Bridge to the Past: The Rocky Landscape of Daroji

An endless expanse of rolling rocky hillocks. A seemingly parched landscape and scorching sun.

These images come to mind when I hear Daroji Bear Sanctuary. Located in the Vijayanagara District in Karnataka, this place is famous as a habitat for sloth bears. It also happens to be under 15 km from the UNESCO World Heritage site of Hampi. Even more than the bears, the majestic rock formations all around arrest my attention. These rocks are some of the oldest and the most stable land formations and have been around for nearly 2.5 billion years. Life as we know it had not even evolved when these rocks formed. Yet, these unforgiving rocky landscapes have sustained much life, whether ambling sloth bears or the grand capital of the erstwhile Vijayanagara Empire.

  

Rocky terrain

The never-ending vista of rugged, broken rocky boulders may induce a sense of monotony and perhaps even tedium. At this point, travel back in time and recognise that this boulder-strewn landscape has a long, grand history. The landmass formed during what is known as the Archean eon, 4-2.5 billion years ago. It was a time when Earth’s crust had begun to cool, the continents were taking shape, and the atmosphere lacked oxygen — the only life forms were microbes, a sign that living organisms had begun to flourish. In contrast, humankind arrived on the scene a mere 300,000 years ago.

In this part of India, Earth’s crust consists of the peninsular gneiss, a type of metamorphic rock prevalent across peninsular India. Gneissic rocks are one of the oldest parts of Earth’s crust. Although they are relatively stable today, the region has a prolonged geodynamic past. In other words, historically, volcanic activity shaped and reshaped the crust here. The south-central part of peninsular India was subject to collisions, volcanic incrustations, and compaction. The region comprises what is called the Dharwar Craton (named after the town of Dharwad, Karnataka). A craton is a large stable block of Earth’s crust and the upper part of the mantle that forms continents. The gneissic rocks in the Dharwar Craton are typically granite with incrustations of quartz or other minerals. 

Rocks as record keepers

A leisurely walk among the rocks provides a glimpse of the evolutionary history of the landscape. The rocks are both rubble-like and strewn across the landscape and big, well-shaped and perched precariously on larger rocks. Sometimes, entire hills are made up of granitic rocks and form near monolithic structures. Many rocks have signs of incrustations — vein-like structures formed by quartz flowing between cracks and solidifying. In some cases, mineral incrustation is widespread, forming wide bands called dykes. All these are tell-tale signs of ancient volcanoes exploding and magma flowing over this landscape.

Geological formations are said to be a result of time and pressure. These rock formations have been around for eons and have been subjected to the unrelenting forces of nature. Billions of years of rain, heat, extreme weather events, and acid rain have weathered these rocks and boulders. Some of them have been polished to smooth, rounded structures, some crack and start chipping, and still others shear off in layers. One can feel a distinct crunch when stepping on bare soil because of the coarse-grained soil called “grus” formed by the chemical and physical weathering of rocks.

Rocky scrub jungle

Since few tall trees grow in this region, one may wrongly assume they are wastelands with nothing in them. While this may appear true during summer, with the onset of the monsoon, the landscape transforms into shades of lush green. Colloquially called scrub jungle or rocky scrub jungle, this is technically called “southern thorn forest”.

The predominance of rocks in the landscape means that much of the surface is impervious to rain. Water flows down rocks into gullies and valleys before draining into one of the many tributaries of the mighty Tungabhadra River. This massive river goes on to join the Krishna River before emptying into the Bay of Bengal. A common sight in parts of this landscape is bare rocky hillocks and densely vegetated valleys and plains. This region typically receives a mean annual rainfall of about 700 mm, most of it from the brief monsoon.

It is no surprise that the vegetation is well-adapted to arid conditions. Plants grow dense and thick; many have thorns or are succulents holding water. The predominant vegetation includes many species of Acacia, Aegle Marmelos, Euphorbia nivulia, Santalum album, Ziziphus sp., and Flacourtia indica. Despite appearances, these forests are home to an incredible diversity of life, ranging from small invertebrates to megafauna such as sloth bears and leopards.  

Rock-dwelling bears

Any story about Daroji is incomplete without the mention of sloth bears. In the mid-1990s around 80 sq km of the unique, rocky scrub jungle near Hospete was notified as Daroji, Asia’s first sloth bear sanctuary. Sloth bears are found across peninsular India and primarily feed on ants, termites, berries, and fruit. Like the rocks, they are a part of antiquity — ancient residents of this charismatic landscape. Sloth bears, and the species most closely related to them, sun bears, split from their common ancestor 5-2.5 million years ago, as evidenced by genetic data. Since then, they have adapted to life in rocky scrub jungles, sleeping in rock crevices and caves, and feeding on the bountiful resources of these forests. 

Rocking the ecological boat

The landscape around Daroji is changing fast. Not far from here, a beautiful inverted U-shaped range of mountains is being mined for manganese and iron ore. Much of the scrubland and dry deciduous forests are fast disappearing as well. A major canal from the Tungabhadra supplies water to much of this arid landscape, leading to a gradual expansion of agriculture. The rocky scrub jungles are being cleared for solar farms, resorts, and other land uses alien to the local flora and fauna. Recently, part of the scrub jungle adjacent to Daroji was converted into a “Naturalistic Zoo” despite opposition from scientists and local custodians. Surely all of this will come back to haunt us. The fragile ecosystem of this landscape has survived for millions, if not billions, of years. We humans have waltzed into the scene and brought rapid change. Can the rocks, jungles, and their denizens survive the onslaught of humans? Only time will tell.