The Zai Whitaker column | Trailing Ajay Giri (from a safe distance) while on a King Cobra rescue mission

I like nothing better than to watch others sweat it out in the field.

A couple of years ago I was at the Agumbe Rainforest Research Station, the Croc Bank’s “branch”in the Western Ghats. Soon after arrival, I went to Kainalli village on a King Cobra rescue mission with Ajay Giri, one of the doyens among snake handlers. It was the King Cobra breeding season, when these snakes are seriously on the go. And so is Ajay’s phone: Continuous calls for help from households, farms, shops and other human habitation. Once more, I witnessed Ajay’s amazingly good snake handling skills, and the tolerance of the local community to the largest venomous snake in the world.

Agumbe is a unique example of how dangerous animals and people (even more dangerous) can live peacefully together. The key piece is Ajay, whose work is sponsored by the Deshpande Foundation, Wildlife Conservation Society and others. It’s because of people like him that this iconic species has a chance of survival in this habitat tapestry of forest, plantations and fields.

A short memory-bite of the experience:

1. Ajay’s base: The Agumbe Rainforest Research Station run by the Madras Crocodile Bank.