming back, we saw the herd grazing peacefully at the bottom of the hill. It was a pleasant scene to watch them from a far distance.

In the middle of the plantations, the Gaurs grazing peacefully