''Kothai tomi?''.. ''Aami belune ache’’…that is the most usual answer you will get if you call Tanmoy Ghosh, the founder of irebelasia.org which is based in Belun. After many long hour phone conversations with him I decided to hop in this opportunity to see the interiors of rural West Bengal when he invited me to see the work and projects started by his NGO’ irebelasia.org’. This was my first time to visit any wildlife related organization to see their work so closely. Tanmoy started irebel with few determined intentions in his mind. Now irebel is growing well and has been working to constraint illegal hunting & deforestation, changing farmers mind towards use of chemical pesticides & fertilizers, documentation & monitoring of threatened species, rehabilitation of birds & animals, creating new forests of indigenous trees and plantations etc.
Though a small village based organization, I realized the importance of its presence in rural side because the team irebel is really working hard from the grass route level. They have started this work at the right hour to voice the need of wildlife & eco-conservation. It is more difficult when you take the challenge of educating co-villagers about all these things. Still in rural India many primary facilities are inadequate so telling natives to ignore the jungle cat or fox housing in their paddy fields is just like a stupidity according to villagers. But tanmoy and his team at irebel have been doing this since last 14 years. Not only they are engaged in wildlife activities but now irebel is also playing lead role in providing financial, medical & educational conveniences to these villagers.
The villagers of this picturesque small village have learned a new language of wildlife care and eco-conservation and they love it too. Few years ago Tanmoy and his naturalist friends have started working seriously on the grasslands of Belun for the first ever bio-diversity park of village. Belun villagers are now considering the need of interdependence of birds & animals with their lives and obviously the significant efforts done by irebel team for the mass awareness campaigning for eco & wildlife conservation, these people have understood the need of bio-diversity forest and they are also helping irebel team for this.
Being a tiny remote village of west Bengal, Belun may not have luxurious lifestyle facilities but indeed Belun is a quiet, beautiful & serene natural habitat for many birds & animals. This petite village near Shiblun of Burdwan district of west Bengal is surrounded by Ajay and Hooghly River’s confluence and also has its very own small river-the Shibai, which is a primary source of water for farming & cultivation here. Like any typical village in west Bengal, Belun too had witnessed severe damages to houses, croplands, wildlife habitats by the annual flooding of these three rivers. Katwa town is nearly 12 Km from Belun, which is actually the advantage for irebel’s work.
Belun is encircled with enormous treasure of wildlife & forest. It was for the first time I trailed through the thickest & 7-8 ft high grasslands here and enjoyed it a lot. Initially Belun is a natural habitat for 200 species of birds, both resident and migratory birds & also animals like jungle cats, jackals, hyenas etc can be spotted in nearby forest. irebel team is creating new grassland & wetland habitats for birds and also protecting them. irebel is developing interest among village youth towards nature studies and helping them to become naturalist. Palash Ghosh is the boy who is perusing his M.A in nature studies, is also leading the naturalist team of irebel. This team is taking initiative in close monitoring of the bird & animal population, their behavior, nesting habits, reproduction & other physiological activities. irebel has developed its own financial support by giving tourists a weekend gate away option at Belun. With excellent eco-village kind of facilities for stay & food, this lovely nature hub has much more to give. It is just 175 km by road from Kolkata and other options like train, bus are also available to reach Belun. Once reach Belun, you can make it a base point and visit nearby places like Kalyanpur ghat or Nayachar for Gangetic dolphins, Attahas Tala for open billed stork, flying fox , Chot pukur for terrapins, Bengal fox & migratory birds, & Musharu-the snake village etc.
Tanmoy and his team at irebel have many plans to treasure this beauty of Belun and also focusing on the financial up gradation of villagers too, that is why tanmoy believes in people’s participation in preserving this natural wealth is very important and to create awareness among them is irebel’s prominent aim. Irebel team is working on conservation of critically endangered Ghariyal (Gavialis gangeticus) as the continuous research & monitoring work is going on. Irebelasia is lucky to have all its team working so enthusiastically and always ready to run on their toes for any project work & guests. Team is engaged mainly with outdoor research projects throughout the year, Sanjoy Ghosh is also one of the backbone of irebel from Belun. irebel team is lucky to always incomplete without a scrupulous inspiration it gets from Lee Ann Merril, who is intergovernmental Coordinator for water & land resources in US. I liked the longing for knowledge in every irebelian, be it a just a volunteer or a field activist. Santu, Prakash, Ajoy, Biplab, Ganesh & many others, who are really working hard for irebelasia and it is just because of all the team effort, irebel is growing towards an encouraging future.
Eco and wildlife conservation and mass awareness does not always need showy glossy presentations in media with catchy taglines or support by so called wildlifers, it just needs a direct hit on aim with all the dedication & love for nature. Tanmoy Ghosh’s team is doing exactly that. I think India needs many more tanmoy’s to preserve the wildlife wealth of this country. To visit Belun or for more information about irebel (institute for research on ecology and biodiversity to enunciate our liability protect your environment and ensure our existence.) please contact on Tanmoy Ghosh tanmoywildphoto@gmail.com.
Way to Belun in Burdwan district of West Bengal.
Nearest railhead to Belun is Katwa and Bandel near Kolkata in India. To reach Belun, journey to Siblun from Katwa junction or Bandel.
