Nature enthusiast’s quest to document ancient trees

Hyderabad: To raise awareness, also to safeguard and nudge local authorities about the safety of ancient trees that not only have a rich history and also have scientific and mythological values, city- based nature enthusiast Uday Krishna, as part of ‘Big Tree Quest’ till date has documented around seven ancient trees in Telangana.

The main motto is to draw attention to these heritage greens so that they are protected and also make people know about the ancient trees that played an important role let it be during Independence, by sheltering people and also have saved their lives and also for instance there is an African Baobab tree in Hyderabad in which 40 thieves could hide during daytime.

Uday has documented seven trees that include Pillallamarri - Mahbub Nagar Banyan tree, Hathiyon ka Jhaad - Hyderabad Golf Association Baobab tree, lifesaver tamarind at Osmania Hospital, Gotigarpally banyan - Zaheerabad, healing tamarind - Damaragidda, Veyi urula marri Nirmal banyan tree memoria and ⁠visa tree - mupkal dead banyan tree.

This mission is not limited to Telangana , and also across India, and since February 2024 till date Uday Krishna has visited personally and documented over 110 trees and travelled over 27,000 kms across 22 states and Union Territories in this effort.

The trip when completed will cover over 150 ancient trees covering a distance of over 40,000 kms.

Stretching on a few ancient trees in Telangana, he said, “During my journey, I came across Pillalamarri, Telangana’s oldest tree that is in Mahbubnagar and it is 800-year-old tree that has very interesting insights. Once the tree was spread across 4 acres and now it has fallen down but roots are still there.

According to locals, the ancient banyan tree is so vast, it’s like a green hill from far away,” he said. There is another heritage tree in Osmaina Hospital that saved 150 people during floods

Highlighting on objective, he said, that after he completes visiting all the ancient trees and documenting it, he will approach the government regarding preserving these trees and government should consider them heritage trees and also take up some maintenance. They can also appeal to some corporate organisations to take up it in this CSR activities, so that the old trees are well maintained.