09/23/2025
In 1979, a 16-year-old boy named Jadav Payeng witnessed a scene on a sandbar in Assam, India, that changed the course of his life.
After floods had washed away vegetation, snakes that had been stranded on the barren land died from exposure to the sun. Disturbed by the devastation, Payeng sought a way to restore life to the desolate area along the Brahmaputra River.
Armed only with bamboo seedlings provided by the local forestry department, he began planting them by hand on the sandy ground.
At first, his efforts drew little notice. The land was inhospitable, with poor soil and no shade. Payeng carried water to help the saplings take root and returned daily to tend them.
When the initial bamboo grove survived, he expanded his work by planting native species of trees, including valcol, arjun, and koroi. He continued this work quietly and alone for years, often transporting seedlings in baskets and planting them during monsoon seasons when the ground was moist.
Over time, the saplings grew into a dense forest. Payeng’s efforts did not stop after a few acres—he maintained his planting year after year.
By the early 2000s, the once barren sandbar had been transformed into a flourishing jungle covering over 1,300 acres, an area larger than New York’s Central Park. Known today as Molai Forest, after Payeng’s nickname “Molai,” the habitat has become home to a wide range of wildlife, including Bengal tigers, elephants, rhinoceroses, deer, and hundreds of bird species.
