Once upon a time in Wayanad......5 - 9th Feb

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And it did feel like a fairy tale - realised I have got myself out of sequence here, but Wayanad richly deserves a mention - it was magic.

Left Kannur by bus for the 4 hour journey to Wayanad - the first hour through dusty, ramshackle villages then we began to climb up from the plains to the cool air of the plateau preceding Wayanad. With every mile the scenery gradually changed, palm trees replaced by forest, arid flat arid land to panoramic mountain views back down the long valley. Oppressive hot air became cool and fresh, and we entered a different world.

Bus dropped us at Panamaram, the nearest town - not often visited by Westerners, we were the only white faces around, and relatively little English was spoken - our landlady at the Ente Veedu Homestay had organised a rickshaw to pick us up and take us to the colonial coffee estate where we would spend the next 3 days. I could wax lyrical about the accomodation, easier and more effective for all concerned if you access www.enteveedu.co.in and see for yourselves - pictures speak louder than words, and this place more than fulfilled the promises on the web site. We were welcomed into the home as honoured guests and treated as part of the family - nothing too much trouble for Seetha, Raji and family. Picture us sitting on the balcony in the photo, sipping coffee grown on the estate in the cool of the morning....fabulous...

One of the many highlights of India so far was the visit to Muthanga Wildlife Sanctuary. Went quite late in the afternoon, so not many other visitors there. It is quite usual to visit this reserve and see just a few deer or the odd buffalo, but we went anyway full of hope. Hopped in the landrover with our driver and a guide and set off into the interior - there are no fences around this sanctuary, it is a vast area and capable of sustaining a wide population of animals and they don't necessarily show themselves to order. No warnings to keep vehicle doors and windows locked, primarily because there were no vehicle doors and windows...none of your namby pamby H and S malarkey here.

1 minute into the tour, driver stopped and pointed - there in a clearing 100 yds away stood a huge bull elephant, regarding us in a distinctly unwelcoming fashion - driver did not encourage us to get out for a closer look on this occasion. Guests at Ente Veedu the previous week had returned looking a wee bit shaken - recorded on their video camera was film of an elephant trying to overturn their vehicle, with them inside it - only by leaning horns and shouting by the small convoy accompanying them was the animal encouraged to move away. Seetha told us the sad tale of a couple who, three months previously, had entered the park illegally, and ill advisedly, on motorbike, and went 'off piste' to get up close and personal with the wildlife. Five elephants they chanced upon were not best pleased. The pair were still in hospital at the time of our visit.

Carried on round the designated route - much of the park is inaccessible to anyone except rangers, there are tigers, puma, cheetah, snakes, wild buffalo roaming here - they are not fed or 'managed' as such - if the animals are carnivores, they hunt for prey, and they would not be too particular what kind given the opportunity. More elephant at a dust hole in half km. away - got out to look as they were not near enough to be a danger, but a loud trumpeting (from 1km away, we were told) summoned the family group away - the patriarch calling them away, they have bad eyesight but v. good sense of smell, don't like us humans getting too near....Drove on to a watering hole where, in the forest at the edge of the water, 2 elephants barely visible, ghostly grey amongst grey trees, could be heard trampling and tearing at vegetation - our guide said they would have walked 25 kms that day to reach water, and would not come down to drink whilst we were in the way.....

Got our vehicle and ourselves out of sight, then waited in the silence of the gathering dusk, hoping they would come to the water (tho jeep parked ready to make quick exit if required...). Just at that point three jeeps roared up, each full of at least 15 school kids, all chattering and pointing excitedly ..........at us..........magic moment shattered, we headed back.....
Could imagine scene at school next morning - 'now children, what was the most exciting animal you saw on your visit to the nature reserve?'...... As I said, not many Westerners get out to this part of the world...

The Ente Veedu estate grows so much more than coffee - Raj proudly took us on a tour of his land; coconut, cardomum, teak, rosewood, eucalytus, lemon trees, orange trees, jackfruit plantation - felt like a whole natural ecosystem going on here, not the manicured, well ordered orchards we are used to in England, all seemingly jumbled up and thriving without too much interference from the human hand.

One more elephant tale - they are very fond of jack fruit, and Raj told us that each year at harvest time, elephants appear out of the forest and plunder his plantation. Whether by smell or by memory, they know when the fruit is ripe for plucking and descend on the crop. He has tried everything to dissuade them - digging a deep ditch around the area saw elephant nonchalanty jumping over the gap - fences are trampled underfoot with ease- an electric fence proved no obstacle, an uprooted tree trunk flung over said fence rendered it harmless. How exactly would one stop an elephant, short of shooting which is not an option? So they feast on jackfruit with impunity, and should one tasty fruit be too high to reach, why just bulldoze the tree to the ground....

Still, as this is an annual event, perhaps Seetha and Raj could consider making it a tourist attraction? - good money would be paid (by me, anyway) to see these beasts in action, for all the world scrumping jackfruit like kids scrump apples.....

Any way, enough of this, anyone reading who considers visiting here, go soon - when this place and Wayanad are featured more prominently in the travel guides, as they surely will very soon, some of the magic may be lost. Tourism increases and the west encroaches - get there while the going is good.

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