“Sitting in the forest in the dead of night and watching thousands of fireflies glowing in unison feels like the stars have descended on earth. They seem to light up the forest from one end to the other in a magical pattern,” says Digvijay Rathore, a senior trek leader of Mischief Treks, Mumbai, who has been taking groups of people on firefly trails, festivals and camps for the past six years.
Season of the fireflies
This is the season of the fireflies. Starting from the second week of May, when summer is just about to transition to the rainy season, spurts of summer showers are common. This is followed by a brief lull before the rains come down. This is also a period when the fireflies come out to mate, decorating the forests like strings of fairy lights. The phenomenon usually happens along the Western Ghats, and the mating time of the fireflies is based on weather conditions in these regions.
