Surviving Through Ages

Western ghats’ kathalekan retains its vegetation even after a millenium.

- Akshit Sangomla

Zigzagging along the Western Ghats, our jeep rumbles along the National Highway-206, connecting the coastal town of Kumta in Karnataka’s Uttara Kannada district to Jog falls. Suddenly, the vehicle screeches to a halt at a signboard that read Kathalekan (dark forest). I had been promised a sojourn in an ancient forest and was surprised to find only areca nut plantations at the spot. My guide M D Subash Chandran, a professor at the Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, got down and started walking from the spot where the signboard stood like a mute spectator. I followed him and found a perfectly preserved instance of an ancient ecosystem deep inside.