Another day in paradise.

My Childhood buddy Kamal had landed from the deserts and concrete jungles of the middle east, wanting to spend some time in a real Indian jungle.Fortunately or unfortunately, we finally had only one day to do this jungle trip and so we headed of to my favourite part of the Nilgiris, which is a four hour drive from Calicut.

We stopped at Wild Haven for a quick lunch and beer,and were about to walk down to Cheetal Walk, when Kumar, our driver/guide told us it would be better that he dropped us in his jeep.

We gladly accepted his offer and were in cheetal walk after a two minute bumpy ride.Mark was waiting for us and he urged us to settle down soon before all the action started. I had tried to downplay the chances of encountering any wildlife other than spotted deer and wildboar, lest my friend got disappointed.

Almost five minutes after we arrived, the first visitor arrived…A magnificent tusker, affectionately called Rivaldo by Mark.We were sure glad that we didnt walk down…

Things started happening soon.Summer had tightened its dry grip on the area and a lot of animals would come to a small tank which Mark fills up from his well for the animals.

Another younger meaner looking tusker soon made his way, followed by a herd of four. We were thrilled….little did we know that this was the trailer !!!

This area was like an elephant magnet and soon tusker after tusker arrived in the area, at one point we could see six different tuskers, in different parts of the property !!!

Meanwhile I was telling Mark how I’d never photographed sloth bears, though i’ve managed to spot a couple of them. As if on cue, a mother and cub slowly walked down the hill and crossed the stream across the cottage….i managed to get a few images.

The area was teeming with Sambhar, Chital, Black faced langurs, Wild boar, Gaur, Peafowl and a lot of other birds.

We feasted our eyes on the blockbuster show that mother nature had setup for us. Alarm calls had us excited all through the evening signifying that predators were also around.

As it was a moonless night, we hit the bed soon after an early dinner, enjoying the sounds of the jungle. A sharp alarm call from a sambhar right under our window woke us sometime late in the night….soon the chital started calling out in fright, and then we heard the TIGER….It was calling as it slowly moved across the area, we could not see it beacuse it was pitch dark and Mark does not encourage the use of torches and flashes to disturb the animals.But it was amazing to hear the tiger calling out into the night and we sat up for a while savouring the moment.The cool night ensured that sleep soon overcame us.

We were up at dawn, and the birds were at their best.

I love the sound of peafowl calling out in the morning… it is amazing.Mark had made steaming black tea and we were in for a treat that morning too…

What better than watching elephants and bears and sambhar and cheetal, while sipping on hot tea and chilling out in the veranadah !!! Alarm calls again from the chital and langurs got us excited and we were lucky to see a leopard as it disappeared into the scrub. I spent more time with my binoculars than my camera, as i did not want to get worked up about not getting good images.

It was truly awesome….we couldnt have asked for more. Unfortunately it was time for us to get back to calicut, Kumar again came to pick us up. We bade Mark goodbye and headed off to wild haven for some solid break fast before heading off to Calicut. Truly it was another day in paradise…

PS. I had written this trip report a while ago. As I post this, Mark Davidar is recovering from a coma.We bade goodbye promising to visit him again soon.Little do we know what life has in store for any of us… I truly wish and hope and pray that he makes a full recovery and gets back to Cheetal Walk, where he truly belongs. I dont know if I would ever be able to visit Cheetal Walk again, but I would like to sign off with this endearing image of Rivaldo truly at peace in a quiet corner of the Nilgiris, which he would perhaps call home.

PPS : Mark Davidar passed away yesterday( 19th october 2013) after a brief illness.I along with many others would no doubt treasure and cherish the awesome memories spent in his company at Chital Walk.Thank you for the memories Mark. May your soul rest in eternal peace…

A Monsoon Drive.

These mist covered mountains
Are a home now for me
But my home is the lowlands
And always will be

Dire Straits/Brothers in Arms

The monsoon had just arrived. We were itching for a holiday.From rain lashed Calicut we drove towards the hills, only to encounter more rains.Spent an awesome weekend driving around the Anamalais in June 2011.

Route: Calicut-Palakkad-Pollachi-Valparai. Time: approx 6 hours. Distance: around 250 kms.

Somewhere on the Palakkad-Pollachi highway….Fast vanishing sights from rurual Kerala.

The road from Pollachi to Valparai is a drivers paradise. Beautiful country scenes on both sides of the road. Somehow I feel sad that we dont get to drive through such countryside a lot in Kerala. Gods Own Country surely does not hold a candle to Tamilnadu and Karnataka in this aspect.

Very few crazies encountered on these roads…pleasure to drive.
Clicked from moving car, wanted to get the motion blur to add that sense of dynamism.
Exif Details 1/13th sec,ISO 100, f20
Camera: Canon EOS 500D
Lens: Sigma 18-200 @ 35 mm.

Clouds kissing the cliff…Clicked by Reshma Krishnan

Soon after crossing the checkpost at the entrance of Anamalai wildlife sanctuary, we came across this beautiful sight of the Aliyar Dam.

There are 40 Hairpin bends and innumerable waterfalls on the Pollachi-Valparai route.
Excellently well maintained roads and easy to drive unlike the wayanad ghats or the kallatti ghats.

The Swift taking in the view 🙂

Ominous Clouds….

Aliyar Dam

One of the many waterfalls we passed by.
This one is called the Monkey Falls.
I found the place to be relatively clean and plastic free…Thank God that there are still some places like this in South India.

Accomodation was in a bungalow belonging to waterfall estates. You come across this board after the 28th hairpin, about 20kms before Valparai town.
Accomodation in Valparai town is not a very good idea….

This was our pad for 3 days and 2 nights.
Tennis court bungalow. there are only 2 bedrooms, so we had the entire place to ourselves.Nice, neat and clean and well maintained.
We also had the services of 2 butlers/caretakers during our stay.They took very good care of us.
Outstanding home cooked food,simply superb stuff.

Another view from the front door of the bungalow.
Clicked By Sharat Somsunder

A lounge with a view 🙂

Another awesome view form the bungalow premises.
You can see how windy it was….

The road from waterfall estates to Valparai….
This image was taken with the 100-400 lens

Valparai landscape….From tea estates to shola forests to grass and rocks.
Another image with The Canon 100-400.
Who says you need a wide angle lens to shoot landscapes 🙂

The road through dense shola forest…
I was actually scared of crossing paths with leopards or elephants while getting out to take this snap.Valparai has been in the news recently for elephant attacks and man eating leopards.

On the way to Nallamudi Pooncholai and Seen God viewpoint.
A must see spot if you happen to travel to valparai.
Super duper torrential rainfall ensured my camera stayed in the car.
Amazingly beautiful views of the mists rising above the forest canopy.
More photos when i visit next time.

View from Sholayar Dam.
It was late evening when we reached the dam site.
Nothing much to see at the dam.
But, the drive is simply outstanding….FANTASTIC winding roads to really enjoy driving through some amazing scenery.

A Kovil(small temple) on the way.
According to the local priest this area is frequented by elephants and bison (gaur).
we were lucky to spot 2 wild elephants nearby.

Thousands of acres of tea estate border shola forests.
Apparently visits from the denizens of the forest are frequent leading to many man-animal conflicts.

Streak Throated Woodpecker (female)
My one decent bird shot of this trip.

Lion Tailed Macaque with baby.
Camera: canon EOS 500D
Lens: Canon 100-400 F4-5.6 L IS USM
Exif: 1/60 sec F 5, 100-400@180mm ISO400

Handheld shot in bad light and light rains.

This is my favourite image and the last shot of the whole series.I waited 3 days and drove oh so many kms around valparai to get this one.
And by the way these are critically endangered species, found only in some areas of the western ghats.I was totally impressed by the NCF watchers guarding this troop even in the rains.I wonder how many generations will get to see these creatures in the wild….

Perhaps someday I would make a trip in not so rainy conditions to photograph the wildlife of the Anamalais…But you gotta visit the rainforests in the rains for sure !!!