“Sitting within the forest at midnight and watching 1000’s of fireflies glowing in unison looks like the celebs have descended on earth. They appear to gentle up the forest from one finish to the opposite in a magical sample,” says Digvijay Rathore, a senior trek chief of Mischief Treks, Mumbai, who has been taking teams of individuals on firefly trails, festivals and camps for the previous six years.
Season of the fireflies
That is the season of the fireflies. Ranging from the second week of Could, when summer time is nearly to transition to the wet season, spurts of summer time showers are frequent. That is adopted by a quick lull earlier than the rains come down. That is additionally a interval when the fireflies come out to mate, adorning the forests like strings of fairy lights. The phenomenon often occurs alongside the Western Ghats, and the mating time of the fireflies is predicated on climate situations in these areas.
Additionally learn: Synchronous lighting by mega congregation of fireflies recorded in one other forest vary of Anamalai Tiger Reserve
“There may be solely a small window of say 15 days when the mating of the fireflies takes place. It often occurs when there’s a sure moisture within the air, simply earlier than the onset of the monsoon,” provides Digvijay.
Journey and journey firms in and round Mumbai have been providing curated firefly festivals, camps, and treks in Bhandardara, Rajmachi, Igatpuri, Lonavala, Karjat, Prabalmachi, Purushwadi and Kothaligad areas in Maharashtra district, the place one can watch this congregation of flashing fireflies.
What often begins in Could, can prolong as much as the primary week of June in Maharashtra. “The breeding season begins pre-monsoon. In Coorg, it’s throughout the first and second weeks of April after which they journey up north in direction of Maharashtra,” says Obuli Chandran, a science communicator and founding father of Mango Schooling, another faculty for basic and utilized science for youngsters. In April, he hadtaken a bunch of kids to witness the fireflies at Madikkeri in Coorg. “We had been on the Rainforest Retreat in Madikkeri, in an natural plantation and we noticed swarms of fireflies flashing, the kids had been delighted. They’d by no means seen one thing like that earlier than,” he provides.
Near the Sahyadri
Mumbai being near the Sahyadri vary has hills and forests simply a few hours away from town and watching the fireflies has change into sought-after expertise, says Vinay Gupta of Journey Geek, a trekking group that additionally conducts backpacking excursions, and specialised seasonal packages such because the mango pageant. This season, a lot of the enquiries are for the firefly trails, says Vinay.
With the variety of guests going up over time, nice care is taken to not disturb the bugs, says Digvijay. “We inform campers that the main target is on the fireflies and never on ‘tenting’. To those that come anticipating bonfires and barbecues, we educate them about how fireflies are extraordinarily delicate to small adjustments within the atmosphere. Hearth, smoke, and lights can pollute their atmosphere and trigger hurt,” he explains.
Whereas the camps within the preliminary years have been getting individuals from in and round Mumbai, the previous few years have seen individuals from different components of India together with Bengaluru and Hyderabad.
“Some instances, a single tree within the forest might have 15,000 to 20,000 fireflies and if you’re tenting, you would possibly discover quite a lot of them glowing inside your tent, too,” Digvijay indicators off.
Firefly treks and camps are on till June 17 , and vary from ₹499 to ₹1,699 an individual. Tickets on bookmyshow.com, insider.in.
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