INN THE WILD - A journey of sorts... Part 3

Our stay at Inn The Wild had just begun to get exciting. Rejuvenated from a refreshing evening tea, we walked towards the group that had gathered for the Nature Walk. It was just another family of 4 and our Naturalist. I had been dreading the thought that we might be joined by a few more families that had turned up that afternoon with kids. Nothing like a bunch of noisy kids to spoil the essence of a quiet walk into the Jungle. The lesser the ruckus the more our chances of sighting something, if at all!

A group of Langurs greeted us as we walked away from
our shacks

The Naturalist was accompanied by 2 more persons who supposedly knew the area well, while one of them was an expert in identifying animals by their footprints and calls. We were given a quick briefing about the do's and don'ts. We had already been advised to wear neutral colors that would blend with the Jungle foliage and make our presence less obvious. We walked a few yards before entering the boundaries of the Wild, after which we were not supposed to utter a sound and trample our way as quietly as we could. Only our Naturalist would communicate with us in soft whispers while he lead the way updating us about the whereabouts. As we walked through cones of branches that marked our way we spotted a group of Langurs on a tree to our left. Just as they saw us they jumped down from it, crossed our path and scampered away towards the foliage on our right. They were quite close to us.  Some seemed unperturbed by our presence and kept jumping around a bit while a couple of them just sat down and gave us a 'Are you sure you want to head that way?' look. We walked further on, as we lost sight of them till we reached the edge of the fence-less boundary made of stones and the like. I spotted a White-throated Kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis) on our way. It was perched on a tree almost devoid of leaves. I managed to get a clear look through my binoculars to confirm it's identity but couldn't get a click, being handicapped by my trusty, but modest  lens.

Langur walk shall I call it?

The 2 other persons who accompanied the  Naturalist

Nevertheless, sometimes not having the right equipment has it's own advantages I think. You learn to give more importance to observing your subject, learning and appreciating it's meaningful nuances instead of focusing more on framing it.
This was one of the few experiences where I have used my binoculars more than my camera, looking for wildlife. My binoculars, otherwise in normal circumstances would have taken a back seat. Still, that incomplete feeling that surrounds you for not having the right lens to get a clearer shot at a much hoped after subject, was well compensated for. Its hard, but not impossible! Imagine spotting a subject for the first time where the lighting and scene blends perfectly..only..you can't take that shot, now taking shape in your mind because you are either too far away or moving too close would only scare it away. And then there is the other issue of not having the right zoom lens. You tell yourself - 'Well, it's ok! Relax! Next time I'm definitely coming back with nothing less than a 300mm!' Birding relying mostly on your binoculars is like having tea without sugar (Sugar haters can find a more suitable example!). Feels like 'Ughhhhh!' at first but you slowly begin to savour the flavour, for what it truly is. Anyways coming back to my story, we crossed the bouldered boundary and headed into a thick shrub becoming more aware of the noises of the Jungle.

Our Naturalist leading the way..

Scratch marks made by the Elephant
 or should I call it 'Itch Marks'?;)

We walked into a clearing of trees and shrubs on either side and stopped by a muddy patch to look at the footprints left by Chital that had recently grazed there. Our Naturalist pointed to a tree on which we found white patches of marks. I knew that some animals usually rub their coats against the barks of trees to leave their mark and have a good scratch I guess. He told us the marks we now saw were those made by an Elephant. Usually if the Elephant cannot reach some part of its body that itches with its trunk, it may rub itself against a tree or pick up a long stick to do the honors! One of the most intelligent creatures you'll come across in a Jungle, someday I hope to learn more about these magnificent mammals! We trekked on through a clamp of bushes straight ahead and wound our way by the side of a small puddle, crossed it and after walking a few yards came into a larger clearing. We stood there for awhile as I scanned the area with my binoculars. Just then we saw something brown jump between the branches of a tree some 40ft away from us. There was no mistaking that Mongoose like form of a squirrel with a furry brownish beige tail - The Malabar Giant Squirrel (Ratufa Indica). It was the second time my heart skipped a beat as I tried to watch its movements through my binoculars. It was holding onto something that looked like a small fruit maybe, with it's forepaws and gnawing at it. It would then suddenly look up, look swiftly left and right, like it was sizing up its surrounding branches and then take another short but quick leap. The first time I had seen this beauty was at the parking lot of another Jungle resort I had been to- 'Jungle Retreat' which is just a few kms from Masinagudi town, in Bokkapuram. Also known as the Indian Giant squirrel, it is a large tree squirrel endemic to the Indian peninsula. Although the distance was too great for me to get a clear pic, one of us managed to get a short but a little shaky video of it, taking advantage of the larger zoom that the video camera had.

The puddle

Muddy patch with Chital footprints

                                                                       Video of the Squirrel! 

Sincere apologies of the shaky bit towards the end...

We moved on further, spotted a Purple heron on a tree branch and a flock of birds that looked like Cormorants to me, fly past us. Just as the vegetation had begun to get a bit dense, our Naturalist beckoned us to come towards a small clump of dark branches through which we could hear the faint bubbling sound of a stream and pointed to something suspended between two branches. At first I wondered, what was I exactly supposed to be looking at, but then I saw it! I might have done a little victory dance had I been alone, as I jumped forward to get a better look at a female Giant Wood Spider right in the middle of a huge web. I had only marvelled at pictures of this stunning beauty so far. To unexpectedly, stand there and see it for real was something else. I sat down to take a few pics but never managed to get my focus right with my shaking excited hands. I handed over the camera to one of our party and just stood there observing it, the smile refusing to leave my face! The adult female grows upto 2-4 inches while the male just about 10mm. Their impressive huge webs span upto 2 mtrs in diameter. It's also referred to as the Golden Orb Weaver owing to the golden colour of it's silk. The silk is said to be the strongest of any spider resulting in sometimes even small birds being caught in it. After spending a few minutes and making sure we had managed to get a decent pic, we trudged on. 

Giant Wood Spider Female

Flock of birds flying high by the evening sky!

As the Jungle had begun to get more denser and we were now closing in on the stream, a few of our party decided to turn back and head to the Machan, as they wouldn't be in a favourable position to take heel in case of any unexpected danger that we had been forewarned of! Well you never know what you might run into- A lone tusker, which is more dangerous when compared to a herd or even one of the tigers that had taken to roaming the area the last few days or a wild boar. It is important to look out for one another but when you are heading deep in the Jungle, it mostly comes down to 'each for his/her own safety'! So the rest of us trekked on quietly. We had just reached a clearing next to the stream when our Naturalist stopped us to ask if we would like to go further on. The stream had been a favourite haunt of the Tigers in the area and just next to it was a small cave. A little further lay a huge boulder like stone across the small stream that the Tiger was known to use as a resting place. I had only read such descriptions in Kenneth Anderson's books but had never seen a cave dwelling of a Tiger or any other animal for that matter. I gave a fervent yes to want to continue further while our Naturalist told us to wait where we were and went further to investigate if the area was safe for us to take a quick look. He signaled us to come forward and only 3 of the party stealthily trampled our way down some rocks.We joined him in the clearing where to our left lay the tiny stream with a couple of caves next to it. On the right lay the rocky surface shaded by overhanging trees. I quickly took a few clicks as we climbed out of the place not wanting to linger too long in case Stripey decided to turn up for a late afternoon siesta.

The left hand side of the clearing with the stream. You can see the cave like structure under the branches on the left.

A closer view of the cave/den like structure..

The rocky surface on our right that the stream flowed into.

Thrilled by what I had just seen, we moved on now on a more narrow path winding our way in and out of the lantana. We were just a furlong away from the clearing when we came to another path that led further inside. Our Naturalist did ask us if we wanted to go that way which would take us even deeper into the area but we decided to call it a day (Mind you, I badly wanted to explore even more but had to oblige with the majority! One of the disadvantages I'd say when you are in a group..) and head out. After a few minutes we saw more light coming through a clump of trees which made me realise how much more darker it was amidst the foliage.

Heading towards the end of our walk

We came out into the open at the other end of the water body and made our way to the Machan where the rest of our party were waiting. It was a beautiful evening just edging towards sunset. A warm wind was blowing my way as I stopped by to take a few clicks of the waterbody. I walked upto the Machan but stood down marvelling at the pretty colors of the evening sky against the hills beyond. A couple of herons were chasing each other across the water body. I clicked away peacefully reminiscing on the day that had just been!

Sunset

A silhouette of herons

J.R.R Tolkien said that 'Not all those who wander are lost'. I couldn't agree more yet being lost in a place that reminded me of how much more I was yet to see is not an option I would be ready to forsake altogether. We walked back to our shacks looking forward to dinner with an excellent appetite thanks to all the walking!:) But wait, if you thought we were done with the Jungle for the 'day' - Well technically 'Yes' for we had seen all we could by day but were yet to witness its splendor by night. A late night safari was something that I had been looking forward to for a very long time and this was going to be my very first! So with that happy thought in mind I made my way for dinner in a couple of hours. Will tell you more about it in the next part. Till then - Ta da!

A wider view of the setting sky.