Text & Photos by N.A.Varun
Since my childhood, I used to hear about the Nilgiris, which literally means means 'Blue Mountains'. They are called so because, once in 12 years, the neela kuruji plant flowers to produce a blue flower. These flowers along the western ghats will make them look as if they are covered by a beautiful blue blanket.The kurinji flowered last in 2006 and Eravikulam National Park was the focal point of tourists as the park witnessed the flowering in a larger area.
But in 2006 I was doing my school and was doing my 10th standard education. I remember reading about the kuriji bloom in the news paper. But I was not bold enough to take such long distances.Hardly,I missed that chance and will have to wait till 2018. There is also an information that another bloom will occur in 2014 as there are more than one species of kurinji in the western ghats. Next time, I won't be missing the chance again.
 |
| A small herd of Nilgiri Thar. The black line on their back is often mistaken as the reason behind their local name as 'Varayadu' .The real source of name is from Tamil,where varai means cliff and Aadu meaning goat. It is currently the state animal of Tamil Nadu |
The forest patches formed between two adjacent hills are called shola forests. They are home to unique species and house a verity of birds,reptiles and mammals.The formation of these forests is still of a debate between the various scientists and naturalists.These forests are of great abundance in the Eravikulam NP.
 |
| A Thar fawn |
On my first trip to Eravikulam, I was accompanied by my friend Arjun K.P. It was in the monsoon season and we started our trip at 6:30 am from Coimbatore.We went to Pollachi and then to Udumalai. From Udumali , we had our breakfast from and entered the Munar bus. The bus goes from Udumali to Chinnar,Marayur,Eravikulam & finally to Munnar . After Chinnar, the route was full of rain forests and tea estates. By 12:00 Pm, we reached Eravikulam information center. The bus stopped right in front of it and we got down. Munnar is still at about 10 kms from Eravikulam.
There was a large queue in front of the ticket counter. The entrance to the park is by a mini bus. The ticket charge was Rs 35 and Rs 25 for still camera. After getting into the bus, I made my camera ready for action. We could see two herds of Nilgiri Thar with fawns, on the way. The climate was very cold ,foggy and rainy. It caused my camera to get cold. But had no problem until we got down at the visitors rest house at Rajamalai.. Due to fog, visibility was vary low and I couldn't get any landscapes in my frame.My umbrella got snapped and was destroyed in the wind. We moved into the photo gallery . From the inside, we put on our sweaters to protect us from the extreme cold.
 |
| Inside the photo gallery of Eravikulam NP |
As the rain stopped, we trekked through the mountain ways. It was very cold and we were shivering in the cold with our sweaters on us. We could see a small Thar in the bush while we were trekking. I took out my camera and as I clicked, some thing felt very wrong. Yikes! I got mirror lock syndrome to my camera. The camera was frozen due to the extremes of temperature. It could no more take any photos. It sounded like it went crazy. The mirror was rattling non-stop inside, but no photos were taken and an 'Error' message appeared on my LCD screen which made me shivering with fear of the damage done to my equipment.
Still we trekked further and after reaching the end of the permitted route, we returned back.I thought that the camera would work after a few minutes. But it never did.By the evening,we reached back to the bus stop and entered a local bus to marayur as there were no direct buses back to Udumalai at that time. The bus was full of people and we couldn't get a seat. The roads were narrow and was not tarred well, making the bus shake inside. I felt like I was about to vomit. I was praying to god to take me to to my destination fast. Suddenly, we could hear an explosion. The bus stopped and I could understand that the bus tire got punctured. Everybody got down and tried to catch the next bus. But not many buses are there in the route.
I was feeling very sick and I vomited out my lunch.My friend gave me water and told me that he was feeling the same too. We ate a sweet stuff called by the name "Home Made Chocolate" from the tea shop near by the ticket counter. That was probably the only thing which could have made me sick. At that instant itself, I took the packet out of my bag which contained the remaining amount of it and trowed it out in to the road with anger.
1 hour passed by and then another bus passed by us in the opposite direction. That bus gave their stepney tire to our bus and after changing the tire, we moved to Marayur. From there, we could see a Munnar- Banglore express bus which had almost twice the ticket charge as compared to the local buses. The conductor told us that there are not many local buses by that time. So we got in to the luxury bus and was taken to Udumalai. I had a good sleep in the bus. After reaching Udumalai, we went back to our homes.
The trip was probably the most adventurous trip in my life.
- I was caught by viral fever and was admitted to hospital and was having a temperature measuring 103 degree Fahrenheit.
- My camera was damaged for the first time ever. I sent it to the service center and it took about 1 month to get it back to my hand.
- The camera lens got affected by fungus as it got wet in the cold and wet climate and was required to be cleaned.
After that unforgettable experience of walking in the clouds (thick fog) and facing unexpected accidents , I learned my lesson to be more cautious while traveling to and through such unpredictable places.
Nice Blog!
ReplyDelete