Early morning is one of my favorite times of day - it is a treat of founds time all to yourself and you have the opportunity to watch and listen to an entire community wake up and start fresh. Since I am currently staying just outside the gates of a wildlife reserve there are plenty of noises to help me greet the day. Constant tweeting of birds and a few friendly honks from the early morning jeeps passing through town. The honking is similar to the head wobble its a catch all gesture sometimes its a 'get our of the way' honk, other times its simply a 'hello' honk, or a 'hey I'm here' honk, or a 'move now' honk, and occasionally its a 'warning there's an elephant in the road up ahead' honk. This was the case last night when we saw 5 elephants and a baby on the side of the road. They are beautiful animals but when the mama gets mad and trumpets at you you keep moving, which is exactly what we did.
I started with the end though, so let me back up and tell you a but more about Tholpetty. We are in the district of Wayanad the northern most point of the state of Kerala and we came here for the explicit reason to be close to the wildlife sanctuary known for elephants and tigers. It was a complete change of pace from our go-go-go between forts and palaces in Rajasthan. Here its go on a jeep safari hang around the "homestay" and let someone else put food on the table and call you over for every meal. Its an odd feeling but rather nice to have someone else make the schedule for the day and you are just along for the ride. Mr. Venu is the host here at Pachyderm Palace where we are staying and he's an eccentric man who enjoys talking about money and luck. So since our main goal is Tholpetty was to see as much wildlife as possible our agenda consisted mostly of animal safaris - this time it is the image you all con jour with people hanging our of a jeep with cameras at the ready hoping to spot something exotic. We did 3 safaris total, one the evening we arrived (4:15pm start), one the next morning (6:45am start), and one nighttime drive along the road since it was after the park closed for the day (6:15pm start). The final of course was when we saw the elephants up close and personal. Although I enjoyed our ride and seeing elephants 3 days in a row, along with peacocks, bison, deer, a kingfisher bird, eagle, and giant grizzly squirrels, I have come to the conclusion that Safaris are not my top choice to see and observe nature. Somehow the loud engine of the Jeep breaks the magical spell of the Jungle. Another realization (sorry apparently I'm full of reflections now that I have a moment of down time) is that I associate green with life - this may be a duh statement but going from the drastic change in landscape from desert to jungle made it so apparent that although I saw the desert and much life it holds there is still nothing as wonderful as a Jungle with constant noise and motion and lush green foliage fighting for sun and nutrients and hidden tigers ad brazen deer - I simply love the jungle!
Moving on, let me tell you a few other activities on our agenda that Mr. Venu announced to us. We went to a waterfall back across the state line in Karnataka. It was a well known spot full of families and grounds of kids (school, camp, not quite sure). Although this didm't satisfy my craving to do some actual trekking it was fun to see the local summer hangout. One of the coolest things we did was go to the local temple to see Theyyam. We just happened to arrive on the evenign the town has hired a guy from a far away town to conduct the Theyyam. This is a type of prayer involving dance and drumming so it is fascinating to watch even when you have no idea whats going on, good timing!
We did have one block of unplanned time and as aways this means spontaneous adventures or encounters. As I walked back from the internet at the next post (or next town over) I made a friend. True to character she was under the age of 10 but my guess is over the age of 8. I would share her name but of course I cannot even sort of pronounce it let along attempt to spell it, so she will remain 'my new friend'. She and her grandfather and her cow were walking on the road ahead of me and she kept turing around to stare. I've gotten used to this so I waved hello and smiled and she immediately stopped in her tracks and waited for me to catch up happily ditching her grandfather who didn't seem terribly bothered. She spoke English quite well and we chatted all the way back. Her house is very near where I am staying and she insisted I come see it. Children are very good at insisting so I went and saw her one room house where she lives with her mother, sister, brother, and grandfather. Her dad, I learned, lives and works in Mysore but he is planning a visit home next month. It is place like this, tucked away treasures with adorable girls who wish to make you a cup of chai and have a chat that make me grin and want to stay forever. We are leaving today however, off to Kannur for some beaches and backwaters, I'll let you know what we find. We will brave the buses with a German couple we met who are traveling in the same direction.
P.S. Sorry these posts are so untimely. I am writing them as I go in my journal but have found it takes lots of time to type up and I do not wish to be forever in stuffy and very slow internet cafes hence you are getting them extremely delayed.
I started with the end though, so let me back up and tell you a but more about Tholpetty. We are in the district of Wayanad the northern most point of the state of Kerala and we came here for the explicit reason to be close to the wildlife sanctuary known for elephants and tigers. It was a complete change of pace from our go-go-go between forts and palaces in Rajasthan. Here its go on a jeep safari hang around the "homestay" and let someone else put food on the table and call you over for every meal. Its an odd feeling but rather nice to have someone else make the schedule for the day and you are just along for the ride. Mr. Venu is the host here at Pachyderm Palace where we are staying and he's an eccentric man who enjoys talking about money and luck. So since our main goal is Tholpetty was to see as much wildlife as possible our agenda consisted mostly of animal safaris - this time it is the image you all con jour with people hanging our of a jeep with cameras at the ready hoping to spot something exotic. We did 3 safaris total, one the evening we arrived (4:15pm start), one the next morning (6:45am start), and one nighttime drive along the road since it was after the park closed for the day (6:15pm start). The final of course was when we saw the elephants up close and personal. Although I enjoyed our ride and seeing elephants 3 days in a row, along with peacocks, bison, deer, a kingfisher bird, eagle, and giant grizzly squirrels, I have come to the conclusion that Safaris are not my top choice to see and observe nature. Somehow the loud engine of the Jeep breaks the magical spell of the Jungle. Another realization (sorry apparently I'm full of reflections now that I have a moment of down time) is that I associate green with life - this may be a duh statement but going from the drastic change in landscape from desert to jungle made it so apparent that although I saw the desert and much life it holds there is still nothing as wonderful as a Jungle with constant noise and motion and lush green foliage fighting for sun and nutrients and hidden tigers ad brazen deer - I simply love the jungle!
Moving on, let me tell you a few other activities on our agenda that Mr. Venu announced to us. We went to a waterfall back across the state line in Karnataka. It was a well known spot full of families and grounds of kids (school, camp, not quite sure). Although this didm't satisfy my craving to do some actual trekking it was fun to see the local summer hangout. One of the coolest things we did was go to the local temple to see Theyyam. We just happened to arrive on the evenign the town has hired a guy from a far away town to conduct the Theyyam. This is a type of prayer involving dance and drumming so it is fascinating to watch even when you have no idea whats going on, good timing!
We did have one block of unplanned time and as aways this means spontaneous adventures or encounters. As I walked back from the internet at the next post (or next town over) I made a friend. True to character she was under the age of 10 but my guess is over the age of 8. I would share her name but of course I cannot even sort of pronounce it let along attempt to spell it, so she will remain 'my new friend'. She and her grandfather and her cow were walking on the road ahead of me and she kept turing around to stare. I've gotten used to this so I waved hello and smiled and she immediately stopped in her tracks and waited for me to catch up happily ditching her grandfather who didn't seem terribly bothered. She spoke English quite well and we chatted all the way back. Her house is very near where I am staying and she insisted I come see it. Children are very good at insisting so I went and saw her one room house where she lives with her mother, sister, brother, and grandfather. Her dad, I learned, lives and works in Mysore but he is planning a visit home next month. It is place like this, tucked away treasures with adorable girls who wish to make you a cup of chai and have a chat that make me grin and want to stay forever. We are leaving today however, off to Kannur for some beaches and backwaters, I'll let you know what we find. We will brave the buses with a German couple we met who are traveling in the same direction.
P.S. Sorry these posts are so untimely. I am writing them as I go in my journal but have found it takes lots of time to type up and I do not wish to be forever in stuffy and very slow internet cafes hence you are getting them extremely delayed.
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