Witness nature’s little lamps

A moment from a firefly-spotting festival. Pics courtesy/Bhatakna

Every year before the monsoons bring respite to the state, nature enthusiasts in Mumbai look forward to the firefly-spotting season. Trips are organised by local travel groups to experience surreal nights dotted with gleaming fireflies. Flagging things off, Bhatakna Tours and Travels have arranged camps this weekend onwards that are planned in and around Bhandardara village.

Visitors can witness the Fireflies Festival 2022 with a campsite stay in the outskirts of Ahmednagar. The two-day camp will be a relaxed stay-in-tent getaway. Participants will witness dancing fireflies with their naked eyes apart from savouring the local cuisine. The season is important to the bioluminescent beetles, as they glow to attract female fireflies. It's their mating call. Fireflies produce a chemical reaction inside their bodies that make them light up. The phenomenon is called bioluminescence. In such camps, any kind of activity is avoided as the sound and chaos can impact their breeding process.

A campsite in Bhandardara

Sameer Kolambkar and Abhijit Kamble (left to right, below), founders of Bhatakna, organise camps and treks every weekend to create awareness about such unique experiences. On the plusses of the Fireflies Festival, they shared, "Fireflies are bugs that have further tickled the curiosity bug in us since we were kids. Colloquially known as jugnu in Hindi and kajwa in Marathi, not many people residing in cities are fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of these magical creatures in a lifetime."

The travel platform has pledged to follow a set of rules for this camp. Large groups will be divided into smaller ones. Playing music during the trek and photography with flashlights are strictly prohibited. The intention of the trek is to experience a unique phenomenon without disturbing these natural beauties. The founders request every participant to promise to experience these bugs without causing them any harm. They believe beautiful things don't last, and that is why fireflies flash. "We look forward to our favourite festivals, be it Diwali, Christmas or Holi. Similarly, we look forward to this unique season of fireflies," Kamble signs off.

On: May 21 onwards
Log on to bhatakna.com
Cost: Rs 999 onwards