By K. Ramanraj
It was about 6.30 PM when we reached Top Slip, officially called the Indira Gandhi Wild Life Sanctuary (altitude 740 m). We camped at the Bison Lodge, where the cottages were spacious, shorn of luxuries, and each cottage had two bed rooms, a hall, a verandah, bathrooms and a courtyard. The rent was cheap at Rs. 12/- per day. Krishnan, the Bison Lodge cook took great pleasure in serving us with his delicacies since we were his only guests. We fixed a guide as soon as we reached Top Slip. He agreed to take us to Karian Shola, a bird Sanctuary early next morning.
On the 5th, we trekked 2 Kms through thick evergreen forest cover and reached the Karian Shola watch tower. But it was 8.00 am by then, and most birds had left the place in search of food. The guide told us that the ideal time for bird watching is between 5.30 and 6.30 am, and again during dusk when the birds returned home. Nevertheless, we saw many bee hunters, parakeets, woodpeckers, serpentine eagles, brahmini kites, racket tailed drongo and even a giant hornbill. The spot is lovely with a nearby stream trickling with sweet water, flowing from Perumbikulam catchment area.
Our guide Bawas is a honey-collector by profession, and each day he treks 20 kilometers collecting honey from the forest. Abhay and Padia talked a lot about the birds, their eating habits, and other peculiarities. Bee hunters are like expert fighter planes, catching their prey, the bee in mid-air. We trekked close to the Kerala border. It was a swampy place with several small ponds sustaining a beautiful ecosystem. Bawas casually told us to be wary of leeches in the swamps. After a while we rested under a tree. Now Abhay was bleeding at his feet. When he rolled up his trousers, to everyone's shock, there were a dozen leeches on his legs, sucking blood. Leena let out a little scream. Then we examined ourselves, and all of us had atleast half a dozed leeches. They got every where, inside the shoes, socks and between the toes. Most leeches are harmless parasites, they suck blood and leave, rather, drop off when its belly is full. (The Hindu God of Medicine Danvantri holds a leech in one of his arms and recent research proves that the leech bite actually bolsters up the human immune system!) We told Bawas to take us back to the camp, as the trek made us quite hungry.
In the evening, we took a jeep ride to Kozhi Kamuthi Elephant camp. The jeep would stop at every sighting and took a winding route up and down the western ghats. En route, we saw herds of bison, which are like buffaloes wearing white socks. We spotted several pairs of sambar, wild boars and quite a few gangs of Nilagiri Langur, unique to the habitat. The Kozhi Kamuthi camp is a small hamlet on the bank of a river. There were atleast fifty elephants there, and almost, every hutment had an elephant tied at its doorstep. The elephants are used to cut and transport timber. The wooden logs used to be slipped down from the top of the hills to the plains and hence the name Top Slip. Elephant trekking was also available, but we were a little late to make full use of the service. The wild elephants are tamed by beating them mercilessly until they obeyed. It is pathetic and heart rending to see the majestic pachyderms being humbled. At the camp, we met a young fellow in his teen by name Thangaraj, who was born there. He could speak broken English and was knew the forest like the back of his hand. We asked him to be our guide for the next day. It was six in the evening when we returned back to camp.
Thangaraj called on us promptly on the 6th morning. We left for Ambuli Parai, the sanctuary for animals, and this time we trekked through thick bamboo bushes and thorny shrubs. Thangaraj, the agile guide, led us and made way by slicing tall grass and thick shrubs with his sickle. After covering 4 kilometers through the forest, we reached the vast stretch of rocky plains call the Ambuli Parai (Tiger Rock). As we were approaching the main plain area, Abhay and I sighted a leopard, that was just ten meters away from us, and it was basking on the rocks under the morning sunshine. Both of us had a glorious view of it for a few moments before it sprang and vanished into the thick forest cover bordering the rocks. Padia and Leena missed it and so did our guide Thangaraj who was ahead of us. We were told that it is very rare to sight a leopard in the wild, and that made the trip a very special one. I was absolutely thrilled, though I now shudder to think what would have happened had it come in our direction. Thangaraj said that wild animals generally avoided humans. He then took us through a teak wood forest to the Ambuli Parai Watch Tower. There we relaxed for a while, and overcame the excitement of having sighted a leopard. Thangaraj then took us to Thuvanam Falls, which is about 6 kilometers from Ambuli Parai. We could hear the roar of the falls even one kilometer before we reached it. The falls were so beautiful. We spent an hour or two there. Every time we came across to a river or stream, we relaxed and drank the nectar sweet water that was so refreshing. Thangaraj soon became our drill master, rather than guide. He made us climb up and down the valley and mountains, till we reached Mount Stuart. The rest house there sans electricity, and is superbly located, with a distant view of the Thuvanam Falls from its portico. We could scarce believe that we had trekked for 20 kilometers by that afternoon. The cook at Mt. Stuart Guest House made us black coffee that I relished for the first time ever.
That evening we again took a jeep ride, since were too tired for another trek The sun was setting as we were returning to the camp and our trip was also closing to an end. We left for Coimbatore by the first bus the next morning.
Copyright (C) 2001 K. Ramanraj
Please send your comments on the content of these web pages to ramanraj@vsnl.com