Mulli, bird watching at bhavani, coracle ride in Pilloor dam Travel Story

At Mulli guest house:

Got down at a remote town at 1000 ft of elevation at four in the morning under star-studded cold February night; moved into a core jungle rest house; walked beside Bhavani river bird-watching and did coracle ride in hundreds of feet deep Pilloor dam. Sky was still studded with stars, Mettupalayam, in heart of Deccan peninsula was silent. The only dissonance made were by us, the 25 enthusiastic admirers of wild life who just got down the train.

Mulli guest house-lonesome guest house.

  • A satiny canal flowing beside amidst nature (sometimes silence looked scary) and a hut shop to take care of your meals. And, the day kicked off walking along dry Bhavani river.

Bird watching along Bhavani riverWalking along Bhavani river, Mulli, Kerala

“So, guys walk in a group because animals attack lagged behinds-an easy prey”
“No light colored clothes, maintain silence- try not to disturb them, it helps us in getting closer to them”

Wildlife and birdwatching along bhavani river

  • The more silence you be, the more you see.
  • The pursuit of getting fortune enough to see wild elephants moving in a group, Nilgiri Tahr, great Horn-bills, lion tailed macaque, Kingfisher etc.

Stony dry river, patches of water hither and tither and we after the foot prints of elephants.
–Suddenly, every one stops.
“Ssssshhhhhhh”- life stopped for a moment.

LOOK A KINGFISHER


Hands going down to seek out the camera slowly like some old classical movie when villain takes out the pistol smartly and a bird came flying.
First time in my life, I saw this bird when i was neither watching Discovery nor had a Kingfisher brand in my hand. Guesses grew as the number of clicks too.

Kingfisher birdKingfisher- First bird of the day

Elephants had left life-like foot-marks lumps and we were following them-an easy way to roam around in Jungle it surely would take you to the water-body.

What I learned all along the way about elephant?
– They leave behind big foot-marks along the way.
– They can destroy anything that lie in their way since they follow same route to river
– Haha, they can break electric fence (poor forest guys) with a fresh log of wood cracked impromptu and move ahead (I found it too amusing)
– A big fan of banana and destroying human agriculture and huts when hungry
So, wanna know how people save their field there at night in forest?

House over a tree to guard crops from elephant at nightHouse over a tree to guard crops from elephants at night

Did you see in picture above how at opposite side of the river, people had made high platform kind of tree house to guard their crops from elephants? specially Bananas.
Scary and fairy tales of elephants but, Kudos to those who still make it through year after year.
behind the tales, we moved ahead.
Oh nooooooooooooooooooooo and what was it? A DEAD TAHR?
Who killed her?
Must have, she survived wild dogs last night but could not afford to see next rising sun.

A dead tahr- i wish I had her at homeA dead tahr- i wish I had her home

Surprises kept on visiting us.
-Sometimes: long beaks; striking colorful wings come flying; appearing from no where; diving into water few times and finally coming out with a fish in her mouth; a few eating fruits; some playing with each-other- Birds
-Humans were getting introduced into a society where no one spoke but still thousands of words were spoken each moment.
-Sometimes: sweet eyes staring at us like we did not infix us to their culture and getting disappeared behind woods again-Deers
A sweet couple of Hornbills romancing; mother elephant patting naughty babies, macaque looking strangely at us, dry leaves and crackerings, sweet water of river and 25 humans in wild-kingdom looking to see what we snatched from nature.

Bird watchingBird watching

Thousand snaps in our memory and memory card.
-How morning turned into Afternoon, we did not know.
– almost 7-8 Kms of walk in nature and variety of surprises at each step.
-New birds, new plants, new information about them and I was enjoying it.
We were finally at Pilloor dam where the river leaves her own life and live for human.
I thought, the journey was over but another surprise was in the bag.

Coracle ride at Pilloor dam:

wow! wow! wow: A small round boat for four people.
Life jackets on, step into the coracle and it was now time to explore hundreds of feet of green water of reservoir but you need little expertise in sitting too.
What I learned? Maintain the balance. Sit right opposite.
And the oars touched the water and in no time, we were in middle of no where or you can say in middle of green land of water.

Coracle ride in Pilloor Dam
Coracle ride in Pilloor dam

Touch the water, try to look through it until surface is seen and shout like a child for your photographs because you don’t wanna miss the moment and capture them permanently into your secondary memory.
– Nice but little fearful ride especially when the coracle sails to middle of dam (If you have seen a big dam you can realize it) and you start thinking of uncountable what ifs.
– Sailing, sailing and trying hands at oar, you push left and newton’s third acts equally strongly and you realize you pushed more left.
Come on, balance it and this time its more right.
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and you keep wondering how people balance this creepy looking boat called coracle.

Ultimate experience of coracle ride:Have you seen a spinning round boat?
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They go round round and around…(Like Timberlake’s song)
The earth rotating around and you spinning in coracle.
-Fast anna, faster and centrifugal forces pushing your center of body gravity outside the boat.
– Wow! spinning a boat.
Tired and refreshed but of course hungry we headed out for lunch.A traditional kerala meal.

Traditional Kerala mealTraditional Kerala meal

Green fresh banana leaf, onion in curd, Biryani, Coconut sweet dish, Kurma- wholesome lunch package.
With belly full of lunch, enough of wildlife walk and coracle spin ride. I wanted to throw away my tiredness. But how?

“Guys we go to the canal behind and lets find a place get spend time in pristine water”- My favorite.
You go to a jungle, walk along a river, see clean water, drink it, see a huge dam, do a coracle ride in it and return without entering into the water, Unexpected.

Water fun time in river after lunchEnjoying river

The time end ran down with sun settling down too, me returning with running cold nose along with other few running noses 🙂 for jungle house and making plans for camp-fire and hot dinner and finally a nice warm inside sleeping bag.
Thanks for your time and…Don’t forget to leave your comments behind 🙂

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