- A day in Ooty - also known as Udhagamandalam. You can see why they call it Ooty.
- Our rather silent guide first took us to the botanic garden, where the damp, but never very hot or cold, climate allows plants from all over the world to grow. As a result the garden is full of trees and shrubs from Australia, Europe, and the Far East. Oddly, though the garden was full of colorful flowers, few of them are growing in the ground. Everything is in pots artfully arranged. There was an army of workers unloading a truck full of fresh pots — more like a flower show than a botanic garden. A crew was shooting photos for a fashion catalog
- Our next stop after a steep drive was the top of the highest mountain in the area. We felt a little breathless at over 10,000 feet, but the views of the blue, cloud-shrouded Nilgiri hills were breathtaking.
- An exciting sight on the way down was a pack of “dhole” — very rare and beautiful wild dogs of which only a few thousand still exist. They quietly watched us for a few moments then padded off into the undergrowth.
- Ooty was founded by the Brits as a convalescent retreat for sick soldiers and for people escaping the heat of the lowlands. As a result there are signs of the British everywhere, including an English public (=private) school, and an Anglican church that would not be out of place in an English village. There were many graves and memorial plaques of long-forgotten Brits, including one plaque commemorating the death of a young British officer who drowned in a local river while out fox hunting.
- After our morning’s sight-seeing we retired to our cavernous suites in the hotel — now thankfully free of 200 school kids — and watched the rain pour down.
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| Macaque with stolen banana |
- Coonoor is another British “hill station”, and again full of reminders of India’s colonial past. Our hotel was a bizarre unplanned conglomeration of rooms, courtyards, passageways and staircases and our four room suite was built on 4 levels with awkward steps and angles between the rooms. There was a fireplace full of dryish firewood that we were informed someone would light in the evening on request.
- The botanic garden in Coonoor was huge and beautiful, and full of birds. We got our first glimpse of a Malabar giant squirrel — the size of a small dog with shiny red, black and orange fur— eating in a tree.
- We ate lunch in the garden of the hotel and watched monkeys — Nilgiri macaques — eyeing our food. The staff warned us to makes sure we kept the doors and windows closed as they like exploring guest rooms and snatching anything that takes their fancy.
- On Thursday, we drove from Coonoor, in Tamil Nadu state, where they speak Tamil, to Wayanad in Kerala state, where they speak Malayalam — two mutually incomprehensible languages.
- On the way out of Coonoor we were stopped by the “plastic police”, who searched the car for plastic water bottles and bags, and fined our driver 50 rupees (about 80 cents) for one of each. The hill stations of Tamil Nadu are vigilant in their efforts to decrease the use of — and pollution from — plastic.
- After a long and twisty ride we arrived in the small town of Lakkidi, where we transferred to a Jeep for a 20-minute hair raising journey up a rough dirt track to a remarkable and beautiful nature resort in the hills. The rooms were comfortable and modern with no TV or A/C, the staff very friendly, and the food excellent.
- The hotel ran interesting programs — bird walks in the morning, Kerala cooking demonstrations in the afternoon and nature lectures by professional naturalists in the evenings.
- There was also plentiful tasty food, from European/British (porridge, boiled eggs) to curries, pickles and other Indian dishes. The first night we were the only guests in the hotel and had about 15 staff looking after us, but it filled up over the next couple of days, as Diwali brought guests enjoying a long weekend break from work.
- The dining room was open on two sides to the elements — and to the monkeys. One of the staff stood guard with a heavy bamboo stick to keep them at bay during lunch.
- There was one unpleasant downside to walking around in the cool damp climate — leeches! They are 1 inch long threadlike black animals that loop along quite speedily and insinuate themselves over your shoes and up your trouser legs. When they reach bare flesh, they attach themselves and quietly suck blood until they are fat little blobs, when they drop off. Anthony and Sandy both got “leeched” a couple of times and didn’t feel a thing. They use an anesthetic and an anticoagulant to do their work, leave little trace, and luckily do not spread any diseases. Lin and Brenda escaped — maybe attributable to wearing tight leggings and socks.
- The trees around the resort were filled with birds new to us — woodpeckers, hornbills, nuthatches and others. Also several Malabar giant squirrels.
Friday 25 October
- Today was a bit of a bust, for two reasons. There was a huge cyclone parked off the west coast of India that brought regular and frequent downpours. Secondly, we were signed up for some less than successful visits to various local ”attractions”.
- A wildlife safari sounded exciting and interesting with promises of a guide who would show us the local wildlife. However, it involved getting up very early (5:00 AM), driving for an hour to the Nature Reserve, then charging noisily along a narrow bumpy dirt road in the forest in an uncomfortable Jeep with no views and no animal or bird sightings...and the guide spoke not a word of English. Not recommended.
- Next stop was the Eddakal caves. A long walk up a steep road then an even steeper set of metal steps to a huge cave with interesting Neolithic carvings on the walls. Lin and Sandy were the first of the day to visit the caves so we had a quiet time to look at the carvings, some of which are over 8000 years old. Brenda and Anthony came up a little behind and encountered busloads of Indian children with cell phones who were fascinated to see old white people and wanted to take selfies. One even tugged Lin’s hair (to see if it was real??). Still, it was an interesting place to visit.
- On the road we stopped in a town to buy some beer for Sandy and Anthony. Alcohol sale and consumption is strictly regulated in India, and especially in Kerala, as many Hindus and all Muslims are anti-alcohol. Our driver, Kumar, took us to a Government Brandy Shop, which was divided into three sections. Each had a wire cattle chute only wide enough for one person at a time to approach the sales window, where you gave a verbal order and a few minutes later your order was delivered — payment in cash only. Many of the other clients were impatiently waiting and appeared to have serious alcohol problems. The strict regulation is reminiscent of Pennsylvania State Stores.
- Our final stop of the day came after a long twisty drive to see the largest earth dam in India (!) We were planning to hike up to the top of the dam to see the huge lake, but the heavy rain turned torrential. So, we turned around and got back to the hotel for some much needed lunch.
- A day of rest — no driving, no sightseeing, no stress, but more intense rainstorms. Sandy went out for a bird watching walk, but mostly we stayed indoors and took part in the various organized activities.
- Afternoon tea at Wayanad Wild consisted of the ever-present masala chai (milky tea with spices) and banana slices dipped in millet batter and deep fried — delicious.
- The evening nature talks were all fascinating. One on butterflies and their complex co-evolution with plants and parasitic wasps; one on snakes and strange local superstitions concerning them; one on local indigenous tribes that still exist in some of the remote mountainous areas of India. Interestingly, all the local tribes are matriarchies ruled by some pretty strong-looking women.
- Diwali is one of the most important Hindu festivals, but less important in Kerala so we did not see much in the way of celebrations.
- We started the day with a visit to a shrine that is very important to local people. One of the leaders of an indigenous tribe had shown the British the best route to build a road from the mountains down to the coast, but for obscure reasons the British had killed him. So, his ghost started haunting the road and causing accidents. A priest then exorcized the road and chained the ghost to a tree, and now the road has no accidents (according to local beliefs). Every day people visit the tree with the chain and leave offerings so that the ghost will remain chained. The chain, the tree and the offerings, and presumably the ghost are still there.
- After this we had an interminably long and tedious journey of over 8 hours and 160 miles through town after town, many with diversions for unknown reasons into the countryside along narrow back roads, until we reached the outskirts of Kochi, formerly known as Cochin. We drove through a delta area with many fish farms — prawns, crabs and cuttlefish, and the attendant fish-eating birds. Our final step on this arduous journey was a ferry across the wide river into the old town of Kochi, a fascinating place with old buildings dating back to the Portuguese and Vasco da Gama, who “discovered” Kochi in 1497.
- Our hotel, the “Secret Garden” was a gem of a building on a back street off a back street. Beautiful old wooden balconies, elegant rooms, charming staff.
- The Diwali celebration in Kochi was a muted affair with only a few loud fire crackers, but no big parade and celebrations.
- We daringly told Kumar, our driver, that we did not want to be driven around Kochi, but preferred to walk. A guide had been arranged for us but we also told him we were going solo.
- We set off to walk round the old city which is compact and easily navigated (with Google). First stop — the St Francis Church — the oldest church in India — where Vasco da Gama was first buried. (He’s now back in Lisbon)
- It was initially a Catholic church then the Dutch arrived. They kicked out the Portuguese and converted it to Protestanism. The church still had many grave stones with difficult-to-read Dutch inscriptions. Then the English arrived, kicked out the Dutch and converted the church to Anglicanism, as it remains today. It seemed to be well patronized but needs some serious repair work.
- Next stop: the Chinese fishing nets. The Chinese explored this coast in the 14th century and left behind a style of fishing that involves huge square nets being lowered into the sea by a wooden crane-like structure, counter-weighted with huge boulders and controlled by four strong men. After a while they raise the nets, to find the catch and sell the fish at stalls along the wharf. We watched them operating these primitive but effective structures for quite some time, and catching many small fish.
- A long walk took us round the coast where the rice merchants and spice merchants sell their goods wholesale — their businesses seem to be thriving, with huge sacks being loaded onto trucks for delivery, barrows moving up and down the street, and steely eyed men with large stacks of cash at the entrances to the warehouses.
- We also spotted a film crew shooting street scenes for a Malayalam film — great excitement. Also many small families of cute goats.
- We stopped on the way to buy a few things in various stores, before ending up at the Cochin synagogue, built in 1568, and still serving a small Jewish community. There have been Jews in Cochin for centuries and they were under the protection of the local Rajah when the prejudiced Portuguese arrived.
- We stopped in a cool arcade for a delicious honey lassi (drink of thin yogurt mixed with local honey) then walked for many more miles through streets bustling with commerce back to our hotel for a refreshing swim in the pool.
- In the evening we went to a performance of Kathakali dance and were awed by the extraordinary physical control and gestures of the dancers in their extravagant costumes. Every gesture and facial expression is formalized and meaningful and each dance tells a complex story. Our performance lasted only one hour compared with the usual religious festival where they can last 12 or more, telling the stories of the Hindu scriptures.
Oh my on many accounts. What an experience!
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