VIEW FROM THE BARDEZ HILLOCK: THERE ARE OVER A HUNDRED SPECIES HERE By Joseph Zuzarte [EMAIL PROTECTED]
The Saligao-Calangute garbage dump is one of my favourite spots for birding, the term used to describe bird-watching. I've been visiting it at least once a month in the last three-odd years, because it's a short fifteen to twenty minute walk up and on the hill from where I stay, Candolim. It's easily one of the hottest spots for spotting the raptors -- eagles, kites, buzzards, etc -- in Goa, all of whom are attracted by the bio-degradable waste. Left-over food, fish, chicken, etc from the resorts is dumped there. Birds which can be easily seen there include the Black Eagle, Black Kite, Brown Kite, Brahminy Kite, Short-Toed Snake Eagle, Crested Serpent Eagle, White-Bellied Sea Eagle, Changeable Hawk Eagle, Lesser and Greater Spotted Eagles, Common Buzzards, Black-Winged Kites, and more. Normally it's a tough life for the wild birds who have to hunt for their food everyday; the dump is like a free banquet for them everyday. Some days, though, I skip the dump and walk elsewhere on the large, sprawling hill, which has the villages of Candolim, Calangute, Saligao, and Pilerne on its four sides. Sometimes I go for a long walk -- for around two hours -- to work up a sweat and typically walk through the hilly parts of all the four villages in a circle. The entire area is a great birding spot, not just the Salmona spring area. In fact I would not rate the Salmona spring as the best birding spot there; there are other, better spots. There are colonies of different birds all over the hill, so you see different birds in different areas. From my house, across the hill, to Salmona spring is about a 15-20 minute walk. I go there sometimes, stopping at the tableland just over the spring, because the spring itself is not such an attractive place. The view from a little way up there is spectacular. On a good day you can see the Vagator fort; the plains of Saligao, Nagoa and Parra stretch in front, and the Guirim citadel is also opposite. There are in fact in a few other springs at the bottom of the hill in the other villages, too, like Motar in Calangute. Another favourite rest spot of mine is up on the hill behind the Calangute police station, which has a nice colony of various Sunbirds and Minivets. Some of the more exotic birds which can be seen all over this hill include: Golden-Backed Woodpecker, Heart-Spotted Woodpecker, Blue-Faced Malkoha, Shama, Long-Tailed Nightjar, Forest Owlet, Crimson Subird, Paradise Flycatcher, Hoopoe (there's a small colony next to the dump), plus various other Sunbirds, Drongos, Cuckoos, Barbets, Pitpits, Swifts, Larks, Wagtails, Lapwings, Tree-Pies, Warblers, Babblers, Bulbuls Peacocks, Falcons, Quails, Robins, Owls, Ioras, Bee-Eaters, Flycatchers, Munias, Koals, Pheasants, etc. There are over a hundred species resident there. It's a place fit to be declared a bird sanctuary! With spring in the air these last two months, it was peak mating season for the big birds, during which the male birds go for spectacular acrobatics in the air -- to attract the females. There are also their amazing courtship displays, all of which can be seen around the dump. Besides the birds, there are a lot of porcupines on the dense slopes on the Calangute side, some wolves and rabbits, besides a lot of snakes. There's also a large number of wild fruiting trees and the ubiquitous cashew orchards and acacia plantations. When I first started walking the area around three years ago (I used to also walk there as a kid over 25 years ago), I was shocked to see practically the entire hill covered with plastic bags and garbage which had been blown all over the place from the garbage dump by the strong winds. Two years ago, following a HC order, all the plastic bags have been cleaned up, there's now proper sorting of the garbage and the whole area is a lot neater looking. The dump itself is a open plateau, about the size of two football fields. It's a spot where the three villages of Candolim, Calangute and Saligao meet on the hill. The heart of the dump is an old, abandoned stone quarry, quite deep, into which most of the bio-degradable and inflammable waste is dumped these days. Most of the big birds perch around this spot. The approach road being used (it's a red road) starts near the Saligao Seminary, probably goes through a bit of Pilerne, re-enters Saligao and finally crosses over into Calangute. The boundary between Calangute and Saligao is age-old and is demarcated by two or three stones here and there. Following the commotion of two years ago, a white line, like they use in demarcating football fields, was drawn to show the boundary between Calangute and Saligao. The garbage is now dumped on the Calangute side, where it is sorted out by a dozen-odd people who are engaged in the waste trade. Earlier the trucks and vans would empty the garbage anywhere they felt like. It would seem a natural extension of its existing usage to install a proper, modern garbage disposal and recycling plant there. There's no wishing away the problem, because tourism in the area generates a huge amount of garbage which needs to be dumped somewhere. And proper garbage disposal is essential for protecting the environment. It's all very nicely, though manually, done these days at the dump. Glass is segregated -- broken and empty bottles, etc -- the metal like aluminium and cans separated foam leather, clothing, waste food, all separated. Some of these things fetch a tidy amount for the sorters who fill up sacks of the stuff and transport it away in vans. If recycling methods were not to be introduced there, the garbage would have simply piled up, as was happening all these years, These days there's actually not much garbage there. The situation changed because the Saligaonkars had protested amid fear that the Salmona spring would get polluted. Ironically, the spring now fears danger of another kind from within Saligao itself. The people of Saligao once again have protested the movement of the garbage trucks through their village in the daytime, as they are only supposed to do so in the nights. This problem can be solved by accessing the dump from other roads, like from the Boa Vista side in Calangute, or from Saipem, where rudimentary roads leading up also exist. Occasionally people building mud houses down in the villages come up in trucks to dig up and carry away loads of some fine clay found on the Calangute plateau. It's a lovely plateau. On all sides of the hill, not just in Salmona, there are some excellent forests, with some landlords owning huge areas with pristine, native forests, with the original flora still largely intact. There are a lot of medicinal plants there. The garbage dump also has a large number of dogs who live off the bio-degradable waste. The dogs stay in dug-up holes under the roots of large trees. Many a time I come across healthy new litters! I always wonder if they're real wild dogs (dholes). For how much longer all those birds and trees will last in the face of relentless development is debatable, simply because there are no incentives for the people to conserve their land. A land-owning family which owned a huge chunk of the hill slopes, have sold off their land, which is now a sprawling low-budget colony. Fortunately most of the hill-top land is owned by comunidades, which has acted as a brake on their destruction. The day the comunidades go, so will all our land. *** ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Zuzarte is a journalist back in Goa, after spending nearly two decades in Mumbai. He is a keen watcher of things Goan. GOANET READER WELCOMES contributions from its readers, by way of essays, reviews, features and think-pieces. We share quality Goa-related writing among the growing readership of Goanet and it's allied network of mailing lists. If you appreciate the above article, please send in your feedback to the writer. Our writers write -- or share what they have written -- pro bono, and deserve hearing back from those who appreciate their work. Goanet Reader too welcomes your feedback at [EMAIL PROTECTED] Goanet Reader is edited by Frederick Noronha <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>