[jacs]

Originally Posted by mykal shoemaker

Amazing stuff.
You are keeping too much stuff in your sleeves. :applause:

:adore:

All the pics justifies the thread title.

Thanks Mykal. I am happy to hear that this thread met your expectations.


Hi All,

Next few posts will be an action series . Please bear with me till evening so that I am ready with the stuff. Now going out for a team lunch .

[joe1980]

Waiting eagarly for the action series!

[jacs]

It’s about 11:30AM, not at all hungry due to the late breakfast. Have another two hours for disposal, what to do? Without hesitation, I decided to trouble Siddu. He was busy preparing lunch and told he is free from 12 noon onwards and also he can guide us for a small walk through the forest perimeters. Wow! A great idea, wifey was always requesting me for a trekking. Now it’s her dream come true. I was in my white tshirt which Siddu advised to change because of two reasons. One is chances of stains and second one is animals would spot easily


Animals ? As mentioned, this resort is very close to forest perimeters. Elephants and Guars are regular visitors in the fields, but he told nothing to worry about them (he knows how to tackle them and assured safety for both of us). And the only trouble is leeches! Wifey is scared of leeches but was not ready to miss the adventure. Luckily Joshua was sleeping and in laws were with him since 4-5KMs walk is impossible for them at this age that too through forest terrain.


Weather changed a little than morning, there are clouds and chances of rain.




This is a beautiful bird nest just behind our villa.




By the time we were about to start, Spider almost finished its meal.




Wifey and me changed to dull clothes. We started our baby steps to wild surrendering our life’s to Siddu (Sight of a Guar in close limits can kill me with a heart attack). Through the backyard we moved towards the small pond (This will be converted to a fishing pond soon with a small park).



We had to cross a small bamboo bridge, I am really scared of these things. Took me a circus to cross this though its few steps.



We could see the electric fencing for the coffee plantations, very narrow track (electric fencing on one side and bushes on other side). We walked slowly, could hear lot of birds. Siddu was narrating the names and details of birds with their sounds. Spotted some small birds like Kingfishers, Tit, Robin etc.








We approached a small stream, Siddu warned about leaches.




We noticed many holes on the muddy track and here it is (small land crabs).




(to be continued…)

[VLOCT]

In picture 87, I counted 11 points on the dear horn. In the US, that would probably bring more than $100k to the hunter. They are extremely difficult to get here. Most of the deers are shot before they ever get a chance to develop that many points. The more the number of points, the more years the dear has lived. Very difficult here due to the rampant deer hunting allowed here during fall and winter.

Excellent photographs.

[jacs]

Originally Posted by VLOCT

In picture 87, I counted 11 points on the dear horn. In the US, that would probably bring more than $100k to the hunter. They are extremely difficult to get here. Most of the deers are shot before they ever get a chance to develop that many points. The more the number of points, the more years the dear has lived. Very difficult here due to the rampant deer hunting allowed here during fall and winter.

Excellent photographs.

Oh! thats a new piece of info. But sad to hear hunting is legal in the US.

[drmohitg]

Yes, that's there way to keep the deer population in check. In a way its good because otherwise the deers wander on to the roads( similar to the stray animals here) and cause accidents.
But yeah, morning sun, chilly winds, a cup of coffee and 2 deers munching in your backyard is a sight to behold.
Hey Jacs the waiting is becoming agonizing now. Please rescue us

[jacs]

Stream area was very slippery and lots of leeches, Siddu was keeping salt to shoo away the leaches. Somehow without slipping down, crossed the stream area and entered the forest.

We could smell elephant but nothing in sight. Fright in mind! Siddu told it’s not close by and we proceeded further to reach the river. It’s more of a rapid, but not deep enough to drown people. During rains, the river will overflow with fury. Siddu warned us to be careful while crossing the river since the basin is filled with round stones hence more chance of losing balance. Siddu walked as if he is walking on land, as always we did some circus.


The river was like two partitions, we crossed the first phase which was quite easy and shallow.







See fresh elephant dung, this is what caused the smell. One thing is sure, a mammoth had taken this route few minutes or hours before us.





Second phase was not that shallow but we could still walk slowly to reach the bank. Siddu kept searching for the mammoth.





Luckily no leech byte till then, the other side of river was not think forest but big teak trees which attracts elephants. Siddu invited my attention to a tall teak tree, it was too high and took several minutes to gain focus of the little creature. Yes, it’s a Malabar Giant Squirrel. The previous one had black tail while this one has tan tail.







Beautiful wildflowers




(to be continued…)

[ampere]

Next when I am on the Ooty trail, I will drive till the Moyar power station for sure!
After reading Kenneth Anderson, it feels like a must visit place!

[jacs]

Originally Posted by ampere

Next when I am on the Ooty trail, I will drive till the Moyar power station for sure!
After reading Kenneth Anderson, it feels like a must visit place!

Yes Ampere, its worth visiting.



Let me continue the jungle trail!


We decided to move since the squirrel was not ready to hide even after 10 minutes of viewing! Elephant smell got more intense, we reached closer to the herd. You might be thinking how I know it’s a heard. Yes! It’s from the foot marks…

Let me share you some knowledge acquired from Siddu (Tribal experience is something different).

1) While in any jungle trail, try to be camouflaged to surroundings (Like avoiding bright clothes, covering hair with caps etc)

2) Always keep a first aid kit in backpack (Chances of getting bruised by grass blades or thorns are very high unless wearing full pants but then leeches would get inside the clothing fast

3) Carry salt, matchsticks etc to fight against leeches. Also there are some special socks available to keep away from leeches. (In our case, many a times Siddu took some jungle herbs to shoo away leeches and offcourse salt helps)

4) Always try to keep travelling away from wind directions, animals can sense us even from miles away! (Siddu used to take loose soil and test the direction of wind by dropping it and this helped us to keep safe from th elephant herd)

5) Do not panic while spotting wild, one have to take baby steps so as not to provoke them


Wifey followed exactly the footprints left by Siddu due to fear of leeches!




Crossing some think bushes




We started spotting many pugmarks as we were about 3Kms away from human in habitation. But still we could see estate borders on the way. We moved very slow as the elephants can be somewhere near.


According to Siddu, this can be big bulls domesticated by villagers else Guars!




These footprints are left by Chitals




Some strange sound from forest (May be an alarm call from Chital signaling the arrival of some carnivore) wifey running for her life!




What a foot? Fresh elephant foot print, compare the size with my foot.




Siddu asked whether we would want to see the elephants. We decided not (fear defeated us) and took another route which can take us back to resort.


Saw this beautiful tribal architecture, its a bamboo hanging bridge about 50m long for crossing the river.




Suddenly we saw some Chitals dasing away from us (may be they are not so friendly like the ones near Bandipur reception). We might have covered some 4 Kms by now and its already 1:30PM (inlaws would be waiting for lunch, but anyways late breakfast kept us from starving).


Yes we could see some ladies busy wasing their clothes in the river basin. Now no fear of elephants or guars or panther. But the bamboo bridge across the river is quite challenging though not as high as the previous one. wifey was an athelette in her school days and it helps her to clear such situations quickly. But me... (dont misunderstand, shorts got wet while crossing the river!)



(to be continued...)

[VLOCT]

Originally Posted by jacs

Oh! thats a new piece of info. But sad to hear hunting is legal in the US.

In fact, the insurance companies have been pushing to increase the hunters' quotas due to the explosion in deer numbers and the resulting increase in accidents. Many of these accidents are fatal.

Keep up the good work.

[addyhemmige]

Originally Posted by jacs

1) While in any jungle trail, try to be camouflaged to surroundings (Like avoiding bright clothes, covering hair with caps etc)

+1. Animals tend to move away from anything that look out of place. So, your clothes should always blend in with the forest.

2) Always keep a first aid kit in backpack (Chances of getting bruised by grass blades or thorns are very high unless wearing full pants but then leeches would get inside the clothing fast

Usually, when I trek in leech infested areas, I wear shorts. Atleast you will know if any leeches are climbing up your legs. But, again, you might get scratches from grass blades. So, you have the option to decide which of these is better for you, the leeches or the grass blades.

3) Carry salt, matchsticks etc to fight against leeches. Also there are some special socks available to keep away from leeches. (In our case, many a times Siddu took some jungle herbs to shoo away leeches and offcourse salt helps)

Another surefire way of preventing leech bites is a paste made of snuff powder and coconut oil. You have to smear it on your legs and shoes. It may look dirty and smell badly, but hey!! it works. This is a must carry item on leech infested treks.

The easiest way is to spray some medicine like Volini or moov etc on your legs and the leeches won't even come near.

5) Do not panic while spotting wild, one have to take baby steps so as not to provoke them

True. If you spot any form of wildlife, please be calm and do not make any sounds lest you provoke them or scare them.

Some strange sound from forest (May be an alarm call from Chital signaling the arrival of some carnivore) wifey running for her life!

Yes, it's an alarm call. Yes, it has seen a carnivore and yes, the carnivore is you

I've faced a similar experience on one of my treks. Check out in this thread
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...ml#post1841202

Siddu asked whether we would want to see the elephants. We decided not (fear defeated us) and took another route which can take us back to resort.

Watching elephants on foot is damn scary. It's all so easy and fun when you are sitting in a van and watching it.

Saw this beautiful tribal architecture, its a bamboo hanging bridge about 50m long for crossing the river.

You guys really crossed it??? It looked like it was broken down.

[jacs]

Originally Posted by VLOCT

In fact, the insurance companies have been pushing to increase the hunters' quotas due to the explosion in deer numbers and the resulting increase in accidents. Many of these accidents are fatal.

Keep up the good work.

Thanks VLOCT.

Originally Posted by addyhemmige

Another surefire way of preventing leech bites is a paste made of snuff powder and coconut oil. You have to smear it on your legs and shoes. It may look dirty and smell badly, but hey!! it works. This is a must carry item on leech infested treks.

The easiest way is to spray some medicine like Volini or moov etc on your legs and the leeches won't even come near.

Yes, it's an alarm call. Yes, it has seen a carnivore and yes, the carnivore is you

I've faced a similar experience on one of my treks. Check out in this thread
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...ml#post1841202

You guys really crossed it??? It looked like it was broken down.

Good tip on using Moov! So it should stink real bad, is it?

Alarm call . I remember your trek. But here Siddu told the area is frequented by a panther (Leopard) so chances are there (ofcourse no tigers expected).


Crossing that bridge! Who me?
But its still safe, tribals use this one for river crossing purpose. And you know kids even cycle.

Note from the Team-BHP Support Team: Post Edited. Smilie usage is restricted to two per post on Team-BHP. Please refrain from using excessive smilies.

[addyhemmige]

Originally Posted by jacs

Good tip on using Moov! So it should stink real bad, is it?

. The stink would probably even save you from the elephants.

Actually, the smell is not as bad as it sounds to be, but it should be close to the smell of a cigarette. I don't know if it is the smell (do leeches have noses?) or any other chemical in the snuff powder, but it is effective.

[Seek]

Originally Posted by jacs

Saw this beautiful tribal architecture, its a bamboo hanging bridge about 50m long for crossing the river.

Hi Jacs,
I was there in mudumalai last month and this bridge brought back some memeories. had crossed it in the jungle walk that we did. Here's a collage of my friend and our tracker crossing the bridge.

i was doing the clicking and almost went tumbling down at one stage!

[jacs]

Originally Posted by addyhemmige

Actually, the smell is not as bad as it sounds to be, but it should be close to the smell of a cigarette. I don't know if it is the smell (do leeches have noses?) or any other chemical in the snuff powder, but it is effective.

Yeah! I remember, people working in tea estates (I studied in highrange) used to keep dry tobacco leaves (known as Pukayila in malayalam) with them to keep safe from leeches and other dangerous things.

Originally Posted by Seek

Hi Jacs,
I was there in mudumalai last month and this bridge brought back some memeories. had crossed it in the jungle walk that we did. Here's a collage of my friend and our tracker crossing the bridge.

i was doing the clicking and almost went tumbling down at one stage!

Wow! You crossed it .





Let me continue with rest of the things on day 2.

Its 2PM and we got tired and hungry after about 6Kms of adventurous walk. We could see Good Sheppard estates on the way back just before our resort. It’s a subsidiary of Good Sheppard Educational institutions in Ooty. They have everything like Diary, Poultry farm etc in the estate. Photography is prohibited there, so just clicked a climber plant bearing some beautiful flowers near the gate.




It started drizzling by the time we reached, Joshu woke up and started screaming in the highest pitch thinking his parents left him in the woods. Anyways on seeing us, he calmed down. We were really dirty after walking through muck and mush mud, decided to take a shower. While taking off the shoes only I realized how much blood those suckers have stolen from my body. Some 4-5 huge leaches. Had to take them out patiently using salt, bleeding will not stop if we pluck them out. Just sharing a click of the better leg, left leg was pathetic and didn’t want to scare the viewers.




After a shower, we went for lunch and decided to take rest for sometime before proceeding with evening safari. Forgot to mention, I met the other occupants who reached the previous night. He is Praveen, a microbiologist from Bangalore with his wife. After sharing the whole experience, he also wanted to try Moyar route and Siddu also came to our discussion. Without giving an option for excuse, we told Siddu to accompany us for evening safari and guide us. Poor chap, he is tired after the trek and again need to keep dinner ready since return would be late. He agreed to be ready by 5:30PM for the evening safari. Weather was dull with small rain and we had nap till 5PM. Got up and sipped evening tea and by 5:30PM we are ready for action. Praveen has already left, he would join us from Masinagudi. This time we have a good navigator, Siddu. We drove slowly while he kept looking for animals. Siddu spotted this Guar, it was really close but not huge like the one we saw in the morning safari.




Lighting was really bad after the rains and its already around 6PM, I decided to keep the cam aside and enjoy the drive. Some elephants were seen near Theppakkadu and we took right to Masinagudi. Nothing special, regular visitors like Chitals, Monkeys etc. Everyone is anxious, this would probably the last chance of spotting the tiger as we would head back to Bangalore the next day morning.


By the time we reached Masinagudy, its around 6:30PM and dark. It was drizzling in between, we drove carefully and slowly since Mayar route is very narrow. Now it’s no joke, trip got really scary with strange sounds in dark. Bushes are very close to road, so cannot predict what would jump in front of us the nest second.


On every curves, we could see the eyes reflecting from the bushes, mostly Chitals and rabbits were there. Praveen was waiting for us; he followed us on his Ikon. We drove till Mayar without much luck. In return, Praveen told he would roam around the reservoir area and come. We started. Now luck is gaining its spirits.


In less than a Km, some big Sambar stags with their bellowed girl friends. But these sambars are very shy, they run away from us in seconds before we could even think of camera. We drove further, sound of breaking sticks made Siddu to stop us. A big herd of elephants very near to us on the left handside, but could hardly see them in dark. We slowly drove another KM to see an elephant back (on seeing us it backed from road without crossing), we slowed down.
A sudden charge was the result. Two mammoths jumped out of nowhere with loud trumpet, mom in law was just 5-6 feets away from them. All of us got scared like hell except Siddu and Joshu who was sleeping. It took few minutes for an easy breath!


But now everyone started laughing on what has happened, we slowly drove towards Masinagudi. And wifey complained that she is not satisfied since to big cats were there. Siddu was explaining about the striped cat and spotted cats while car was descending a sloppy road.


Suddenly, a pair of bright eyes entering the road just about 40 feet from us. Siddu told me to speed up, by the time we reached this 40 feet distance (not at all far), the mighty beast crossed the road in 4 or 5 steps.


Yes! The tiger. It was not at all scared on seeing the car; it kept walking in the same speed looking on both sides. But imagine the size if it crossed in 4 or 5 steps, or 6-8 seconds. I should accept, it was a lifetime experience to all of us. Never expected but that’s luck. I couldn’t get hold of the cam and I stopped near the exit it took. But no luck, we could see its back with torch light. Just sharing a click, not sure something is visible since its dark and quite far inside the bushes.




Everyone was speechless and didn’t wanted anything more. We kept driving till the resort. Still I have the portrait of the mighty beast crossing the road. Praveen couldn’t spot any of these animals though he was just minutes away from us, that’s what we call luck. During morning safari, one photographer told me his wildlife maniac friend did some 40 safaris (Bandipur, Mudumalai, Kabini, Wayanad ranges) so far without seeing even one tiger. Now you can imagine the probability of sighting them and how lucky I am.


Don’t remember anything else because my memory was full with the brain shots of the tiger. We reached the resort by 9:00PM, took dinner and went to bed quickly without any planning for the next day.


Hope I haven't disappointed Joe, he was following this thread since beginning with the hope of some tiger story. But unfortunately no clicks to show the might beast.


(Second day is completed, starting with third day soon...)