Jatinga

Jatinga Assam

Jatinga is a mystic, beautiful, lush green village located on a ridge in the North Cachar Hills of Dima Hasao District in Assam at the foothills of the Borail range. It is located in the vicinity of Haflong town which is the District Head Quarter of North Cachar Hills. It is a popular tourist spot which is easily accessible by train, buses, taxis and auto-rickshaws. Decorated with blue Vanda Orchids during the flowering season, it is home to 2500 Dima Hasao population. Jatinga is located about 330 km South of Guwahati – the commercial capital of Assam. The natives earned their livelihood mostly from forest products, specially cultivation of bamboo and export. Hunting was a part of their life and the juveniles were trained to adopt various hunting techniques.

The mornings in Jatinga is illuminated by the spectacular sunlight peaking through the Hempeopet Peak. The Hempeopet Peak is the second highest peak in the mountainous terrain which gives tourists a marvelous view. Jatinga is famous for its orange orchards, beautiful orchid gardens, and its traditional tribal dances, and for the mysterious suicidal tendencies in birds. In fact, Jatinga is also called Death Valley for Birds due to the strange phenomenon of avian mass suicides. There is a bird watchtower in Jatinga from which one can witness the mysterious phenomenon, however prior permissions from district forestry office in Haflong is necessary.

In late 1950's British tea planter and ornithologist E.P.Gee and Salim Ali visited this place to find out the cause of mysterious death of migratory birds. The first record of this mysterious phenomenon is found in the book Wild Life of India (1957) by E.P. Gee. Gee, a naturalist, wrote that the suicides of birds only at the specific spot is extraordinary. The phenomenon did not occur at the nearby places even if they were illuminated just like Jatinga. He also recorded the conditions required for this phenomenon - fog, cloud and mist. The incident happens in the late monsoon months between September and November in the late evenings mostly between 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM. It mostly happens in dark moonless nights with light rains when the South Westerly winds are blowing. Gee brought this mysterious phenomenon to the Global attention.

Jatinga became a popular tourist destination by the 1980's. The mystery of Jatinga attracts ornithologist from all over the world but the phenomenon still needs to be investigated and understood. The most likely cause of mass avian suicides could be disorientation of the birds at high altitudes and high speed winds due to the widespread fog, which is common at the end of the monsoons. Dr. Sudhir Sengupta sent by the Zoological Survey of India to investigate and unscramble the mystery strongly believes that the magnetic properties of subterranean water is altered by the atmospheric conditions of this terrain. These changes though invisible, affect the physiological rhythm of the local birds and they start behaving abnormally towards the sources of light which leads to the mysterious happening.

The Hindu on October 28, 2010 says, on a moonless night, when the mist and fog bearing South-Westerly winds blow over the Jatinga valley, different species of local migratory birds get attracted to strong light sources or “bird trap lights.” The phenomenon remains an unsolved mystery, with many theories doing the rounds.

Rushali Shinde