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Published: September 20th 2009
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We got up at around 5:30am and headed downstairs to checkout. We were told that this would be no problem but as we wandered down the stairs, there were no lights on in the reception and no signs of life, with the front door locked. As our seats on the train were booked, I was annoyed and shouted out something unprintable when suddenly some poor little Indian lad who was asleep on the floor behind the counter woke up startled and quickly put his shirt on. We were then able to check out and set off for the station before the sun came up. The train journey was smooth, we found our seats easily and even treated ourselves to a cup of Indian coffee during the journey.
We arrived five or so hours later in Calicut. This place holds no particular tourist interest so we jumped in an auto-rickshaw and headed for the bus station. It was a dilapidated structure in the middle of town in need of demolition. This is where things become a little more complicated. Unlike the rail network where everything is written in both English and Hindi, the signs in the front window of each bus
are only written in Hindi which as far as we are concerned, could have been Arabic, Chinese or ancient Aramaic. That being enough, none of the bus workers have a particularly good grasp on the English language so it ended off that we just had to repeat the name of the place we wanted to go to until someone was able to point us in the right direction.
We were off to Kalpetta, going through a tropical forest climbing from sea level to a final height of 700m. As we meandered through the narrow and bumpy roads, we were thankfull to have an expert rally driver at the helm who was determined to deliver us to our destination regardless of blind corner, oncoming lorries while overtaking or even the thick cloud that seemed to descend as we climbed up the side of the mountain. The air was becoming noticeably cooler as we continued to climb, negotiating a series of 9 hair pin bends with potholes a foot deep and then the torrential rain began at which point we were glad that our bags were inside the bus and not in the luggage rack on top.
Eventually arriving at
Kalpetta, we checked in to our cheap and cheerful hotel, the PPS tourist home. Accommodation in this neck of the woods can be very pricey, in some cases over several thousand rupee per night but at 440, this place was a steal despite the spacious yet quite scummy room. We booked a jeep and driver to give us a tour of the Wayanad district the next day for just less than £20. The hill region of Wayanad is one of the most beautiful parts of Kerala and includes several wildlife sanctuaries as well as being one of the main plantation regions for tea, coffee and spice.
Our driver picked us up bright and early at 6:30am the next day and we set off for the Muthanga wildlife sanctuary. On arrival, we paid our entrance fee and picked up a ranger for our trip round the park. The jeep negotiated the muddy and waterlogged track well and we managed to spot a few different species of monkey, wild peacock, huge termite hills, wild boar and spotted dear. We were a bit upset that we didn't get to see any wild elephants or tigers but the driver explained that it wasn't
the ideal time of year. As it was the end of the rainy season, the plants were really thick and lush the animals were much harder to see and they tended to drink at waterholes in the forest rather than the man-made waterholes visible from the track. Despite this, it was still well worth doing the tour. We set off next to the Edakkal caves which turned out to be only one cave with ancient drawings on the inside and then a seep climb up to the top of a mountain. We made it most of the way up but near the top, the way was becoming very steep, not far from vertical in some places with only foot holes in the rock to help scramble up so Stacey found a comfy seat while I continued on to the top. At the top there were several hundred dragon flies as well as some great views of the area. The climb down again was just as treacherous and would have been near impossible if it had started to rain and rock become slippery. On my return Stacey told me about the curious friends she had made in my absence; five monkeys
that sat around her and wanted to see inside her bag! It was a shame I missed them as apparently they were 'cute'.
After we climbed down again, Stacey bought a fresh coconut (a big green one that had just fallen from the tree rather than a husky brown one found in British supermarkets) from a vendor who hacked the top off with a machete and stuck a straw in for drinking the milk. It was brim full with tasty milk and the white flesh was soft and juicy-again a totally different experience from the coconuts we buy at home as it was just so much more tasty. We decided we'd definitely be buying more of these, perhaps in Goa were we can add a little rum to complete the experience.
We then drove through the tea plantations, the hills glistening with all the light green tea plants and the women were picking them and carrying the basket of leaves on their heads down the hills. It was very beautiful to see and we felt as though we were in a PG Tips advert. Our guide explained that they harvest the newly grown tea leaves from a plant
every 15 days in order to “only select the tender leaves” and leave the older ones on the plant. We arrived at a site where we could walk down to a waterfall, again very picturesque and tropical.
On the way back, we stopped at a farmer's house and the driver showed us the fresh coffee beans, cardamom pods, pepper cloves, vanilla pods, mint leave and ginger plants. Arriving back at our hotel, we decided it had definitely been worth hiring the jeep and touring round as we had seen most of the Wayanad region and could move on the next day. We ate dinner in the adjoining restaurant, delicious butter chicken and rather spicy chicken korma and then chilled out in the room which fortunately had a TV and both the Discovery and National Geographic channel were broadcast in English. The next day we would catch the bus to lower ground and cross the border out of Kerala and into Karnataka.
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Karen & Richard
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Your Blog
We saw your Mum, Dad and Chris at Jonathan's christening today and they passed on your blog site information. We have a quick read and it seems like your really enjoying the trip. It is almost like Fraggle Rock receiving a daily post card from uncle travelling Mat. Enjoy your trip and we will keep a close eye on your blog. Catch U Later.