Through the EcoTrail in Lal Bagh

The events which happened in the WWF-led EcoTrail in Bangalore

In the month of June, 2024, I was part of a beautiful EcoTrail organised by the World-Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in Bangalore.

WWF’s Eco Trails are one of the experiential-learning programs of WWF-India which aims to support the existing knowledge, instil concern and encourage citizens towards nature conservation. These Eco trails not only provide a visual experience, but also creates awareness about local environmental issues and help introduce solutions towards a healthier planet.

I gathered around with nearly 20–30 people who were primarily from the Tata Group Companies, ranging from Tata AIG, Titan, IHCL (Taj Hotels), and BigBasket. As we met with the representatives of WWF in the west gate of Lal Bagh botanical garden, they explained in brief about the objectives for the day.

Simply put, the primary objective was about going around the Lal Bagh botanical garden and observe (and possibly record) the various specimens of flora and fauna. We were provided with a link to an app called the iNaturalist app on our mobile phones. They told us to take and record as many pictures as possible during the entire visit. The pictures are supposed to contain unique flora and fauna, patterns made by the trees and leaves, etc.

By about 7:40 am that day, we started the trail with the installation of the iNaturalist app on each of our phones. The guides gave us instructions on how to use the app and its significance to the community of environmental activists. Apparently, the app is used to note and observe the presence of a diverse species of plants and animals. People who are interested can also follow the pictures and see the flora and fauna in real life. This is actually a significant contribution to the science community as the diversity gets captured and stored as online information to be used for further studies and research purposes. The app also provides nature enthusiasts a portal to share their discoveries and photographs of the biodiversity around us.

As we walked on, the guide taught the group about the various parts and areas in trees, the characteristics of some animals, etc. For example, we all stopped by the lake to observe the ducks and swans floating on it. It was really interesting to note the interaction between 2 swans swimming close by.

A picture of one of the ducks…

One thing he taught us about trees was about the lichen on the bark of the trees. He notes that the size of lichen dwindles as the level of pollution increases. “As Bengaluru is heavily polluted,” he says, “you cannot see much lichen outside the garden.” And yes, the lichen present on the trees in the garden were significantly large. Looking at the lichen brought me memories of my grade 9 project/assignment that I did to explain lichen to my class as part of a seminar.

During the EcoTrail…

We also noted few animals which are different to the ones that are seen in pictures. Another thing we learned was new terms to identify and name various types of animals. One such example is of the owlet, which is the term for a baby owl. I was amazed to see the small size of the owlet. It would have been the size of my fist, give or take. The owlet was so small that I took more than a couple of minutes to locate it amidst the canopy of trees. The bird was well hidden by the camouflage of the bark of the tree.

An entity that I liked in the entire visit was that of the oriental darter. Its beautiful figure was further favoured by its black colour. As it perched on one of the longer branches arched towards the lake, the scenery and the bird looked like an aesthetic match.

Moving further, we regrouped under a small park-hut in the garden by 9:45 am. There, a small activity was conducted where we had to take a picture of something that resembled the pattern of our hand’s lines. I took a recourse to the secluded part of the park to observe tree patterns that looked similar to the lines of my palm. I returned 3 minutes later to find the group taking their seats back in the hut.

WWF waited for us to take our seats and thanked us for spending our time in the park with them. Additionally, they wanted to felicitate the person who took the greatest number of pictures in the iNaturalist app. This was given to Mr. Datta H. Patil of Titan, who was commended for his interest in observing and uploading nearly 87 pictures of flora and fauna, the highest of any participant.

Thereafter, we reached the West gate of Lal Bagh where the orientation was conducted. After a quick group picture and greeting session, we left to commence our day. After all, it was only 10 am.