Fastrack Ooty :)

Okay, I'm skipping many a few earlier jaunts to post a quickfire note on a super fast, express weekend outing to Ooty somewhere in Jan.

I, need not give an introduction about Ooty as its a household name and a destination for every other traveler, be it a casual traveler, a family traveler, an adventure junkie, a honeymooner, a cyclist or the leisure traveler. All about Ooty or Udhagamandalam on wiki here.

Why I wanted to be here?
On the onset, the touristy, cluttered Ooty is not a popular choice for me, but the charm of the valleys, the estates, the dilapidated landscapes, the chilly weather, the amazing forests, the mouth watering chocolates and most importantly the plentiful, amazing bird life has plenty in offer for me to visit Ooty regularly. I cane myself for this being only my '2nd' visit to Ooty, atrocious indeed!!!

Summary:
We drove down early on a Saturday morning, with the chillness making way for the hot sun all along the way and driving on the hairpin bends via Masinagudi, Kalhatti was a pleasure but the changing landscapes was a sore sight. All, I recall of Ooty of my earlier visit was lush green landscapes confined to a small town but now deforestation is evident everywhere with forests and hillocks making way for homes and hotels. We stayed at the 'Doddabetta Resorts', a quiet place located at the foothill of the 'Doddabetta' peak away from the hustles and bustles of the town.

We spent the entire afternoon at the Botanical gardens looking for the beauties, well I was interested in the beauties and the boys was busy chatting away to glory. Ah! Beauties I meant were the winged beauties and not the walking beauties :) Some tasty chocolate shopping took a lot of time and well the day ended with all of us wrapped in blankets and chatting away after a long period of time, in fact we had grouped after a very long time!

Doddabetta:
We were up quick and the initial ones to reach the peak. As expected the bird life was very much active and all around the place, owing to the crowd yet to come in and the garbage dumps offering plenty of unhygienic food. After spending a couple of early hours here, we came back to the town for a pricey breakfast and took the way towards home.

Notes:
Ooty is very pricey!
Ooty is crowded!
It's pretty cold in the night (non summers) and cool during summers.
Anything you buy is pricey!
Visiting Doddabetta early in the day makes sense as fewer people are there (the gate opens only by 8am).
Botanical garden is the place to go for families and couples alike.
Chocolates are a must buy from here!

There are many other things about Ooty that is not specified, well what is the fun in revealing all, let some secrets remain so!

All these photos are from my Samsung Galaxy Ace 5830i.
Watch out for the Ooty beauties coming up soon :)

Singara - Masinagudi

After birding at TG hali, it was almost 10 am when we proceeded towards Bandipur National park and we there reached by afternon after mandatory stops for food and fuel in between. The safari ride in Bandipur was uneventful and the conditions being heavily overcast did not help.

It was past 6pm when we reached the Singara checkpost. Route taken is Bandipura-Theppakadu-Masinagudi (right turn at circle)-Singara check post. From here private vehicles are not allowed and our homestay person had arranged for a jeep to pick us up. From there the homestay is hardly about 3-4 kms but as there is absolutely no road a 4WD vehicle is mandatory to reach there and its all the more difficult during monsoons.

As it was completely dark, we did not realize where we are but could sense thick woods all around :)

I was up early morning to find greenery all around and couple of isolated buildings in the near vicinity and with the constant calls of the peafowl all around. A nice way to begin your day! Sitting in the backside open verandah, I was openly gazing into the forests looking out for birds and any mammal movement. Before even I realized a lone Indian Gaur made its appearance and exit in an instant. Spotted Deers were all around the homestay and the estate in large numbers.

After a brief session of birding around the place, we went for a small trek inside the estate and into the virgin forests of singara and we were back with bountiful leeches stuck all over our legs (so far probably the highest no of bites I had and the max quantity of blood donated)!

Back at the place and a heavy breakfast later, it was birding again till lunchtime as we ventured into the tea / pepper plantation nearby. Elephants / Gaur are common here and we were unlucky not to bump into any of them!

After lunch and some rest, our evening plans of a safari at Anekatti went for a toss because of the heavy overnight rains and we had to just be content whiling away time around the place that we are experts in doing :) A long evening as darkness envelops very fast with hardly the sun being visible from the past couple of days.

Next day all of us were up early, sitting in the verandah and watching the bird activity and listening to their calls. Again trekked for a couple of hours and this time we were back seeing a fresh tiger pug mark close to the homestay, hardly within a radius of 1 km! Surprisingly the sun was out better than before, but bird activity was very evasive either high up in the trees or in the thick bushes around.

After breakfast, we were dropped off the Singara checkpost in the jeep and then only we got to see what was the path that we actually took while coming in. Wish I had a 4WD vehicle with me... From there it was an uneventful journey back home...

Bird checklist:
Peafowl
Junglefowl
Streak throated Woodpecker
Black rumped Woodpecker
White cheeked Barbet
Asian fairy bluebird
Black headed Cuckoo Shrike
Spotted Dove
Indian Robin
Blue tailed Parakeet
Rose ringed Parakeet
Indian Robin
Yellow Wagtail
Brahminy Mynah
etc...

Bandipur - Mudumalai - Masinagudi - Gudalur

Well, an unexpected trip and with all the luck in the world heaped onto us. Joshua invited me to join on this adventure he had embarked upon with his brother Ajith who was back home for his holidays. I could not say no to him as he has been of immense help to me, still I could not commit instantly due to some problems, finally I agreed on joining the brothers on this trip. For those who dont know, Joshua is my colleague cum friend cum wildlife guru cum birding shishya... We travelled in Josh's flaming red Zen to Masinagudi with plan of visiting Bandipur, Mudumalai parks and Josh's estate @ Gudalur. We had arranged for our camping at quiet corner in Masinagudi. Josh is only keen on wildlife and a bit in photography; so this trip was only for wildlife, wildlife and wild life...

We took off for a day on Friday and reached Masinagudi late Thursday night to catch on some sleep.

Day1: I have been through Bandipur many times but never got a chance to go on a safari ride there. So this was my first safari ride here and also my first joint adventure along with Josh and Ajith. The safari ride started in a cramped forest department bus and so did our excitement levels... Half an hour into the ride, just as the thought of seeing nothing special crossed our mind - someone seated in front of me shouted Tiger, Tiger!!! Immediately all 70 legs on board sprang and jostled near the windows for a glimpse of the royal Bengal beauty. Many people dont know how difficult it is to spot a TIGER in the jungles here in south (I know some people who are still waiting for their luck even after so many years roaming the jungles). I forgot to zoom my camera properly, hands were trembling and somehow managed to peep out of the window and get a shot or two of the majestic beauty trapped in the camera and in my eyes for ever. The photography was not so good as I was seated in the last seat and the tiger was seen in front of the bus and the window next to me was sealed! The majestic beauty was an adult female (named Gowri); as she saw the bus she stared upon us with a no nonsense casual disdain look (as if to say I dont care who you are), neither was she perturbed nor disturbed and after walking next to the bus for a few steps vanished into the bushes after giving a final disdain look towards us.

It was / will be a memorable sighting (the first of the TIGER) for me and for josh too (this being his first in south india). He started praising me because he thought with me joining him, lady luck started favoring us.. but you never know it may be the other way too...

After the morning safari rounds we came back to quiet corner for some rest till evening. In the meantime we paid a visit to the rehabilitation centre @ Masinagudi run by an NGO (who takes care of all deserted, wounded, limp animals that include dogs, cats, monkeys, horses, donkeys, camel etc...) We did four safari's in a day at Bandipur... (other than the first round, for all other rounds we got the first 3 seats as the ticket issuer became familiar with me). Overall in all the 4+4 safari's @ Bandipur and Mudumalai and Masinagudi put together over 2 days we spotted the following mammals and birds: Tiger (Panthera Tigris) Sloth bear Sambar Deer Hanuman Langur Asian Elephants (many) Mongoose family Spotted Deer Wild Boars Indian Bisons (a herd of about 25) Malabar Giant Squirrel Indian Hare Mouse Deer Hyeana (still under speculation - no photographic evidence) Jungle Cats Pack of Dholes Indian Civet ---- Peacocks (numerous) Peahens Jungle Mynah Bee eaters Indian Robin Pied Bush chat Red Whiskered Bulbuls Spotted / Laughing Doves and many others...

Day2: We had a slightly different plan for the day - after the first 2 morning safari's @ Mudumalai we would go to Josh's estate @ Gudalur (he had some work there) and then again return back for the evening safari's. The safari rides @ Mudumalai didnt let us down as we got to see the Dholes, Mongoose family, Elephants, Sambar during the rides. On the last safari @ Mudumalai, there was absolutely no sighting except the Spotted deers, so the driver allowed us to get down and view the Moyar falls (this comes along the Circle road safari route). Imagine in the jungle, on a safari you get off the bus and walk to the nearby viewpoint to spot the majestic falls. This was completely different than the one I had seen the last time near Moyar village. Its the same river that gorges down @ different places creating majestic sights.

The experience @ Josh's estate @ Gudalur was also wonderful with me getting wonderful birding oppurtunities along with Ajith who was my guide cum encyclopaedia as we roamed around the estate. The estate is full of tea and coffee plantations (last heard at a particular rocky terrain porcupines are resident here and wild elephants frequently visit this as well as the neighbouring estates). We were served to a delicious meal cooked by the resident cook there (he was more than happy to serve us and Ajith in particular as he had come after a long time).

Some mammals and birds that we spotted in the Gudalur estate were: Malabar Giant Squirrel Malabar Flying Squirrel (first time for me) Racket Tailed Drongo (another first one) Red Whiskered Bulbul's Velvet Fronted Nuthatch Scarlett Minivet (male & female) Flame backed Woodpeckers Common Iora Shikra Crested Serpent Eagle

We left the place with me continuously harassing Joshua to allow me for a few days @ the estate. Me and Ajith did what all possible to get near to the Malabar squirrel and the Flying squirrel just flew away just above our heads. After the evening safari's @ Mudumalai we were back @ Quiet corner for the much required rest.

Day3: Being Sunday and just half a day at our disposal, we went on trekking early in the morning around Masinagudi accompanied by local guides who know the place in and out. It was a good trexperience and we almost bumped into wild elephants twice. (Luckily they didnt notice us, so we could slip away easily). Now trekking / walking is banned in the jungles by the forest department. On our drive back after a heavy meal at Kamat, Mysuru we visited the Ranganthittu bird sanctuary and hired a boat all for ourselves for 500rs.

What we got to see here is as below: Open billed Storks Spoonbills

Night Heron Stone Plovers Indian Cormorant Grey Heron River Tern Snake Bird and colonies of Bats.

After this Ajith went back to Mysuru enroute Kochi, Me and Joshua drove back home to Bangalore. It was a wonderful experience with loads of luck on our side and some good sightings. We were only not lucky to sight the Leopard and the Black Panther. Aslo we undertook drives along the Moyar road and the Singara road (where we saw the Civet, Mouse deer, Hare and the controversial Hyeana). Last time also on a similar night drive I had spotted the leopard along with my friends. Another first was that since I bought a car this was the first time I was a passenger and not the driver. Overall a wonderful weekend trip it was and looking forward to many such adventures with Josh. Care for the nature and the nature cares for you!

Masinagudi - Into the woods...

It all started with our failed attempts of getting accommodation at Bandipur lodges maintained by the government for the last week of June just before when Bandipur is closed for monsoon in the months of July and August. Once again it was my mallu friend Joshua who came to our rescue and suggested Masinagudi as an alternative. Till then we had no idea where this place is! Masinagudi is rather a quite, secluded place at the foothills of the Nilgiris on the way to Ooty from Mysore. In a way its good that Masinagudi is not so famous as its neighbor so that the nature as well as the wildlife has enough space to themselves. This place is a pure wildlife hotspot (the luckiest ones even get to see tigers here) with good sightings of wildlife and numerous birds to keep one busy and on the tenterhooks, and added to this the pristine Moyar falls is quite ecstatic. Here cheap accommodations are difficult to find until and unless you know some place because it’s infested only with resorts and resorts. This time again, our help came in the form of Joshua who arranged accommodation for us at a rather secluded place right on the fringes of the forest, just what we wanted and thus started another of our adventure tales. 20th June 2008: Left Bangalore rather late in the night with uncordial notes ringing at all our homes for opting the night driving in our car; this was the best option for us as we could reach early in the morning and save precious morning time by this. The route to Masinagudi is itself a pleasure to drive for wildlife enthusiasts; after the bad stretch after gundlupet, took a much needed break at the CCD outlet at gundlupet,

at the CCD outlet, gundlupet

the road smoothens up and it’s a cruise right up to Theppakadu (mudumalai) through Bandipur. From here there are two paths, going straight leads to Ooty via Gudalur, and turning left from Theppakadu leads again to Ooty through Masinagudi with the much talked about 36 hairpin bends. Unluckily we couldn’t spot anything till Theppakadu because of the pitch darkness or rather due to our lack of knowledge of observing wildlife in the dark. As we turned left from the Theppakadu junction, our first sightings were in the form of two huge gaur bulls (forget 6 pack, they had 12 pack abs) staring right into our faces grazing on the bunds on the sideways of the road. The road on this stretch is narrow compared to the other highway and infested with wildlife as we realized later.

early morning views @ masinagudi

We reached on the scheduled time and checked in by 6am, quickly got ready for the forest trek organized by the hosts with guides. Its such a pleasure that you step out of your backyard and you are right in the forests and you often get to see many wild visitors right in your backyard. So almost all resorts / home stays here organize treks into the forests with the help of local villagers as guides who have this uncanny knowledge of what is what and can blindly take you through the terrain without getting lost in the wild. All five of us were excited for the forest trek and in spite of a sleepless night to our credit, we were all charged up and raring to go. The forest patch was dry and quite bald and we could spot langurs and sambar deer with numerous birds but luck still eluded us as we could not spot the biggies and we lost the trail of the wild elephants that we were trailing. The only solace was at a waterhole inside the jungle where we could spot footprints of many a wild animal which made everybody start guessing which is which!

pug marks found @ the waterhole - during the forest trek

Still, this being our first wild trek, we realized a lot of things of what to wear, what to carry and the most important thing “Silence is golden”. We spent the afternoon making a quick dash to the reserve forest area at Anekatti, which is accessible only with prior permission;

monster lizard at anekatti reserve area

later in the evening we went to Theppakadu hoping to get into the last safari, but as our bad luck continued, there was already a long queue and we had to return back without any safari ride for the day. So we just drove along the Gudalur route and luck started favoring us; we could spot quite a few huge bisons and many peacocks along the way.

peacocks, gaur @ masinagudi; evening view of masinagudi

Dinner at the rest house and then we had the option of driving along again or just retire for the day. Young blood, always wanting more and always willing to take chances and with no fear of roaming the jungles in the night we set out for the night drives with the hope of catching something big and wild. Well wildlife can be spotted all around Masinagudi – on the way to Theppakadu, Gudalur, Bandipur, just about every other road. We were recommended the Moyar road and the Singara road by Joshua, which as we found out was indulged in eerie silence and absolutely cut off from the rest of the world. We took the Singara road first, this roads ends up at a private estate and all along the way is pristine forest, we went ahead driving slowly, our car headlight being the only source of light. We spotted a male tusker having dinner just beside the road; with no mood to confront him in the jungle, we moved ahead till we reached the fringes of the estate, we turned back and passing by the same tusker reached Masinagudi. Now we took the Moyar road, this road leads up to Moyar village that is around 10kms away and we can cover as much distance as we want. 4kms into the road, without spotting anything, we were disappointed and turned around to our way back to the rest house, but the lady luck was reluctant to send us just like that, because the next 5minutes of sighting was all that we were waiting for anxiously from the time we reached Masinagudi. Just on the fringes of Masinagudi as we were inching ahead, we could see something big crossing the road right in front of us. Long tail, hefty body, spots all over, we instantly recognized it was a leopard which we were seeing and in a quick dash it crossed over the road and vanished into the bushes. Those few seconds of wow was all that we required keeping us in high spirits for our entire trip irrespective of what was to unfold the next day. Came back to our resting place in high spirits and were eagerly waiting for the next day's events to unfold. 22nd June 2008: Early morning we had two options, another trek in the forests or safari at mudumalai, we chose the latter as the forest trek the previous day was unfruitful. We could spot herds of deer along with many birds on the entire stretch from Masinagudi to Theppakadu.

deers, hoopee, peahen enroute theppakaadu

@ mudumalai (theppakaadu)

The deer’s cross the road in such a systematic way; two of them stand at either side of the road keeping guard until the herd passes from one end to the other and when they sense any vehicle coming, they back off into the bushes with the herd; surely they have a lesson for us on basic road sense. Being a Sunday, the safari at mudumalai was full with many people coming over, still the sightings were good with herds of deer, elephants, wild dogs, wild boar and many peacocks to see; still the big cats eluded us.

tusker family @ theppakaadu; posing near mudumalai forest office; tusker on roadside,masinagudi

roadside tusker encounter @ masinagudi

Even the safari route inside the Mudumalai Park is quite different from the others with dense green forest cover and the jeep track winds through the forest. We started to chug along the path back to our resting place for the much-needed breakfast, some way ahead we found a huge male tusker bringing down branches at the roadside. We stopped and luckily he was very quiet and went about his munching activity even in our presence. We gave him company for almost 15-20 minutes with occasional vehicles stopping and passing by, till a van full of guys came along and started shouting in excitement irritating him. We sensed trouble and moved ahead; later all that we heard was a loud growl from the tusker that made the guys scamper for cover! After the sumptuous breakfast, we went ahead to our next destination Moyar falls on the same stretch of the Moyar road where we had seen the big cat the previous evening. Here permission is required as the viewpoint is in the reserve forest area and wild animals are sighted very frequently here.

@ the reserve moyar falls & group photo @ the hosts place

The place was entirely empty (maybe because of the permission); we sneaked in and had to walk for about 15 minutes till we reached a dead-end; Phew! From there it was a majestic sight of the falls that is in between the woods. Milky white water falling like crystals in between the green cover of the forest area and the surprising thing was that rains were yet to start; still this waterfall was in all glow. We rested there for quite a long time, satisfied our appetites with n number of photographs and left with no mood at all to budge from there. We came back to our nest, bid goodbye to the hosts and started on our way back to home only to realize we were running out of Petrol! Ouch! The nearest bunk was some 30 kms away; we somehow managed to reach there with heavy rains accompanying us and then trudged on our way back to Bangalore taking the same route by which we had come. Recently read a news article stating Masinagudi area will be declared a buffer zone as it is on the fringes of mudumalai sanctuary; that means less human interference. Well, that’s good news for wildlife but what about the people who are surviving purely on this? Quick notes: Distance: Approx 250 kms from Bangalore Route: Bangalore - Mysore - Gundlupet - Bandipur - Theppakadu (mudumalai) – Masinagudi - Ooty Accommodation: Plenty of resorts available (info on the net) Ideal time: All round the year except monsoon season Food: Mostly included in your resort packages, otherwise smaller hotels available at Masinagudi. Petrol: No bunks at Masinagudi (Essar bunk is now defunct), nearest is either Gundlupet or Thorappalli. Tips: Respect nature, maintain silence in the forests, don’t irritate the wild animals, conserve forests and leave no traces of your visit behind. Wear light colored clothing during treks / safaris, avoid bright colors. Drive slowly when driving through the wildlife zone (from gundlupet up to Gudalur). care for the nature and the nature cares for you!