After having traveled across the Nilgiri Hills from north to south the day before, on the 27th I crossed them again, this time from south to north. I went to the train station in Mettupalaiyam about 6:30 in hopes of getting a train ticket to Ooty or Coonoor, despite being told all seats were sold the evening before. I was told the same in the morning, but stayed to watch the steam engine hook up to the carriages and the train depart at 7:10 on a sunny morning. There were only three carriages, two of first class, filled with only Indians who I suppose may have made their reservations weeks or even months in advance, and only one of second class, at most half filled with foreigners.
I left by bus a little before 9 not the busy main road to Ooty, but a much nicer road up into the hills heading to Kotagiri, a small town east of Ooty. Kotagiri is only about 20 miles from Mettupalaiyam, but it took the bus an hour and a half to get there. The road rose steeply from the plains, with great views down to the plains (at about 1000 feet elevation) up to about 3000 feet elevation. The jungle along the road was particularly beautiful in the morning sunshine, with quite a few macaque monkeys appearing on the road here and there. Coffee and tea started to appear after about 3000 feet elevation as we wound our way into the hills, making seven (numbered) hairpin turns on the way to Kotagiri at about 6500 feet elevation.
From Kotagiri I almost immediately caught a bus to Ooty, about 15 miles to the west, a journey of a little over an hour. We passed more jungle and tea and climbed to about 8000 feet in elevation near the Dodabetta Peak, one of the highest in the Western Ghats at about 8600-8700 feet. Arriving in Ooty, where it was sunny and clear, as it had been all morning on the bus rides, a little before noon, I had lunch and a little before 1 p.m. left on bus heading northwest, through and down the Nilgiris to Gudalur. I thought about heading back to Mudumalai National Park at Theppakadu to see if I could get a room at the Sylvan Lodge, and would have gone there if the bus that left Ooty for Masinagudi soon after noon had had any empty seats.
Gudalur is only about 30 miles from Ooty, but the trip took almost two hours. The sky clouded up on the way, but the trip still was scenic and enjoyable. I had about a half hour wait in Gudalur, at 3000 feet or so elevation, and then left on a bus heading about 15 miles northwest to Pattavayal just before the border with Kerala. This was another scenic journey of more than an hour up and down but staying within the 3000-4000 range of elevation through green hills with lots of tea. A bus headed to Sulthan Bathery in Kerala was standing by and left about 4:30. While waiting for the bus to depart, I saw three tribal people, very dark skinned and with stringy hair, the first tribal people I had noticed in these hills which they used to dominate.
The ten mile or so trip to Sulthan Bathery through more green and lovely scenery took a little more than a half hour. On the way we passed through a portion of the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary. In town I checked into a very nice modern hotel, probably the nicest I've stayed in in India, for only 650 rupees (a bit more than $10) a night, including a very good breakfast. The small town of Sulthan Bathery sits at about 3200 feet elevation (according to my altimeter, so that could be off by a couple of hundred feet) and got its name from a fort, now apparently disappeared, built by Tippu Sultan of Mysore in the late 1700's. I saw several spellings of the town's name, but "Sulthan Bathery" was the most common. I guess Tipu Sultan's fort had a battery of cannon. This area, the northern hills of Kerala, is called Wayanad.
The next morning I was up about 5:30 and out in the dark at 6 to catch a bus to the Muthanga entrance of Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary, about seven miles north of town. A guy from the hotel waited with me as the sky began to get a little light, but after about 20 minutes with no bus arriving advised me to take an auto rickshaw, which I did for 150 rupees. The sanctuary opened at 7 and I took a jeep safari costing 875 rupees,about $14. The other jeeps were packed with Indians, maybe 8 to 10 of them per jeep, but I had one to myself, with driver and guide. The route through the sanctuary was a short one, however, on a very bumpy dirt and gravel road taking us only about 45 minutes. And we didn't see very much: a few chital (spotted deer), a peacock and a mongoose. After the safari I caught a bus back to town about 8:30 in time for breakfast. I spent most of the rest of the day in an internet cafe, with a lunch break for a wonderful chicken biryani, maybe the best I've had in India.
When I got back to the hotel in the early evening I was told by the staff that a hartal, or strike, had been called that afternoon to commence the next morning at 6 and continue until 6 in the evening. The opposition party alliance in Kerala, dominated by the Communist Party, had called the strike in protest against a central government report recommending classifying certain hill communities as eco-sensitive, with certain activities prohibited. Kerala is famous, or perhaps infamous, for its strikes. As a consequence, it has almost no industry, as nobody wants to deal with its labor force. I was told that just about everything would be shut down , enforced by party members.
Kerala, by the way, was the first place in the world to elect a communist government, in 1957, and the Communist Party has alternated in government with the Congress Party over the years since. The Communist Party here is called the CPI(M), for Communist Party of India (Marxist). This is to distinguish itself from another Indian communist party, the plain old CPI. Communist parties are strong in only three states in India: Kerala, West Bengal, and tiny Tripura. And then, of course, there are the Naxalites guerrillas, who are Maoists, in much of eastern India.
The next day was wonderfully quiet, with almost no traffic. The hospital up the street was open, as was a pharmacy in the other direction, but just about everything else was closed. Our hotel did serve meals in its restaurant, but only to persons staying at the hotel. I looked out in the morning and did see a bunch of guys stopping cars, apparently to ask their drivers' justifications for being on the road. I spent most of the day in my room reading. In the late afternoon, after about 4:30, there was a little more activity, with more traffic and a few shops opening. I took a walk around town about 5:30 to 6 and it was very nice to be able to walk around an Indian town without having to dodge traffic and pedestrians.
The next morning things were back to normal and about 10:30 I took a bus to near the Edakkal Caves, about seven miles southwest of town. The half hour bus ride passed through beautiful green and hilly country, with betel nut and cocoanut palms, tea, a few rice terraces, and coffee bushes in bloom, exuding a wonderful odor I could smell even from the bus. From where the bus dropped me off I had about an hour walk up to the caves, rising about 700 feet, first on the road, then a cement path, then rock steps, and finally metal stairs. The scenery along the way was beautiful, with the blossoming coffee bushes, betel nut and cocoanut palms, and much other vegetation, including some trees covered with bright yellow blossoms. Lots of tourists, almost all Indian on this Sunday, were walking to and from the caves. Lots of macaques, a few with babies clinging to their undersides, were to be seen scavenging whatever they could from the tourists. There were good views over and through the forest on the way up, and really good views up at the top, with the wide, hilly countryside below. The second and highest of the two caves, open to sky, has walls covered with petroglyphs estimated to be 3000 years old. Composed of lines and swirls, they are said to represent people, animals, carts and the like.
I walked down slowly, enjoying the scenery and stopping for an omelet lunch at one of the little stands catering to tourists. A two egg omelet with onions cost me all of 20 rupees, about 30 cents. On the way down I stopped and sat here and there to watch the macaques among the flowering coffee bushes. I didn't see any coffee berries, only blossoms.
I got back to the bus stop junction after 3, but, instead of waiting for a bus, decided to walk to the town of Ambalavayal, where there is a museum, about three miles away. The walk along the quiet road was pleasant, with houses full of friendly people here and there among the coffee bushes, most of whose blossoms were dying, and good views back towards the rounded, rocky hills where the caves are located. About halfway a guy on a motorcycle gave me a ride to Ambalavayal and the museum, which was closed for renovation. He took me to the bus station, where I caught a bus back to Sulthan Bathery about 4:30. That night in the hotel lobby I watched the end of the India-Pakistan cricket match in the Asian Cup, with Pakistan winning a very close and exciting match, to the disappointment of the Indians also watching.
The sky was cloudy the next morning about 8 as I walked to the other side of town to see a simply decorated Jain temple dating from the 14th century. When I got back to the hotel, the television in the lobby was showing the Oscars, with the banner headline "Breaking News." I went to breakfast, but caught a recap of the Oscars on television when I got back to my room.
About 11 I left Sulthan Bathery on a bus bound for Mananthavady, maybe 30 miles northwest. The first hour or so of the journey traveled on back roads through scenic, hilly countryside, with lots of coffee bushes and betel nut trees and much other greenery. Coffee is grown under trees, sometimes under the very tall and thin betel nut palms, whose thin trunks seem to reach 40 or 50 feet in some cases. Along the way were quite a few newly built and very nice large houses. I have read that something like a million Keralans, out of a state population of about 35 million, work in the Persian Gulf area, many returning with relative fortunes for India and building these big houses in the cool hills. A few of them are gaudy, but most look very nice. At places along the route, there were also red flags with a white hammer and sickle.
We reached the main road at a town called Panamaram and reached Mananthavady about half an hour later. According to my altimeter, Mananthavady was about 400 feet lower than Sulthan Bathery, so about 2800 feet if my altimeter was correct. I found a very nice hotel for 900 rupees, or about $15.
After lunch I caught a bus a little before 2:30 heading to Tholpetty, maybe 15 miles north and the entrance for the other section of the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary. I enjoyed another scenic journey through green hills full of coffee bushes, though not in blossom, and betel nut palms and much else. I also passed, as I had on the way from Sulthan Bathery, quite a few churches, modern and very well kept up ones. Kerala has, I think, India's highest Christian population, said to date from the arrival of St. Thomas in 52 A.D. There are also lots of Muslims in Kerala and I've seen lots of women in Islamic headscarves. I've only seen a few mosques here in the hills, though. I've read that Muslims constitute 24% of Kerala's population, third highest in India after Assam and West Bengal. I've also noticed that almost all of the hospitals and private schools that I have seen in Wayanad are Christian. One church was called San Jose, odd since the Spanish never colonized here. My bus on the way from Sulthan Bathery had a painting of Jesus praying, perhaps at the Garden of Gethsemane, at the front of the bus. Colored lights set into it blinked off and on, white crosses in the two upper corners, and an arc of red lights around Jesus.
The bus entered the wildlife sanctuary before reaching Tholpetty and drove through hills covered mostly with teak trees barren or nearly so of leaves, but lots of smaller bright green leaved trees and those trees full of bright yellow blossoms, all very scenic. There were also lots of big, tall clumps of dead bamboo. I was told they blossom and then die off every three to four years.
I arrived at Tholpetty about 3:15 and left on a jeep safari soon after. The price was the same as at Muthanga, 875 rupees, but the route was longer and much more scenic. The jeeps are said to go about 15 miles over a rough road in the sanctuary, passing forests mainly of teak, with many of those yellow blossoming trees. The road in part passes by a beautiful creek. We saw lots of spotted deer, two sambar deer (each at a different location), and a very small, shy barking deer that ran off with its white tail held high. We saw a couple of turtles on a rock near a pond. Best of all were a mother and baby elephant, though mostly obscured by bushes. The area was beautiful in the late afternoon sun. The safari lasted almost two hours, and afterwards I walked to a little hotel nearby surrounded by coffee bushed to check it out. The proprietor was out so I talked with a guest until after 6 when he returned. I didn't get a bus back to Mananthavady until 6:40, after the sun had disappeared. There was some light until 7, so I had a few views of the forest at dusk, with a crescent moon setting. Kerala buses often lack glass windows on the sides, instead employing canvas accordion-like shades. These were mostly up, so it was chilly on the bus. I got back to town about 7:20
The next morning I was up before 5:30 and walked in the dark to the bus stand, getting there about ten minutes to 6. But the promised 6 o'clock bus never showed up. Perhaps it left early. I did leave for Tholpetty on a 6:35 bus and enjoyed the ride through the forest in the early morning. Getting to Tholpetty about 7:20, I booked the first jeep of the day and we spent about an hour and 45 minutes in the sanctuary, along the same route as the afternoon before, which seems to be the only route for tourists. We saw spotted deer and langurs and macaques and eventually came across a herd of more than 20 gaur, or Indian bison, including at least three calves. We had good views of them, but then they retreated into the bushes. It was nice when the driver stopped the jeep and turned off the motor. You could hear all the birds chirping away. I saw quite a few, too, including hoopoes, bright blue kingfishers, racket-tailed drongos, and lots more whose names I don't know. We saw some fresh elephant dung on the road, and some elephant footprints, but no elephants. We did see two Malabar giant squirrels high up a couple of trees. One jumped from limb to limb. They seem very large, perhaps the size of a medium size dog, like a small collie. Later, we saw another one sleeping on a limb. It had a very long, bushy tail, with red hair at the tip. The rest of its fur was dark brown, with white around the face. After the safari, I caught a bus to Mananthavady about 9:20, arriving about 10.
I took the 2:20 bus back to Tholpetty, arriving about 3:15 on a warm, sunny afternoon. We waited to start our safari until 4, as you always have a better chance to see animals early in the morning or late in the afternoon. At first we saw nothing but a few chital (spotted deer), but then the guide spotted a bison mostly hidden by the bushes. Eventually, about 15 of them emerged from the bushes. One head butted a bush, knocking it over. I don't know if it was in the way, or if he wanted to eat it, or if he was just feeling ornery, or what. Eventually, they almost all crossed the road, some in front of us and others behind us. Two were calves.
A little further on we saw two giant squirrels high in the trees. These two were smaller than the ones I had seen in the morning. One jumped quite a distance from one tree to another, seemingly barely catching the limb and then swinging from it before scampering on. A bit further we saw three elephants, including a baby, on the slope on the other side of the creek. They were a ways away, but we got a good view. We drove to the end of the road and turned around. On the way back we saw another elephant, a big one, on the far bank. We also again passed the gaur (bison), still grazing along the road. We finished a little before 6 and I caught the bus back soon after 6 and had to stand at first, until the first little town. On the way back, while still in the sanctuary but only maybe a half mile from some houses, the bus passed a very large male elephant with two big tusks, standing next to a teak tree by the side of the road and using it to scratch himself. My best view by far of a wild elephant and it comes on a 16 rupee bus ride rather than an 875 rupee jeep safari!
I got back to Mananthavady at 7. While I was eating dinner, a temple procession passed the restaurant. First came girls dressed in white saris and holding little lamps with fire burning. Then came several girls colorfully dressed and balancing pots with plumes upon their heads. Finally came an elephant decorated with paint and cloth coverings, with three men riding on its back. My fingers were greasy with chicken or I would have grabbed my camera.
The next morning it was very foggy in the dark as I walked to the bus station in time to catch the 6:35 bus to Tholpetty. While still on the bus just after entering the sanctuary, we passed two beautiful male chital, with large antlers, right next to the road. Under overcast skies, with the sun attempting to peak through once or twice, the jeep safari that morning was disappointing, and lasted only about an hour. I saw a few chital, a barking deer, a mongoose, and one gaur mostly hidden by the bushes. I caught the bus back to Mananthavady about 9, with the sun coming out on the way back. I thought about heading to the coast, but decided to spend the day in Mananthavady, enjoying one last day in the cool climate of the hills and my nice hotel room and a nearby internet cafe.
I left by bus a little before 9 not the busy main road to Ooty, but a much nicer road up into the hills heading to Kotagiri, a small town east of Ooty. Kotagiri is only about 20 miles from Mettupalaiyam, but it took the bus an hour and a half to get there. The road rose steeply from the plains, with great views down to the plains (at about 1000 feet elevation) up to about 3000 feet elevation. The jungle along the road was particularly beautiful in the morning sunshine, with quite a few macaque monkeys appearing on the road here and there. Coffee and tea started to appear after about 3000 feet elevation as we wound our way into the hills, making seven (numbered) hairpin turns on the way to Kotagiri at about 6500 feet elevation.
From Kotagiri I almost immediately caught a bus to Ooty, about 15 miles to the west, a journey of a little over an hour. We passed more jungle and tea and climbed to about 8000 feet in elevation near the Dodabetta Peak, one of the highest in the Western Ghats at about 8600-8700 feet. Arriving in Ooty, where it was sunny and clear, as it had been all morning on the bus rides, a little before noon, I had lunch and a little before 1 p.m. left on bus heading northwest, through and down the Nilgiris to Gudalur. I thought about heading back to Mudumalai National Park at Theppakadu to see if I could get a room at the Sylvan Lodge, and would have gone there if the bus that left Ooty for Masinagudi soon after noon had had any empty seats.
Gudalur is only about 30 miles from Ooty, but the trip took almost two hours. The sky clouded up on the way, but the trip still was scenic and enjoyable. I had about a half hour wait in Gudalur, at 3000 feet or so elevation, and then left on a bus heading about 15 miles northwest to Pattavayal just before the border with Kerala. This was another scenic journey of more than an hour up and down but staying within the 3000-4000 range of elevation through green hills with lots of tea. A bus headed to Sulthan Bathery in Kerala was standing by and left about 4:30. While waiting for the bus to depart, I saw three tribal people, very dark skinned and with stringy hair, the first tribal people I had noticed in these hills which they used to dominate.
The ten mile or so trip to Sulthan Bathery through more green and lovely scenery took a little more than a half hour. On the way we passed through a portion of the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary. In town I checked into a very nice modern hotel, probably the nicest I've stayed in in India, for only 650 rupees (a bit more than $10) a night, including a very good breakfast. The small town of Sulthan Bathery sits at about 3200 feet elevation (according to my altimeter, so that could be off by a couple of hundred feet) and got its name from a fort, now apparently disappeared, built by Tippu Sultan of Mysore in the late 1700's. I saw several spellings of the town's name, but "Sulthan Bathery" was the most common. I guess Tipu Sultan's fort had a battery of cannon. This area, the northern hills of Kerala, is called Wayanad.
The next morning I was up about 5:30 and out in the dark at 6 to catch a bus to the Muthanga entrance of Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary, about seven miles north of town. A guy from the hotel waited with me as the sky began to get a little light, but after about 20 minutes with no bus arriving advised me to take an auto rickshaw, which I did for 150 rupees. The sanctuary opened at 7 and I took a jeep safari costing 875 rupees,about $14. The other jeeps were packed with Indians, maybe 8 to 10 of them per jeep, but I had one to myself, with driver and guide. The route through the sanctuary was a short one, however, on a very bumpy dirt and gravel road taking us only about 45 minutes. And we didn't see very much: a few chital (spotted deer), a peacock and a mongoose. After the safari I caught a bus back to town about 8:30 in time for breakfast. I spent most of the rest of the day in an internet cafe, with a lunch break for a wonderful chicken biryani, maybe the best I've had in India.
When I got back to the hotel in the early evening I was told by the staff that a hartal, or strike, had been called that afternoon to commence the next morning at 6 and continue until 6 in the evening. The opposition party alliance in Kerala, dominated by the Communist Party, had called the strike in protest against a central government report recommending classifying certain hill communities as eco-sensitive, with certain activities prohibited. Kerala is famous, or perhaps infamous, for its strikes. As a consequence, it has almost no industry, as nobody wants to deal with its labor force. I was told that just about everything would be shut down , enforced by party members.
Kerala, by the way, was the first place in the world to elect a communist government, in 1957, and the Communist Party has alternated in government with the Congress Party over the years since. The Communist Party here is called the CPI(M), for Communist Party of India (Marxist). This is to distinguish itself from another Indian communist party, the plain old CPI. Communist parties are strong in only three states in India: Kerala, West Bengal, and tiny Tripura. And then, of course, there are the Naxalites guerrillas, who are Maoists, in much of eastern India.
The next day was wonderfully quiet, with almost no traffic. The hospital up the street was open, as was a pharmacy in the other direction, but just about everything else was closed. Our hotel did serve meals in its restaurant, but only to persons staying at the hotel. I looked out in the morning and did see a bunch of guys stopping cars, apparently to ask their drivers' justifications for being on the road. I spent most of the day in my room reading. In the late afternoon, after about 4:30, there was a little more activity, with more traffic and a few shops opening. I took a walk around town about 5:30 to 6 and it was very nice to be able to walk around an Indian town without having to dodge traffic and pedestrians.
The next morning things were back to normal and about 10:30 I took a bus to near the Edakkal Caves, about seven miles southwest of town. The half hour bus ride passed through beautiful green and hilly country, with betel nut and cocoanut palms, tea, a few rice terraces, and coffee bushes in bloom, exuding a wonderful odor I could smell even from the bus. From where the bus dropped me off I had about an hour walk up to the caves, rising about 700 feet, first on the road, then a cement path, then rock steps, and finally metal stairs. The scenery along the way was beautiful, with the blossoming coffee bushes, betel nut and cocoanut palms, and much other vegetation, including some trees covered with bright yellow blossoms. Lots of tourists, almost all Indian on this Sunday, were walking to and from the caves. Lots of macaques, a few with babies clinging to their undersides, were to be seen scavenging whatever they could from the tourists. There were good views over and through the forest on the way up, and really good views up at the top, with the wide, hilly countryside below. The second and highest of the two caves, open to sky, has walls covered with petroglyphs estimated to be 3000 years old. Composed of lines and swirls, they are said to represent people, animals, carts and the like.
I walked down slowly, enjoying the scenery and stopping for an omelet lunch at one of the little stands catering to tourists. A two egg omelet with onions cost me all of 20 rupees, about 30 cents. On the way down I stopped and sat here and there to watch the macaques among the flowering coffee bushes. I didn't see any coffee berries, only blossoms.
I got back to the bus stop junction after 3, but, instead of waiting for a bus, decided to walk to the town of Ambalavayal, where there is a museum, about three miles away. The walk along the quiet road was pleasant, with houses full of friendly people here and there among the coffee bushes, most of whose blossoms were dying, and good views back towards the rounded, rocky hills where the caves are located. About halfway a guy on a motorcycle gave me a ride to Ambalavayal and the museum, which was closed for renovation. He took me to the bus station, where I caught a bus back to Sulthan Bathery about 4:30. That night in the hotel lobby I watched the end of the India-Pakistan cricket match in the Asian Cup, with Pakistan winning a very close and exciting match, to the disappointment of the Indians also watching.
The sky was cloudy the next morning about 8 as I walked to the other side of town to see a simply decorated Jain temple dating from the 14th century. When I got back to the hotel, the television in the lobby was showing the Oscars, with the banner headline "Breaking News." I went to breakfast, but caught a recap of the Oscars on television when I got back to my room.
About 11 I left Sulthan Bathery on a bus bound for Mananthavady, maybe 30 miles northwest. The first hour or so of the journey traveled on back roads through scenic, hilly countryside, with lots of coffee bushes and betel nut trees and much other greenery. Coffee is grown under trees, sometimes under the very tall and thin betel nut palms, whose thin trunks seem to reach 40 or 50 feet in some cases. Along the way were quite a few newly built and very nice large houses. I have read that something like a million Keralans, out of a state population of about 35 million, work in the Persian Gulf area, many returning with relative fortunes for India and building these big houses in the cool hills. A few of them are gaudy, but most look very nice. At places along the route, there were also red flags with a white hammer and sickle.
We reached the main road at a town called Panamaram and reached Mananthavady about half an hour later. According to my altimeter, Mananthavady was about 400 feet lower than Sulthan Bathery, so about 2800 feet if my altimeter was correct. I found a very nice hotel for 900 rupees, or about $15.
After lunch I caught a bus a little before 2:30 heading to Tholpetty, maybe 15 miles north and the entrance for the other section of the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary. I enjoyed another scenic journey through green hills full of coffee bushes, though not in blossom, and betel nut palms and much else. I also passed, as I had on the way from Sulthan Bathery, quite a few churches, modern and very well kept up ones. Kerala has, I think, India's highest Christian population, said to date from the arrival of St. Thomas in 52 A.D. There are also lots of Muslims in Kerala and I've seen lots of women in Islamic headscarves. I've only seen a few mosques here in the hills, though. I've read that Muslims constitute 24% of Kerala's population, third highest in India after Assam and West Bengal. I've also noticed that almost all of the hospitals and private schools that I have seen in Wayanad are Christian. One church was called San Jose, odd since the Spanish never colonized here. My bus on the way from Sulthan Bathery had a painting of Jesus praying, perhaps at the Garden of Gethsemane, at the front of the bus. Colored lights set into it blinked off and on, white crosses in the two upper corners, and an arc of red lights around Jesus.
The bus entered the wildlife sanctuary before reaching Tholpetty and drove through hills covered mostly with teak trees barren or nearly so of leaves, but lots of smaller bright green leaved trees and those trees full of bright yellow blossoms, all very scenic. There were also lots of big, tall clumps of dead bamboo. I was told they blossom and then die off every three to four years.
I arrived at Tholpetty about 3:15 and left on a jeep safari soon after. The price was the same as at Muthanga, 875 rupees, but the route was longer and much more scenic. The jeeps are said to go about 15 miles over a rough road in the sanctuary, passing forests mainly of teak, with many of those yellow blossoming trees. The road in part passes by a beautiful creek. We saw lots of spotted deer, two sambar deer (each at a different location), and a very small, shy barking deer that ran off with its white tail held high. We saw a couple of turtles on a rock near a pond. Best of all were a mother and baby elephant, though mostly obscured by bushes. The area was beautiful in the late afternoon sun. The safari lasted almost two hours, and afterwards I walked to a little hotel nearby surrounded by coffee bushed to check it out. The proprietor was out so I talked with a guest until after 6 when he returned. I didn't get a bus back to Mananthavady until 6:40, after the sun had disappeared. There was some light until 7, so I had a few views of the forest at dusk, with a crescent moon setting. Kerala buses often lack glass windows on the sides, instead employing canvas accordion-like shades. These were mostly up, so it was chilly on the bus. I got back to town about 7:20
The next morning I was up before 5:30 and walked in the dark to the bus stand, getting there about ten minutes to 6. But the promised 6 o'clock bus never showed up. Perhaps it left early. I did leave for Tholpetty on a 6:35 bus and enjoyed the ride through the forest in the early morning. Getting to Tholpetty about 7:20, I booked the first jeep of the day and we spent about an hour and 45 minutes in the sanctuary, along the same route as the afternoon before, which seems to be the only route for tourists. We saw spotted deer and langurs and macaques and eventually came across a herd of more than 20 gaur, or Indian bison, including at least three calves. We had good views of them, but then they retreated into the bushes. It was nice when the driver stopped the jeep and turned off the motor. You could hear all the birds chirping away. I saw quite a few, too, including hoopoes, bright blue kingfishers, racket-tailed drongos, and lots more whose names I don't know. We saw some fresh elephant dung on the road, and some elephant footprints, but no elephants. We did see two Malabar giant squirrels high up a couple of trees. One jumped from limb to limb. They seem very large, perhaps the size of a medium size dog, like a small collie. Later, we saw another one sleeping on a limb. It had a very long, bushy tail, with red hair at the tip. The rest of its fur was dark brown, with white around the face. After the safari, I caught a bus to Mananthavady about 9:20, arriving about 10.
I took the 2:20 bus back to Tholpetty, arriving about 3:15 on a warm, sunny afternoon. We waited to start our safari until 4, as you always have a better chance to see animals early in the morning or late in the afternoon. At first we saw nothing but a few chital (spotted deer), but then the guide spotted a bison mostly hidden by the bushes. Eventually, about 15 of them emerged from the bushes. One head butted a bush, knocking it over. I don't know if it was in the way, or if he wanted to eat it, or if he was just feeling ornery, or what. Eventually, they almost all crossed the road, some in front of us and others behind us. Two were calves.
A little further on we saw two giant squirrels high in the trees. These two were smaller than the ones I had seen in the morning. One jumped quite a distance from one tree to another, seemingly barely catching the limb and then swinging from it before scampering on. A bit further we saw three elephants, including a baby, on the slope on the other side of the creek. They were a ways away, but we got a good view. We drove to the end of the road and turned around. On the way back we saw another elephant, a big one, on the far bank. We also again passed the gaur (bison), still grazing along the road. We finished a little before 6 and I caught the bus back soon after 6 and had to stand at first, until the first little town. On the way back, while still in the sanctuary but only maybe a half mile from some houses, the bus passed a very large male elephant with two big tusks, standing next to a teak tree by the side of the road and using it to scratch himself. My best view by far of a wild elephant and it comes on a 16 rupee bus ride rather than an 875 rupee jeep safari!
I got back to Mananthavady at 7. While I was eating dinner, a temple procession passed the restaurant. First came girls dressed in white saris and holding little lamps with fire burning. Then came several girls colorfully dressed and balancing pots with plumes upon their heads. Finally came an elephant decorated with paint and cloth coverings, with three men riding on its back. My fingers were greasy with chicken or I would have grabbed my camera.
The next morning it was very foggy in the dark as I walked to the bus station in time to catch the 6:35 bus to Tholpetty. While still on the bus just after entering the sanctuary, we passed two beautiful male chital, with large antlers, right next to the road. Under overcast skies, with the sun attempting to peak through once or twice, the jeep safari that morning was disappointing, and lasted only about an hour. I saw a few chital, a barking deer, a mongoose, and one gaur mostly hidden by the bushes. I caught the bus back to Mananthavady about 9, with the sun coming out on the way back. I thought about heading to the coast, but decided to spend the day in Mananthavady, enjoying one last day in the cool climate of the hills and my nice hotel room and a nearby internet cafe.
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