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Trip to Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary, Kerala - 31 Jan, 1 Feb 2004 In an attempt to spend a couple of days in the field, before I left for Britain on a three month assignment, I tried Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary in Tamilnadu, near Coimbatore, for accommodation. I could not make any bookings through phone, so I decided to ride to the Wildlife Warden's office at Pollachi, and try my luck for accommodation at Top Slip. Top Slip is the tourism complex inside Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary and would make an excellent base camp for exploring the sanctuary and surrounding forests. Lion Tailed Macaques, Nilgiri Langurs, Hornbills, endemic Nilgiri Tahrs, and a great variety of other birds and animals inhabit this wonderful sanctuary. On 31st Jan, 2AM, I left Bangalore. My route was through Mysore, Ooty, Coimbatore to Pollachi. It was a little past 6AM when I reached the outskirts of Bandipur National Park and stopped at a tea stall. It was misty, and as daylight came slowly, the birds emerged out of their slumber, and the air began to reverberate with the song of birds. I finished the tea, entered the park, and slowly rode on, relishing all that the forest had to offer, by way of colourful birds of song, foraging wild animals, and fresh, invigorating air filled with the scent of trees, flowers and grass wet with dewdrops. No words of mine can do justice if I attempt to describe the beauty of nature in the early morning mist. It has to be experienced. I was in time at the reception center for the first game round. The safari lasted for an hour and apart from the usual fauna, I got to see a lone Muntjac(Barking Deer) that trottled onto the track, and a whitish raptor that I could not immediately identify. We also saw fresh tiger pugmarks on the dust covered track, behind the tourism complex, probably made by the territorial tiger as he patrolled the region the previous night. After the safari, I resumed my journey, past Bandipur, into Mudumalai, and at Masinagudi, had my breakfast. Past Masinagudi, I met with two forest watchers returning from their patrols in the Thengumarahada region with STF men hunting Veerappan, the menace. One of them was on his way home and I gave him a lift upto Mettupalayam. As we rode past Ooty and climbed down the ghats to Mettupalayam, we kept chatting, and I listened to the tales that he had to tell, of the patrols, night vigils, and their struggle against nature and wild animals, while in the pursuit of one man. After dropping him at Mettupalayam, I was at Coimbatore by noon. I had some difficulties finding my way out of the chaotic traffic of Coimbatore, and eventually managed to find the Pollachi road. At 2pm, I had lunch at Pollachi and then visited the Wildlife Warden's office of Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary(IGWLS) nearby. But due to the weekend, they were not able to give me any accommodation. After some consultations with a watcher there, I decided to ride through Udumalpet to Chinnar WLS past the state border to Kerala on the Munnar road and find accommodation somewhere on the roadside or at a town called Maraiyur in the ghats. The watcher added that the road goes through some good forest and to be careful, and that I would enjoy it. I thanked him, and after 30kms from Pollachi, passed Udumalpet. Another 15kms, and I passed a checkpost of IGWLS. The checkpost staff warned me to be wary of elephants on the road. I didn't take it seriously, due to my past experiences at the Bandipur - Mudumalai roads. The road through the sanctuary passed through scrub and tree jungle of dry deciduous type. I was doing a slow ride observing everything around, when on turning a bend, I came upon a big female elephant and a calf coming on to the road from the right side. The distance was less, only some 30 meters. Fortunately I was riding slow, so stopped just in time under a tree on the roadside, and watched the mother and child as they slowly ambled across the road, crossed and went down the hill on the left side towards a dam at a distance. A picture couldn't be taken as the camera was inside the backpack. A little past I met with a watcher, to whom I gave a lift upto the Chinnar checkpost. En route the watcher again showed me two of a herd of elephants in the valley below. There are Tamilnadu and Kerala check posts at the state border. This place is called Chinnar. While the Tamilnadu side the forest is part of IGWLS, the Kerala side it is Chinnar WLS contiguous with the Eravikulam national park in the higher reaches of the hills visible from Chinnar. Chinnar WLS is a small sanctuary of some 90 square kilometers, in the rain shadow region of the Western Ghats. Hence the forests are generally dry and scrub jungle, with patches of deciduous forests in the interior towards the mountain range. I enquired with the Forest Guard for accommodation. He couldn't give the dormitory since a group of Christian nuns and social workers were put up there for a nature camp. But a tree house next to the checkpost was available, so I took it. The tree house cost 500 Rupees for a night. I was also offered another machan inside the sanctuary, but it would cost me 1000 Rupees. I hadn't brought that much money, hence I settled with the tree house near the checkpost. There is a watchtower some distance from the checkpost which I visited with a watcher. The watchtower gave a wonderful view of the surrounding jungle and hills; however we didn't sight any wildlife then. Towards evening after some refreshments at the tree house I watched a slide show and talk by a forest staff to the party at the dormitory. At supper I had an opportunity to meet with a research scholar put up in a quarters nearby. He was attached to the SACON(Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology) and was studying langurs at Chinnar. We also had some connections, since his guide was Dr. Ajith Kumar whom I have met at WCS office in Bangalore. That night, for sometime I slept outside in the narrow verandah in my sleeping bag under the moonlit sky, listening to the jungle sounds. Yet another unforgettable night, that I will long cherish. Nights in jungles are very different from nights in human infested towns. Here, Man holds sway when daylight reigns, and while there is light for him to see. And as the sun goes down in the west, and as shadows lengthen, objects far and near show blurred, and resemble some form of a monstrous being waiting stealthily in the shadows to pounce. And when daylight completely gives way, and darkness shrouds, man cowers to his corner, under his roof, and waits for the night to pass and the new day to be born in the east. And during these long hours of darkness, when Man is out of his elements, the Beast roams. Next morning at 7AM myself and the watcher, after tea, went into the jungles for birding and to check our luck in seeing the Grizzled Giant Squirrel(GGS). For the next 3 hours I had some good birding. We also saw sambar and chital, however no GGS. Chinnar is one of the last habitats of the Grizzled Giant Squirrel, and I've seen them only once at Cauvery WLS in Karnataka. Chinnar is also known for the starlet tortoises. Returning from the trek, we then went down to the Chinnar river and there too, I saw plenty of birds. I then heard a crested serpent eagle, and then saw it circling around high up in the skies, emitting its loud screams. After that, we went to a settlement called 'Champakadu' inside the sanctuary by bike for seeing the domesticated and wild peacocks that reside there. However we were able to see only one beautiful cock since the others had gone into the jungle by then, as it was noontime. Returning, I now saw the serpent eagle with its partner, and both were beautifully gliding round and round high above the Chinnar forests. By 2pm, I packed up, paid my bills and left Chinnar. En route, I visited the Amaravathy dam and Crocodile farm in the fringes of IGWLS. Later I passed Udumalpet, and going through Palladam to Avinashi took NH47 connecting Salem and Coimbatore. From Salem I took the familiar NH7 and passing Dharmapuri and Hosur reached Bangalore at midnight for some sleep before attending work on Monday morning. Birds I identified: Scarlet Minivet(male and female) Ashy Drongo Red Vented Bulbul Red Whiskered Bulbul Black Bulbul Crested Serpent eagle Spotted Dove Magpie Robin Collared Dove Cattle Egret Large Egret Cormorant Common Myna House Sparrow Flameback Woodpecker White Breasted Kingfisher Wagtail Reed Warblers Common Hoopoe Pond Heron Animals: Sambar Chital Barking Deer/Muntjac Wild Boar Wild Elephants Bonnet Macaques Common Langur Written: March 2, 2004