MANDAR BAGH TUNNEL
26.351400,73.037500
Description
NOTE 1: At a linear distance of 7 km (perhaps corresponding to »seven miles« or 11 km along the road) due north of Jodhpur City (N26°17'12”: E73°01'48” WGS84), the small town of Bandar is shown near N26°21'05”: E73°02'15' (Everest 1830) on Survey of India sheet 45-F/03 and AMS sheet NG43-05 Jodhpur (U502 series, edition 1959).
A man-made water supply tunnel (6 m wide, 5.8 m high, 183 m long) »forms an excellent roosting place for bats« (PRAKASH 1961: 152). SITUATION 1961: »This place is a garden seven miles [note 1] north of Jodhpur railway station. Low rocks cover one of its sides. To drain water from these rocks a hung nullah (water-course) has been constructed below the Mandore Palace. Its other end opens into the drainage by system of the main road« (PRAKASH 1961: 152). SITUATION 2010: »Mandore Tunnel roost located at Mandore garden, Jodhpur« (SENACHA 2010: 24 photograph caption, 25 photograph caption).TUNNEL DESCRIPTION: An »… about 600 feet long dark tunnel which is about 20 feet broad and 18 feet high. It is divided by arches into many chambers. It forms an excellent roosting place for bats« (PRAKASH 1961: 152). CAVE LIFE - bats (Chiroptera): 1953-56: Rhinopoma kinneari, Megaderma l. lyra, and Taphozous P. perforatus (PRAKASH 1961). 2008 January - 2009 September: »A mix colony of Rhinopoma microphyllum kinneari and Rhinopoma hardwickii roosting inside Mandore Tunnel roost located at Mandore garden, Jodhpur« (SENACHA 2010: 24 photograph caption). »A maternity colony of Egyptian Tomb bat, Taphozous perforatus at Mandore Tunnel roost located at Mandore garden, Jodhpur« (SENACHA 2010: 25 photograph caption). »… Rhinolopus lepidus reported earlier co-existing with other three of the microchiropterans at Mandore tunnel roost in Jodhpur by Senacha (2003) found missing in this investigation. The species is comparatively timid to anthropological disturbances and might have been moved out following generation of frequent vibrations through regular dynamite earth blasts in near stone mines. Earlier, this roost was comparatively far from the stone mining sites but now this distance has been reduced with expansion in mining area« (SENACHA 2010: 27).
Caves nearby
| Distance (km) | Name | Length (m) | Depth (m) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5.3 | DALJAR MATA MANDIR, JODHPUR | ||
| 6.6 | SHIVA, Tolapuri Birek (Cave of) | ||
| 7.2 | SUFI Guinani, Jodhpur (Dargah ka) | ||
| 10.2 | BHIMBARAK CAVE | ||
| 77.0 | BORUNDA CAVITIES | ||
| 116.9 | NAGAUR (Cave at) | ||
| 153.2 | SHIVA, Pushkar (Cave of) | ||
| 153.3 | Backofenhöhle | ||
| 154.2 | PANCH KUND |