Wayanad Jungle

 

I had heard some great things about Wayanad area, and the folks at G.O.C. made arrangements for me to go there for a few days. Here is some info about the district http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayanad . There are wild life sanctuaries, historical caves, waterfalls, lakes, tea plantations, and temples. It's a high mountain range area with peaks over 2000 meters (over 6,000 feet). From a geological perspective, it is a very short distance from the sea to this high mountain area in the Western Ghats (perhaps 200 miles or 300 km). In the U.S., the Washington and Oregon western areas have similar geology which makes for spectacular mountain scenes.

By car, the trip from Kochi to Vythiri is about 6 hours. With encouragement from my co-workers, I took a train from Kochi to Kozhikode otherwise known as Calicut. From Kozhikode, I was to take a taxi for 2 hours to the Vythiri Resort. Of course, with my tendency to get lost, it wasn't that simple. The train was nice because the car I was in was air conditioned. Vendors walked up and down the isles of the train selling snaks, drinks and food. They would call out just like a vendor at a Baseball game..."Coffee, Coffe, get your creamy rich Coffee here". The only thing missing was the amazing accuracy of peanut vendors tossing bags to customers half way down an isle from behind their back.

The bad thing about the train is that it's difficult to know where you are. Apparently, I was supposed to know all the stops before I got on the train or ask someone every 5 minutes "Am I there yet?". There isn't a loud speaker that tells you what stop is coming and what stop is next. All I had to go on was the occasional station sign that wizzed past my window. Since I thought my stop was 5-6 hours away, I didn't get very concerned. When I reached Kunnar, the ticket attendant came to me and said it was time for me to get off. When I asked, "is this Kozhikode?", he replied, "Kozhikode is 90 minutes back. The resort called the station master, and they have been trying to find you." ...Oh...whoops...I guess my stop was 4 hours not 5-6...Oh...whoops...I guess I should have been asking "Am I there yet?" every 5 minutes.

The ticket attendant dropped me off at the station master's headquarters, and there were smiles on a number of faces in the room when I arrived. It's a good thing I enjoy entertaining people at my own expense. They were all very helpful, and they bought me a cup of tea. After talking with the resort on what to do next, I elected to to take a taxi from Kunnar railway station to Kozikode railway station where the resort taxi was still waiting for me. The positive in this mis-adventure is that I was able to see Kunnar at night. After about 90 minutes of driving, we ended up in Kozhikode, and we got lost. The taxi driver asked people along the street for directions, and we eventually made it to the Kozhikode railway station. I was about 3 hour late at this point.

It was about 10:00pm when we left the Kozhikode railway station to head to the resort. I still had 2 hours of traveling by car left as we needed to get to the top of a mountain pass to reach the resort. Since there wasn't anybody on the streets in the small towns we passed, the taxi driver sped through them at 80km an hour (50 mph). Any occasional lost goat or night life pedestrian quickly leaped to the side of the road as the taxi driver blinked his bright lights on and off which communicated, "I'm not slowing down under any circumstances...so if you don't want to be road kill, you better get out of the way". I was amazed at how effective and universal this form of communication was on humans and non-humans alike. I have also been suspect that drivers in India only have two modes of driving - pass and stop - where stopping is only allowed when you reach your destination.

After about an hour of driving, we hit the winding cut back roads that headed up to the top of the mountain pass. The moon was out, and I could see across the valley below. We had the windows rolled down, and the air was much cooler but still humid. It was a surreal feeling when I thought about starting the day in Kochi where there are a couple of million people in their tall buildings, and ending the day looking over a moonlite jungle at 2000 meters.

Another 30 minutes later we reached the top of the pass, and I was waiting for a band to be playing and fireworks to declare my arrival, but that didn't happen. Perhaps my 3 hour delay via Kunnar put the band past their bedtime. A few minutes after reaching the top of the pass we were at the road that lead to the resort. I was told this was a "Natural Road" which was 3 kilometers long heading deeper into the jungle. I determined that a "Natural Road" means a road made of small boulders that should be driven at two miles per hour, but my taxi driver thougth a "Natural Road" was a road made of small boulders to be driven based on how much air time you get out of your seat - he drove at about a 0.25 second air time. When his head hit the roof of the car, he slowed down a little bit.

After 15 minutes on this "Natural Road" getting a "Natural Massage" and "Natural Bruises", we finally reached the resort around 12:00am (midnight). I had started the day at 6:00 am, and 18:00 hours later, I reached my destination. Of course, like the station master headquarters, the people waiting for me at the resort reception desk were all smiling. I apologized about my delay, and made a joke about it. We all laughed. I thought I would be the running joke around the resort for a number of days, but then I assumed people would forget me as soon as the next foreigner did something really stupid - which turned out to be  two days later, and I was all but forgotten.

The next morning, I was able to take a look at the resort for the first time. One thing to remember about Vythiri Resort is that it is very eco-friendly. They are so far into the jungle that the electricity must come from generators. They use solar power for heating water for showers. Vythiri Resort is an attempt to embed itself into the jungle without disturbing nature itself.

 

I apparently had one of the better rooms at the resort. The balcony overlooked into the jungle and I could see the small waterfall and creek below me.

 

When I came back from breakfast, I opened the doors to the balcony and went into the bathroom to brush my teeth. When I came out there was  monkey looking at me from the top rail. She stared at me, and I stared at her for a few moments. I guess she was checking out the new guest, and when I went to get my camera she leaped off into a tree. She may have been camera shy, or she thought I might try to put her into my backpack as a souvenir.

There are different types of units at the resort. I had a cabin type, but there are others as shown in the pics below.

 

 There is an exercise room, play ground and court area.

 

The resort has a large conference area.

 

There is a cool rope bridge you have to cross to get to reception with a view of one of their small water falls.

 

There is a swimming pool. This wasn't used much, but I noticed a lot of baby monkeys were hanging around playing with each other from time to time. I didn't see any of them dive in and splash about - maybe they needed a monkey bathing suit for that.

 

The climate was much cooler than I expected, but still humid and wet. I'd recommend a light jacket around the resort because much of the resort is in the shade. Here is the reception area.

 

Now that I've seen the resort, it was time to see the rest of Wayanad. The resort reception hooked me up with an all day taxi, and he took me around to see the sites. By the way, he knew about my train mishap, and we joked about it. I was really hoping another foreigner would do something stupid, and I could stop being the running joke for the week.

Our first stop was Eddakal Caves which took us past Phantom rock. I found a map painted on a boulder there. This is probably the best map I've seen in India at this point, and I couldn't take it with me. I think being lost in India is supposed be a regular state of mind.

 

Eddakal Caves called a cave, but the curator said it was a natural rock shelter from an ancient earthquake.

 

There are carvings on the walls from the stone age era and other writings from over 300 B.C. The leader of the tribe is on the left and the queen is on the right. There are also figures of pets and children along with many other carvings from these stone age people.

 

Here is a nice pic from within the cave.

Getting the cave is quite a climb, but there are great vista points. Along the way, tender coconut was for sale to quench your thirst, and monkeys were everywhere eating the leftovers.

 

My next stop was at Soojipara Waterfalls which was through some tea plantations. This area was spectacular as it's many square kilometers in size. I've been told Munar is even bigger. Perhaps a good analogy would be that Munar tea might be like Kansas wheat, and Wayand tea might be like Washington apples. Kansas wheat acrage is enormous, and Washington apple orchards are huge. So to me, one is enormous and one is huge…which means they are both big in my view.

 

 

We also had some nice views of the mountains.

 

After about 2 hours driving, we arrived at the waterfall parking lot, and then I took a very pleasant hike for about a kilometer to the falls. There are some people under the fall to give you an idea of the size. This waterfall is always running, and it is the biggest in Wayanad.

 

The next day, I went to an over look point across the valley. This is the valley I saw at night on my up to the pass.

 

 

There were a number of monkey's looking for hand outs, and they got their fill of goodies.

 

We then went to Pookot Lake which has paddle boats and pony rides. It's a very family oriented place. A historical site called Chain Tree is up the hill from the lake entrance.

 

There were even more monkeys here. I saw at least 2 or 3 dozen, and they were all playing with each other. I watched them for a long time. Her e is a pic of a small family I saw up in a tree. They appear to be grooming them selves, and an infant monkey can be seen in the middle of the pic.

 

The next stop was at Muthunga Wildlife Sanctuary on the other end of Wayanad. You need to make sure you have your Visa with you or they may not let you into the park. I was told it's best to be there around 6:00am or 6:00pm as that is when all the animals come to the water holes. I got there to early in the day, and I didn't see much. One group saw a python, and we saw spotted deer.

 

This is one of the water holes we visited to find animals. Since it was still to early, nobody seemed thirsty.

 

Our best find of the day was some tiger tracks. The paw print below is as large as a human hand from finger tip to the heal of the hand with the fingers spread. This is not a zoo but a sanctuary where wildlife is allowed to be on it's own to fend for itself. We had a guide with us, but nobody was armed because we were in a jeep which would allows us to easily get away. There was definitely a heightened sense of our surroundings because there could be animals in the brush that could attack the vehicle. We kept our distance from any wildlife we saw because their behavior was generally known but ultimately unpredictable, and we stayed on the side of caution and safety.

 

I was also able to get some nice computer desktop pics while in the area which is always a bonus for me.

 

My favorite pics were these:

 

 

 

My travel back to Kochi was long, but uneventful. I had learned my lesson, and I kept asking the guy next to me on the train, "Is this Kochi?", "Is this Kochi?", "Is this Kochi?" ...He didn't seem to mind, and I think that is because I think it's normal for everyone to be lost in India.