Item: Reviews
Rating: 5
Author: Akole

What is fireflies festival :

The Western Ghats or the Sahyadri is a mountain range that runs almost parallel to the western coast of the Indian peninsula, located entirely in India. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is one of the eight "hottest hotspots" of biological diversity in the world. It is also called as ‘the Great Escarpment of India’. The area is one of the world's ten "Hottest biodiversity hotspots" and has over 7,402 species of flowering plants, 1814 species of non-flowering plants, 139 mammal species, 508 bird species, 179 amphibian species, 6000 insects species and 290 freshwater fish species; it is likely that many undiscovered species live in the Western Ghats. At least 325 globally threatened species occur in the Western Ghats.

Bhandardra, the famous hill station is situated in Akole Tehsil in Ahemadnagar district, occupied by tribal communities Thakar, Mahadew Koli and Bhill and many other working, farming communities. It is part of forests of Western Ghats in Maharashtra researved as ‘Kalasubai Harischandragad Wildlife Sanctuary’. Since the people are native to these forests, their culture, crop pattern, food are depend upon surrounding nature. paddy and some millet types.(Ragi and little millet) are their main crops in rainy season.

Every year during the last week of May and first week of June, the shiny world of fireflies descends on earth. Millions of fireflies can be spotted in the Bhandardar-Gharghar and Trimbakeshwar. Villages situated at the foot of Kalsubai peak such as Udadavane, Panjare, Murshet, Chincholi, Bari and Koltembhe along with Sapgaon near Trimbakeshwar have become new abode for them. The best time to catch them in action is just before monsoon starts. "Fireflies reside on few trees such as Terminalia Chebula (Hirda), Belleric Myrobaln (Behda), country fig, java plum and mango. If you can identity these trees in the wilderness then you don't have waste too much time looking for fireflies."

You must be all prepared and excited to visit the see nature's illuminations. However, overexcitement kills the buzz. Here are few things that you should take into account before going for fireflies sighting. You might not see all the fireflies at once. Give it some time and get acclimatised with the ambience. Fireflies can't be seen on the go, you have to settle down and stare at one tree for minimum 10 minutes to be able to spot them. "People often wander from one place to another place glancing over many trees and then complain that they weren't able to see the insects. This is not how it works.