Date: 22nd May 2012
After an year's gap , I decided to revisit the Eravikulam NP. This time I felt more confident , had higher-end photographic equipment and was backed-up by my college friends for my assistance. They were always there for my assistance and this time ,all the planning were done by them.
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We started our trip from my friend Arjun's house located at Kakkanad near Cochin. He was our tour leader, guide and he has got exceptional driving skills. He was having three four wheelers in his house and of them an MM 540 4x4 was the most antique and the most unique. It could easily occupy (8+1) passengers with ease and could handle any terrain with out a problem.
We started our trip early in the morning and reached Eravikulam by 11:00 am . As we reached there, we could see a very looong queue in front of the ticket counter. It was the time when the schools close for the summer vacation in various south Indian states . The crowd mostly consisted of tourists from other countries and states other than Kerala & Tamil Nadu.
After spending more than an hour in the queue , I managed to reach the park through the mini-bus provided by the Kerala forest department. As soon as I reached the location, I headed towards the main entrance formed by a gate way . From there , a guard made a security check of my bag searching for anything suspicious (Warning!....liquor is banned here and can be a snare for U if you carry such items with U...Can easily get u behind the bars....) and checked my entrance tickets.
After the final checkup , I started walking through the short trekking path. I could easily spot a couple of Nilgiri Thars grazing close to the entrance.But the view was rather short-lived. The disappeared in to the adjoining kurinji bush The initially clear climate started becoming a bit misty and soon it felt as if the clouds were coming down.There was no sign if them when I started my trip and in no time, the sun vanished out of sight and tiny droplets of water started to fall out of the white sky. The temperature dropped drastically and on every step that I took me further on to the Rajamalai , my visibility got lower and lower.....
I started getting that bad feeling of getting my camera frozen as last time...But compared to that day,the climate was not at all wild at me...:-) That day was in the rainy season and I got embarrassed experiencing the shear fury of the Nilgiris.
This magic equation formulates my previous visit :
Heavy(Rain+Wind+Fog) = [Wet (clothes+bag+camera+shoes) + A Torn & Broken Umbrella + Zero Visibility]+ Fatigue for the man and the machine involved
This time , there was no wind and the temperature was not un-bearable. The drizzle was not disturbing either...I made a trek over the tarmac track till its extreme end. I could see the whole landscape around me from that point...could spot few new birds and had a view at the shola forests that in fact , are the forest patches formed in-between two adjoining hills. Also I could get a view of the majestic Aanamudi preak which is of the highest out here and has got its name from its physical appearance as that of an elephant (Aana in Malayalam means elephant)
But still I couldn't photograph the flagship species of the sanctuary.I searched around but there was no sign of them...I tried to get some place to sit on and wait... But the other tourists had already reserved their seats...I moved on cursing them....
On my way down , I was stopped by a small piece of rock that rolled down from the slopes aside me..As I looked above..the Rock-star emerged out of the mist...heads up and looked down straight at me as if it was
the king...That was just the moment I was waiting for...I pulled out my camera and had no time to make decisions over the lens to be used...The camera was mounted with a macro lens (Which is typically used for shooting insects and small subjects) which I did attached to shoot the plants and flowers on the way...I pointed it at the animal and kept on clicking...
I was not ready for waiting for another animal to take another shot...I chased the thar and fired my shots from a distance...But suddenly , I got surrounded by a family of thar, that emerged out of the bush and they felt to be so comfortable even in our presence and did even tasted my lens amazed by its reflection on the glass elements...:-)
After spending an hour or two, I trekked myself downhill and back to the bus stop. While waiting for the bus to come for my pickup, I was amazed seeing one of the senior forest guards who was disposing the tourist leftovers in the bush, in to the trash-bins as a measure to prevent the littering of the forest area .
Note that most of the tourists here are well educated and highly qualified people...I don't know what makes these people to misbehave in such a protected area. More over , the animals can get irritated by the tourists who touch and groom them without understanding that the horns on thar are not just meant for a fancy...
Any time they could be put in to action. Its only due to such devoted protectors that these iconic creatures thrive in these rocky and mountainous terrain and definitely the Nilgiri Thar is the Rockstar Of these Rockies.....
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