Blogs from Tholpetty Wildlife Sanctuary, Kerala, India, Asia

'There's nothing called Waynad Forest’,The Forest Ranger said. I was completely stunned by this statement from the Forest Ranger of Waynad himself. ‘Has he gone crazy?’, was the question buzzing on my mind. How could it be possible? The board here clearly says ‘Waynad National Park’. I was more inquisitive and finally decided to counter his statement with my little but in depth knowledge about this zone. ‘Sir, are you busy?’, I asked. ‘No friend, come in, what happened? Anything wrong?’, The Ranger asked. ‘Everything is fine, but Sir how could you say there’s no forest called Waynad where each and every magazine in this world speaks about Waynad National Park. I am really sorry to digest this statement. If you could help me Sir’, I countered his statement. ‘Well, how much you know about Waynad? ... read more

On Friday, 3rd feb, we left home to go to Kerala, India. After 27 hours, 1 bus ride and 2 planes we finally landed in Calicut. The travelling was ok, I was a good boy for most of it, but I did get a bit bored too. I did get to go to sleep in a cool, little (very little!) bed that hung in the air on the plane! When we got to India it was boiling!! We went straight to the hotel and straight to bed. It was a very late night for me - 10.30pm! Yesterday was a very cool day, we got a taxi into the hill town of manantharady in the wayanad district. It is very pretty here, but the roads were not very nice so I got car sick :-( We ... read more

Have just landed back in sort of civilisation (Mysore) after the 4 days in Cochin and then 3 days in the middle of nowhere near a wildlife sanctuary (Tholpetty, in the Wayanad area of Kerala). The drive up was outrageous. 7 hours flew by (kind of) - no stopping, no eating, a bit of sleeping for me. Maddest driver in the country (quite a claim) with overtaking on hairpin bends at steep gradient - and several were buses. I loved it! Toby was less sure about its joys which is far more sensible. Its interesting to watch the changes as you go up the coast of Kerala and the changeover from catholic towns to mosque-filled villages. And at the top of the mountains, the most beautiful views I've ever seen and our first whiff of the ... read more

In Kochi we had booked a stay at the Pachyderm Palace (sounds promising, doesn’t it?) Actually, it was the most expensive night so far, 1750 rupees compared to the usual 400, but it was full board and we had practically no alternative. Still, it was much cheaper than the better-known Nagarhole National Park, where the lodges really cost a fortune. In fact, Tholpetty is adjacent to the Nagarhole National Park, situated at its southeastern borders. We decided to travel there by our own means, a bit more complicated but much cheaper than arrangements by the Tourist Board. We did the distance in two parts, it might have been possible in one. First we took a bus to Khozikode (former Calicut, the place where Vasco da Gama landed). The city is of hardly any touristy interest, we ... read more