20/10/06
Up 7.00 Packed and payed some bills, then relaxed til Stuart and Jenny came and picked us up, went via Gladstone Park to deposit a cheque from my taxi earnings, and got to the airport in good time. We got a few souvenirs for some of our prospective hosts and had a $5.80 sandwich each for lunch, and boarded our 747 for Singapore. The flight was uneventful; I watched Over the Hedge, Ten Canoes and Innocent Truth. In Singapore we found the outdoor gardens filled with smokers but no birds in the dark. Had only a brief look at the internet because I’d forgotten my password and it took me ages to log in, we were some of the last people on the plane.
21/6
Immigration and customs at Delhi were a breeze, changed A$1,000 and got rp33,000. Tried to bargain the taxi driver down from rp1,600 but couldn’t, so off in the predawn dark to Sandipur. After a few phone calls to Suresh we eventually arrived at his little community. He made us welcome and his deaf wife tempted us with several yummy treats and a cuppa black tea. As it got light I got my first Indian bird, a House Crow, and soon after my first new bird a Purple Sunbird. Before long Suresh’s nephew arrived and drove us to the Mohamedebad marshes, a badly degraded wetland that was nevertheless teeming with birds. Got Little Cormorant, Great Cormorant, Little Grebe, Great Egret, Little Egret, Cattle Egret, Grey Heron, Purple Heron, Indian Pond Heron, Woolly-necked Stork, Asian Openbill, Painted Stork, Black-headed Ibis, Black Ibis, Lesser Whistling Duck, Spot-billed Duck, Northern Shoveler, Oriental Honey Buzzard, Black-shouldered Kite, Black Kite, Eurasian Marsh Harrier, Crested Serpent Eagle, Red-necked Falcon, Common Moorhen, White-breasted Waterhen, Purple Swamphen, Common Coot, Pheasant-tailed Jacana, Red-wattled Lapwing, Common Greenshank, Common Redshank, Marsh Sandpiper, Wood Sandpiper, Green Sandpiper, River Tern, Eurasian Collared Dove, Laughing Dove, Feral Pigeon, Alexandrine Parakeet, Rose-ringed Parakeet, Greater Coucal, Spotted Owlet, White-throated Kingfisher, Common Kingfisher, Blue-tailed Bee-eater, Common Hoopoe, Bengal Bushlark, Plain Martin, Barn Swallow, Wire-tailed Swallow, Red-rumped Swallow, Streak-throated Swallow, Black Drongo, Southern Grey Shrike, Long-tailed Shrike, Brahminy Starling, Asian Pied Starling, Bank Myna, Common Myna, Red-vented Bulbul, Ashy Prinia, Plain Prinia, Yellow-bellied Prinia, Zitting Cisticola, Clamourus Reedwarbler, Common Tailorbird, Sulphur-bellied Warbler, Bluethroat, Common Stonechat, Pied Bushchat, Paddyfield Pipit, White-browed Wagtail, White Wagtail, Citrine Wagtail, Red Avadavat, Indian Silverbill, Scaly-breasted Munia, Black-headed Munia, House Sparrow, Sind Sparrow, Baya Weaver, Black-breasted Weaver, Streaked Weaver, of which 45 were new birds what a start! They gave us some more food then packed us on a rickety bus for Delhi, which blared its horn all the way there, but at rp65 for the two of us it was worth the interesting experience. At the terminal got a tuk tuk to the hotel Chand Palace, a nice clean room with a tepid shower, went for a walk to see if we could book our train but the office was closed for Diwali, the festival of light. Found I hadn’t copied Anand’s phone number down so we tried the internet, but still couldn’t contact him. Went for a walk towards the river but didn’t get there. We came across a man sprawled across the pavement who looked to be on the door of death, I saw him twitch, so he wasn’t quite dead, we said a prayer for him and walked on, it was a haunting experience. In some parkland we found Brown-headed Barbet, Coppersmith Barbet, Asian Koel, Jungle Babbler, Mallard, Yellow-footed Green Pigeon, 5 more new ones. Found a good looking restaurant and had a spicy potato based vegie pizza rp180 for both of us. Back to the hotel and finally contacted Anand and organized tomorrow. Went to bed but not to sleep at 21.00 as a constant barrage of fireworks continued forever.
Purple Sunbird
Just your average Delhi street
22/10
Last night I had asked for a 5.30 wake up call, at 6.10 I heard a House Crow call and looked at the clock, we had a car booked for 6.15 so I raced downstairs, but it wasn’t there. There were a few people sleeping on a sofa. Went back upstairs and packed then came back down and found that the two sleepers were the night staff who were supposed to have woken me up, instead we woke woke them up. Found that the car hadn’t been organized, so after a bit of dithering and a phone call to Anand we stored our luggage and hailed a tuk tuk who got us to where Anand was waiting at 7.10, I gave him a rp50 tip on top of the rp200 trip fee, he beamed at me, a taxi would have cost rp500. We met up with the rest of the group at a grotty looking river which proved to be a reasonable spot. the days new birds were: Darter, Black-crowned Night Heron, Eurasian Spoonbill, Greater Flamingo, Ruddy Shelduck, Common Pochard, Tufted Duck, Ferruginous Duck, Common Buzzard, Indian Peacock, River Lapwing, Temmink’s Stint, Little Ringed Plover, Ruff, Common Sandpiper, Black-tailed Godwit, Curlew Sandpiper, Black-headed Gull, Brown-headed Gull, Indian Grey Hornbill, Black-crowned Sparrowlark, Oriental Skylark, Sand Lark, Common Starling, Rufous Treepie, Large-billed Crow, Yellow Wagtail, Lesser Whitethroat. 11 new ones. They dropped us off at Okla Bird Park where we got the ducks. We got a tuk tuk back but he didn’t want to go all the way and dropped us at another tuk tuk who just sat around for 5mins before taking off, then he had to stop for fuel and his little sachet of betel nut, it took nearly an hour to get back, he got no tip. Dragged our luggage to the train station where we spent a confusing time at the tourist bureau eventually finding that we couldn’t book the train to Agra, but could book the one to Mumbai for later on for rp3,002. Got another tuk tuk to Nizamuddin station for rp70, which wasn’t as crowded as the main station, so it was only a short wait to get our rp130 tickets to Agra, then another confusing time trying to figure out where to sit, we eventually found empty seats in the reserved section at the head of the train and waited for the conductor, he charged another rp150 which we had no come back to, but it was worth it to get away from the cattle trucks at the rear, though it was a noisy trip with constant horn blasts echoing through the ears. Another rp60 tuk tuk to the Kamal hotel near the Taj Mahal, found our room, then went up to the roof for a long distance view of the Taj and had a very nice dinner. I’ve eaten three suspect things today, we’d had no breaky in the rush out and no lunch so at the station we got some dates and bananas, the latter being a bit off. Dinner had a slice of tomato and an apple juice in a bottle that had a use by date of 2000.
23/10
Went out like a light last night, Bev didn’t snore and the fireworks were muted enough that I got a good night’s sleep. Up 7.30 and found that the tap water doesn’t work and the toilet doesn’t flush properly, there are constant power outages here which in an ex-prison cell (the hotel being an ex-prison) with no natural light is a bit annoying. Breaky was a very nice vegie omelette, a short walk to the Taj where I had to leave my tripod in a locker room, entry is rp1,500 but it’s the Taj and it’s spectacular. At the main building shoes have to be taken off. It was on the lower level that I found a nice spot at a bench, I invited Bev to sit down after she’d taken a photo of some parakeets and I proposed to her, offering her a ring that I’d had made and brought with me, she accepted, we kissed and toasted each other with water and got another tourist to take a photo of us on the spot. Added Egyptian Vulture, House Swift and Black-hooded Oriole in the grounds, we went down to the river and had a look at some waders but nothing new, walked over to the Agra Fort which was outstanding to look at but after paying the rp500 entrance fee found that access was severely limited and was a bit of a disappointment, did get a nice view across to the Taj In the car park. Whilst getting an ice cream we had a rare occurrence of being begged at by a scruffy little girl. Walked back, and managed to talk Bev in to carrying the bag some of the way back. Earlier we’d seen some marble plates, on the way back we bought one for rp850, they closed the shop to other people whilst we were buying which was a bit weird. Got an array of interesting sweets for rp60. In Delhi on the first morning my eyes had puffed up I’d assumed from the pollution, it’s not so bad here.
Taj Mahal
Inside the Taj Mahal
Inside the Taj Mahal
We’re engaged! moments after Bev accepted my marriage proposal.
Egyptian Vulture at the Taj Mahal
Looking across to the Red Fort from the Taj Mahal
Indian Palm Squirrel
Alexandrine Parrot
Taj Mahal from the Red Fort
Bats in the Red Fort
Red Fort
Red Fort
Red Fort
Red Fort
24/10
Had a cheese and tomato omelette this morning, not as nice as the vegie one. Took some shots of the Taj and Rhesus Macaque monkeys which swarm across the roofs. At 9.15 I rang Chambal as the car hadn’t arrived, at 9.30 it did, and we drove down to Chambal Safari Lodge in a/c comfort at 70kph dodging pigs, dogs, cattle, errant cyclists, trucks and the odd camel and other assorted mobile obstacles, at one stage he gunned it to 80kph. Our cottage was a nice room with bathroom attached. Had a lovely lunch with vegie patties potato and cauliflower, stuffed ladies fingers and dahl and rice. Went for a wander around the grounds with some big old trees including Cardamom, acacias and figs, later the naturalist Bani arrived, and we added Shikra, Plum-headed Parakeet, Yellow-crowned Woodpecker, Large Grey Babbler, Red-throated Flycatcher, Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher, Hume’s Warbler, Common Chiffchaff, oriental White-eye, Oriental Scops Owl. Dinner was as nice as lunch, heard then saw the Oriental Scops Owl fly on the way to an early bed. There is an annoying tendency for hotels to turn their power off during the day, they do it here too.
Across the rooftops including other roof top restaurants
Rhesus Macaque
Spotted Owlets
Indian Grey Hornbill
Shikra
25/10
Up at 5.30, had a quick tepid shower then in to the car and down to the shore of the river. Lots of waders, the boat didn’t come so we had to walk back, the boat eventually turned up and we motored down the river and saw Gharial which were common, three kinds of turtles and a Marsh Crocodile, back to the lodge for another nice lunch, drove back through Agra where Bev got rp28,000 out of an ATM. Bani wanted to show us a handicraft emporium. There were some nice things there, but a plate that wasn’t as nice as ours was going for rp58,000! Saw a recent accident where a 4wd and truck had hit head on and the 4wd had ended up down the embankment, and an older one where a truck had hit a tree and burnt. Paid rp2700 for the car and driver 300 more than quoted apparently for the a/c. Arrived at the Birder’s Inn not long before dark, the room is palatial. Today’s new birds were Pallid Harrier, Common Kestrel, Grey Frankolin, Great Thick-knee, Small Pratincole, Little Stint, Black-bellied Tern, Pied Kingfisher, Ashy-crowned Sparrowlark, Crested Lark, Common Babbler, Indian Robin, Desert Wheatear.
Great Thick-knee
Green Sandpipers
River Tern
Mugger/Marsh Crocodile
Gharials
Pied Kingfishers
Red-crowned Roof Turtle
What the! A bridge that goes nowhere with a pylon in the middle of the road?
26/10
Up 6.00, the omelette wasn’t as nice as the ones made by the waiter at the Kamal hotel. Bani turned up at 7.00, we paid rp100 for bikes and rp200 entrance fee to get into Bharatpur, a very nice looking forest which with water around would be fantastic, it was still good birding in some spots with virtually no water. Got Black-necked Stork, Common Teal, Greater Spotted Eagle, Pintail Snipe, Large-tailed Nightjar, Dusky eagle Owl, Brown Hawk Owl, which is my 1,000th lifer bird, Black-rumped Flameback, Brown-capped Pygmy Woodpecker, European Golden Oriole, White-bellied Drongo, Common Woodshrike, White-eared Bulbul, White-browed Fantail, Black Redstart, Oriental Magpie Robin, Orange-headed Thrush, Tickell’s Thrush, Chestnut-shouldered Pretonia. We had a look at a few spots for treecreepers but couldn’t find any. I got a flat tyre at one stage and had to take it back to the junction, someone took off on the wrong bike. It was a late lunch at the temple where we saw Indian Grey Mongoose and Bluebull Antelope and a large Soft-shelled Turtle eating a smaller one. We were absolutely knackered by the time we got back and dropped our bikes off. Dropped our gear off and went to the internet and finally found Amol’s number and made contact with him, Bev notified her family of our engagement, We’d had so much for lunch that we didn’t feel like dinner, so we got some lemonade, water and had a muesli bar, which I always carry on trips as an emergency. Watched some cricket on TV and bed.
Soft-shelled turtle
Chital Deer
White-breasted Waterhen
Spotted Owlets
Oriental Scops Owl
Indian Flapshell Turtle
Soft-shelled Turtle eating a small tutrle
Large-tailed Nightjar
27/10
Up 6.00 and down for breaky, but I had nearly finished my omelette when a wave of nausea overtook me, so it ended up in the toilet, I finished the omelette and the juice and was fine all day, I suspect it might have been my anti malaria pill that I’d taken too early. Bani turned up at 7.00 with a driver and we headed for Bandh Baretha, a large dam, we stopped at a garden and wetland on the way where we got the flycatcher and the crake, by the time we got to the dam it was hot, damn hot, we got a few waterbirds at the dam, but had to walk after the car got stuck on a rock. Went to Bayana Hills and got the now rare vulture and eagle, but then had to wait for the buntings to come out, and a crowd appeared as usual, Bev got upset as usual, so I convinced Bani to take a look early, with the result that we only got one species. Drove back in the dark, picked up our luggage from the hotel paid rp3120 and got dropped off at the station, I paid Bani rp1,800 for the two days and found our platform and sat in the waiting room until our train was due, we walked up the platform until close to the end as the train pulled in. It pulled up short of us so we rushed back down the platform to it, the lady on the microphone was calling out a different number train to ours, so I asked a man with a two way if this was the train to Mumbai, he said yes, so we rushed down the length of the train looking for an a/c carriage that we had booked but couldn’t find one, so we got on the last carriage, not wanting to miss the train. It was there that we met a young man that figured out after talking to him that were on the wrong train, this was the slow train, and the express was still behind us and was traditionally late. Eventually the conductor found us and confirmed what the young man had told us, but that the situation was recoverable, we got off at the next station which our train was also due to stop at. The young man got off also, I was a bit worried about what angle he was going to work on us, and as we sat on the platform we attracted a crowd including a young man with deformed legs who got around on his hands quite admirably, our assistant chatted away with them in their native language and they laughed, I suspect at us. I just ignored them unless they addressed me directly, but Bev was getting angry and did the mad signal which was a mistake as they understood it and were offended. Thankfully the train arrived before things got nasty; the right train number was called out, the young man got us near our carriage and I found the A/2 sign on the car and we got on. It seemed there was no angle from the young man after all, maybe it made him feel important hanging around with foreigners, or could it be that he was just a genuinely helpful young man. Anyway we found our berth, Bev took the upper, I took the diagonal lower, 2 Indians took the other two beds, we got our blankets, dinner was a muesli bar and bottled water. The room in the train isn’t quite as palatial as last night’s hotel. The water on the station was only rp10 not the usual rp12 or rp30 at the hotel. Today’s new birds were Long-billed Vulture, Short-toed Snake Eagle, Brown Crake, Eurasian Curlew, Yellow-legged Gull, Whiskered Tern, Green Bee-eater, Rufous-tailed Shrike, Tickell’s Blue Flycatcher, Brown Rock Chat, Rock Bunting, Bronze-winged Jacana, Intermediate Egret.
Bayana Hills
Village street
28/10
The sleep wasn’t as bad as I had thought it would be, maybe the rocking of the train helps, there were no sudden jolts to throw me on the floor, it was neither too hot or cold, and amazingly no snoring or noisy passengers. Another dry dusty morning and another blocked nose greeted me this morning. Brekkie was 2 vegie patties and 3 chips with 2 slices of white bread. The rest of the journey was spent reading and dozing and gazing at the monotonous countryside til we made our way into Dandi Junction in Mumbai. There to greet us was a taxi hustler, who said the trip to Thane would be on the meter, but when we got in to the taxi he said it would be rp1,000. We had quizzed Amol how much it would be and he said rp500, but the driver said it was rp500 each, we should have got out then, but we didn’t. I rang Amol who talked to the driver, who then hung up, again we should have got out then but we didn’t. We got to Thane in good time with the driver spitting out the window and the other guy smoking and Indian music playing loud in our ears. When we got there the driver talked to Amol again and told us where we were, and that Amol was on his way, I gave him 2 rp500 notes, one of which he drops, when I stoop to pick it up for him (another mistake) he shows me a rp100 note and says he wants 500 not 100, oh dear! I knew I’d handed him 2 500s but I had no proof, and because I’d stooped I’d missed his swiftie and Bev hadn’t seen it either. They weren’t nasty or overtly threatening, but with two of them I did feel vulnerable and I knew I wasn’t going to get anywhere, so I had to give him another 500 for the 100, quite a nice profit for them, I hope they choked on it. Amol turned up on a bike expecting us to still be with the taxi as he had instructed the driver. We won’t be using taxis in India ever again, and I suggest to anyone to use the same tactic, they are despicable to a man. We bundled into a tuk tuk and got to Amol’s parent’s place in the late afternoon, a lovely couple in their late 60’s who made us feel welcome. We went and booked our train south with Amol’s help. Mrs cooked us a simple but pleasant dinner, she didn’t eat at the table but sat on a small stool next to her husband. They have a woman to do the washing and cleaning. The place is a small 1 bedroom unit with stone/marble flooring a crouch toilet and a hose shower. We took the bedroom, and they slept on the couch and floor, which is what they do when relatives stay. No new birds today.
29/10
Up 5.30 off by 6.30 walk to where we were picked up to go to Yeoor forest which looked okay but on closer inspection, there were no squirrels, no large trees, the place has been and is still is, illegally logged. Got Glossy Ibis, Peregrine Falcon, Spotted Turtledove, Greater Ratchet-tailed Drongo, Ashy Drongo, Greenish Warbler. By 9.00 the forest was dead, there were a few calls, but no movement, so a very disappointing list. Much of the time was spent talking about sound recording since Andrew from Listening Earth was also on the trip; ABC Classic FM play his tapes at weather time in the background. We did get a lot of butterflies, saw my first Giant Wood Spider, saw lizards, scorpions, praying mantis and other bugs (Amol is an entomologist). Back to the cars where we met up for lunch which they shouted us which wasn’t expected, and back to the flat, and watched cricket. Went for a look at the degradation of the mangroves. The mudflats and water were being used by birds but the mangroves only had turtledoves and mynas in them. So much rubbish as usual, around 1,000 House Crows and too many Cattle Egrets; not a healthy environment. Strolled back in the dark and had a rose petal ice cream which was rather nice. Watched more cricket then watched photos on the computer.
Green jewel Bug
Giant Wood Spider
Common Green Forest Lizard
Fat-tailed Scorpion. Beware of scorpions with fat tails and small pincers, they are the dangerous ones.
Henna designs on a woman, it’s a part of marriage rituals.
Praying Mantis
Badly degraded habitat Mumbai
Mangroves at Thane
30/10
Aussies won the cricket, go Aussies! Up 7.00 and idled the morning away, said our goodbyes which is never a good thing when having just met nice people, and off we went on the train. The first person to share our compartment was quite chatty, the next one I immediately didn’t like, at one stage he plonked his foot on mine and waited until I withdrew mine. The food was plentiful but ordinary, the fried chicken for lunch was close to nice. A lunch, dinner and brekkie cost rp280 so good value. The palm tree scenery rolled by, managed to spot a Brahminy Kite.
My friend Amol, his wonderful parents, Bev and I
31/10
We couldn’t get off at Kottayam so we have to get off at Cochin. We found that the train wouldn’t get in til 18.00 rather than the stated 15.30, they have a strange system here in that if a train is running late it loses priority, and just gets later and later. We tried finding a place to stay in Periyar, after many phone calls and with the aid of our mate’s computer we concluded that Periyar was a no go. The only place we could get in to was in the park and it closes at 18.00. If the train had been on time we could have made it. When we got off the train we walked to a group of hotels. The first one had someone out the front who said it was full and ushered us towards the second one, so we went to the third one which was also the dingiest but at rp250 was reasonable. Went for a walk around town to sort out tomorrow and hired a car to take us to Thattagad, then booked a better hotel across the road from the hire place for tomorrow night. During the day Bev had cut off her phone whilst trying to put a code in it, so we had no alarm, so I bought a watch for rp110.
1/11
Up in time and took our gear down to the hire place (we couldn’t give him directions to pick us up) and drove out to Thattagad. Unfortunately the driver didn’t know where he was going and at one stage went 10km in the wrong direction. We got there at 8.30, it was already hot and the birds had stopped feeding. Paid rp225 and walked in by ourselves, it took a while but we found our first feeding group an hour or so later and kept on finding them all day so I had a great time getting Malabar Parakeet, Bronzed Drongo, Chestnut-tailed Starling, Malabar Hornbill, Black Baza, Red-whiskered Bulbul, Square-tailed Black Bulbul, Black-naped Oriole, White-bellied Treepie, Large Woodshrike, Jungle Owlet, Malabar Trogon, Velvet-fronted Nuthatch, Bar-winged Flycatcher-shrike, Vernal Hanging Parrot, Scarlet Minivet, Asian Paradise Flycatcher, Asian Fairy Bluebird, Southern Hill Myna, Common Iora, Grey Jungle Fowl, Greater Flameback, Spangled Drongo. I thought the Black Baza was special, but on returning to the guard post found not so. We missed a lot of birds, but we had a pleasant if hot day, we didn’t have enough food as usual. Back at the car by 15.00. The office man took us to a canteen and although we asked for a cold drink we got tea with curdled milk. I apologized saying we couldn’t drink that and left. Got back to Cochin and checked in to the Adam’s hotel rp920, nice room with TV, cold water shower which I had anyway as we smelt of sweat. Rang Sridhar to organize next week and organized the hotel in Munnar, sounds like a good one. Found there were no private buses just the KJRTC rickety buses at 5.30. Went to the same restaurant up the road and had another noodle dinner, bought a shirt and some sweets, checked the internet, watched the Aussies beat the Kiwis at cricket.
A Transparent Six Line Blue landed on my nose!
Paris Peacock Butterfly
Dancing Frog sp
Spine-tufted Skimmer Dragonfly
Orange-tailed Skink
Some unkmown freshwater fish
2/11
Up 4.45 the wake up service worked! Strangely my watch still works too, it was getting stuck last night, caught a tuk tuk to the bus station rp50, found the bus goes at 6.00 not 5.30, found the right bus with help and off we went. It didn’t take long for the bus to fill up and they were jammed in and hanging from the door as we blared our way in to the hills. I was buffeted against the wall all the way and ended up with a sore bum and shoulder by 10.30 when we finally got to Munnar, a rp30 tuk tuk to the disappointing hotel, last night’s was better. We were pretty exhausted so spent the day resting in the room, not helping my enthusiasm were some heavy showers coming through in the late morning to afternoon. We did go for a wander mid arvo and got some knickknacks and post cards, got Dusky Crag Martin, Indian Swiftlet. Called Sridhar again, the outlook for next week is not looking good. The Listening Earth people are around and he wants to go there on Monday and the guy who was going to take us to a lodge wants to pull out. Watched cricket til 22.00
3/11
Up early and flagged a tuk tuk down and got rp200 ride to the NP, got there too early, so went for a walk up the road in the degraded forest. The park is a bit of a rip off rp200 each entry rp25 camera rp20 bus ride ½hr walk, no options. Nice views and saw 2 groups of Niligri Tahr. The tuk tuk driver hadn’t waited for us so we started down the mountain, he eventually turned up, when we got to the hotel he demanded rp400, he didn’t speak English at all so someone else came and interpreted, in the end we won and he left with rp200, I wagged my finger at him and told him he was a greedy man, so not all tuk tuk drivers get the thumbs up, but they are so much better than taxi drivers in general. We got directions to an old plantation that’s supposed to be good for birds but at midday it was no good, then it rained on us as we headed back. Only added Black-headed Bulbul, Black-lored Tit, Common Rosefinch for the day. During lunch there was a thunder storm with heavy rain during which the minibus arrived so we got a bit wet. The ride down the mountain was the most hair raising I’ve ever had. He drove at breakneck speed around bends, overtook dangerously, at one stage we saw a car on its side and soon afterwards I involuntarily flinched away from the window as we narrowly missed a bus coming up the mountain. Bev’s knuckles were white on the rail and she was visibly upset, I made my way up to the driver and asked him to slow down, telling him we were nervous of his driving, he did slow down a bit, but I was still filled with adrenaline and shaking when got to where the larger bus was waiting at the bottom of the hill, and I admonished him, but he shrugged and said “We made it didn’t we?” Water off a ducks back. The big bus was too big for the road, some bends it took him 2 goes to get around and he grounded out once. As night fell we came out of the mountains and he picked up speed thus we found that this driver was as bad as the last, forcing trucks and all to get off the road as he overtook. At one stage we caught up with another Air Bus (private bus) which refused to let us pass forcing vehicles coming in the other direction off the road, thankfully it stopped at the next town otherwise I’m sure we’d have had an accident, madness! Somehow I managed to get some sleep in the well reclined seats, it helped that he stopped incessantly blowing his horn after 22.00. As I woke up at 4.30 the madness was still going on and as it got light I could see the inevitable outcome as wrecked vehicles, particularly tuk tuks, lay intermittently along the roadside. I still don’t know how he managed to dodge all the livestock from camels and cattle through sheep and goats to dogs and cats, let alone the mass of humanity moving in all sorts of contraptions along the road. From about 50k out of Bangalore there was a tollway, and we were able to relax. Despite the desperate driving we were an hour late getting in to Bangalore at 6.30.
Niligi Tahr in the National Park
Niligri Tahr
Tea Plantations forever outside the National Park
Misty hillsides
4/11
Got a tuk tuk from near the station to the hotel, got him to use the meter, he still demanded rp10 extra `for foreigner’ I gave him an extra 5 to make it rp40. They let us in the room at 7.00 which was nice of them and we freshened up and lazed around for most of the day, went for a walk to try and find a park but couldn’t find one. Checked our emails, at some stage in the last few days someone has got hold of my contact list and sent an email to everyone including Bev, and people are replying saying that they can’t open the attached file or that if they can it has a virus. We’re finding that the food is becoming unappetizing so I’m hungry but I can’t find anything I’d like to eat.
5/11
Up 5.45 and got picked up at 7.45, picked up Sridhar and Yathin and another guy, had some rice cake and dumpling, pretty ordinary food again, and we headed to `the farm` for the day, it’s a guy who owns a business has bought this place on the edge of the forest, the habitat is a bit ordinary but we did get a few new birds: Rufous-tailed Lark, Booted Warbler, Black Eagle, Bonelli’s Eagle, Blue-faced Malkoha, Sirkeer Malkoha, White-cheeked Barbet, Asian Palm-swift, Indian Scimitar-babbler, Pale-billed Flowerpecker, Forest Wagtail, Purple-rumped Sunbird. There was a lot of sitting around not much birding. At midday we were told that a herd of wild elephants were being herded along a valley, we spent a lot time on high ground looking for them, we heard them as they trampled along below us but never saw them, had lunch of rice with coriander a herb I hate the taste of, the rice cheeseless cheesels were nice though. Fiddled around some more and drove back. Had a go at booking a train but being a Sunday they closed at 14.30. Watched some cricket then had some spicy chips and toasted cheese sandwich and stayed up to watch the Aussies win the trophy in a rain delayed match.
6/11
Up 5.30 and found that the car I had ordered for 6.00 was not ready, at 6.30 we got in to an old Ambassador diesel and we slowly made our way out of town, at 80kph it started to shudder, so he stayed at that speed when he could, to Nandi Hills 70k N of Bangalore. This driver actually knew where he was going. It’s a little hill station with good views but not good birding, we were ready to come back down too early but couldn’t find the driver. Had a bag of tomato chips which a monkey tried to steal, then it found food in the back of a truck, and soon the whole troop of Bonnet Macaques were trying to raid it, some got beaten off as the locals finally woke up to what was happening, but some snatched handfulls of chapattis and made off with them. The driver eventually turned up and we got him to stop at a little valley on the way back down the mountain, and got a few more birds, Scaly Thrush, Brown-backed Needletail, Grey Wagtail, Blue-capped Rock Thrush. Back by 14.30 and went to book the train, but the 14.30 train was too early and the 20.30 train got in at 2.30am so it looked like the bus, Bev sulked, and then we got rained on, on the way back to the hotel, talked to VJ about Wednesday and he called back late to invite us to stay at a jungle lodge at his expense since we had balked at the rp3000 each price. This enabled us to catch the 14.30 train, which made Bev happy, but then I asked her to ring Sridhar to let him know when we were coming, she said no, and then we both got stubborn right in to the evening, so much so that I said we weren’t having dinner til she made the call, but at 21.00 she went and had it on her own, I turned out the lights and slept in anger.
Brooke’s House Gecko
View from the Nandi Hills
7/11
Woke still angry, it took her a while but eventually she made the call but there was no answer, we talked and kissed and made up. VJ turned up in his nice Hyundai 4wd and we headed south to the jungle lodge, some of his driving was a bit manic, at one point he came herving in to a village and hit a sheep. At one stage we came across a bridge across the road, amazingly that was all there was, just the bridge, it went nowhere on either side, as we got closer we saw that they had placed one of the concrete pylons right in the middle of a lane of the road, so the traffic had to go off the road to get around it… amazing. We’d seen it before but there are a lot of trains thus a lot of railway crossings in India, when the boom gates go down the traffic stops, so far so good, but as the traffic builds they start coming down the wrong side of the road, so that by the time the train has gone by there is a wall of cars, bikes, trucks, buses and all on both sides of the tracks, it’s then a free for all as everyone tries to go forwards, madness! The road and the villages got poorer til we got to the forest which was degraded but still had some good birdlife in it. We had lunch in which I ate a green chilli that burnt everything in my body, had a nice sit under a tree by the river and went for a walk in the bush with the naturalist who wasn’t that good, I actually got him a new bird. Got Indian Nightjar, Black-naped Monarch, Green Imperial Pigeon, Jerdon’s Bushlark, Large Cuckoo-shrike, White-browed Bulbul, Yellow-billed Babbler, Bay-backed Shrike, Asian Brown Flycatcher, Common Hawk Cuckoo, Painted Frankolin. Had a nap til dinner, the BBQ spicy chicken was nice, the rest ordinary.
Relaxing by the river at the jungle lodge
Green Imperial Pigeon
Jerdon’s Bushlark
A rare quiet country road
8/11
Up at dawn 6.00 and on the trail by 6.30, but the birding was disappointing only adding Stork-billed Kingfisher, and Blythe’s Warbler. 2 omelettes for brekkie as I thought I was telling the cook that the first one was okay. Soon after brekkie we headed back to town, VJ dropped us at the station and we found the a/c lounge and sagged till 14.30 when the train left…on time! We rolled across the countryside to Vellore arriving at 18.30 ½hr late. Sridhar was there and we got a tuk tuk to the campus where he charged Sridhar extra to carry us. We stayed in a guest room on the campus since his kids are sick.
A small village main street
9/11
Up at 6.00 but Sridhar rang to say the maid was sick and he couldn’t meet us til 9.00, so we wandered around the leafy campus. In the campus was a small heavily wooded enclosure, and wandering around inside was an Emu, it didn’t look right. We had semolina mush paste with Sridhar, then he took us for a circuit of the countryside til midday, adding Brown Shrike, Jungle Prinia, Loten’s Sunbird, Ashy Woodswallow, we got a Woodshrike which made 2 new birds for Sridhar, back and photocopied passports for the lodge then had lunch. We had dinner with Sridhar and his family.
Millepede mellee
Inadian Flying Foxes
Indian Roller
10/11
Up very early, the driver came on time and we had an easy drive to Chennai, at the airport I went to buy a few snacks, a local bought a few things before me, but when I bought roughly the same things I got charged twice as much, I got angry and asked him why, he said it was because I was a tourist, that’s racism. I bought them anyway because we were hungry, and there wasn’t much competition that I could go to. The plane back was mostly uneventful, the only incident was a transit through Bali where after having the same can of Rid insect repellent for several international trips the customs man took it from me, I guess he’d run out of repellent and needed the can for himself.
If you would like to contribute the the well being of this world, our world, your world, an easy and effective way to do it is to join a quality environmental group. There are many spread across the world all plugging away trying to make the world a better place for wildlife. We belong to Birdlife Australia, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC). You can donate your time and or money to these and many others knowing that the world will be a slightly better place because of your effort.