[drbones]

My first visit to Tipeshwar wild life sanctuary was during march 2018. Fell in love with it, because of it topography, wildlife(tiger population), less known( less tourists)and its location on NH44. kept visiting the Tipeshwar when ever possible, only to discover that a new entry gate (kodori gate) is open, this was during December 2022. I had no idea about this side of the forest. I am the only person to enter the forest from this gate on my first visit through kodori gate, just loved this side of the forest, as its still raw. Best part of it is, last 3.5kms does not have any tarmac, only a forest trail to reach the forest entry gate.



Kodori village is a small sleepy village on the border of Maharastra and Telangana, on the bank of penaganga river. Old traditions of farming, and way of living in sync with nature is still practiced.





After I finished my safari and came out of the forest gate, my eye caught a farm land adjacent to the forest entry gate, asked the forest guard about the land and its details, exchanged phone number with him, and requested him to find out with owner if he is interested to sell his land. After this discussion I left the place, and went back to my daily chores.

Called the forest guard after a week to get update on the land. To my surprise the land owner is willing to sell the land, Its a 12 acer private agricultural land adjacent to the wildlife sanctuary.

After a couple of months visited the place and started the process of getting the documents checked (one need to be very careful about adivasi land). A good friend of mine gave the job to trusted land dealer of the area, and with in a couple of months got the land registered.



After the legal procedures are done, its time to plan my jungle home. As there is no electricity, or even the basic facilities. So the task is going to be tough, and I am prepared for it.



First thing is to have shelter above the head to protect myself from the elements of nature. So got a Tent, couple of chairs and camping bed, pitched it on the farm.





Cool night under the stars and moon, and not a soul in sight was my dream turning to reality, and it started to play in front of my eyes. lit up a small fire to keep wild animals away. Slowly slipped away in to my dream. Woke up after some time to find out its 2am, checked the surroundings, and the fire still burning, but very low. Heard a group of foxes howling, and I felt a chill down my spine for no reason. Jumped in to my mux, flattened the 2nd and 3rd row of seats slightly rolled down the window glass, locked the doors and went to sleep. Was not able to get a nap after that, Nightjar calls kept me awake, only to hear other animal calls that night. That was my first lonely experience in a tiger territory. It was a bit scary, but treasured every moment of it.



First light of dawn hitting the forest, i came out of the car. Took a deep breath of crisp forest air, and its aroma tickling my senses…. can’t describe this feeling.

Attachment 2652083

Started to walk the boundary of the farm. Cool breeze tickling my senses, I felt, boy this is the place I want to be. The farm owned me for the rest of my life.

After walking around 300 Mts from my vehicle, I noticed something just outside the fence, near the Nala, fresh pug marks, sudden Goosebumps were all over my body. (This is the place for me, the farm owns me, suddenly felt nonsense, and everything vanished from my mind) Looked around , slowly started walking backwards till my vehicle. Its not easy to walk backwards when you are scared to the core, may be I walked backwards for some 50mts, after that I ran to my car. FFF hormone (fright, flight, fight) in my body would have been the highest in my life. Started my mux and went to the resort I booked. left the tent, bed, chairs there.



That afternoon gathered some courage, and started my car. With lot of apprehension, drove towards the farm, nearly about a km away from the farm, saw a small shack, went near to find an old man near it. Started a conversation with him and requested him if he can accompany me to my farm, he was glad to do me that favour. On the way I asked him about tiger movement in that area, he revealed that a tiger made a kill 3 days back about 400mts from the boundary of my farm towards the small hillock. Did not reveal my early morning experience to him, he helped me pack my tent and other stuff. Loaded the car thanked the old man, gave him some money and I left.



Went back home and started to put my dreams on the paper




A dear friend of mine Mr Bhupesh helped me in creating my derams and toughts in to reality. He is an art director for many super hit south movies



Dr bones jungle home scale model. Bhupesh surprised me one day by creating these scale models for me. The best gift I ever had.



I fell In love with windmills after seeing them in remote parts of Namibia used to pump underground water.

Attachment 2652098

[drbones]

Then came the challenges I have to face, and have no idea how hard these challenges will be.
Power is the biggest challenge, as the closest power line is 2kms away, and have to get it to the farm through the jungle. Hired a electricity contractor who has his own pace of working. This place gets cut off from outside world during monsoon, and I started the construction during monsoon.



As I was restless waiting for the power line, I hired a generator to start the construction.



Next big challenge is to safe guard the cement from monsoon.



After facing the odds, entrance gate with 2 rooms and car park for 2 cars started.



Tractors get frequently stuck, then load to be unloaded, tractor pulled out and reloaded again.



As trucks have no access to the farm, Material must be unloaded at the nearest where tarmac ends(3.5kms away), loaded on a tractor, and brought in the farm and unloaded.



Mux was always there handy for the recovery







After the roof is done, cement now has a much better cover from the ruthless monsoon, which already destroyed almost 120 bags.





I was desperate to finish at least one room, so that I can have a place to stay. At last one room is complete, and I was very happy to stay even tough there was no paint.

[Abbas]

Too good Rakesh Bhai.

Reading your blog felt as if we were camping along with you. We are coming very soon to this farm house. We all old timers need to do a re-union. Great to see your MUX. Hope the Gypsy is also around. Looking forward to seeing you soon.

[drbones]

Work on my dream house has started. As there is no architect or an engineer, I was the doing everything by myself.







Now I have a place for me and my friends to stay.





Need to secure water, as the area is draught prone, with very little underground water. Secured water with a 25k litres underground sump.



Time to secure the highly unreliable power supply with a reliable Generator and UPS back up for the rooms.

[drbones]

Mean while local adivasi people started coming to me for their health problems. Slowly word spread in the surrounding villages, and people started coming for medical help, as there is no health care for around 25kms. Got an idea to create a free jungle clinic, where I can distribute free medication as much as possible. Now the idea of starting a NGO came to my mind, Thats how Dr Bones Jungle home foundation was born





As the area is draught prone, local people were facing sever water shortage every summer. They migrate to a different place every summer. So my aim was to provide safe drinking water to the needy people.



Hence created a 1000L capacity filtered water tank, where every day 2000L of safe drinking water is utilised by the locals.



Happy that few local youngsters joined the NGO as volunteers for wildlife and water conservation.



Dr Bones Jungle home started to take its shape



























Stable for 4 horses, sweet friends whom I met at tipeshwar, to keep their horses. under construction pic, now complete.Love to go on a jungle horse back trek soon.



Dr Bones jungle home is ready, my dream turned reality.



Dining area is ready with attached kitchen, an internal and external wash area.



Car wash area equipped with high pressure washer for full body and underbody wash



Don’t we love our cars to be clean and sparkling?

[vaibhavyagnik]

That is indeed a wonderful Initiative. I have also wanted to go farming and grow my own products. Can you tell me how difficult was it to get land? Is it true that you need to have a farmer certificate to buy farming land?

[drbones]

Dr Bones jungle home and Foundation(NGO)



Objectives of Dr Bones jungle home foundation

1 HEALTHCARE in and around tipeshwar wildlife sanctuary is a pressing challenge, given the remote location and limited resources. Addressing this issue, Dr Bones jungle home foundation play its role in bridging the gaps and strengthening the healthcare system, by working collaboratively with government health care system. NGO focuses to promote health, and empower undrpreviliged communities.

2 NGO takes on the responsibility of promoting health and well-being among vulnerable populations.

3 Through their various initiatives, we address pressing health concerns such as malnutrition, sanitation, maternal health, child health and infectious diseases.

4 NGOs recognize the importance of community engagement in achieving sustainable outcomes. They work closely with local communities, involving them in decision-making processes and empowering them to take charge of their health. NGOs train community health workers, equip them with essential skills and encourage them to become agents of change within their communities.

5 NGOs actively engage in Health awareness campaigns, and medical services in underserved areas.

6 NGOs also address the medical needs of marginalized and vulnerable populations.This includes people in impoverished areas and tribal communities. They set up mobile clinics, community health centers and outreach programs to ensure access to services for these underserved groups. NGO works with tribal communities, and adopt a culturally sensitive approach to engage community leaders.

7 Conducting screening tests, and distribution of free medication to the needy population

8 Ground water conservation is effective and sustainable solution for the growing water crisis in the drought prone areas. NGO has its focus on developing rainwater harvesting structures in villages by integrating indigenous knowledge of local community with technical advancements to recharge the ground water.

9 Promoting self sustainable Water and power sources for daily needs and solar powered lighting.

10 Cleaning and maintaining the area, keeping it plastic free

11 NGO Traines local communities for waste segregation and its management.

12 Encouraging local people to make and use biodegradable daily used products. Help them market their products, in turn helping them generate revenue.

10 Raising public awareness is a key role of the NGO. We conduct, workshops on organic, sustainable farming and sustainable forest product dependence.

11 campaigns to inform the public about environmental issues and encourage responsible behavior.

12 NGO plays major role in helping maintain diversity of local flora and fauna.

13 Most important activity of the NGO is to organise educational and awareness programs for school kids, college students and interested group of passionate people (not more than 15-18 people). Motivating them about importance of Agriculture, Forest, wildlife and nature conservation.

Never ending journey begins

[AAD]

Originally Posted by drbones

Objectives of Dr Bones jungle home foundation[/b]

Kudos to you @drbones for this noble venture pursuant to your initial desire and interest in WildLife. Hat's off to you for following your heart and achieving so much in so little time.

Hope to visit you sometime in the near future as I also share an interest in Wildlife as well as Off Roading.

Cheers

Mod Note: Please quote ONLY the relevant bits of a post. Quoting a full, long post inconveniences our mobile readers.

[Indraneel Bhat]

Your dream house and a social initiative is indeed inspiring Dr.Bones. Keep it up!!

Your Social initiatives reminds me of Anandwan which was started by Baba Amteji. This village, Kodori does not seem to be very far from Anandwan.
For techniques to to tap and conserve water, you could reach out to them at https://anandwan.in/index.html

The programme is currently being run by Baba Amte ji's sons, daughters and grandchildren.

[drbones]

Originally Posted by Abbas

Too good Rakesh Bhai.

Reading your blog felt as if we were camping along with you. We are coming very soon to this farm house. We all old timers need to do a re-union. Great to see your MUX. Hope the Gypsy is also around. Looking forward to seeing you soon.

Abbas bhai, its been very long since we met. lets plan a meet at the jungle home.Gypsy is with me, it will be going to the jungle very soon, that's where it belong.

Originally Posted by vaibhavyagnik

That is indeed a wonderful Initiative. I have also wanted to go farming and grow my own products. Can you tell me how difficult was it to get land? Is it true that you need to have a farmer certificate to buy farming land?

Thanks Vaibhavvyagnik, one needs to have farm land and be a farmer to buy a farm land in Maharastra.

Originally Posted by AAD

Kudos to you @drbones for this noble venture pursuant to your initial desire and interest in WildLife. Hat's off to you for following your heart and achieving so much in so little time.

Thanks AAD

Hope to visit you sometime in the near future as I also share an interest in Wildlife as well as Off Roading.

You are welcome, will post the workshop events of the NGO here. Anyone who is interested and passionate can join the NGO.

Cheers

Originally Posted by Indraneel Bhat

Your dream house and a social initiative is indeed inspiring Dr.Bones. Keep it up!!

Your Social initiatives reminds me of Anandwan which was started by Baba Amteji. This village, Kodori does not seem to be very far from Anandwan.
For techniques to to tap and conserve water, you could reach out to them at https://anandwan.in/index.html

The programme is currently being run by Baba Amte ji's sons, daughters and grandchildren.

Thanks Indraneel Bhat. Nice to read this, will visit Anandwan for sure.

[Kkumar]

A big salute to you for the noble initiative that you have undertaken. Many people have farm houses but very few use them for such a noble cause. Congratulations and all the best for all your future endeavours.

[Fuldagap]

Originally Posted by drbones

After walking around 300 Mts from my vehicle, I noticed something just outside the fence, near the Nala, fresh pug marks, sudden Goosebumps were all over my body. (This is the place for me, the farm owns me, suddenly felt nonsense, and everything vanished from my mind) Looked around , slowly started walking backwards till my vehicle. Its not easy to walk backwards when you are scared to the core, may be I walked backwards for some 50mts, after that I ran to my car. FFF hormone (fright, flight, fight) in my body would have been the highest in my life. Started my mux and went to the resort I booked. left the tent, bed, chairs there.

Attachment 2652085

That afternoon gathered some courage, and started my car. With lot of apprehension, drove towards the farm, nearly about a km away from the farm, saw a small shack, went near to find an old man near it. Started a conversation with him and requested him if he can accompany me to my farm, he was glad to do me that favour. On the way I asked him about tiger movement in that area, he revealed that a tiger made a kill 3 days back about 400mts from the boundary of my farm towards the small hillock. Did not reveal my early morning experience to him, he helped me pack my tent and other stuff. Loaded the car thanked the old man, gave him some money and I left.

I am still to read your whole post. It is quite a feat that you have posted. Will probably have to read it twice to quench the reader's thirst.
Meanwhile, couldn't stop myself from replying to your post about the paw marks, probably of a tiger. It is an experience in itself just to see those marks indeed. While to a reader it might sound funny, backing off and going away in your car, it is quite the opposite in real.

I opine that you should have shared your encounter with the village elder. Sharing information with locals always helps in one way or the other. I hope you get used to such incidents and make it a way of life.

Sharing below two pics that I clicked in 2021 at 0830 hrs, returning back from a walk with my dog. She even sniffed a bit those marks. They were quite fresh.

After a few days i was discussing with a local and he even saw the leopard/panther at around 0800 Hrs. The local went the other way while the leopard/panther went the way where i was walking my dog.

A few months after that I was trekking way to much into the woods, long story short, first time i saw a very big beautiful cat in the grass, running away from me when i threw a stone from around 50 mtrs from me. Only it was not an ordinary cat, it was probably the same panther/leopard. Can't say I had goosebumps, but it was a strange feeling finding out it was not just any animal, it was a predator.

Only once I feared for my life and that was on the day of Diwali 2021, going towards a temple deep in the woods. Encountered a wild boar hardly 15-20 meters from me. My dog came to me and stood in total silence, making me realise the wild boar's presence. The arena was such, there was no place to run or hide or defend myself or my dog had the boar decided to charge at us out of fear or anger. As luck would had it, a small droplet out of the leaves fell on my dog from the huge bushes above us and she shrugged like a dog does out of reflex, the heavy coat of the dog made a sudden noise and the boar ran away astonished.

Me and my dog both ran away in the opposite direction without a pause. I did not try to trek again in the same area for about 2 months.

Here are the pics of the leopard/panther:

[rahulya007]

Congratulations Drbones for your dream home and hats-off to the NGO initiative. Would definitely want to visit your Jungle Home someday and learn more about the conservation initiatives.

Looking forward…

[abhijeetp]

Fantastic jungle home, Dr Bones!!
Really amazed with the flow of events - Doing multiple safari and then being able to buy a clear title land next to Tippeshwar and finally being able to setup your dream home next to the forest.

Btw. I have done safari through Sunna gate. Was not aware of Kodori gate. Hopefully will try Kodori gate next time. We always stay at Pandharkawda during our road trip from Hyderabad to Northern states. Enables us to start on working day after office hours on the first day.

[MadBiker]

This is fantastic stuff Dr. Bones! Kudos to your perseverance.

From the pics, i remember that i briefly met you in Konaseema / Machlipatnam for a HVK meetup? Brings back memories. Good luck with the NGO!