anakkampoyil « The Lazy Traveller

I’ve been meaning to update my blog regularly….but laziness has a way of keeping me away from my best laid plans.Its been 3 years since i did a proper jungle trip ( read national parks ).

Our home in the hills has its fair share of animal activity. Our property has been visited by elephant(s), sambhar, porcupine, civets,numerous bats and the suspected leopard which took our neighbors dog a few months ago.The birds are present in good numbers too.

The rains of 2018 saw numerous landslides and flash floods in our area. A 150 meter section of the road to our house was washed off. That meant either climbing uphill( really steep)for nearly 1.5 km or taking a 4 wheel drive vehicle to reach our house.Finally ended up buying a Maruti Suzuki Gypsy for our trips.

The roads have been repaired really well. Despite the heavy rains lashing the hills this year too, the roads have managed to hold up.

We’ve planted a few crops… mainly fruiting trees and flowering plants to attract more birds and butterflies. I’ve also become a nature observer, rather than a nature photographer… in part due to my dslr quitting after a soaking in the Kerala monsoon.

So, I’ll end this post with a few glimpses of our place. I do promise to come up with more stuff soon.

Time lapse from our backyard .

Olichuchattam falls as viewed from my backyard

After a very long hiatus… I’m back on WordPress. A lot has happened since i last logged in here about 4 years ago. Our family has grown. We have a son, he’s almost 2 years old now. He keeps us busy and we don’t travel like we used to before….

Also…. we have finally fulfilled a long cherished dream of ours. A small house in the lap of the mighty western ghats. Anakkampoyil is a small village about 45kms from Calicut. Drive uphill from there for about 4 km and you reach a place called Karimb. Another kilometer uphill and that’s where we have our small house.Its about 600 meters above mean sea level, ensuring fantastic climate (depending on your apetite for heavy rains)

Mobile and internet connectivity are poor and non existant respectievely, and that means more time spent on soaking in the views and climate…

A black eagle hovers in the mist

The mists and rains are constant companions throughout the year. The place is blessed with fresh water streams originating from pristine forests which start from about a kilometer away from our house. Clear days provide us with spectacular views of the Vellarimala range from our yard. Birding is fantastic….and so is the wildlife apparently. Elephants , Sambar , and many other wildlife visit our neighbours who live closer to the forest boundary. I’ve not yet mustered the courage to go for a night walk.