The camaraderie began with 18 of us boarding the Pearl city express to Madurai on Friday the 22^nd of May'09 with berths across 4 compartments. Experience on jungle treks ranged from nil to 20 years.

Day 1 saw us alight at 4am in Madurai, bus no : TN 59 4882 with Jayakumar the bus driver waiting, not knowing he was going to be an observer to very odd, intense childlike curiosity from 17 adults for the next 8 days when it came to spotting birds, animals and insects and a strange love for silence while travelling in the bus. 3 hours later was the destination for the next 2 days - Thekkady at Kumily, in Periyar district. Birding began almost immediately with spotting of jungle fowl, white breasted kingfishers, Egrets, red whiskered bulbuls, raptors and animals like sambar deer, a solitary blackbuck and plenty of bonnet macaques in the bamboo groves in front of our hotel - Prasadom residency and the open field adjacent to the sanctuary. A leisurely kerala lunch followed with some of us blissfully unaware of the trepidation leeches can cause.

The first trek was into the Periyar Tiger reserve forest led by the forest department guards bringing up the front and the rear. It was the beginning of the observation of an entire food chain in progress from the plants -> insects -> birds -> animals. Large water bodies, good rains had led to a rich thriving rainforest abundant in wildlife. Greeted with different bird calls we were egged onto move further into the rainforest. Fairy blue birds, racket tailed drongos, rufus woodpeckers, a lone crested serpent eagle waiting patiently for its prey were sighted before the leech 'attack'. One wishes one had paid more attention to the leech socks mails being exchanged long before the trip had began. Of course the leech socks do not prevent the leeches from attaching themselves to your shoes, socks and pants. One look at the small tiny creatures and a thought goes through - why are we scared, sometimes bordering on paranoia, of them?

A little research shows they have their place in the grand scheme of things. Leeches are a particularly interesting aquatic organism in that they eat many different things; some species are herbivores, some are carnivores and some are scavengers. Collectively known as 'blood suckers' - very few species of leech actually take blood from warm blooded animals. Sturgeons and walleye, forms of freshwater fish, feed on leeches apart from plants, crayfish, insect larvae, molluscs etc The forest guards definitely felt that they are the major reason for humans keeping away from the forests and the animals which so need our non intervention.

Day 2 took us back to this stretch of the jungle and some more sightings: red whiskered bulbuls, red vented bulbuls, blue winged parakeets, plum headed parakeets, the Malabar whistling thrush, also called the whistling school boy, kept us enthralled though out the trip with its melodious call and songs.Heart spotted woodpeckers, Malabar grey hornbills, jungle mynas, hill mynas, white bellied tree pie , Nuthatch, Greenleaf bird, spotted doves, rufus treepies, tickell's leaf warbler, golden back woodpeckers, a dual frog resembling a dry leaf, a dead southern birdwing southern India's largest butterfly,

plenty of Giant Malabar squirrels in rich shiny shades of brown in high branches jumping, creeping up and resting, langurs, the racket tailed drongos hammock shaped nests were also spotted.

The Malabar trogan was undoubtedly the bird of this stretch. A walk behind Periyar house in the evening yielded sights of black eagles, grey hornbills and kingfishers and earlier the sprint of a barking deer across an open field was a thrill most of us will not forget. The entire trek served the purpose of reminding us that to stop and stare is the most important aspect of observing nature. Any movement, any call, any shape at any distance is to get your senses active and keep your binoculars handy for the art of camouflaging is a way of life for all life forms in the jungle.

Day 3 early in the morning saw us setting off boating in the periyar lake which was created at the time of construction of the periyar dam over periyar river - the longest river in Kerala with a length of 244 kms originating in the western ghats and flowing through the entire length of Kerala, also called its lifeline.

 

 

Our boating commenced with the sighting of a romp of otters on the banks, slipping into the lake as soon as they sighted us. Plenty of slender long necked darters (snake birds), lesser cormorants, egrets, grebes, pond herons, common, pied and white breasted kingfishers were found perched on the bare dead tree trunks sprinkled across the lake or swimming or flying around.

Sighting of a sounder of wild boars, and the wild Indian bisons (gaurs) added to the excitement. The quest for wild elephants on the shores remained unfulfilled at Periyar.

We got ready for our next tedious but exhilarating 13 km trek across five hills into the forest, this time with hired leech socks.

It began with the sighting of a pair of the Great Indian Hornbills. Simply awesome and amazing to see them perched on top of a tall tree, as though waiting to reward us for the trip. It is a tribute to the forest and the authorities around, to say that the ecological balance in this sanctuary is being maintained.

They flew away flapping their great wings, after a brief while, deeper into the forest. Soon after, inside the forest, an orange headed ground thrush was spotted after a great deal of shhshhhing from the guard followed by sighting of half a dozen monitor lizards. Stepping across tigerwood trees, seeing a tree with tiger claw marks on it, elephant tracks near a puddle, we reached a valley from where we could spot a herd of bisons resting on a hillock.

We moved on along the base of the hill to be suddenly halted in our tracks by a bison resting a few yards away. On detecting our movement, it moved away cautiously keeping a constant eye on us. Then we realised that it had moved away from its herd about 500 meters away quenching their thirst along with some wild boars at a water body.

 

The Gaurs moved away with the males in the herd keeping a watchful eye. The next challenge was to skirt along and away from where the lone gaur was, hoping it wouldn't charge at us.

The sense of smell is amazing - when it comes to man not just to animals in the forest. The guard would stop and wait and then tell us - he could smell elephants. He would then quietly explore the surroundings and lead the way. It is interesting to watch and feel our senses when the attention shifts from bird watching to animal sighting. When the birds sense us - they are ready and prepared to fly whereas when we feel animals have sighted us - we are ready and prepared to flee! So undeterred, we plodded our way through the forest and came across a piece of elephant hide with a story behind it. Apparently a few weeks ago an elephant was killed in a fight with another wild tusker and this particular hide was the remains brought to that spot by another animal - presumably a wild boar.

A chance call of a young chick on the ground revealed a mother and another chick on a tree - that of an asian brown flycatcher. A few meters away we saw a sambar deer's antler. We resisted the urge to collect it as a souvenir and thus adhered to forest rules - take nothing away from forests except memories (and millions of pictures!).

Day 4 - The forest guest house at Vallakadavu turned out to be a Birder's paradise - as is where is. Around the guest house are scores of birds waiting to be spotted. Wisely declining the tented accommodation owing to rains and proximity to the rain forest (and leeches of course) we continue to avail dormitory facilities at this location too. A Malabar whistling thrush, a jungle myna with scores of fireflies in its beak waiting to dart into its nest,
racket tailed drongos flying from tree to tree, treepies, white headed babblers, white cheeked barbets, coucals, flowerpeckers were a welcome sight as we settled in. Honey boxes lined the compound wall - sign of a small time apiculture (beekeeping) industry in place.
The sighting in the morning trek started with stork billed kingfishers along a river, more dual frogs and a small green snake. A climb up the hill gave the much needed oxygen and exercise to rid us of the calories added during consumption of the many hot idlis, sambar and chutney during breakfast time.

The afternoon trek was through a portion of the rainforest rich in bio diversity and leeches - the insect calls, dark wet leaves being squelched under our feet on the path less travelled, overcast skies could have been a backdrop for a I-dare-you trek of all times. Slipping and sliding on mossy rocks, loose wet soil, grabbing and lending a hand to other members we moved uphill and thought we would head back after sighting the normal quota of 25-30 bird species only to stumble across 2 elephants and a calf. A strange feeling gripped us - part fear and part excitement. Some of us inched forward for a better glimpse, others were discussing the merits of running downhill if the male elephant were to chase us having shown us clear signs of aggression - looking at us with ears very still and a lifted tail. We waited as the elephants waited to see who moved out of the way first. The forest guard showed us an alternate route

Size does matter and we beat a quiet hasty retreat, some of us holding hands forming a chain as we slithered and slipped downhill. The end of this day saw the leeches reach shoulders, arms, stomach and back of some members - the tell tale signs being dark spots of blood on the t shirts.

Day 5 - A mother elephant and calf were spotted atop a hill during the morning trek, also some sambar deer and gaurs. We departed for the Pamba hills with packed pongal for lunch. Going through Gavi and the Pamba dam we stopped when a member sighted a Crested serpent eagle.

It gave a demonstration of its head turn 180 degrees both ways. Having seen it our heart's content we proceeded to the pamba range of hills, sighting the now familiar giant Malabar squirrels and several other birds.

A gentle climb into the hills revealed the shola forest hugging the river course, home to the Nilgiri Tahr. We saw the fish tailed palms endemic to the southern western ghats and counted the number of ranges we could see before the cloud cover moved in. A lone ashy prinia and a lizard on a bush was spotted as we went downhill. We moved onto Thekkady for the night.

Day 6 -Breathtaking views greeted us as we reached Munnar after a 4 hour drive from Thekkady. 'Come see the blue in the grass' proclaim the signboards and so we did just that. The trek through the tea plantation was quiet and serene. Several stone bush chats, rock bush chats, minivets, Indian scimitar babblers, common woodshrike and flying rhinoceros beetles were spotted on the way. A crested serpent eagle is sighted and admired. We happily didn't waste time at the waterfall. An excruciating climb through several hundred roughly laid stone steps cutting across the hairpin bends left us huffing and puffing.

Day 7 - We were now at the Rajamalai hills in the Eravikulam sanctuary which claims that it is the cleanest sanctuary in India. May be so - as we were restricted to trek on the road only.
Encountering the Nilagiri tahr at very close quarters we walked a couple of kilometres to spot the saddleback high on the hills. The nilagiri flycatcher, pitpits, red vented and red whiskered bulbuls dotted the landscape. Group Pictures were shot in the backdrop of the clouds. Without wasting further time - we moved to Chinnar - our last destination. This is in the foothills of Munnar and to our expected dismay - as the contour of the land changed, so did the weather. We landed in dry deciduous scrub forest with a dry and hot climate.
Accommodation was in the dormitories of the Chinnar wild life sanctuary forest department guest house managed by the tribal communities now being weaned off the jungle, in the middle of the jungle albeit next to the toll gate with no power. So candle light dinner it was later that night with no lights and fans to switch off before we slept. Earlier that afternoon we trekkeed along the river, with no fear of leeches this time. Home to the giant grizzle squirrel and endangered star back turtles we saw a changeable hawk eagle, magpie robins, lorikeets, red wattled lapwing, pond herons, purple rumped sunbirds, green bee eater, Langurs and a brown fish owl take off on its huge wings.

We stopped at the Kerala - Tamil Nadu border and head back to the guest house through the dry scrub forest sighting sambars and Gaurs.

 

Day 8 - The last day of this trip dawns and took us to a high watch tower about a kilometre from the guest house early in the morning. We climbed up and immediately sighted a family of spotted deer.

The height enabled us to spot birds easily. A male Indian robin on the ground, a green woodpecker, a family of partridges, Magpie robins, coucals and blue faced mallkohas add to our treasure of sightings. Close to the guest house scarlet minivets, jungle mynas, tailor birds, sunbirds
and an army of bonnet monkeys gave us company. The last trek of the day revealed the evasive giant grizzle squirrels and flying lizards. Weary but happy and satisfied MNS members trooped back to get into the bus, headed for Coimbatore to share the findings, photographs and re live the memories once again till the next trip takes off.