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Published: January 28th 2007
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Mundanthurai Hills
This is tiger country.. Its lashing rain - it comes off the nearby mountains, perpetual clouds hang low as far down as the hills. The rain is soaking me, obscuring my visor and creating puddles which can hide potholes or small craters in the road. The going is slow and the road is bad, I have to stand up on the pegs from time to time to balance the bike over heaps of gravel, straw, and dung.
As I approach the foothills the clouds clear a little, the road climbs and starts to wind, thankfully its smooth asphalt now. The lower slopes of the hills are visible, thick dark green jungle sloping up from a plateau of vivid green paddy fields. There is birdlife everywhere, ibis, heron and stork in the waters, peacocks and pheasant in the bushes, brahminy kites, eagles and buzzards overhead. I see two otters, or possibly mongoose run across the road in front of me, there are also monkeys and squirrels everywhere. Thin wisps of cloud rise from the jungle canopy, huge dark boulders emerge from the trees, it looks mysterious. I press on up the hills slowly in second gear, taking it all in. Anticipation is mounting - there
Snoozing giants
Neyyar Dam Lion Safari Park, little better than a zoo pen really but the lions have the run of a small island. are tigers, leopards, wild elephants and crocodiles ahead. If this was
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintainence I'd now start to talk about Quality and its various definitions, but it isn't, so I won't. We are traveling through Tamil Nadu, down to the southernmost tip of India and then back up through Kerala - see the attached map for a rough idea of where in the world that is. So far we are somewhere in the Kerala side of the Western Gnats at a place called Idduki. Idikki feels like the back of beyond, probably because it is. We came here from Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary this morning over a potholed and bumpy road but with spectacular views. Periyar is a vast beautiful place 777 km sq. It is strictly controlled. You have to pay 300 rupees just to get in the front gate while Indians pay just 15. After that a day's trekking will cost 1000 rupees per person, not to mention the camera permit. It doesn't seem like much (1 euro is 56 rupees) but when you consider that a budget hotel room costs 200 rupees, a meal 60 rupees etc, 1000 rupees is big money for some
Where bad deers dry out ...
It's like The Priory, without Kate and Pete. travelers.
Many other places, State forests for example, don't even let you in, they say you need permission from the capital Thiruvananthapuram. I went to the State Wildlife Officer there but he practically threw me out of his office, and that was before I told him what I thought of him! Anyway, because this area is out of the path of other tourists we have managed to arrange a days trekking tomorrow in the wildlife sanctuary for a reasonable price - they give us armed guards in case of wild elephant attacks - which is a bit dramatic because its too hot here during the day for any animal to consider leaving the shade or the lake waters.
I have to say though that because they are closed to trekking these parks, (Mundanthuri, Neyyar Dam, Periyar and Idukki so far) are great for the animals. All are situated around dams high in the mountains so water is plentiful even in the dry season (now), they are well guarded against poachers and are so big that any animal who wants to stay away from humans can do so easily. On the down side the Elephant Rehabilitation Centre at Neyyar
Neyyar Dam Trek
This place is directly over the mountains from the place in the first photo - the difference in climate is unreal - thankfully it's drier on this side. Dam involves chaining, clamping really, one of the elephant's legs to a tree. They don't even get a leash. I did get to wash one of the baby elephants in the river though, that was fantastic. The crocodile pens in the same place there are sub-zoo standard and I couldn't find a guide to tell me why they are trying to breed crocodiles when there are wild ones in the river 50 yards away. It’s frustrating but that's India. Incidentally I don’t know why they’re called Rehabilitation Centres, a pair of four and five year old baby elephants are hardly prolific drinkers. There was a 72 year old elephant there which had killed two men, you could hardly blame him - wouldn’t you get pissed off if one of your legs was secured to a tree stump and people shouted at you and poked you with sharp sticks?
Having the bikes is a fantastic way to get around; you are completely removed from the hassle of the bus/train/taxi lifestyle. There is a great sense of freedom and you interact a lot more with your surroundings instead of seeing them from a window. Cyril is driving an Enfield Thunderbird and I have an Enfield Bullet Electra. They're sturdy touring bikes, I'll be shipping mine back home when I go, if I can't drive it back that is. You need a Carnet de Passage to bring a vehicle through many countries, it's hugely expensive and complicated to get for a bike going from India to Europe. Nevertheless, I'm looking into it. Anyone with friends in the RAC please email me.
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