Day 49, Tholpetty Wildlife Sanctuary [Monday 21st January 2008]
Previous day: Day 48, Mysore [Sunday 20th January 2008]
Next day: Day 50, Kannur [Tuesday 22nd January 2008]
We get a bus to Kutta or Tholpetty, we're not sure which, because the bus conductors don't seem to know, although they look like they have a pretty good idea where we're going. We're hoping to go on safari into the forest to see elephants in the national park there..
After the bus drops us off in the middle of a long, tree lined road, with no idea where we're heading, we get a bit lost. Eventually we find one of the ubiquitous sweet shops, and he walks us down the road we've just walked down and points out the place we're looking for — Pachyderm Palace. After a short argument about the correct pronunciation of pachyderm we go in, and find that our room is a small house built on stilts, in the middle of a coffee plantation.
The owner is a slightly camp man who provides answers to questions in little singsong riddles. He brings out some lovely homecooked lunch - fresh lime juice, veg rice, ginger and coconut chutney, papadums, tea and bananas.
I go for a walk around the edge of the park, just over the road from where we're staying. I feel dwarfed by the towering clumps of bamboo. The sun is low and slices through the trees.
We drive into the forest in late afternoon, the sun is very low and there is mist drifting through the trees. There is bamboo everywhere, with evidence of elephant feeding. When we stop driving, the forest is almost silent. Otherwise, our jeep is a crunching, cranking ball of noise, probably scaring off every animal within a mile of us. Amazingly, we manage to spot deer, lemur monkeys, giant squirrels and wild peacocks. The park is eerily gorgeous, but you must be accompanied by a guide at all times, which restricts your access somewhat.
There's a good bunch of people staying at the Palace with us: Germans, Dutch, Australian, Finnish and Estonian. We all eat dinner together - pumpkin curry, cabbage, veg curry, rice, beetroot and ginger chutney, raita, coffee and an enormous fresh fruit salad. There's so much of it he has to plead with us to finish it, even after we've all stuffed our faces!
We play a game of Scrabble, during which Kate lays down jury on the triple word score to win the match.
Next day: Day 50, Kannur [Tuesday 22nd January 2008]
Previous day: Day 48, Mysore [Sunday 20th January 2008]