A Wild Encounter

Rays filtering through foliage - Muthanga Sanctuary

We didn't expect much out of a one and a half hour jeep safari into the Muthanga wild-life sanctuary (Wayanad, Kerala), but we had an encounter that made the trip totally paisa vasool.

Towards the later half of our safari, we crossed another jeep whose driver exchanged some worried words with ours in his native tongue. Apparently some elephant was blocking the way back to the exit of the park. Our driver, a courageous man, decided to check it out himself rather than make the about turn.

Tracks leading into the forest

When we went up ahead we saw a few jeeps waiting and watching a huge tusker, notorious for attacking vehicles in the past, having his breakfast just on the edge of the track that we needed to take. All the vehicles were ready to go back. One jeep, in order to give the occupants a closer look at the tusker, reversed and drove quite near to the tusker. A second later, the jeep was driving away, chased by the giant beast itself! Lucky for them (and all of us) the tusker gave up after a short chase, and went back to his breakfast.

The angry tusker

That was one scary scene. We stood no chance against the animal if he decided to chase and hurt us. Our driver turned to us and asked whether he should try to sneak past the animal. We told him we completely trusted his judgment. Slowly, while other vehicles made their way back away from the animal, we sneaked up close to the beast, and when we were close enough, we suddenly charged with whatever power the old rusty vehicle could muster. This time the tusker got alarmed and jumped out of our way, and while we drove past out of the park, we got a last glimpse of this "hostile" animal.

Kerala Reloaded

Early morning light in Muthanga sanctuary

Unmindful of a vehicle coming speeding down the road, an old man steps onto the road to cross it. What happens next is very unlikely to happen anywhere else in this country - the vehicle, along with a bike, comes to a stop at the "STOP" line, while the old man continues to cross the road over a zebra crossing. Pedestrians here have the first right on the road, just like in most Western countries. We're in Sulthan Bathery (Battery), district Wayanad, just a few kilometers from the Kerala-Karnataka border on NH 212.

Hanging loose: River Kabani, Kuruva Island

Tea, coffee and rubber plantations flank the roads.

This is my second trip to the beautiful state this year. Accompanying me are (in alphabetical order) Arun Das, Kushal Chokhani and Varun Jasuja, all Oracle-khor to various extents. Firm in our belief that Wayanad is much "better" than Mysore (even on the Dussera day) we decide to skip the latter on our way from Bangalore to Wayanad.

Pookode lake - nice but very touristy

That's me crossing a river on a bamboo raft!

Where's Wayanad? What's there to see? Well all I knew before planning the trip was that it is beautiful, and not too touristy since few people know about it. We had plenty of incidents that could explain "just-in-time" to management students! To begin with, we didn't get a cab (all cabs were booked in Bangalore) until the last moment. Further, our return tickets from Bangalore to Hyderabad were confirmed in the last moment again.

Jain Temple, Sultan Bathery.

3000 year old inscriptions in Edakkal caves

That we hit a cow head-on during our drive to Mysore was another sign that things may not go very "smooth". The cow survived. So did we. Hundreds of school kids and tourists cramming into the hazardous Edakkal caves, a treacherous 4 km trek to Meenmutty waterfalls, a furious tusker who attacked our convoy of safari jeeps in Muthunga sanctuary; we survived them all.

Deer at Muthanga sanctuary

The elephant encounter was the most thrilling part of the trip (read about it here). Banasura Sagar was a surprise hit too, considering that we picked the spot without any expectations.

Banasura Sagar reservoir

I guess that about covers it as briefly as possible (for my readers with extremely short attention spans). My next target in Kerala is to do Periyar sanctuary. Lets see if it happens!

P.S. The complete set of pictures is available on Picasa.