There is something about wilderness which attracts us. Maybe, living in a concrete jungle with predatory humans for company, the tree filled jungles where real predators and their prey remain in harmony seems a better option. Of course, being a city dweller since birth and knowing nothing of rural life, I wonder if I will be able to live happily in a village for more than a few days. All the same, it is wonderful to get away from the sea of humanity during the holidays, and we are always on the lookout for a place which will take us far from the madding crowd. This time, all our wishes were fulfilled when we spent the best 48 hours of our Christmas vacation at K.Gudi near Chamrajnagar (Karnataka).

We started from Ooty early in the morning, and weaved our way along the highway which passes through Masinagudi, Mudumalai and Bandipur. (If any of you are planning a similar trip, it would be a good idea to combine a visit to the sanctuary along with the journey towards Mysore). Since we had already been on the jungle safari earlier, we did not stop, but went on with our journey. We were, however lucky to see some herd of deer on the way. I found myself with better shots of the deer this time, than on our jungle safari! The journey from Ooty to K.Gudi took us about 3 ½ hours.

K.Gudi expands to Kyatadevara Gudi, named for a tribal deity who has a temple here. This is a small hamlet about 20 Kms from B.R.Hills. This place is a discovery of the erstwhile Maharaja of Mysore, who found it a convenient location to build hunting lodge. This structure stands here till date, of course, after some renovation, and is now the main reception and office of Jungle Lodges and Resorts, who have built one of their eco-friendly lodges here. Today, this place is part of the BRT Wildlife Sanctuary – the Belligiri Rangaswamy Temple Sanctuary – and is one of the few places in India where you can stay inside the sanctuary itself, with the full permission of the concerned authorities. Right opposite the lodge is the forest department guest house, also an old structure, now renovated, but dating back to the British era, believed by some to be haunted!!!!

We were welcomed on our arrival at the resort by Mr. Narayan, who is the naturalist at the resort. One who grew up in a village on the banks of the Kabini, Narayan has a close relationship with the flora and fauna of the area and was extremely helpful as well as informative. Samhith was thrilled to hear that we would be leaving after lunch for our first jungle safari, and that we would be going for one every morning and afternoon. However, what captured his attention was a pair of elephants in the lodge, one of which was bathing in a lake just outside the resort. It was the first time that I saw an elephant bathing, and it was a wonderful sight. I couldn’t stop taking photographs!!!

There are about 8 tented cottages and 3 log huts available at the resort. There are also a few well appointed rooms at the hunting lodge which also houses as the main office. We had tried to book one of the log huts, but even more than 3 months back, they were all booked, and we had to settle for the last tent available. However, staying in the tented cottage itself was a wonderful experience. Two easy chairs outside beckoned us, and inside, it was roomy and contained a double bed and a couple of tables and clothes-hanger. A door behind the tent led to a large bathroom. Very basic, but sufficient and comfortable. We were warned to strictly keep the door closed at all times, for the area was full of monkeys who wouldn’t hesitate to take over our room at the slightest chance.

We were ready at 4 PM after lunch and a short siesta for tea and an introductory talk given by Narayan. He spoke about the lodge, its history, and the kind of animals that made the forest their home. He was very clear, and emphasized that we wouldn’t see all the animals, but only some, and that too, with a bit of luck. An interesting and encouraging thing was a list on a whiteboard right outside, which listed all the sightings of animals in the last 2 weeks. It was extremely encouraging to note that leopards had been seen no less than 6 times, and a tiger had been sighted twice. He specifically asked everyone present not to use the flash during taking photographs. It was only then that I realized that I had no idea how to switch off the flash in my camera, and he happily obliged. We set off in an open jeep for the safari.

I suppose the most important factor in a safari is luck. We saw a number of deer – spotted deer (Chital), barking deer and S?mbhar. However, the most interesting animal we saw was a herd of Bison (Gaur). They were returning from a water hole, and obliged us by standing still for a few minutes. Lady luck parted from us at this point, for we just missed seeing a couple of leopards which were seen by people in the jeep before us. The driver alerted our driver through the wireless, but by the time we reached the place, they were gone, and didn’t return.

We returned from the safari, feeling cold to the point of shivering. Coming from Ooty, we felt that it wouldn’t be too cold, and thinking we could bear the slight chill, we had neglected to carry our woolen clothes for the safari. The temperature in the higher reaches of the forest soon chilled us to our bones, and we decided never to venture out again without sweaters. Tea and snacks at the lodge proved to be welcome, and a documentary on the Cobra kept us entertained.

Incidentally, I must mention that the lodge is powered by solar power, and in the winter, thanks to the sun being invisible most of the time, electricity is limited, and is confined to the times of absolute necessity. The lights come on in the morning at 6 AM, acting as a wake-up call, and stay just ling enough for us to get dressed and ready for the morning safari. After that, the electric supply is restricted to the office every evening, the lights come on at 7 PM, when a wildlife documentary is screened, and stays on till 9 or 9:30 PM. The geyser and the main light are operated centrally, so as to minimize wastage. We had to use the power supply in the office for charging my camera batteries and chose to leave our cell phones un-charged. We thus were totally unreachable, a wonderful feeling!

We were woken up the next morning by the light coming on at 6 AM, followed almost at once by one of the staff with hot tea and coffee. In a few minutes, we were dressed, and ready for our second venture into the forest. This time, we were welcomed by a mother and baby elephant, who moved closer to the bushes as we approached, but otherwise showed no great fear of us, the two legged creatures, aliens in their land. We only saw a few other deer on this trip, and returned rather disappointed to the lodge.

Breakfast was ready when we returned, and we happily tucked in, surprisingly hungry, for we hadn’t done anything but sit in the jeep! At 9:30, we were told to go to the lake, where we would go for an elephant ride, the next programme on our itinerary. We had to wait fir our turn, for there were a number of youngsters who had hastened there, looking forward to the ride. Samhith was getting restless at the long wait, and they volunteered to take him along, at which he was absolutely thrilled! He went with a family with a number of kids, and was rewarded with the sight of a snake slithering into a hole. We went next, and he came along with us too and excitedly pointed to the place where the snake had disappeared, but we were not as lucky, and the snake never re-appeared.

We hung around the lake for some time after the ride, looking at the various birds which came looking for fish, and we noticed a Brahminy kite flying overhead. After a few trials, I managed to take a photograph. How do I know the name of the kite? Well, in the resort, every cottage is marked, not by a number, but by a board with a bird on it. Well, our tent had the Brahminy kite on it, which is why I was able to identify this one bird at least.

Our next expedition was to the temple which lends its name to the whole range of mountains, and also to the sanctuary – the Belligiri Rangaswamy temple. This temple in BR Hills is 20 Kms from K.Gudi, and we went by jeep through the highway which wends its way through the jungle. Just before we started, there was a commotion among the monkeys and heard some noise which, we were told was the alarm sound of the barking deer. It meant that there was a predator nearby. We went looking for it, but were unlucky once more, and decided to go straight to the temple.

This temple is dedicated to Lord Vishnu in the form of Rangaswamy in a standing posture. It is believed that this idol was installed by Sage Vaishtha and some other rishis. Ages ago, a devotee felt that the lord’s feet would hurt since he resided in a thick jungle and decided to offer him sandals. This has, over time, become a custom here, and there are a pair of sandals (Padukas) beautifully decorated with zari and semi-precious stones offered to the lord by his devotees. Another, older pair is kept outside and is used to bless devotees by placing them on his/her head. The name Belligiri comes from the word “White Mountain”, for the stone on which the Lord rests is white.

After lunch, it was time for a safari once more, and we started, taking care to wear our sweaters this time. We hadn’t been in the jungle for even 15 minutes, when we came across a female elephant. She was standing among the bushes near the road, waving her trunk to and fro. To our surprise, our driver totally stopped the jeep, and we saw another jeep approaching from the opposite side of the road. Neither jeep tried to move, which kept us wondering, till we saw the elephant charge towards us. The driver was obviously expecting this, for he moved backwards, which seemed to reassure her. She then tried the same thing with the other jeep, and they too moved backwards. We wondered why she was so agitated, but then we saw a baby elephant approaching from the bushes. So this was the mother and baby we had seen in the morning, and now we saw how protective the mother was, of her baby, as she gently guided her child towards the other side of the road, flanking him/her first on this side and then the other, pushing him/her forward all the time. It made me think of Samhith and how I still have to help him cross a road, guiding him, making sure he doesn’t get hurt, keeping my eyes watchful. A mother after all, is always a mother, whether human or animal. I was happy to have seen this touching scene, for we didn’t see many more animals on this trip, except the inevitable deer.

This evening, the documentary was a feature shot at Nagarhole, and it mainly concerned elephants, and how modernization and take over of forest land has affected them. I couldn’t help think of the mother-child pair we saw, and wondered what would become of them. The falling temperature made us move towards the campfire, which is lit every evening before dinner, in a small area adjoining the hut where lunch and dinner are served.

The next morning would be our last at the resort, and we woke early for our jaunt into the jungle. Shankar had opted to go for a trek rather than the safari, and I headed with Samhith towards the jeep. If only Samhith was a little older, we too could have gone for the trek! I wish he would grow up soon!!! By this time, I had given up all hopes of seeing anything interesting in the forest. We were so bored of seeing deer, the driver no longer stopped for us to take photos when we came across a herd. Now Samhith can identify not only the spotted deer, but also S?mbhar as well as barking deer. We had already seen a number of wild boars in the resort, but this time, we came across a large group with some of the biggest ones we had seen so far. However, there were two interesting things we came across this time. The first was a herd of elephants which included the mother-child pair we had seen the day before. Apart from them, there was an old elephant, obviously the matriarch of the herd, another female, and a lone male which had huge tusks. They weren’t too scared of us this time, probably because they were in their group and felt secure, but the matriarch kept an eye on us as she munched on the grass, and the mother gently pushed her child towards the bushes.

The only other interesting thing we saw on this is something I had never seen before – pugmarks of a leopard. We saw them on the mud-path on which the jeep moves, and the driver maneuvered his vehicle so that we wouldn’t erase them. While this time we felt lucky to see the tracks of the animal, the creature itself was elusive, and refused to appear before us. Well, we shall just have to try some other time.

While we didn’t really see many animals, this has been the closest to a real jungle I have ever been to. And what a jungle!! As Narayan himself informed us, this range of mountains is part of the migratory path of the animals from the Eastern to the Western Ghats, and sees a number of animals making this transit. Besides, the sanctuary covers a vast region comprising, mountains of different altitudes and valleys. The kind of flora and fauna seen here is amazing! While I am no expert and can hardly identify the various kinds of trees, even to my un-informed eyes, there is a variety in the landscape that I have never seen elsewhere. While some areas are full of bamboo and other tall grasses, some higher reaches are covered with trees like the eucalyptus. Some trees are green and have gaily covered flowers, in some areas, the flame of the forest is the only tree seen for miles. Some trees have red and yellow leaves which have just started to fall, while some others have completely shed their leaves, and stand bare, their silhouette showing up clearly against the rising/setting sun. I have brought back memories galore of my two days at this wonderful resort.

This is an award winning entry from Radha Rangarajan for the Trip of a Lifetime Contest. Do read the second part of her trip to Valparai, where she went with a group on a photography workshop.
Day — 3
NCF has an information center which is located at the entrance to the Parry Agro estate. The center has a lot of information about flora and fauna that can been seen in the Aanamalais range. The wildlife pictures in the center have been shot by some of the best wildlife photographers, including Kalyan. It was a treat to see all of them under one roof and the group realized that we were already getting better at identifying the various species.

We were headed to ‘Seen God’ on this day. En route we stopped again at the Puduthottam estate and photographed LTMs for more than an hour. This day, the primates were more in number and definitely in a more playful mood. Watching them leap from one high branch to another is a treat. They gave us some pretty poses and one particular male even bared his fangs at a group of guys who were trying to annoy him! The idiots were eventually shooed away by the NCF guards.

Seen God is situated high up in the hills and offers a wonderful view of the Anamalais, the Shola forests and the evergreen forest canopy. The place is called so because of a man who lives up there who claims that he’s seen God at that very spot. From that great height, watching a bunch of Great Hornbills fly high above the canopy was a splendid sight. Sitting by the edge of the cliff with an amazing landscape spread out in front of my eyes, it slowly sunk in that I am one of the lucky few who’s getting to experience such a pristine and diverse bio-culture. We have no place amongst these animals and birds, yet we are here. We inhabit and encroach into their habitat and call it ours. Worse, we destroy their homes. And we don’t even belong here. I don’t know which God the man kept referring to, but I for sure Saw God there.

By now, most of us had used up space on the memory cards. We spent the noon transferring pictures to Kalyan’s system and portable hard disks. Kalyan also did a mini-training session on reading Histograms and using them to work on post-processing of pictures.This night was more exciting than the previous two. The group headed out to a stream to spot snakes and frogs – Pretty Bush Frog, Purple Frog & Pit Vipers to be precise. Rain Gods played spoilsport and we weren’t able to photograph any rare species. However, wading through knee-deep cold waters while watching out for leeches, spiders and vipers was by far the best experience of the trip. I have to thank Shiva for ably guiding me through the stream walk and making sure that I didn’t tumble down into the water, camera in tow. We only managed to spot a Wrinkled Frog in the stream. A white umbrella and external flash lights provided for a simple studio setup in the dark of the night. All of us took turns taking macro shots of the frog. Kalyan said we need to be cautious about not flashing the frog more than 2-3 times. By now, I could manage decent shots in the night just by playing with the ISO. On the field photography training definitely worked well for me. After spending over two hours in the stream, we got out to the road.

Kalyan then got a call from Divya and group, who had spotted a Travancore Flying Squirrel in the Tata estate. While rushing to the spot, Kalyan explained that its a very rare species that was considered extinct for ages till it was spotted ten years ago, in the Anamalais. No clear record photograph of the species exists either. En route to the Tata estate, we found more Large Brown Flying Squirrels, Black Naped Hare, Wild Boar and a confused Porcupine that ran around in the middle of the road. The squirrel was smaller than a Large Brown Flying Squirrel and was rufous in colour. We watched it scuttling around the high branches, feeding happily on a Cullinea fruit. Kalyan, armed with his 200-400mm VR bazooka lens and a Nikon D300 tried for over an hour to get the best photograph of this rare species. Now, all of us belong to a club of less than 50 people in the world who have seen this animal.
We got back to the bungalow at 1:30 am, thrilled to bits again!!

Day — 4
This was the day when we all had committed to planting trees in one of NCF’s restoration plots. All of us went to the nursery maintained by the NCF and helped in loading the saplings into the jeep. Sridhar explained that it was important to select the right kind of rain forest trees to plant. The trees have to be beneficial to the soil and also have to attract birds and mammals to it. We also made the essential vada-tea stop at a beautiful little chai-kadai and gorged down yummy vadas.
En route to the plot, I spotted a wriggling tiny snake-like thing by the side of the road. Kalyan said we should stop and check. It turned out to be a semi-dead Large Scale Shield-Tail snake. It was run over by a passing vehicle. As I held the struggling snake in my hand, I realized what a beautiful creation it was. I wonder how many of these helpless animals have been destroyed by centuries of human habitat-building.

Upon reaching the plot, Sridhar gave us a demo on how to plant the saplings. It was then time to get down and get dirty. Touching the wet mud and leaf litter, digging up the ground took me straight back to my childhood when playing with mud brought me ultimate joy! I planted three saplings and I am now proud to say that I have contributed at the grass root level to work on restoring the rain forests of the Western Ghats. I could see a similar joy and feeling of content spread over all the faces around me as everyone got their hands dirty that day Together, the group planted over 50 saplings.

Three people from the group left that day. The rest of us had opted for an extra day’s stay. As we said our good-byes we knew that four days of togetherness had created a bond that would last a lifetime. Every time we recount these stories later, mentioning the people in the stories will be inevitable. Bala, who lives in Coimbatore left that day. He promised Sumeet, Shiva and Me that he would take us out to dinner when we reach Coimbatore the next evening.

When we signed up for the extra day, none of us had imagined that the highlight of the trip would happen on that very evening. To make best use of the rains that kept pouring down all noon, we ventured out looking for Bush Frogs in the estate. After photographing some of them, Kalyan and Mandy thought it would be best to head out to the area around the 38th hairpin bend as we would also be able to spot snakes there. We drove around slowly, looking out for snakes and frogs on the road when Mandy spotted a Leopard on the culvert, crouched, in position to leap down from there. We saw it hardly for a couple of seconds before it made the leap. Mandy insisted that we drive down the hairpin bend as the Leopard would cross that stretch next. We drove down real quick and exactly the way Mandy predicted, the Leopard crossed the road and got into a small stretch of bushes. It sat there, conscious of our presence as we were parked on the road looking at the cat. With torch lights to guide us, all of us sat there admiring the Leopard for about 30 seconds. While we wanted to relish the sight of this beautiful animal longer, two buses interrupted us as a stark reminder of the habitat we have given them. We were forced to move the vehicle to make way for the buses and that’s when we lost sight of the Leopard. Driving up and down the hairpin bends again proved futile and we couldn’t spot the elusive cat anymore.

None of us thought that we would find a Leopard in the rain while we looked around for frogs! Well, that’s the charm of these lands. You never know what to expect and you can never be prepared for what you eventually see. For example, every single person in the vehicle had their macro lens on at the time when we spotted the Leopard. If even one of us had a zoom lens on, we could have photographed that beauty. However, the fact that the Leopard initially emerged out of an NCF restoration plot was the icing on the cake. Personally for me, this sighting made up for the elusive Leopard that dashed away into the bushes in Kabini, just a week ago.The night ended early, but on a very high note.

Day — 5
On our last day in Valparai, we headed out to the Athirapally forest range, which is in Kerala. As Kalyan was busy, Mandy was with us on this trip. The Athirapally forests are much denser than the ones in Valparai. This is a great route for birding too. The canopy is so thick, 10AM looked like 6PM. However, rain played spoilsport again and we couldn’t spot as many birds as we expected to see. We drove up to a view point and then got back so as to make it back in time. Apart from the birds we had already spotted during the trip, we spotted – White Bellied Woodpecker, Shikra, Pacific Swallow, Pied Bushchat (male & female), Gey Jungle Fowl, Long Tailed Shrike, Flowerpecker, Purple Rumped Sunbird and the Common Tailorbird. We were also able to photograph the shy Rufous Babbler on this day. Of course, that required us to wait on the side of the road until the Babblers thought we were safe enough for them to venture out.

The butterflies we spotted here were The Blue Mormon, Common Crow, Southern Bird Wing and the Malabar Tree Nymph which is endemic to these forests. Watching the Malabar Tree Nymph fly is a true visual delight.This was our last day trip in the expedition.By the end of this trip, we had managed to spot and photograph nine of the twelve Hotshots. The Brown Palm Civet, Large-scaled Pit Viper and the Malabar Trogon eluded us on this trip.

After another ritual tea-vada stop, we drove back to the bungalow. The afternoon was spent lazing around and transferring photos. None of us wanted time to pass. We didn’t want the evening to set in, or the taxi to come. Procrastinating packing didn’t help either and soon enough it was time to pack and get ready. As we said our goodbyes to Kalyan and Mandy, we knew that this wasn’t the end. The trip ended, friendships had begun.

Well, I don’t know what to say about Kalyan. Even for a minute in the trip, he didn’t make us feel like visitors. He participated in the entire workshop as if he was one of us. His dedication towards the cause of wildlife and conservation is impeccable. He gave all of us individual attention and the photography lessons I learnt from him will stay with me forever!

And then there is Mandy. Quick and nimble. Mandy can sense animals. He can hear them, feel them and spot them before most of us can even adapt ourselves to the surrounding. I can’t stop admiring his traditional and acquired knowledge of wildlife and animal behaviour. Both Kalyan and Mandy left me amazed with their ability to hear bird calls, look for animals, watch out for roadkills and drive at the same time. Talk about multi-tasking!

The drive downhill through the misty roads was quite uneventful except for a beautiful sunset and we stopped to photograph the landscape. Listening to the sound of traffic made me crave for the tunes of the Whistling Thrush. Getting back to the urban jungle also resulted in a headache, which stayed intact for another 30 hours.

Bala picked us up in Coimbatore and took us to eat dinner at the Heritage Inn. While we relished a tasty dinner of Appams on the rooftop restaurant, we exchanged stories and shared our best moments of the trip. None of the people at the table had known each other five days ago. Yet, here we were, talking-laughing-joking as if we have known each other for years. Put together a group of strangers with a common interest and an addictive hobby and bam! – you create a friendship that was hitherto unknown!

If you have read through this article in entirety, please do leave a comment so that I can personally thank you for reading through. I know it is lengthy, but a five day trip, this wonderful, cannot be explained in a paragraph.

Valparai, with its animals, birds, tea estates, cloudy mornings and misty evenings, vada and tea combos, melodies of the thrush and most importantly the works of art we created with our Nikons and Canons has woven an invisible web around us. We are deeply entangled and will not be able to get out of these strings for life.What a holiday this has been! What a hangover it has left!

I recently returned to the city after a 5 day photography workshop and expedition in the Anamalais range of the Western Ghats. From the very first minute into the trip, I’ve been making mental notes on how to describe this trip to friends and family and also how to draft a write up for my blog. However, the entire experience of the trip has left me completely out of words. Yet, here I am, making an attempt to describe my experience, fully aware that I will not be able to do enough justice. This is a detailed account of the expedition and I hope you will enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed re-living the trip by writing this.

I started planning this trip a few months ago when I came across a mention of this expedition on Kalyan Varma’s website. I have been an avid follower of Kalyan’s photography, his LJ and his sites. I knew that I would never be able to forgive myself if I let go of an opportunity to travel in the jungles of the Western Ghats and also learn the art of photography from Kalyan himself. Having nominated myself for the trip, Kalyan’s email on the finalized dates came as an alert to me as I was yet to purchase an SLR for the trip. Based on Kalyan’s suggestion, I landed at Jayesh Mehta’s store and purchased my Nikon D90. This is also the only time ever that blowing up my bank balance brought me so much happiness

I left for Coimbatore on the night of 18th with my camera equipment and all my rain gear packed up. Since this trip was going to be with a group of people I had never met before, I had received ample amount of warnings and suggestions from family and friends on how to be safe and how to judge people (my failure rate is quite high with this judging part!). I know their intentions were in my best interest, but once I got back, I ensured to tell each one of them about the people I met there and how they got worried unnecessarily. One of the participants in the expedition, Sumeet, traveled in the same bus as me. Kalyan picked us up personally from Coimbatore. After a quick stopover for breakfast at Pollachi, where we met Dilan Mandanna (Mandy) and the rest of the group, we were headed to our destination – Valparai in the Anamalais range.

Day — 1
Driving through the well-laid TN state highways, Kalyan mentioned that he has made a list of 12 Hotshots which are the most special species from the Anamalai hills. Our job was to spot and photograph each one of them. We were around the 4th hairpin bend when we spotted a hunting party (mixed flock) and a mighty Crested Hawk Eagle in the dry bushes. The Scarlet Minivet was the first Hotshot we spotted there. Up on the 9th hairpin bend, we got off the vehicles to look for the endangered Nilgiri Tahr which has made these grassy peaks its home. We were lucky to spot two adults and a calf high up on the hill, however, the distance didn’t let us photograph them. But luck got luckier when we spotted two adult Tahrs engaged in a mock fight bang in the middle of the road. They gave us some lovely poses and the happy group clicked away. We also managed to provide some entertainment to the locals sitting by the roadside who must have thought we were crazy to photograph animals they see on a daily basis. How I wish they knew they were really lucky to see these endangered endemic species in their habitat every single day.
Other Hotshots we spotted on the way up were the Indian Giant Squirrel, the Nilgiri Langur and the critically endangered endemic primates – Lion Tailed Macaque (LTMs as they are lovingly called). The fact that we could spot 5 Hotshots even before we reached Valparai gave us an idea of how rich the biodiversity of this land is. We also spotted a group of female Gaur on the way up. A couple of road kills on the way were stark reminders of the human invasion of their habitat. One of the road kills was a Pit Viper and was a part of the Hotshots list.
The beautifully laid out tea estates covered with mist and clouds add to the beauty of these hills. They are also the reason why the forests have been cut short in these parts. As much as these tea estates add to the beauty of the valley and bring in revenue, they have destroyed the forests here. Forest patches have also been replaced by Eucalyptus plantations, which again bring in money. They do not suit any animals or birds. Animals are forced to interact with humans in such habitats and human-animal conflicts almost always result in some kind of loss for both parties.

40 hairpin bends up, and we were in Valparai. The group was put up in rustic English bungalows in the middle of the beautiful Parry Agro tea estate. The bungalows were over 70 years old and well managed. They also had the best cooks and care-takers. In the days to come, we realized how rich the estate was in terms of the bird population there. The birds we spotted in the estate during the length of the trip were – Malabar Whistling Thrush, White Cheeked Barbet, Lesser Coucal, Oriental Magpie Robin, Red Whiskered Bulbul, Common Myna, Common Hill Myna, Plum Headed Parakeet, Flame Backed Woodpecker and the Streak Throated Woodpecker.

After a yummy lunch and a much needed nap, we headed out to visit a rain forest restoration plot created and managed by the Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF). NCF has invested a lot of time and effort in restoring forest plots to assist animal movement in these hills. We met Divya, Sridhar and Anand who shared with us a world of knowledge about rain forest plants and their relationship with the animals there. We spotted some birds that evening – Malabar Grey Hornbill, Rufous Babbler and Malabar Parakeets. We also saw a Barking Deer in the distance.

My first day in Valparai also brought in my first ever encounter with the infamous Leeches which are widely prevalent in these rain forests. My first reaction to a leech trying to climb up my ankle was total panic and fear. Someone from the group gallantly pulled it off and then I turned into an over-cautious leech inspector. We were armed with leech socks for the next two days and eventually I just stopped worrying about them. I am proud (and not so proud) to say that I didn’t get a single leech bite throughout the trip. Though I suspect they didn’t like my blood, I should also give myself enough credit for always brushing them off at the right time.

The group was usually split into two and both groups took turns traveling with Kalyan and Mandy. The night was spent driving around the hills with Mandy looking for the Large Brown Flying Squirrel. It is a nocturnal animal that sits camouflaged high up in fruit-bearing trees. The only way to spot it is by looking for its shining eyes which light up when torches are flashed up in the trees. We found several squirrels but were not able to photograph them as Kalyan was far away with the other group and none of us could figure out the right camera settings. Two Sambar Deer grazing by the side of the road gave us company for a while. Kalyan and group also spotted a lone tusker. After a short bout of rain, we went around looking for frogs when Kalyan heard a Leopard call. We waited around for a long time but the elusive cat didn’t make an appearance. Following frog calls led us to an Anamalai Gliding Frog sitting in the bushes. This frog hasn’t been photographed much and is endemic to the Anamalais range. After taking record shots of the frog, we decided to retire for the night. Driving back to the estate, we spotted a majestic Brown Fish Owl sitting on a culvert.

Day — 2
Though Kalyan had described the melodious tunes of the Malabar Whistling Thrush, also called the whistling schoolboy, none of us were prepared for the actual experience. We woke up in the morning to a magical whistling tune and all of us assumed that its a very happy estate worker whistling away during his chores. When we realised the music was created by a tiny bird that resembles a crow, we were dumbstruck. We spent the next 4 days trying to listen to its call, enjoying it thoroughly and photographing the bird of course. One of the best memories I have of this bird is when Shiva, a fellow participant and me headed out one evening to photograph birds in the estate. We kept following a Thrush and realized that the bird had company somewhere in the distance. Standing right in the middle of two birds, we were treated to a musical concert while both the Thrushes kept whistling to each other. I wonder if they were telling each other how their day went! On this day, we headed out to the Manamboly forest range, which is one of the best protected rainforest spots there and is excellent for bird sightings. Passing through the Puduthottam estate, we were greeted by dozens of LTMs which live in the jack fruit trees by the side of the road. This is also the only place in the world where these primates can be observed and photographed at such a close range, simply because they are used to us humans staring at them. Of course, they also attract a lot of noisy, insensitive morons (gay virgins – as Kalyan likes to address these types) who like to tease them.

To handle these so-called ‘tourists’ and to track the LTM movements, NCF has appointed full-time guards. Other species spotted on the way were – Black Eagle, Chestnut Headed Bee-Eater, White Cheeked Barbet, Stripe Necked Mongoose (endemic to the Anamalais), Lesser Coucal and the White Throated Kingfisher.

Driving and walking in the Manamboly forest stretch was one of the best day trips of this expedition. It gave us a golden chance to understand and experience evergreen rain forests, first hand. This forest is a work of art. It is so beautiful that every view has a photographic quality that cannot be ignored. A dry log which housed hundreds of pretty mushrooms, colourful leaves, tall evergreen trees, rare bird species, butterflies and dragonflies – these were the things that greeted us at every step. We also photographed another Hotshot – Impatiens Flowers – some of which are endemic to the Western Ghats. With constant guidance from Divya, we were able to identify and understand hordes of plant, insect and animal species. This is also where we spotted a Hotshot – the Great Hornbill.
I will never forget the whoosh-whoosh sound made by the colourful, giant bird when it flies. I have to agree with Kalyan when he says that the beauty of this bird is when it flies and not when it sits up in a tree. We stopped for lunch at the electricity board’s scenic guest house where we spotted the Lesser Fish Eagle. All the bird books claimed that it is only found in the North-East, but we were amazed to spot the magnificent bird here. Other birds spotted in the day – Dollar Bird, Mountain Imperial Pigeon, Emerald Dove, Black Drongo, Changeable Hawk Eagle, Greater Racket-Tailed Drongo and Oriental Honey Buzzard. A couple of us spotted a Hotshot – Malabar Trogon, but were not able to photograph the beauty.

The find of the day was when Divya heard the call of the rare Wynaad Laughing Thrush. The bird is extremely shy and very tough to photograph. While we all stood on a culvert and watched the bird hop around inside a bush, Mandy decided to get a record shot. His never-give-up attempts only lead him to a Rufous Babbler hiding in the same bush but we came back with some lovely memories of the incident.
That night we headed out again to photograph a Hotshot – Brown Palm Civet – but the shy animal eluded us completely. We didn’t know yet that we were going to see one of the most memorable sights of the trip. Walking down the road, we saw a horde of Flying Squirrels sitting quite low down in the trees. All of us took turns using the external flashes to get proper shots of these squirrels as it is crucial to get ample amount of lighting. Also, we could not flash more than 2-3 times to ensure that the animal doesn’t get blinded or stunned. Kalyan pointed out that one of the squirrels was sitting on a fruit-less tree so it would have to glide over to another tree for food. True to his words, with a bunch of LED lights lighting up the sky, the squirrel made a mesmerizing glide from a tree at one end of the road to the other. There was absolutely no sound in the squirrel’s glide. As my eyes followed the glide, I couldn’t help but admire what a great creation that animal is. Once it landed, I realized that all of us had unanimously decided to drop the cameras and just devour the beautiful sight instead. Nothing in the world could have stopped our exuberant babbling after a sight like that.The merry crowd returned to the bungalow, thrilled to bits.

(To be continued)

How does one describe the experience of travelling into the vastness of water – water where all pervading silence during the day is an exception to the chattering regime of waders, ducks and birds? Though there is a limitation to the language which makes it difficult to recount one’s encounter with the bounty that nature bestows on us, effort I shall still make! A crisp but not very cold Friday morning, early March this year, found myself & Amit Gupta travelling from Ahmedabad to Nalsarovar.

Pic :Ashish

For the uninitiated, or new to birding, Nalsarovar is a huge reservoir of water (about 121sq km) about 60 km away from Ahmedabad, formed naturally in a shallow depression. The lake being shallow and marshy has made it extremely attractive for the wintering migrants – especially water-birds and cranes, who come in numbers. A night train connecting Mumbai & Ahmedabad makes it convenient for a day long birding trip and that’s how we were en-route Nalsarovar early morning.

Pic : Ashish

As we reached closer to our destination, dawn was breaking. The rising sun gave light to the fields on both sides, exhibiting a large numbers of peafowls and peahens looking for the proverbial worm, white breasted kingfishers & Indian rollers on the wire, a solitary grey francolin on the road making a dash to get away from the traffic, a herd of neelgais, a marsh harrier looking for an early breakfast – in all, a good omen for our birding day ahead.

Nalsarovar needs to be explored through a boat and though the water is shallow at most of the places, it is the vastness of the placid lake that is breathtaking. Despite having visited the place about 2 years ago, I was still awestruck with the everlasting wilderness of the glimmering water mingling with the sky at the horizon.

Pic : Ashish

As we set out in the boat, the breeze was wild, soft and free, making the heart light. The early morning serenity of the lake was fading away as birds were waking up to their tasks. The flocks of common coots were having their own version of bird race. Also engaged in various activities were garganeys, spot billed ducks, northern shovellers, pheasant tailed jacanas, godwits, purple moorhens, black-winged stilts, Egrets, Pond herons, Glossy and black Ibis, little grebe, Citrine and yellow wagtails, barn swallows, cormorants and brown headed gulls.

Pic : Ashish

We had set out on this trip however with the hope to see Sarus, Pelicans & Flamingoes from close quarters. Here, since our interest lied in the flock of Pelicans & Flamingoes chiefly, the boatman expertly steered us towards them. The mobile communication technology has helped them too as he was constantly in touch with other boatmen to get the exact location of these birds at the moment. Soon our eyes and cameras feasted on the sights of large flocks of Great White and Rosy Pelicans, followed by Greater Flamingoes.

Pic : Ashish

It was very interesting to see and click pictures of these majestic birds from a different vantage point – almost at their eye level. The most interesting sight was of the greater flamingoes, submerged and floating in knee deep water and their beak giving them a snobbish uppity nose attitude – reminding me, for some reason, of British upper class as caricatured in stories and movies of Wodehouse.

The day had started warming up with the sun at a mid horizon level and having exhausted our camera batteries, we had no option but to return to the shore where rosy starlings and green bee-eaters were busy in their daily routines. Also, we could see a flock of common cranes, which soon took a flight and for sometime the sky was full of cranes and pelicans that were already patrolling in a large flock. A pied kingfisher about to make a dive for its prey, discarded the idea spoiling our chance of clicking it in action.

Pic : Ashish

We left Nalsarovar behind to travel towards Thol, another lake, at about 40 Kms from Ahmedabad and about 60 Kms from Nalsarovar. The lake though much smaller in size is renowned for large variety of birds it provides shelter to. The journey, interrupted for a splendid meal, was peaceful but did not allow us to take a nap as it revealed unexpected sightings – first a male blackbuck with its harem in a field and then a flock of comb ducks – a sight that had eluded us at Nalsarovar.

Pic : Ashish

While Nalsarovar is a never ending sight of water, Thol is a lake much limited and restricted with a bund, also supplying water to the fields around. It is a scenic beauty with woods encircling the lake amidst dreaming the sky. The readers of the Phantom comics could relate to this place immediately as it resembled the Eden that Phantom had developed for the variety of creatures he had saved from extinction. Though lacking in size, it made up in its variety. Birds ranging from common hoopoe, purple sunbirds, prinias, Indian robin and greater coucal to godwits, darter or snake birds, river terns, wigeons, pelicans, flamingoes, bar headed geese, common and ferruginous pochards, greater spotted eagle, marsh harrier, comb ducks, spot billed ducks, tufted ducks, northern pintails, painted storks, common cranes, – all were there. And above all, the prized catch – a few pairs of Sarus cranes lording over the place majestically.

As the sun started inclining towards the horizon, we reluctantly decided to leave the place and drove towards Ahmedabad. But as has been the case most often, the day was yet to finish with its surprises. On our way to Ahmedabad, as we took a turn on the road near a place called Gota, to the left was a small pond where we could see some bird activity. As we got down to have a look, the first sight was a berry tree full of Yellow footed Green Pigeons and a couple of koels. If these were welcome sights, what awaited at the pond was simply magnificent – common teals, river terns, sandpipers, pied avocets, spotbilled ducks, northern shovellers, black-winged stilts, glossy and black ibis and at a distance of few feet away flamingoes – all in plenty. And all of this, just at the outskirts of a city and so close yet totally oblivious to the traffic. For the first time I was engulfed with envy. However, since the setting sun was giving a perfect light condition, it was time to let shutterbugs take charge over my negative emotions and off we were to click more pictures.

Pic : Ashish

Having exhausted ourselves totally by now, we called it a day and returned to Ahmedabad. On our way back, as we tallied our count of almost 100 species, lines from a poem, which I had read some time back but had not really appreciated the beauty till this trip, came back to me -
….ducks on a pond
A grass bank beyond
A blue sky of spring
White clouds on the wing
What a lovely thing
To remember for years!

This post is about a trip that I undertook to visit Nalsarovar & Thol lakes near Ahmedabad for birding & photography. While the “two lakes” part of the title is obvious, a half comes from a small pond – which proved to be a surprise treasure trove for birding.)

Tholpetty Wildlife Sanctuary, Wayanad.

The sun was setting down. My eyes were looking out of the jeep mechanically while the mind was still at Kuruvadweep thinking about the missed chance in visiting the place. It was my third jeep safari in two days, the first two were in Muthanga Wildlife Sanctuary. With Shashank settled in co-driver’s seat, I was all alone in the back. Except for some deer and bison sightings it was getting more like a jeep drive in a remote village. Blame it on the weekend crowd. We had completed almost three fourth of the safari and

Pic : Prashanth M

had to stop because of a traffic jam. It took us few seconds to understand what was happening. There was a herd of wild elephants which were crossing our path. Or to put it in a correct way, we were crossing their path and had to wait for our turn. There were 11 elephants in the group including couple of calves and the leader was standing in the middle of the jeep track while rest of the gang crossed the path. There were two jeeps in between our vehicle & the pachyderms looked as tensed as us. We were third in the queue waiting for the way to be cleared while there was another vehicle, a Toyota Qualis behind us (yes, private vehicles are allowed in Tholpetty Wildlife Sanctuary as long as it’s a four wheeler).

Pic : Prashanth M

The elephants took their own sweet time to cross the road while the leader kept an eye on us. The leader was not too happy with our intrusion & noise (engine & hush voices). As if this was not sufficient, a jeep came from the opposite direction, which meant we – the two jeeps in front of us & our jeep – were sandwiched between a not-so-happy-looking elephant & a vehicle some 15-20 meters behind us. The driver of the jeep who joined the party late understood the situation and slowly backed off. And our wait game continued.

Pic : Prashanth M

After what seemed like eternity (it was just a couple of minutes )the captain slowly gave way and started moving into the woods. The driver of the first jeep mustered up the courage and slowly moved ahead. Then the one in front of our vehicle started moving and we followed them. It was not all over but it was time for more drama. It started with the vehicle in front of us. We could not fathom what got into the driver of the jeep for all of a sudden he started honking while he sped away. We were then moving almost parallel to the leader elephant which was some 15-20 meters away and the pachyderm turned towards and started chasing us. I was looking out of the jeep to see the big mammal running towards us. It was the moment, the mind went blank. No thoughts, just void. It was a mock charge to shoo us away from its territory.

Today, the experience is etched in my mind.I’ve had similar experiences of getting blank few times, but this stands first in the list.Whenever I see a photo of an elephant or a video, I go back to my seat on the back of the jeep in Tholpetty.

In Italy they say “Uno non può pensare bene, amare bene, dormire bene, se non ha mangiato bene”.

It translates to “One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one hasn’t eaten well”. Such is the importance of food in Italy. This travelogue is about the incredible food we had in Tuscany and some funny incidents that happened along the way.

Pic : Vamsee

My husband Saru and I spent two days in the Chianti wine region of Tuscany. We rented a car at the Florence airport and walked towards the parking lot hoping for a cool looking car. The minute Saru saw the car, he burst out laughing and said “Hey looks like the dog ate half of our car”, “Honey….I shrunk the car!”

If we take a normal car, slashed the width, and cut it right where the front row seats end, we would end up with a Smart car! Our 2-door convertible Smart car turned out to be a toy car with a sunroof. It took some innovative space allocation to fit our luggage in the trunk, if you even call it a trunk!

Pic : Vamsee

Directions were very good and soon we were driving towards the Chianti hills. It was a great day and the scenery outside was spectacular. Green rolling hills were dotted with medieval castles, churches, grape vines and olive trees. The Chianti area is Italy’s most famous wine district.

Pic : Vamsee

We stopped in a town called Panzano for lunch. We picked a great restaurant overlooking the hills. I ordered pasta in pesto sauce and Saru ordered a vegetable calzone. Calzone is a pizza with the top covered with bread too. Saru’s dish looked absolutely delicious; the bread on the top had puffed up like a puri. The chef made a dip in it and poured warm olive oil. It looked divine. The minute Saru poked a hole in the bread, the most tantalizing aromas gushed out teasing our taste buds. Every single bite smacked of freshly baked bread, fresh farm cheese and fresh vegetables. This was without a doubt, the best calzone we ever ate and one of the best meals we had in Italy.

Pic : Vamsee

We drove through a few small villages until we saw signs for a town called Castellina in Chianti. We had booked our stay in a 7th century farmhouse. Locanda La Capannuccia, where we stayed for the next two nights was a beautiful stone house. The host Mario was very friendly and always had a smile on his face. Our room and the facilities were simple, but adequate.

Pic : Vamsee

It was still early in the evening, so we decided to take a side trip to San Gimignano, a town that lures you back into medieval times. Driving in Tuscany was great. People gave excellent directions. On the way, we stopped for cappuccino and a snack. The guy at the bakery recommended the special of that season, a cake made with recently harvested grapes. He warmed it slightly (I love warm cakes!) and put it in a box to go. The first bite we took, we both murmured an Ummm in approval. Second bite, we thought it was too crunchy for a cake. Saru ate it quietly, but I was very curious to find out what was causing it to be so crunchy. I used a cool trick that my little 2-year old nephew Sriram taught me. I spit the cake into my hand, poked around to see what was in it, then, popped it back into my mouth. You won’t believe this! Those lazy ass harvest folks made my cake with whole seeded grapes! I patiently removed the seeds, while Saru decided to save his patience for his next restroom visit.

Pic : Vamsee

The drive to San Gimigniano took us through several beautiful villages. The interesting thing was that lots of homes seemed to have a tower, like the ones palaces and castles have. We later learnt that these towers were mostly built by merchants as status symbols. In the hay days, the town was said to have had as many as 70 towers. No wonder it was nicknamed as Medieval Manhattan. This was a pedestrian town. There were several parking lots outside the entrance gate, where we had to park and then walk inside. The town was just perfect!! This town was full of rustic old stone buildings. We were getting hungry, so started looking at restaurant menus.

Saru: I am going to be like Obelix!

Me: You mean like fat and dumb?

Saru: No. I am going to eat wild boar like Asterix and Obelix.

Me: You do know that wild boar is like a giant pig, right.

Saru: Oh!! Really?

Wild boar is a delicacy in Tuscany. Most restaurants were serving it. We picked a nice one and as we were about to sit when Saru realized that his wallet was missing!! He remembered leaving it in the car.

My husband is almost like George Costanza of Seinfeld fame when it comes to his wallet. People collect stamps, coins etc. Saru collects IDs. In his wallet, he has his expired college id, graduate school, post graduate and post doctoral IDs, expired driver’s license, new driver’s license, and his company IDs. Then there is the host of business cards and receipts from a year ago. So, basically when he is sitting in the car, his left bum is hanging in midair. The easy solution to balancing his bottom is to leave the wallet in the cup holder. We decided to go back to the car and check.

Pic : Vamsee

As we were walking to the parking lot, it started raining. We were getting wet and I was getting irritated. Poor Saru had to listen to my lectures on wallet cleaning and carelessness. We were getting close to the car and Saru was very restless. He started pressing the un-lock button on the remote. Imagine this – it is pouring rain, I am irritated and complaining about his carelessness, when I see the roof of our convertible opening! Saru had pressed the wrong button on the remote! He tried to undo that, but it wasn’t working. We were in panic mode. Saru was yelling expletives at the car, I was yelling at Saru and the roof kept opening wider. Saru threw the umbrella down in frustration. I hit the convertible roof a few times. Nothing worked and the rain was starting to pick up. It was quite a messy situation! I could not imagine driving back in the open convertible in the rain for 1 hour back to the farm house. After a few minutes of panic, the remote miraculously worked and the roof started closing! Whew!! We found Saru’s wallet and started to turn back, when we noticed that in the melee, Saru had broken the umbrella!! We were furious with each other for a few minutes and then burst out laughing.

We walked back into the town, picked a restaurant and had dinner. I had spinach and ricotta dumplings in tomato sauce and Saru had penne in pesto sauce. To make up for the fight, we ended the dinner with a giant cheese cake that was so rich and smooth and delicious that I thought I died and went to heaven. Food this good should be made illegal!

This trip to Tuscany was a culinary treat. Every single meal we ate was unbelievably good. Even the seemingly simple dishes were out of the world. Before the packaged food industry makes its mark there – Go to Italy and enjoy the food there!

Ajantha caves, famous for its murals, are the finest surviving examples of Indian art, particularly painting. They were excavated (circa. 2nd century B.C. to 6th century A.D.) in the shape of a horseshoe, overlooking a narrow stream known as Waghora and each cave was connected to the stream by a flight of steps, which are now almost obliterated. The caves attained the name from a nearby village named Ajanta. Apparently, these caves were discovered by an Army Officer in the Madras Regiment of the British Army in 1819 during one of his hunting expeditions.

Pic : Deepak A

Totally, 30 excavations were hewn out of rock including an unfinished one. The earliest excavations belong to the Hinayana phase of Buddhism. These caves are datable to the pre-Christian era, the earliest among them being Cave 10 dating from the second century B.C.The object of worship is a stupa and these caves exhibit the imitation of wooden construction to the extent that the rafters and beams are also sculpted even though they are non-functional.

24 Dec 2008 (Day 1)

It is with great enthusiasm my family was looking forward to visiting Ranthambhore – after all, we were taking a break after several years (owing to kids higher education), so me, my wife (Sunanda) and my son (Anshuman) went to bed early on 23rd Dec in the hope of waking up early the following day and kicking off the Ranthambhore drive much before others hit the highway. To me it was special, as I was re visiting the place after 20 years!

I woke up at 4AM and got ready by 5AM. I then woke up my folks at 5AM, by which time my driver and maids also landed up to help us with the early morning tea and other sundries. We were all up and ready soon. My driver (Ravinder) loaded up the Scorpio with all the luggage and warmed up the engine early morning. We all came down , hopped into the car, bid goodbye to our helpers and at 6:22AM .I moved the car into the 1st gear to head off to our dream destination.

I have always believed in leaving Delhi early in the day, much before the usual crowd catches up and roads get congested. Since it was winter, not many ventured out even at 6 in the morning, so I was lucky – we could cross Gurgaon within 40m and when I saw on my dashboard we clocked the 1st hour, we were well on the Jaipur highway. Sunanda had already set out the breakfast menu – ‘Alu Paratha in a Dhaba on the way’ so around the 8AM mark (after Behror), I was avidly looking for a good Dhaba, we finally found one ‘Pram (read Prem) Pavitra Restaurant. I didn’t want to turn the breakfast break too long as I was clocking well since morning and wanted to keep the run rate going. But despite all the rush, it still took us a good 30m before we finished two rounds of hot Alu Paratha, hot Chai and we hopped into the car again.

The drive from there to Jaipur was great, interrupted by huge trucks often, but navigating constantly from left to right (as some truck wallahs will never give you side) I managed to clock a good average and reached Jaipur outskirts by 10AM. We then decided to take a break at Jaipur, do some shopping (Sunanda’s menu), have our lunch and leave for Ranthambhore later. That is what we did, spent the time at Sanganer Market (wholesale market for bed sheets, churidars, etc.), M I Road (lunch at Niro’s – good restaurant; also don’t miss to have Lassi from Lassiwala opposite the road) and left for Ranthambhore at 4:22PM. The Jaipur – Tonk road is a NH (NH 12), but a single road and very congested. So you can hardly speed here. Still with all the might of the Scorpio and revving up the gears constantly, I managed to overtake many a truck and finally reach the cut to the left from where you get off NH 12 and get into a SH that takes you to Sawai Madhopur (which is the Railway Station for Ranthambhore). This was one hell of a road; most parts of it were under construction, so very dusty and full of road diversions. You can barely pick up speed here. We took one final chai break just before Sawai Madhopur before reaching Ranthambhore Bagh at 8PM (!) where I had my tented accommodation reserved already. Ranthambhore Bagh (www.ranthambhore.com) is a nice accommodation, a bit expensive at 5K a night (including Dec surcharges and food). There are obviously all kinds of accommodations from Budget to 5 star Hotels in Ranthambhore.  We had some light food in the night and retired soon after the day long journey. We were told by the receptionist to arrive at 6AM the following morning for what was going to be our 1st safari.

Delapidated Structure

25 Dec (Day 2)
We woke up at 5AM to get ready and reach the reception by 6AM as advised. At Ranthambhore Park, they regulate the number of vehicles inside the Park. There are open Jeeps (Gypsy) and open Canters those are the only vehicles permitted inside. We were on a Canter which can take 20 people, the seats are nicely made and very comfortable to sit. The only problem is once inside the Park, it is fairly dusty so do expect to have a good shower after the Safari.

At 7AM, our Canter grazed past the Park’s main entrance Gate and that marked the beginning of our eagerly awaited Safari. It was still a bit dark, the sun had not risen and it was very very cold! We were each given a blanket from the Hotel, I was wondering why needed to carry such a bulky thing – I soon realized why! Soon after the entrance, we spotted a Leopard, yes! It was parched high up on a tree at a distance. Since I didn’t have my zoom lens then, I could not take pictures. But from my Nikon binoculars, I could have a good close look at it…

An early Leopard raised hopes of the next best thing – the Tiger! We went around Zone 3 (the Govt pre decides which Zone each vehicle will ply on) the rest of the morning upto 10AM. Alas, we could not spot the elusive Tiger. Our driver was quite an expert, but that did not help. As they say, spotting a Tiger is a matter of patience and luck. I guess we ran out of both that morning. However we had ample share of other animals – Crocs, Sambars, Spotted Dears, Peacocks, Langurs, Antelopes, Mongoose, Wild Boars and nice scenic jungle beauty!

Ranthambhore currently has 38 tigers and has one of the highest tiger densities in the world. The forest is the dry deciduous type. It has two mountain ranges – the Aravalli and the Vindhya. The total area of Ranthambhore Park is 282 sq km which is split into the Core area and Buffer area. The Core area is where most of the predators and animals live and this is where we get to do the Safari.

After a quick and short afternoon lunch and some rest, we were all set for our next Safari trip starting 2:30PM. This time we were allocated Zone 5. But even this one turned out to be a damp squib with respect to tigers. But I managed to get nice snaps of spotted dears grazing right in front of our Canter. Its not that cold in the evening as it is in the morning. We didn’t need blankets. Completely dusted and a little bit sleepy / tired, we return back to the Hotel at 6PM with lady luck still not smiling at us.

In the night, we had a peaceful dinner amidst Rajasthani folks songs being sung by local artistes live. That was very soothing. I must admit the food wasn’t that tasty though.

26 Dec (Day 3)

We were woken up middle of the night hearing the crackling noise of some animal inside our tent! I knew what it was as I had spotted it just before bed – the famous Indian rat which finds its way into every plastic packet that has food! I carefully packed all the open bags and we went back to bed. Within a minute or so, my wife jumped up screaming at the top of our voice – our friend managed to find his way right on top of her blanket! Scary!! Not knowing what else to do at that hour, we just put the room lights on and slept – that seemed to have worked.

The team was tired out of two consecutive early mornings, so the day started a bit relaxed. Anyway, we did not plan a Safari this morning, but instead wanted to trek up the Ranthambhore Fort, on top of which is the famous Lord Ganesh temple. This is the only temple where Lord Ganesh has 3 eyes!

Most of the Hotels in Ranthambhore (including where I stayed) are all on the same road that leads to the Park. They are all in the 5 to 10km distance from the Park entrance. So we drove out of our Hotel this morning and proceeded to the Park entrance, about 6km. From the main entrance you are allowed to go inside upto the point where the Ranthambhore Fort entrance is (about 5km). Private vehicles can go no further and only listed Canters (LCVs altered to have 20 open seater arrangements) and Gypsies are allowed to do the Safari which is farther away from the Fort entrance. The booking for these vehicles needs to be done fairly in advance. I did my Hotel booking about 45 days and still could not get the Gypsy, had to settle for the Canter (perhaps because it was end Dec).

I parked my Scorpio at the Fort entrance (there is a car park) and we hired a guide for 150/- who would show us the Fort and the famous Ganesh Temple inside the Fort. The guide is a nice simple guy, who did a sincere job – he is also well educated about the Fort. He is Naresh and reachable at 99503 59028. The climb to the top of the Fort is not that tough and one can easily do it in 40m with breaks.  This Fort is the 2nd largest Fort in Rajasthan (next to Chittorgarh), spread over 7km and over 1000 years old! It has a rich history to it, which I will not elaborate here for want of space. One of the buildings, Badal Mahal is a must see. We went to the top of Badal Mahal and spent about 30m just appreciating the beautiful views of the Hills, Ravines and Lakes of Ranthambhore Park. If you are really lucky, you can spot a Tiger from the top as well. We did spot several Sambars and Crocs though (you need good binoculars though).

Then we had darshan of the Lord Ganeshji temple. This is a very famous temple and the only place where devotees write letters to Lord Ganesh. The idol is supposed to be 6500 years old! Everyday the postman carries a 35kg load of letters to the Lord which he opens and reads out aloud to the Lord. After spending some quite moments at the Temple in prayer, we started our descend. I would also like to give a nice tip here – there is a deep gorge right behind the Temple, so if you have 30m to spare, I would recommend you follow the Fort boundary just behind the Temple and take a look at the deep valley below – it is quite scary, but revealing! In the evenings, you do hear rants of various animals echoing in the valley.

The descent from the top of the Ranthambhore Fort was quick. It was past noon time so we were looking for a decent Dhaba – we found one Nikunj Dhaba on that main Ranthambhore road itself. The food was decent.

It was about time to make our last Safari of this trip starting 2:30PM. The Canter came in finally a bit late and we all rushed into it to grab the best of seats. I was lucky to get the 2 front seats empty (next to the driver). It is less dusty and bumpy from here! But unfortunately we got a very disinterested driver and guide combo, not enthusiastic at all! They took so much time at the Park entrance itself to get the ticketing done that all the rest of the vehicles went in, while we were patiently awaiting our duo to get back! This time our allocation was Zone 4. I was just praying that this trip does the trick. Our hopes raised! As soon as we entered the Park, we heard the opposite vehicles waving at us to rush as they spotted a Tiger right up that road. The spot was at least couple of kms away from where we were. Our driver immediately revved up his engine and we dashed to that point – but alas, the Tiger had moved from that spot already behind the bushes and was no more to be seen! We missed it by a
whisker. We continued our ride inside the Zone 4 of the jungle. This part of the jungle has a very interesting landscape – there is a huge lake inside which had many animals – Wild Boars, Gazelles, Sambars and several species of birds / storks there. I took quite a few pictures at this point. We continued our journey in the wild and reached some tents where a couple forest guards live – wow, it sounded too scary when I talked to one of them. They live right amidst all the predators nearly becoming part of them! They need to keep an eye on the animals, their whereabouts, and lookout for any poachers, forest grazers, etc. The guard was telling me that he sees the Tiger ‘everyday’!

By then it was already quite late and we had to head back to the Park entrance. We started our journey back while I continued to keep my vigil on the sides of the road, just in case there was a Tiger hiding behind the bushes my guide and driver could not spot! That was not to be… So the journey of Ranthambhore ended at 5:30PM. I take back several memories of having seen and spent several hours in the wild. That itself was a very satisfying experience. The kuccha roads of the jungle, the early morning rising sun behind the hills, the freely grazing animals in ‘their’ world, Badal Mahal of Ranthambhore Fort , the darshan of the rare Lord Ganesh deity – all will remain etched in my memories for a long time to come. The elusive Tiger is the reason why I will come back to this beautiful Park once again. Now I know why Shruti my daughter missed to be with us in this trip. She had to join the rest of us one more time in our hunt of the King of the Jungle amidst the wild terrains of Ranthambhore…

The Corbett national park is named after Jim Corbett, (the Indian-born British hunter, who later turned into a wildlife conservationist) who played an important role in establishing it.

Courtesy Arun Bhat - paintedstork.com

The Jim Corbett National park is a sanctuary for the critically endangered Bengal Tiger (Panthera tigris bengalensis).

Tiger - Corbett. Copyright FlickR Candle Tree

Abundant in flora and fauna, the Corbett National park is ecologically diverse, with around 480 different species of plants.

Rich in Flaura and Fauna - Source FlickR netlancer2006

The Jim Corbett national park is situated in the Nainital district of Uttarakhand, and experiences temperature in the range of 5 degrees to 30 degrees celcius (in summer).

Misty Corbett - Source FlickR - Eileen Delhi

The area also experiences light to heavy rainfall during the monsoons.

Hills of the Kumaon - Corbett. Source: FlickR Rocky aka Rakesh Barua

The kohl brimmed eyes smile at me coyly. ”It is the jasmine flavour,” she says by way of introduction . My eyes close as a heady fragrance lulls me to sleep. The distant flicker of the lamp goes slowly out of focus. A lilting melody floats out of nowhere.

“This is the Shrishruka thailam .It treats sinus,” she adds softly. I open my eyes as she pours the oil from a miniature bronze jar onto her palms. Sandhya, my therapist  is a demure young woman whose delicate fingers work magic on my scalp .

Pic : Lakshmi Sharath

I am in  God’s own country , getting a taste of God’s own medicine  at Svaastha, an ayurvedic spa started by Club Mahindra in Ashtamudi. Outside the waters from the lake are gently lashing against the coconut trees as the sun ‘s rays paint silvery hues.

I try not to think. After all massages are about shutting your mind and pampering your body. The fingers soothe every ache and coax the rigid muscles as they move from the head to the neck .I feel the essence of ayurveda inside me – a harmony of mind, body and spirit . I float into semi-consciousness . The wooden bed is soaked with the oil –Pinda thailayam as Sandhya deftly strokes my body, caressing and  fondling it . She suddenly pounds  it and awakens every dormant muscle. Her fingers go deep, the strokes get faster and then she gently lets go .I become limp and let my senses take over .The herbal steam lets my skin glisten as the warmth seeps into my body.

I am in the hands of divine medicine, created by Brahma himself and Dhanvantri,“ That’s Ayurveda, a 4000 year old science, a part of Atharvana veda, created by the gods and preserved by man ,”explains ayurvedic doctor Ratheesh Kumar who hast just  diagnosed that my body is a “pitha-vatha combination.” He  refers  to the bio energies in the human body -  vatha, pitha and kafa .”Vatha is air and ether, pitha is fire and kafa is water and earth. “ he explains as ayurveda is based on these five elements called Panchamahabudhas .”

Pic : Lakshmi Sharath

I step out ,rejuvenated and the beauty is mesmerising .The breeze had just set in clearing the overcast clouds .The coconut trees gently swayed ,touching the backwaters which lashed against them. I stand at the edge of this wide shore and take in the scene , as Dr. Ratheesh joins me , exclaiming.“ This could not have been done by a human.. ..” I look up to see him holding a book on Ayurveda.

“Can you imagine 4000 years ago.. getting all the herbs from various parts of the country and mixing them in the right proportion ? I mean there was no documentation at all ,” adds the doctor about this science of life.
The Ashtamudi lake stretches out in front of my eyes with the coconut trees interrupting the seamless flow. Shades of blue emerge from the waters as I was lost gazing at the colours. It is one of the best kept secrets of Kerala.

The second largest lake after Vembanad and yet , tourism is a recent phenomena here. The Chinese nets lay scattered on the waters as the fishermen are waiting for the night to dawn. Small green islands glisten like emeralds against the blue horizon , some of them home to just three or four families. And their connection to civilisation is only through narrow canals and wooden bridges.

Pic : Lakshmi Sharath

I ask Dr Ratheesh as to why he chose to become an ayurvedic doctor . He laughs, amused .”As children, we used to go only to ayurvedic doctors even for a cold or fever like the way you go to a regular doctor.. its quite common in Kerala .There are universities teaching ayurveda here like allopathy ,” he adds, saying that he graduated from Trivandrum after a five year course.

I wonder how an ancient science like ayurveda has become an exotic treatment, restricted largely to resorts and a few centres.” Thats because tourism thrives on wellness , but ayurveda can even be used for surgery ,” explains the doctor adding that there are nine branches of ayurveda which includes general medicine, surgery, ENT, pediatrics, toxicology, gynecology ,psychiatry, infertility and anti-aging . Reading my mind, the doctor continues,” The basic principle of surgery as we know today was earlier created by Susruta, but after the advent of Jainism and Buddhism , dissection as we understand today was not encouraged.. then of course, western medicine took over..”

I sip cool coconut water and walk around the small herbs garden. My initiation into ayurveda continues .”There is hardly any documentation. Families have preserved the various formulae on palm leaf and hand written manuscripts and they have been handed down every generation. Thats how this science has actually survived across centuries.”

Pic : Lakshmi Sharath

A lone boatman waves out to us . We walk towards the lake as he offers us a ride. The Kallada river empties into the Ashtamudi lake and creates eight branches giving the lake its name. “Its like an octopus with eight hands “ says my boatman Balu describing the lake. We discuss the route. I cross several small islands and go around the Thalababuram bridge . Balu  points to “ seacrows”  as the cormorants  dip their beaks in the waters catching their morning fish . The herons and storks give them company.

The villages make a pretty picture. Colourful houses in yellow, orange and lavender stand out amidst the blue green mosaic.  Life unfolds in these little villages. An old man comfortably reads the morning paper in his boat.Another duo are returning home. A young girl along with her father are rowing their mother to the neighbouring market. A group of villagers are dressed for church as they board the boat. Balu says the boats made of wood from mango trees is very sturdy .He gets animated when we discuss fishing.

Pic : Lakshmi Sharath

“ There are different specialists – for prawns, karimeen, crabs and even the local fish –Kuzhavali.” Balu then delves into the different kinds of nets and techniques used for fishing. However  the rods stand out as the nets are still not  ready . “Fishing happens only in the night madam, the fishermen are sleeping now,” he explains.

The early morning karimeen auction is just over. There is complete silence but for the breeze . The landscape is devoid of people , but for us. I look at the vast expanse of water, the sun’s rays stroking it, the birds and the islands.. Its little wonder why Kerala is called Gods own country. The doctor’s words come back “Svaastha or Ayurveda is a balance of body, mind and spirit ..” Cruising down the Ashtamudi lake, I feel the balance restored inside me.

Pic : Sharath K

Getting there
Kollam or Quilon is the closest town to Ashtamudi as its on the banks of the lake. The lake connects to the Arabian Sea forming an estuary and it can be viewed from the Needakara bridge enroute to the Kollam town. The beach at Kollam and the old lighthouse at Thangasherry are some of the common sightseeing options for tourists. There are very few resorts here, besides the Club Mahindra resort. A few homestays and small private resorts are available . House boats are available at Kollam as well. It is about 70 kms from Trivandrum International airport