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Salim Ali's route

Where Salim Ali walked and enjoyed bird watching, you too can, shortly: That is the path envisaged in the `Walk Through History' project, along the tramway route that was.

Between 1930 and1950, Salim Ali camped and walked, collected and observed birds, in the princely states of Travancore-Cochin, among other places in the country.

"One of the major areas where field collection was done for the Travancore-Cochin Ornithological Survey in 1933 was on Cochin State Forest Tramway route. This was chosen since this was the easiest way to reach Parambikulam. It had the best evergreen forests of the region with diverse bird life. I see the old Cochin State Forest Tramway as the ultimate birding trail in India. Some of the evergreen tracts are still intact and we have not lost any species of birds. It is still as rich as Salim Ali said it was," says John Augustine Nirmal, Wildlife Warden, Peechi Division.

`Romantic'

Salim Ali's wife Tehmina also accompanied him during the survey. In fact, the race of the lesser golden-backed woodpecker, found in Kerala, is named after her (Dinopium benghalense tehminae). Tehmina passed away in July 1936.

During his later visits to the State he came back to Kuriarkutty, where he had stayed with his wife during the survey. One thing that pained him was that the `romantic forest tramway' had stopped functioning.

"Combining the history of CSFT with conservation and birding will make the eco-tourism project more interesting. The visitors can stay at the same spots where Salim Ali used to camp during the survey and see the same species he recorded especially the endemics," says Mr. Nirmal.

K.P.

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