Honestly till some time ago I had never heard of Valparai. It was Kalyan and a few others who mentioned it on twitter off and on. Being creature of arid or dry deciduous forest, I had resisted the rain forests for a long time. Seeing the lush green, HDR without the HDR kind of landscapes and the amazing macros of creatures unseen was tempting but the real lure however was the opportunity to photograph one of the most rare of the primates; the Lion Tailed Macaque
Valparai is located about 100km from Coimbatore; unfortunately from Nagpur there are no direct flights and it meant hopping flights in Mumbai. Till a few hours before our departure Mumbai had been experiencing the heaviest downpour of the season, I was a bit worried about flights getting delayed and we might miss the connecting flight. The rain Gods relented and we landed in Coimbatore dot on time. The drive to Valparai was one of the most enchanting drives that we have ever experienced. The 40 hairpin bends around the hills which give a progressively awesome view of the Aliyar Dam and reservoir is something to be experienced. The drive also gave me the opportunity to test my new GPS – Garmin 60CSx
As we drove up it was raining…
We had booked ourselves at the Sinna Dorai’s Bungalow. The decision was based after seeing pictures and reading the description on their website. This turned out to be one of the few places which are more beautiful than what the pictures show. “Sinna Dorai” literally translates as assistant manager. This bungalow was the abode of the assistant manager of the tea estate during the time of the British Raj. Currently owned by Parry Agro, it sits top a hill overlooking the tea estate
We were placed in one of the cottages. While, at other places when they say cottages, they actually provide you with something more like a hut, this was a proper English style cottage; more like a mini-bungalow by today’s standard. A large drawing hall with a fireplace, an almost as large bedroom, Ample dressing area and an adequately furnished bathroom with clean towels and hot water. What endeared the place to Aasim was that the sit out areas around the cottages and the main building had tables with Chess, Scrabble and other board games engraved in the top. To add to it there was a nice cozy library where he could connect his iPad to the wifi. Later that evening Kalyan joined us for dinner. The food and hospitality we got enforced our belief that this would be a dream holiday.
It was still raining…
We slept, never realized it was already morning and when I opened up the door to the veranda a cloud walked right in!! Having coffee in the clouds was fun. After a fairly late but sumptuous breakfast we started out on our drive. Getting up late part was liked by Aasim very much. Usually in Central India you start the drive at an unearthly hour and there is always a rush to get up ahead in the line.
The mist had somewhat lifted and almost as soon as we started I got my two target species. A very unafraid troop of Lion Tail Macaque and a nicely displaying Malabar Whistling Thrush.
I was satiated, for rest of the morning as we drove around in the soothing locales of tea gardens interspersed with patches of rain forest. In the evening we drove around trying spot Flying Squirrels and we did manage to spot a few.
It was raining…
Second day we had planned to drive into Kerala along the Sholayar Dam, through the rain forest. This also happened to be the day when Valparai received the highest rainfall of the season, what the heck we were in a rain forest and we did not let this deter us. The canopy was very beautiful and whenever we got a chance we got down to photograph the small things, flowers, ferns and a magnificent looking land snail – Indrella Ampulla. Having lunch while parked in front of a water fall just formed by the rain water was gleeful. With Kalyan giving us a treasure trove of information all the while it was an enriching experience.
When we returned it was nearly evening. Due to rains we did not get to see any Great Hornbills while driving around but almost as a consolation a magnificent male made his appearance right in the resort. Unfortunately, the light was too poor to allow for any photography.
It was still raining…
The last day we had kept open ended. Late previous evening Kallu had informed me that a female Lion Tailed Macaque was victim of a hit and run and since there is no vet in Valparai I offered to give a preliminary check for what would be possibly required. So the first stop was the office of Nature Conservation Foundation. I was a bit apprehensive, I am a pediatrician and that too a non-practicing one, examining a critically endangered species is not my field but one look into the pleading eyes of the primate and I felt that I had to somehow help her. I examined her for injuries, there were no apparent fractures but yet she was just not moving her right side, the power on the left side was adequate. Conclusion was that the seemingly superficial gnash on her the left side of her brow was not superficial but accompanied a concussion. That for several reasons was good news and bad news. Ummm… In retrospect it was mostly good because after 72 hours of observation I am told that the LTM was released with much better power in her right limbs
Later we met some of the the awesome people at NCF Divya, Shankar and Ananda. It was fascinating talking to them. I was particularly impressed by some of Anand’s research on elephants, particularly the crowd sourcing of information on movements of the elephant herds. Do take time out to explore their site and blog if you interested in conservation.
The next morning, journey back to Coimbatore was supposed to be uneventful. I had packed all the camera gear inside. Even my GPS was inside, but as we drew near Pollachi a middle-aged man on a two wheeler just turned right without any prior indication. Our driver very dexterously manged not to it hit him full-on but still could not prevent grazing his vehicle. Then in his naivety stopped to help the man up. Soon a huge crowd gathered an we could not communicate with any of them or understand what they wanted. After phoning around and getting someone who could talk to the villagers we gathered that they wanted the car and the driver to be detained and had called for a different car to take us to the airport. After a tense 45 minutes we were cramped into a different car and reached well in time for our flight. Lesson: It is good to have ample margin when traveling on Indian roads especially through villages.
Yes it was raining…
P.S. Pictures, maps and GPX trails will be in part 2 – coming soon…
Update 26th Sept 2011: Part 2 with pictures is online