October 2009 Trip - Munnar & Thekkady II

So we woke up early in the morning and got into the open jeep that had been waiting for us. And off we went for the trip!!! AWESOME!!! That's the one word we can describe the entire trip and experience and I shall let you know the fun we had in the next. Until then ciao folks!

Travelling in an open jeep with the cold breeze hitting your face is superb! We managed to see the sunrise over the hills and continued to Gavi. Luckily we didn't have to pay any entrance fees to enter the Periyar Tiger reserve, wildlife week had just started. As we continued towards Gavi, we saw several monkeys and then suddenly the guide stops the vehicle. Elephants! Wild elephants to your left, gentlemen, a herd of around 15-20 elephants. In fact 2 of the tuskers were intimidated by our presence. The guide then informed us that there are about5-6 baby elephants and that's the reason the tuskers are agitated. They will protect the children and protecting 5-6 children is not a small task. I am no elephant but you can ask my bother about taking care of children!

We then continued to Gavi and finally reached our destination at 7:30. We clicked a couple of snaps near the lake which is beautiful. While clicking the snaps, I felt a small pricking sensation on my leg which was actually a leech biting us :D. We had a small tutorial on how leeches suck the blood and how they die with salt. Soon after that had our breakfast which was included in the cash we paid the guide. It costs Rs 900 for the breakfast and trek into the forest, it also includes lunch. The food was pretty decent; we feasted on the fresh fruits that were on the buffet.

Off for the trek without leech socks!

OK. Let’s get the facts straight here. Mani our trekking guide has seen tigers only thrice in the last 18 months that he has been working. But tigers in the forest!!! I agree that it’s called Periyar Tiger Reserve but still! "So Mani, what do we do if we see a tiger?" asked Sandesh. "Well, you don't run" replied Mani. OK, we see a tiger in the wild and then Mani expects us not to run. "It will attack us only if it’s hungry or feel threatened". Oh!! That's even better. What can I say, we all hoped to see a tiger in the wild, which was not hungry and didn't feel threatened. Small world after all huh?


Then comes the classic question from Mahesh, "If I get pressure and I have to go, can I go in the jungle?" "Strictly no, no human intervention in the forest. We should not leave any trail. We should not even urinate." Not the best of times to tell us that because we were still thinking about the tiger. The discussion then moved on to what happens if tiger attacks us? "It won't, anyways we don't have any weapons" said Mani. "Not even a tranquilizer?" I asked, finally building up my courage after all the tiger and "pressure tactic" stories. "Nothing. Walk fast, we have a lot to cover" Mani is not the best of conversationalists, but he drove a point right into our heads. No loo work in jungle, no running if you see tiger. Hmmmm...

Spot where the Bisons were seen

Climbing the first hill itself took a lot from me. Blocked nose and lack of stamina doesn't help. It will be worse if a tiger was chasing you too. That's the time I asked myself to kindly shut up. As soon as we climbed the hill, we saw a herd of wild Bisons about 500 meters from us. We waited for sometime and by the time we reached the spot they had moved into the jungle to our right. Mani tried his best to spot one but couldn't. Soon we entered the forest and came across the spot where the jungle camp is held for overnight enthusiasts. The hut was a bit destroyed because a wild elephant got stuck in the moat and went berserk because of it. Then the leech socks came into play. We had no idea leeches were such a menace.

We carried on through the forest until we reached a small river which we had to cross with no support. The current was strong and Mani promptly warned us about the waterfall just ahead. We crossed and had a look at the waterfall. It was easily 100-200 meters fall and no one from the forest department had managed to reach the bottom of the waterfall through the thick jungle. We had one of the best times there, having a bath in the jungle can only be seen in Hindi movies ;).

Jaideep's Bison Birthday Cake

After dipping ourselves in the water, we headed on to the last and final leg of our trek in the forest. We reached a spot where Mani showed us the hill which was Shabarimala, on the other side of the hill was the temple. We also saw a big waterfall in the distance and Mani also let us know that he had no idea how to get there. As we started from that spot, we encountered a snake that was rattling its tail, the sound being soooo loud that Jaideep who was at the end of the file reached next to Mani for assurance, after pushing and shoving all of us. We then crossed the Cardamom plantation of the forest department and reached the Jungle Lodge. We had our lunch which was not all that great but again the fresh fruits we the best part of the meal.

Spot where we could here a snake rattle

The next part of the itinerary was the boat trip to another waterfall. Boating is not that easy especially when you have people with no sense of direction, I guess that was what was going on in Mani's head. The waterfall was really amazing but thanks to the time constraint that we had we had to skip getting off near the waterfall. We then bid farewell to Mani and the forest department folks at Gavi after asking details of the eco tourism hot-spots in Kerala. The open jeep was waiting for our trip back. We halted to check if there were anymore Elephants at the same spot but couldn't see any. We also managed to see deer or Nigiri Tahr from a distance. Soon a jeep passed us and the guide asked us to be quiet as it was the chief warden's vehicle. We then reached back to Kumily and started checking out of our room.

This brought us to the last part of the trip where we had to start our journey back to Chennai. This trip was truly an experience and really brought us all very close to adventure, wildlife and nature. It was an eye opener as none of us knew that we could have so much fun while being responsible about wildlife conservation and protecting our environment.

October 2009 Trip - Munnar & Thekkady I

For my first blog I should be writing something pretty interesting. Well I am writing about a trip I had in October 2009. In fact a very good and memorable trip. When one of my friends from office asked me whether I was interested to come with them on a holiday to munnar & thekady, places I sooooo wanted to visit, little did I know what to expect. Well I did my part of the planning (and the toughest) i.e. to pay for the trip and that my friends, I sincerely did!

We left on 1st October from the company GH at 2100 IST. Indian stretchable time did exist at that moment and we were only 1 hour late. Then we got stuck in the traffic but still we did manage to reach the foot of the hill by day break. Kudos to the driver for that. Once the climb started it was truly breathtaking, we were still in TN and hadn't crossed into Kerala, there was a slight drizzle and we could see the clouds as we climbed, as well as Mahesh's friends on a three wheeler. Well they didn't bray when they saw him but one of them seem to recognize Sandesh and Saurab ;). Well who can say why?

By the time we reached the forest department/excise outpost, we had to stop for the officer to check our Tavera. We did mention to him that we are going for a fun trip. He also let us know that he is checking for the fun ingredient called 'Ganja'. It was pouring at that time and it continued till we reached Munnar.
On the way to Munnar we came across the Power House Waterfalls which is beautiful!!! I would have rated it as amazing if we were allowed to have bath under it but because it is a source of water supply it has been conveniently fenced by the government. We spent some time there and started once again to Munnar. The scenery is breath taking and a delight to watch. Hold-on!!!

Bang!!!! Some of us banged our heads on the sides of the Tavera as the driver jammed the breaks. Right in front of us was a biker who skidded and fell in front of the vehicle. Lucky for him otherwise he would have had a nice free fall! That's when we met 2 amazing bikers from Pune who had travelled on their bikes all the way to the Nilgiris via Bangalore for a nice trip. Hats off to these guys who are travelling by bikes all the way here.

We finally reached munnar in the afternoon and found a place that provided lodging for 7 of us. We freshened up, had our lunch and went off sight seeing in the rains.

Echo Point

Eucalyptus Trees near the Dam

View from the Dam

Munnar was awesome and the weather was cold and wet with a slight drizzle. We couldn't have asked for anything else. We then visited several tourist spots around Munnar and since it was the begining of the tourist season it was all crowded. So we just visited a few of the touristy places around Munnar like Echo Point, Top Station and the dam. We then went for a drive around Munnar. It was awesome!!! Just driving around Munnar we managed to see Small waterfalls in the rains, clouds breaking on the mountains... These were some sights we don't get to see in our usual city lives. We also visited a park/garden with amazing variety of plants and flowers from the Nilgiris.

We returned to our room in Munnar and rested for the day. The next day we planned a trip to Rajamala or Eravikulam National Park but it was impossible to enter the park and to skip the crowd we decided to go for another drive around Munnar. We then decided to move on to Thekady and visit Periyar tiger reserve. We took regular breaks to click snaps throughout the trip and that's when we stopped at this place because of the amazing beauty.

We also had a chance to meet Hutch dog, the pug. We saw these endless never ending tea gardens. After a while Manish and I convinced Sandesh that we had to stop and climb up one of these tea gardens (read as trespassing :D). As soon as we climbed the tea garden hill, we felt the strong breeze that was being blocked by these hills. It was the best part of the trip till then, but the following day had a lot in store for us. We had no clue about the adventure of the next day.

A stream

The hill with tea plantation

View from the top

Waterfall from a distance

Can you see a small Tavera next to Jaideep's shoulder?

As soon as we reached Thekkady, we realised that due to the tragic boat accident the reserve has been closed and no one was allowed in. While some of us were reviewing our options and thinking of going back to Munnar or going to Kumarakom backwaters, others visited a Kathakali Kalashetram to have a look at a Kathakali recital.

By the time they returned we found out that there is another place called Gavi about 30-30 kilometers from Kumily. We also found out that we would be able to trek into the forests. Little did we know that these guys at Kumily were trying to take us for a ride and make us pay extra. Anyways, we agreed for some 1050 per person for this trip.

So we woke up early in the morning and got into the open jeep that had been waiting for us. And off we went for the trip!!! AWESOME!!! That's the one word we can describe the entire trip and experience and I shall let you know the fun we had in the next blog. Until then ciao folks!