The Fading Magic of the Jungles

World Environment Day

The river murmurs quietly as she flows, her crystal waters glistening in the rays of the early morning sun as she gently meanders through the reedy banks effortlessly. 

It is turning out to be another glorious morning. The forest is alive. A startled cry of a lapwing pierces through the dense covering and then begins the chatter of themonkeys who are incredibly energetic even at this time of the day. They are excellent observers, always on the watch, the first to alert other creatures of anything unusual or dangerous, especially the movements of the elusive leopard. 

As Kenneth Anderson recalls in his forest adventures, monkeys are indeed extremely sharp creatures. From somewhere in the deeps of the mountains a wind blows, bringing with it the sweet perfume of a wild flower. The breeze is cool and refreshing as it whispers through the trees and sighs through the reeds, a mysterious traveller from the high mountains who continuously romances with the forest. 

Guarded fiercely by mountains of breathtaking altitude the forest is sacred to all its creatures, to all its dwellers. 

But to our ungrateful lot, it is onlya place that can fulfill selfish needs, a place where we can tear its giant trees apart, pollute its sweet waters,and kill its wonderfully bizarre creatures. A place we can conquer. 
As shards of sunlight break through the mist which begins to descend upon those great green mountains, the entire forest shimmers and glows. Into such a scene then appears a tusker, so majestic, so regal, and its gait of one so proud. Alas, it is completely unaware of our terrible kind, we who stalk these creatures, kill them for their ivory, for their meat, all the while destroying their beautiful home. 

As the sad truth sinks in, the forest scene closes in on a lonely tusker enjoying a heavenly bath by the murmuring river which flows through that magical forest, all of which may very well be lost to us in the near future if we remain complacent and indifferent to what is happening to our forests, to our animals, to our rivers, to our world.

Sent By Vajini Herat Gunaratne

Guarded fiercely by mountains of breathtaking altitude the forest is sacred to all its creatures, to all its dwellers