Lazy….

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.

Starry night

Night.

Time lapse from our backyard .

Home sweet home…

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.

Moonrise over Vellarimala

I will try to keep updating/boring everyone with few sights from our patch of paradise.

 

Frogs and Frogmouths

On Oct 2nd, the Malabar Natural History Society ( MNHS ) along with the Kerala Forests and Wildlife Department and, The Zoological Survey of India conducted a Frog Survey at  the Malabar Wildlife Sanctuary.Now while I am primarily a birder, and Herpetology not my usual cup of tea, I jumped at the chance of exploring the insides of the wildlife sanctuary at night.

So, along with my friends Riyan ( Asst.Prof in Zoology) and Sudheer ( Physician), we set out from Calicut at around 4:15 pm. The route we took was, Calicut-Thamarassery-Poonoor-Thalayad-Kakkayam-Kakkayam dam (entrance to Malabar WLS) . We made it just in time by 6:00 pm, when the rest of the team were disembarking from their vehicles.

After a quick cup of tea and refreshments at the dorms, we were given a brief introduction and objectives of the day’s survey by Dr.Jafar Palot ( ZSI and Hon.Sec of the MNHS). We were also in the esteemed company of Dr. Varad Giri of the BNHS and Satyan Meppayur of MNHS. Other members from the MNHS and BNHS has also come for the survey.

Ceylon Frogmouth | Malabar Wildlife Sanctuary(Kakkayam), Calicut | 2nd Oct 2014 The frog survey conducted by MNHS yielded a superb bonus….lots of frogs and this Frogmouth !!! It was a thrilling experience to hear the calls of the Frogmouths ( Many of them) in the crisp clean night , accompanied by the million frog and insect sounds… We had taken precautions by using torchlight ( and not a flash) and high ISO ( ISO 3200) to click this image.Though this might still have caused the bird some inconvenience,we left it on its way as soon as we managed this record shot. Many thanks to the excellent spotting skills of Riyan Konkath, and DrSudheer Mullakkal

Eagerly we set out and were soon set upon by the million leeches which are present in the rain forests at this time of the year.While the herpers,came well prepared with gumboots, headlights etc, we birders were not so well prepared and did not join them when they waded enthusiastically into the streams and pools inside the bamboo thickets.

Raorchestes ochlandrae (Ochlandrae reed frog) is a species of shrub frog in the Rhacophoridae family. It is endemic to the Western Ghats, India. This species of the oriental shrub frog was described from Kakkayam Reserve Forest of Calicut district, Kerala state, in the southern Western Ghats. ( Wiki) This was perhaps the prize catch of the night, and worth the numerous leech bites all over my body.

We stayed on the main path sufficiently thrilled to hear the calls of the very rare Ceylon Frogmouth. We even managed to spot and photograph one while the Herpers were finding many rare endemic frogs.The survey went on long into the night and finally we all trudged back to the base camp around midnight for a delicious dinner of steaming hot rice and sambar and pickles prepared by the foresters. As it was a working day the next day we drove back the same night a reached our homes by around 2:30 am.

I must put in a serious word of appreciation for the remarkable spotting ability, dedication and determination of the herpetology group.They are just too good, unmindful of the leeches and terrain, including negotiating small waterfalls at night, they kept on in full enthusiasm searching and finding frogs well into the night.

I must also give thanks to the gentlemen of the Kerala Forests and Wildlife Department, who were fantastic guides and wonderful hosts, staying up so late into the night to take care of our group.

Magical B R Hills

For a long time we’ve wanted to visit K.gudi wilderness camp run by Jungle lodges and resorts at B R hills. The opportunity presented itself while we had to drive up to Bangalore from Calicut in late March 2013.This was to be a brief interlude as we could only spend one night at K.gudi, but what a memorable night it turned out to be !!!

K.gudi has been rated by many to be the best JLR property,ranking even higher than the Kabini river lodge. Now while Kabini is likely to be more rewarding in terms of big cat sightings, K.gudi and B R hills offer a more wholesome jungle experience.The location of the camp is the most attractive feature…Bang in the middle of the jungle, no fences, no walls…In my opinion this is like being in paradise for any nature lover.
We started from Calicut early saturday morning hoping to reach k.gudi before lunch. As we had never driven to that part of the state we were unsure about the road condition/restaurants etc. The route taken was Calicut-Sultan Bathery-Gundlupet-Chamrajnagar-K.Gudi.

From experience I would suggest taking a slight detour and stopping at Cafe Coffee Day at Gundlupet for the bathroom break and maybe light refreshments.A word of caution while driving through Gundlupet and Chamrajnagar…Cows/buffalos/goats, cyclists/bikers and pedestrians generally love using the middle of the road, exercising extreme caution and liberal use of the vehicle horn is highly recommended.
The transition from village to jungle is abrupt when you approach from chamrajnagar side. I wished i was driving in an open jeep. A few kms drive through some ghat sections brings you to K.gudi. The location is to die for,just the location would bring back nature lovers to this camp again and again.

We were welcomed warmly and shown our log hut ( Bilgiri) which is the farthest accommodation in the property.The jungle lodges schedule is well-known to us and we went to the Ghol Ghar for a simple but delicious lunch.I regretted not taking my camera to the ghol ghar as there were Velvet fronted nuthatches,Asian Paradise flycatchers,Spangled Drongos,Black hooded orioles and many more birds just flitting outside the Ghol Ghar.Needless to say we spent sometime birdwatching post lunch.
My friend Phillip Ross, an acclaimed wildlife photographer was visiting K.gudi with a few friends from Bangalore. It was good to catch up and we ended up sharing the same jeep for our evening safari. Reshma and me were totally smitten by the jungles of B R hills…It was different, and it was lovely.This place is a birding paradise…not to mention Barking deer Headquarters !!! In Bandipur and Kabini, a barking deer sighting could be counted as a rare one…here they are found in plenty.Barking deer,Sambhar and Gaur. Surprisingly, while B R Hills is known as elephant central, we encountered only a lone tusker during our safari.While we saw a lot of wildlife, the evening safari did not yield a glimpse of any big cat.
.

Phillip had volunteered as a naturalist here a few years ago and it was great to hear a lot of info about this area from him. Post safari we had tea and headed off to our hut for a shower before dinner. It was getting dark and i was out in the balcony with my torch.I started shining my torch out into the jungle to scan for some nightlife. My light caught a pair of gleaming eyes, and i initially dismissed it for a wild boar. To my shock and surprise , what i thought was a wild boar turned out to be a young female Leopard !!! Called out Reshma, and she thought I’d lost my mind…but as the leopard came closer she too got the thrill of her life. Called up Phillip, and he too didn’t believe me.But I urged him to come quickly with his gear, and he too was stunned.Very soon the entire resort was in our room( some 20 odd people) savouring this amazing sighting.This is the magic of K.gudi. This the best part about staying in the jungle. a leopard sighting from our cottage !!! She spent a good 30 mins with us and left all of us satisfied and thrilled. The resort staff also mentioned sighting a young Tiger from the same area three days ago….So I would highly recommend the log hut Bilgiri for some great sightings in the camp.
Post dinner the lights are out by 10 30 pm and the jungle takes over.Alarm calls frequently pierced the night , signifying predator activity.Nightjars and owls too kept us company for the night. The cool night and the pleasant breeze finally overpowered my will to stay awake and i finally went to bed setting my alarm for 5 am.
I woke up well before my alarm….couldnt sleep much because i was too excited to be here. The deer and wild boar were roaming around the property and the birds hadn’t started their day yet. 5:30 am the generator is turned on and we are woken up with a steaming cup of coffee/tea. We got ready and boarded the jeep for our morning safari. One of the hotspots for big cat sighting is the Annikere road, and we headed off in that direction. I was just happy to be here and was enjoying the forest.It was teeming with birds and other wildlife. Besides yesterday evenings super sighting was still fresh in our minds.The safari’s did not yield anymore cats,and we returned to the camp for breakfast and some more birding.
After a super heavy delicious breakfast , we went to our hut to shower and pack and get ready to drive on to bangalore.Both ous us were so enamoured by the forest that we decided we will come back here soon…very soon.

Very soon happened the very next month….yup hectic work schedules and family commitments, plus the super hot summer made us desperate and we wanted to escape from hot and humid calicut. Surprisingly both of us agreed on K.gudi (my wife generally hates visiting the same place over and over again, unlike me ). So we booked for two nights this time, packed our bags and headed off to the beloved Jungles.
The forest had received some rains and was looking much greener and livelier than in march. After a pleasant drive, we checked into a tented cottage this time. Basic, neat, clean and comfortable with a clean bathroom…luxurious when you are camping in the middle of the forest.But i’d recommend the log huts any day if you can afford to pay the 1000 or so rs per head extra.
Bird activity as usual was very high in and around the camp.The One more bottle bird and the brain fever bird and the grey jungle fowl were especially vocal, with the one more bottle bird almost keeping me awake the whole night !!!
Anyways, post a heavy lunch at ghol ghar and a power nap later, we were all set for the evening safari. Rajesh was our driver.He is a nice guy but his driving style sometimes resembles that of Sebastian Loeb 🙂 . So we set out to the Annikere road, on the first of our four safaris. On the way we met the usual suspects….barking deer, sambhar, hanuman langurs, Gaur, spotted deer, peafowl,wild board and a few elephants…

Also saw painted bush quails for the first time.
Another bonanza sighting was that of a Changeable Hawk Eagle with a palm squirrel catch.The many ladies in the jeep did not want to watch the jungle in all its raw brutal beauty and we moved on.

We waited for a while at the annikere waterhole, where many have sighted a tigress and her four cubs. Construction of a concrete pool/waterhole seems to have disturbed the wildlife and there was not much activity there.Suitably frustrated as it was almost time for us to return, we started our trip back when suddenly…stripes !!!

She was a huge tigress and Rajesh told us she has raised four really healthy cubs.She was calling out to her cubs and going back to where they were sheltering. We managed to follow her for a while till she decided to cross the road and disappear among the grass and rocks.
Elated, we sped back to our camp. Rajesh’s driving would have shamed Loeb into retirement.Most of us did not care, we had just had a one on one session with the chief deity of this fabulous temple.Some of us were seeing a tiger in the wild for the first time…
Hot tea and pakodas at the camp followed by a nature documentary as is the norm in most JLR properties. We headed of for a quick shower and then proceeded for an early dinner. We hit the bed early as we had started really early from Calicut. Sometime into the night a sharp alarm call and sound of scurrying animals woke us up. Well they must have woken many an excited person who was camping there.The dozen or so flashlights did not succeed in spotting the predator and slowly the camp settled in for a sound sleep..or so we thought. The Indian Cuckoo had different plans for me and many others…One more bottle, one more bottle it kept calling into the night and was joined by some of its friends too…I too ended up wishing that I had a bottle, to help me doze off.
Apparently we had many others who did not sleep well that night as was evident from some of the grumpy looking fellow wildlifers…Going into the jungle in the morning is a special feeling….there is that nip in the air and the jungle smells and feels different.

We saw the fame Madras(Indian) Tree Shrew this time.Not one but a pair, and they posed on a tree for us.Now sighting a Madras tree shrew is a big deal as they are found only here in southern India. Rajesh might not be the best of drivers but we had some fabulous sightings with him.Plus he is a nice guy and takes time to talk to people about the region,and its flora and fauna.
Post breakfast,we headed off toward the Ranganathaswamy temple after which BR hills or Biligiri Rangana hills gets its name. as it was the local festival here, the place was crowded, and dirty.There was some construction going on at the temple.We both paid our respects to the deity and made a quick getaway from the temple and headed back to the camp.At he camp, we met Narayan, one of the main naturalists, and a local.Now we had met up during our last visit and it was nice seeing him again. He was just recounting how he and his wife saw a tigress crossing the main road at around 11 am while they were coming here on a bike !!! Bloody hell it was around 11 00 am and we too wanted to try our luck…So we hopped into our car and drove slowly towards the checkpost on the Chamarajnagar side.

The birdwatching was good…at one point we saw a white rumped shama ( a lifer for both of us ) and were trying to photograph it from the car (getting out of your vehicle is prohibited and punishable inside the jungle), when a group of guys in a scorpio thought we had spotted some big cat and were scanning the area in vain. We stopped outside the checkpost and chatted with the guards there for sometime. Reshma was amused to see the antics of a white browed fantail, but she never got it to pose with its tail flared. The sun was getting hot and we returned in time for lunch.
Evening safari was with Narayan.The driving style is totally different, spots and then kills the engine for everyone to view/photograph.Narayan is an amazing spotter….incredible how he spots and id’s a bird from so far away, that we can barely even see it. Oh by the way, a pair of binoculars are a must, we were happy with our olympus 8 x 40. We saw lots of birds and our usual suspects.

On the way back we heard some alarm calls and headed off in that direction to find another jeep waiting by the road…they had just seen a leopard cross the road and cross back again and head into the bushes. We waited there patiently till it was time for us to get back.

Day three, I was up before sunrise.Reshma was feeling lazy and wanted to sleep…it was a lovely cool morning.The night had been awesome with distant thunder, lightning and a cool breeze as it had rained in the vicinity.Finally Reshma woke up and we boarded the jeep for our last trip into the jungle.While we did not see anymore big cats, we spent an amazing time with a pair of Blue Bearded Bee Eaters. They gave us super poses, and we did not stay there for long because Narayan said there might be a nest nearby.So we took off and headed back to the camp for one last heavy breakfast.
Finally we headed to our tented hut, showered and packed our bags and bid goodbye to the staff and friends we made at K.Gudi wilderness camp…promising to be back very soon.

<

A sunday drive.

We were the last group to leave the checkpost. Although we reached Malabar WLS well after the official visiting hours, we struck up some conversation with the police and forest guards. Very friendly people, who I must say have their patience tested by the innumerable idiots who venture there with their drinks/bottles/etc etc….

They told us to be careful about elephants that we may come across on the road. It had just started raining, and the sun was about to descend below the storm clouds.It was an amazing scene !!! I got out of the car, clicked a few frames and ran back in just before the heavens burst.

Thankfully the elephants were chilling out in their own piece of heaven.

More about Malabar WLS here

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 !!!