The caterpillar hung cradled by a black thread beneath a small branch of the cashew tree. Chocolate brown with a creamy girdle, its spiky body hunched in repose, it had chosen this spot to turn from caterpillar to the curled leaf chrysalis of the Southern Birdwing. But this tree was host not only to the creeper food plant but also to voracious red ants. Marari’s resident naturalists Shibu and Jiju had watched with me, a swarm of ants overwhelm and devour, another caterpillar higher up in the tree. Ant scouts were exploring the caterpillar’s branch, so, to deter them, the naturalists wound some kerosene-soaked string and double sided sticky tape around the caterpillar’s twig to keep them at bay – a neat and practical solution to the problem. For, twenty-four hours later there was the chrysalis in its leafy disguise, safe and sound.
First met Shibu in 2008. He is passionate about everything wild, from the smallest insect to the mighty elephant, though snakes and birds are perhaps his favourites. His father was a bird hunter and he too once shot birds. Now, he shoots only with his camera and is an award winning
wildlife photographer. He’s been wild about nature since he was a child and everything he knows about the wild, he has found out for himself.
The same is true of Jiju, his junior assistant. Thanks to Marari, this young chemistry graduate can indulge his passion for the wild and share it with others.
My own love of the wild also stems from my childhood and though I’ve never been lucky
enough to be a professional naturalist, I have always loved to tell anyone who will listen about the world of the small things to be found around us.
Naturalists, I think never lose the curiosity that all young children have about the world around them, and take childish delight in sharing what they have discovered with others. That’s why you’ll see us heads down, looking in the undergrowth, heads up peering into the branches of a tree. That’s why you’ll be asked to maybe hold a bronze and blue vine snake, look at that photo of a crab spider eating a butterfly, take a walk in the vegetable garden and see what your dinner looks like before it reaches the kitchen. That’s why we believe we’re all born to be wild. We should all rediscover our wild side; without it, there’s something missing in our lives.
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