Blogs from Wayanad, Kerala, India, Asia - page 4

After a massive breakfast, and i mean massive we headed out in Asif's amazing car and headed to the tea plantation which covered all the surrounding hills. After pulling what i suspect were some major strings Gufoor managed to get us inside the factory for a look around. Parisons tea plantation was where Yousef was born and Yousef's father had worked as a supervisor. Inside the factory we were shown around by the foreman and it was amazing to see how tea is made. The leaves are dried by massive fan beds and then put through a series of machines to sort, cut and the leaves. The entire process from plant into the factory to being able to make a cup of tea takes about 8 hours and the factory runs 24 hours a day. The ... read more

But for the long tusks, the elephant is successfully camouflaged. Its huge black body merged into the darkness of the woods, the wild elephant would have escaped our eyes had Ramakrishnan not whispered: Aana, aana…. The tracker was already chasing the evasive elephant when the forester goaded us to a solitary watchtower protected by a ditch. A lone tusker is dangerous. A maimed one could be fatal. The tusker had its tail cut, probably in a duel with a mozha, a bull without tusks. We follow Ramakrishnan on toes for another glimpse of the beast. But we are comically lost, a group of civilized men on open ground chasing a seasoned animal in the woods. The Short-Tailed One won’t take any chance. It retreats. Later, when we have exhausted our patience, he would cross the road ... read more

We get the weekends off from the course, so we decided to take a trip to the beautiful and lush Wildlife Sanctuary....... After about 4 hours of driving up windy roads through mountains, we arrived at our hotel and we all thought "ooooooh fancy & posh & nice"....... and we went to check-in only to find that we all needed passports and of course I hadn't brought mine ...... Minor catastrophe!! With all hotels requiring a passport from foreigners to check-in, we thought we wouldn't be able to stay anywhere and would have to drive back.....but luckily we found some dodgy hotel......and we all crammed in there!! I was feeling really guilty as this hotel had NOTHING on the original one.....so I learnt the hard way to ALWAYS carry my passport on me at all ... read more

It was like an island - shields of water keeping reality at bay. Rain, white and whistling beyond the windows, and morning dreams were the only things real. “Isn’t it time to go?” somebody asked. No one, including the enquirer, bothered to find out. Last night, we were all excited about the morning trek. Now no one wanted to break the spell. We were dreaming about a drenched dewy forest, perhaps. There’s something magical about rain in the high ranges. It goes on and on and no one complains. Rain becomes a refuge - an excuse for inertia. Irshad and Srikanth, who couldn’t wait to scale the mountain that rose beyond the dormitory we slept in, showed no signs of life. Navin and Sijo, reluctant trekkers, were no better. Finally, Mani broke the spell with ... read more

Again, apologies for the huge volume of text I'm churning out, but I'm having such a fantastic time that I want to make sure that I can remember everything. The 12th was the best day yet, by a country mile. Woken by Venu with a cup of tea at about 6.30, and then straight off for a morning safari. I was cold for the first time in India - not an unpleasant feeling, especially given that we were making our way across that beautiful nature reserve in a jeep, just as the sun was starting to top the treeline. Not a lot of wildlife, but beautiful all the same. Early morning air - cold, crisp light... difficult not to sound like a ponce about it really, but it was stunning. Breakfast was omlette and more tea, ... read more