PAYANIGA

Journey to Kerala | Day 1 @ Wayanad | Day 2 | Day 3

We woke up to chirping sound of birds. It was a welcome break from the busy day schedule. Went for a small walk with cameras dangling around our neck. There were plenty of birds around us.

When we came back, Sathish (our jeep driver for the next three days) was waiting for us. We told him all the places that we wish to visit, and he promised us to show maximum number of places with enough time for us to spend in those places.

In Wayanad region, all the tourist places are scattered acroos the district. Hence one has to travel a lot, its more like a chicken run. And better suited vehicle for that area is a Jeep. Out first stop was Vythri view point. From Kalpetta town, after 10-12 KMs starts ghat section which takes one to Calicut. View from this place is awesome. One can see the twisty roads down below & vehicles crawling like ants one behind the other.

From there we went to Pookoot lake. We decided to walk around the lake instead of boating and spent more than 2 hours. Shashank got busy shooting birds and I took photos of water lilies. From there we startedtowards Edakkal caves. En route Edakkal, we visited Karapuzha dam. It is still under construction. But still there was some water to attract some birds. After a short photoshoot there, we started towards Edakkal.

Edakkal is the place where prehistoric rock etchings are found on the walls of these caves. The Petroglyphs in Edakkal caves dates back to 1000BC. The caves are some where in the middle of the Ambukuthimala. One has to doa bit of hiking to reach the caves. And the Ambukuthimala peak is further high ad steep. Since we were running out of time for the safari in Muthanga wildlife santuary, we decided against going to peak & headed towards Muthanga.

We reached Muthanga wildlife santuary in time for the safari. We dumped our luggages in the wood-house and plunged in to the forest to have look at the wildlife. We spotted plenty of deers, a herd wild boars, and a lone tusker munching supper. We watched him having food for more than 10 minutes. He got bored and went inside. We returned to our rented wood-house. Retired to bed early after a quick dinner. Day was great, I was enjoying every second of it.

Journey to Kerala | At Wayanad – Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3

When PV said he is getting married and that too in Guruvayur, Kerala, I was happy at the thought of getting a chance to travel to Kerala. Marriage was on Nov 30th, Thursday. Shashank & I charted out the plans, take two days off to make it a 4 day weekend – one day in Guruvayur, attend the marriage. Then head back to Wayanad to spend remaining three days.

After a hectic day at office, we started from B’lore on Nov 29th, Wednesday at 10PM. PV’s friends were also to accompany us during the onward journey. Travel was slow, long and quite restful. I slept most of the journey. It was almost noon next when we reached Guruvayur. After a quick refreshment, we wished PV & his new partner and out sight-seeing in Guruvayur. The place was crowded, as it was the season of Ayyappa devotees. Due to lack of time & heavy crowd, we skipped visiting the temple of Guruvayurappan. And started towards Wayanad by 4PM. Journey to Wayanad was again spent sleeping in the vehicle. We reached Kalpetta, district headquartes of Wayanad district. Reached Shashi’s (my relative) place, where we stayed for the next three days.

I was totally happy to be back to the land of tea estates, to the land of banana chips & coconut oil, to God’s real own country, back to mother nature. After three years, I was in Kerala again.

When Shashank asked me whether I want to join him for a bird shooting @ Manchanabele, I immediately said yes. Eventhough I didn’t had proper equipment to shoot birds, I joined him as it had been a long time since I went out on a bike ride.
About Manchanabele dam:
Its a less known, small water dam approximately 40-45KMs from Bangalore and the dam is built across river Arkavati. This is a nice place for bird-watchers with plenty of resident and few migratory birds.

On that lovely Saturday morning (11th Nov, 2006), we started off around 6.30 on two bikes – Shashank on his Fiero and me on my Pulsar. Soon we were rolling on beautiful Mysore road (SH17). On the way we bought snacks & water for breakfast as no food is available at the dam so early. Took a right near Rajarajeshwari Dental college which leads to the famous ‘Big Banyan Tree’. When wereached the banyan tree, not many visitors were there as it was too early. We proceeded toward Manchanabele, which is another 8-10KMs from Banyan tree.

We reached the place around 8AM, with few stops on the way to shoot birds. It was a great learning experience for me. Birds watching and their life was kind of totally new world to me. Shashank was patient enough to answer my queries and stupid questions. Except for one or two Brahminy Kite shots, I was just a bird watcher and watching Shashank capturing birds. We stayed there till 2 in the afternoon. And took the same route to reach home back exhausted, but content with the day’s learning & experience.

Here are some beautiful, awesome photos captured by Shashank on that day.

Birds sighted:

Brahminy Kite
Green bee-eater
Pied Kingfisher
Swift
Purple-rumped Sunbird
White-browed Bulbul
Indian Robin
Pied Bushchat
Oriental Skylark
Woolly-necked Stork
Black Drongo
Red-wattled Lapwing
Golden Oriole
Brahminy Starling