The Bali Jungle Camp. Telegraph picture

Bali Island (Sundarbans), Dec. 7: He never missed a shot ? goes the saying in Bali village, tucked away deep inside the big-cat country on the bank of Gumdi river.

Every time, Sandeep Mridha alias Pintu went hunting in the swamps with his friends ? Anil Mistri, Bidhan Mondol and Pradeep Mondol ? villagers prepared for a feast of succulent deer meat.

The quartet was revered in Bali and its adjacent islands for their hunting skill. By day, they sold illegal meat and timber in the market and by night, they were back in the mangroves tracking game.

But a stray bullet in the autumn of 2002 changed it all. Anil?s aim wavered and a fawn lay writhing instead of the mother deer.

Anil went to his mentor, a local school headmaster, and wept in remorse. A couple of months later, the Bali Nature and Wildlife Conservation Society was born.

The youths tied up with the Project Tiger authorities, and with the help of the Delhi-based Wildlife Protection Society of India and Worldwide Fund for Nature, turned into ?animal guides? helping the forest department net and tranquillise stray tigers and deer, and ferrying them back to the reserve.

Wildlife and eco-conservation now top their agenda. Over the past two years, they claim to have saved ?at least 18 full grown tigers?.

Cut to a cluster of cottages in the heart of the mangrove forest. Sandeep is busy marinating fillets of fresh-water bhetki for a steamed platter.

The hand that killed now feeds guests at the Bali Jungle Camp, a quaint little village resort, a two-hour launch ride from the mainland at Sonakhali.

The resort is manned by the former poachers of Bali and owned by Help Tourism, an organisation promoting community-based sustainable projects.

?After giving up hunting, we realised that we had to generate an alternative livelihood to reduce our over-dependence on forests. Conservation was fine, but we had to survive,? says Bidhan, now a forest tour guide.

Help Tourism, which was scouting for a suitable site in the Sundarbans after eco-tourist ventures in north Bengal, chanced upon Anil and the idea germinated.

Spread over nearly 10 acres, donated by Anil?s father, the Bali jungle camp comprises four thatched huts accommodating 15 people, two boats and 17 employees, mostly former poachers.

?It aims at local capacity building where visitors and hosts share a relationship of mutual reciprocation and weans away the local economy from the forest. The project also fulfils the civic commitment to conservation,? says Asit Biswas, one of the partners of Help Tourism.

Seventy-five per cent of the income is ploughed back into the village. Built for Rs 18 lakh, the resort has generated 3,000 man-days and spawned an allied economy in Bali.

Poaching has stopped and so has felling.

Sukumar Poira, headmaster of Vijaynagar Adarsha Vidya Mandir and founder of the Bali Nature and Wildlife Conservation Society, feels that only micro-level village tourism can save the swamps.

?It serves twin purposes ? stop the rampant poaching and deforestation and shore up the local economy.?