In Hollongapar Gibbon Sanctuary, Assam, tourist guides stand as sentinels, ensuring that the echoes of “hook hook hook-ooo” continue to resound through the ancient hollong trees, signalling a harmony between humans and nature.
Amid the rustling leaves and echoing calls, Dandeshwar Bhuiya stands beneath the towering hollong trees, one hand raised in a signal to halt. A soulful howl, “hook hook hook-ooo,” rises in a crescendo, piercing the forest’s silence. Bhuiya, a 45-year-old tourist guide, points to the top branches, indicating the charismatic wild animal hoolock gibbon behind the shrill bursts of sound in Hollongapar Gibbon Sanctuary.
“Hoolock gibbon,” Bhuiya declares, his gaze scanning the canopy. This is Hollongapar Gibbon Sanctuary in the heart of Jorhat district in Assam, a 2,098-hectare haven overlooking lush green tea gardens, protecting the western hoolock gibbons — India’s only ape species. Around 125 of these gibbons, organised into over two dozen family groups, find refuge here.
Tailless like other apes, hoolock gibbons (Hoolock hoolock) stand out with long arms and dense hair. Males, black in colour, and females, grey-brown, create a striking contrast. The face of a male, adorned with white eyebrow-like stripes above the eyes, captivates onlookers.
Hoolock gibbon pairs produce a loud, elaborate song, usually as a duet from the forest canopy. Scientists have known very little about why animals make the sounds that they do. The local guides say the hoolock gibbon howls are their usual sound of reassurance.
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Guides like Bhuiya, natives of villages abutting the sanctuary, are deeply connected to the sanctuary’s soil. They have become custodians of this wilderness. Bhuiya, who assumed the role of a tourist guide two years ago, is one of the 13 guides actively contributing to environmental conservation within the sanctuary.
Hoolock gibbons spend most of their life in the trees, never getting down, swinging from branch to branch high up in the forest. These arboreal trapeze artists are grappling with habitat loss as rampant deforestation disrupts their haven.
Wildlife experts say the apes are hunted and trafficked to China for the illegal pet trade and for use in traditional medicine. Hoolock gibbons are designated as “endangered” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
But a concerted and sustained conservation campaign is giving a second chance to these apes, which share about 96 percent of human DNA.
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Tourist guides like Bhuiya play a vital role as custodians of the wilderness. They are stewards of coexistence, ensuring that the survival of gibbons intertwines with their own livelihoods.
“We are fortunate to have gibbons here as the primates are the prime source of attraction for researchers and tourists,” said Praveen, another guide.
The sanctuary — named after its signature residents, hollong trees (Dipterocarpus retusus) and hoolock gibbons — embraces a tapestry of biodiversity, housing six other primate species – the capped langur, stump-tailed macaque, pigtail macaque, Assamese macaque, rhesus macaque and slow loris.
“We live in fringe villages and use the forest road as a thoroughfare to visit nearby areas,” Jiban Bora, the eldest among the guides, said. “We immediately alert the forest guards on suspecting any illegal activity. Our efforts have helped in conserving the flora and fauna here,” said the 62-year-old who has been working as a guide since 2004.
The guides’ role extends beyond vigilance. It involves rectifying historical imbalances. In collaboration with Aaranyak, a non-profit organisation dedicated to environmental conservation, and government officials, the guides helped bridge a gap in the forest created by a railway line dating back to the British colonial rule in 1887.
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During the late 1800s, when the British started tea plantations in Assam, the necessity for transportation and connectivity emerged. This led to the laying of extensive rail lines, including the Meleng Railway that traverses the Hollongapar sanctuary.
The single broad-gauge track neatly slices the forest into two parts, isolating a patch of woods from the main forest.
“The 1.6km-long railway line had separated the families of gibbons as there were no natural canopies of trees on either side that they could use to cross over since 1887,” explained Bora. And if the gibbons get isolated, they cannot survive.
In a collaborative effort, around 3,000 saplings were planted on both sides of the track in 2005. This patient endeavour bore fruit in 2019 when, after 132 years, the gibbons were reunited across the tracks, Bora said.
Yet, shadows linger in this verdant expanse. Dilip Chetry from Aaranyak emphasised the urgency of sustained efforts to save the hoolock gibbons.
“The natural canopy has helped the reunion of gibbons after a gap of over a century, but the railway line passing through the forest is a risk for the wildlife that crosses the tracks. We have been requesting the authorities to reroute the railway line and take it away from the forest,” he said.
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Chetry estimated a decline in the gibbon population from around 12,000 in 2005 to 7,000, attributing it to continuous deforestation.
Ranjit Saikia, a 43-year-old guide, is saddened by the dwindling global population of gibbons.
“The massive deforestation for development has been destroying their natural habitat. Destruction of the natural canopy is the fastest way to kill them,” he lamented.
Animesh Kalita, the sanctuary’s range officer, acknowledged the pivotal role played by the guides in forest conservation.
“They play a good role in forest conservation, and we also have several wild species here that attract tourists from across the country and even from outside,” Kalita said.
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The lead image at the top shows a female hoolock gibbon at Hollongapar Gibbon Sanctuary in Assam (Photo by Dilip Chetry)
Gurvinder Singh, a journalist based in Kolkata.
