Bioluminescent Fungi

 Hello, my name is Swara Chandorkar, and I am going to share my night-time bioluminescent fungi-finding experience. Bioluminescent Fungi are fungi that glow in the dark. This happens due to a chemical called Luciferin present in them. To get a good look at them, one should only try to find them in pitch darkness, and in a slightly moist jungle. Observing these fungi is a very unique experience as they are only seen in the western ghats, during the monsoon season. I had seen photos of this fungi on National Geographic and in a few documentaries too, so I was feeling really excited and curious about how it would actually look like. And to be honest, I never thought that I would get to see them from such a small distance from Pune.

My parents and I left at around 8:30pm. With us was Dr. Sachin Punekar, who has expertise in the field of fungi and would guide us on the roads in the jungle of Tamhini and help us spot not only the bioluminescent fungi, but other amazing wildlife. I thought all we would see would be the fungi. And wasn’t I wrong! Our very first sighting was a Cat snake, on the road itself. It was quite aggressive, and we watched it dive into the roadside bushes. I was glad it went into those bushes as a car in front of us had narrowly missed it and the poor snake was not safe on the road. Our next sighting was a marvelous one. “Snake!”, shouted Dr. Punekar and we halted and stepped out on the road. The snake was green and long. We took photos and one or two videos but maintained a safe distance the whole time. Then a question we had forgotten about was answered, “This is the Bamboo Pit Viper,” said our guide. “Highly venomous” was added after a few seconds. I stepped back. We even observed the ‘rattling’ movement of the tail which is very rare in Bamboo pit vipers. 

Another interesting interruption a huge frog which jumped nearly 2 feet in the air when it caught sight of us. It too, disappeared into the bushes.  And then to tick off the mammal category, we even saw a beautiful, slim, and slick Jungle Cat. 

It was around 12 midnight by now. No streetlights, no car honks, just a dose of silence and darkness. A little eerie, but exciting. I was a fair bit nervous at the beginning as the presence of leopards in Tamhini Ghat is well known. And to top it off, we were required to switch off our torches so that we will get a better view of the fungi. But emotions of fear were lost when we saw the fungi.

Dr. Punekar had seen the (fabulous) fungi and knew just where to look for it. He began moving random sticks and climbing random spots while telling us to turn off our torches. A few rustles were here and there, and then he told us to turn on the torches so he could get down from a slightly tall ledge he had climbed. He held ordinary sticks and placed them on a slightly muddy ledge coming out from the slightly tall one. Lights off all over again. Pitch darkness, an eerie silence. Then, an exclamation from everyone, a faint green glow from the said sticks. The unmistakable glow of the Bioluminescent Fungi.

No passing car would’ve seen it, but we did as our eyes had adjusted to our surroundings. I thought that the fungi would constantly keep the glow alive, and I suppose I got that conclusion from the internet’s view, but it turns out that it does not. We walked ahead on the same road and discovered many more fungi spots. It surprisingly looks only about 60-70% similar to the photos across the internet. With our bare eyes, we only see it glow every 5 to 6 seconds and the fungi seems pretty tiny. I felt somewhat elated to have seen such a naturally beautiful sight with my own eyes. After we had our fill, we decided to leave, considering the fact that it was 2:00 am.

As an experience, I definitely rank it to be one of my favorites. It was quite thrilling to leave the ‘safety’ of the car and hold our breaths as the fungi was searched by Dr. Punekar. And now, I am looking forward to seeing the bioluminescent mushrooms which I am sure will be further more interesting.