They looked less hefty than the ones at Tadoba. They stared at us in our jeep for quite some time and Paul got into a furious bout of clicking.

As we moved along, we saw a Malabar Giant squirrel leaping easily from the top of one casuarina tree to another. Over two days in the evening, we saw three to four of these squirrels in Bondla Wildife Sanctuary and at BhagwanMahavir Sanctuary.

We had along with us young Pankaj Lad, a quality bird watcher, to identify, in the splendid early morning sunshine, the blue bearded bee-eater and the blue-winged parakeet resting on top of a bare tree. Then came the Golden Oriole and a few other birds, with a family of chitals providing a rare glimpse from behind a bamboo clump. From Sunset Point, one had a wide-angled view of the Western Ghats with lorries loaded with mining materials creeping through.

Pankaj and Arnold saw two barking deer but one missed out on them. "It has been a fine morning," said Pankaj, and one did not mind the heat.

Paul and I were keen on hornbills, and the day before in the evening we noted a Malabar pied hornbill fly across but that was a fleeting show. Bhagwan Mahavir Sanctuary is spread over an area of 107 sq. km with Mollem National Park (133 sq. km) in between.

Goa has six sanctuaries and a national park covering an area of 756.97 sq. km, according to Government officials.

The National Highway 4HA splits Bhagwan Mahavir Sanctuary into two and lorries piled with ore and other materials promise regular disturbance; a railway track also passes through the wild.

The din of engines hangs in the air through day and night and there have been reports of wild animals being run over. Yet, the place seems to be well looked after with checkpoints at many places. At the entry point, there is a statue of Bhagwan Mahavir wrapped in plastic sheets which is due for unwrapping sometime later this month. In that sense, it is better than Mhadai Sanctuary, which can be accessed by anyone.

Rajendra Kerkar told us of hotels outside Mhadai Sanctuary regularly serving meat of sambhar, deer and wild boar to tourists. "The amount of poaching which takes place here is enormous. Worse, one just cannot stop it, as in many instances forest officials play a supportive role."

If and when Karnataka builds the three dams, it will destroy the Barapeda Caves, which house the rare Roughton Free-tailed bats. Inquiries show these bats have also been located at Corbett National Park by Nitin Jamdar.

At Mhadai, we visited an eco-tourist or nature resort hotel - Wildernest - at Swapnagandha located near, if not inside, the sanctuary.

A handout from Wildernest claims: "Located on the Goa-Karnataka border, amidst picturesque settings and serene surroundings, at a height of 800 metres above sea level and overlooking the Vazra Valley, and a panoramic view of the entire Goa, that Wildernest ... the first eco-tel, in the region has evolved." At another place, the handout proudly states: "Our restaurant offers local cuisine cooked in traditional chulhas, to provide that extra flavour of being one with nature. On a lighter note, Cloud 9 our garden bar is a blend of old charm. Chill out at Cloud 9, with its mystic surroundings and let Bhimnath, our local barman entertain you with jungle lore."

Perhaps, Bhagwan Mahavir Sanctuary goes a bit further. Abutting the sanctuary, on the border of National Highway 4HA stands the Dudhsagar Eco-friendly and Wildlife Resort.

Tourists stay in the cottages here before making a trip to the Dudhsagar waterfalls.

The resort boasts of a `Wild Zone' and a `Music and Dancing Floor', and through the evening we wereblasted with some loud and wild music though there was none on the dance floor.

During the peak season, Indian and foreign tourists make merry at the joint. We were told that the eco-friendly resort is on the tourist zone, forgetting the fact that a few strides separates the Wild Zone from the surrounding forest.