The Kaziranga National Park is one of the best forest reserves in the world – and you have to stay at the Wild Grass Lodge for a truly satisfying and wholesome experience.

The architecture and landscaping of the property makes you feel a part of the forest even though you are in the villages surrounding the reserve. There is an old world charm about the place, rare to find nowadays. And their pricing will pleasantly surprise you. Book direct as agents tend to overcharge under the guise of a complete package.

* Service: Terrific. I asked for the best guides as I wanted to do some serious photography, and they made sure I got someone who knew his job. They even got me a vehicle to myself. For those who have been to such places in the past, there is nothing worse than being guided by someone who does not know his job. The other staff does a commendable job of keeping the place clean.
* Rooms: With their wooden décor, it is nothing short of charming and romantic. Even if it is not plush. You have comfortable beds, lounge chairs and electric points for charging appliances. Lighting is deliberately kept dim. Bathrooms have running hot and cold water. All the sheets and towels are very clean too.
* Location: Does not get better unless they allow them inside the forest – but that is out of bounds.
* Amenities: Very good guides and jeep / elephant safaris. An all day restaurant serving local and Chinese cuisines.
* Liked Best: The location, architecture, interiors and landscaping.
* Liked Least: You cannot grudge such locations.
*Food Quality: Very good. But order well in time; they need an hour to prepare meals. And still be willing to be patient.

Charges: Rs. 1,850 for a double room including taxes; no meals included. But meals are very reasonably priced. Do check rates at the time of booking. (Beware when you book through agents – they somehow charge many times over)
Contact: Tel: +91.361.2630465, wildgrasskaziranga@gmail.com

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Pythons in a pit in Bardia National Park in Nepal

That’s it. Time to head back to Delhi to mark the end of the first phase of The Great Himalayan Drive. I started from Thimphu, spent the following night in Siliguri in West Bengal and then another two at the Chitwan National Park. The last night was spent at Bardia National Park where I did another afternoon safari.

And on the morning I left for the final run to Delhi, my guide took me a to see pythons in Bardia. I had no idea what to expect – had never seen any. I was directed to look into some pits – and there they were. Five of them lying coiled around each other. Barely moving, except their heads once in a while. I asked my guide if it would be good idea to throw a pebble at them – I wanted them to uncoil a bit for better pictures. I got a resounding NO of an answer – if disturbed, they might suddenly dart out and have us for a meal. It would happen so fast we would not know what hit us. I am a vegetarian – but the pythons wouldn’t have minded that!

And then it was back to Delhi. Watch this space – I will be reporting from Kashmir and the rest of the Himalayas soon!

This trip was sponsored by TripAdvisor.in and Yatra.com.

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Pythons in a pit in Bardia National Park in Nepal

Topslip is located in the Anaimalai Forest Range bordering Tamilnadu and Kerala. The erstwhile Anaimalai Wildlife Santucary is now known as IGWS – Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary. A Forest Preserve, this range houses a variety of wildlife and birdlife. Wild elephant and bison sightings are quite common. Quoting from an article in The Hindu, “The IGWS and National Park harbours over 250 species of birds of 49 families and is enormously rich in other biodiversity. According to the latest reports India is home to nearly 1,300 bird species in the diverse habitats.” The neighboring Parambikulam Sanctuary is to the West of Topslip in Kerala.

The closest big town is Coimbatore which is around 80kms away. One has to head to Pollachi (40 kms), then to Anaimalai (another 15 kms), onwards to Sethumadai (10kms), to TopSlip (15kms). A Ticket is required to pass through the Forest checkpost in Sethumadai before a 15 km journey to reach 800Ft above sea level in Topslip. Being totally non-commercial, the only means of staying overnight is in Forest Guesthouses which have to be booked well in advance.

The Drive To Topslip

Reaching the Anaimalais, greenery abounds in every direction. Shady tree lined State Highways surrounded by Coconut Plantations on either side makes the drive up to Sethumadai.

A Forest Checkpost charges tickets for travelers. If one does not stay in the Forest Guesthouses in TopSlip and are only going up for a day trip, they are required to descend the forests by 6pm.

Climbing up the short twisty ghats lined with Bamboo trees, one faces a number of hair pin bends. One cannot help but start admiring the scenic green drive.

On Reaching Topslip

One needs to be careful of Monkeys as they are looking for a quick bite always. Troops of Nilgiri Langurs can be seen traversing through tall trees – a fascinating sight of acrobatics. Forest Guesthouses beckon vistors staying overnight.  Visitors on day trips can avail a Forest Guide and drive around and/or can book an Elephant Safari.

Elephant Safari

One starts breathing easier in this pristine forest environment. I presume it must be all the greenery creating a natural Greenhouse effect. Same day visitors can buy tickets for an Elephant Safari. If lucky, one can see Wildlife – Bisons, Wild Boars, Spotted Deer etc.. Really lucky ones can spot leopards! Tickets cost Rs. 400 per Elephant Ride.

The TopSlip Forest has 22 elephants for it’s forest work in the Kozhikkamuthy Elephant camp. Six to eight of these elephants are used for the elephant Safari. After loading on to an elephant – up to 3 to each side, one takes off into the dense forest for a bumpy but exciting ride.

The ride typically last for up to one hour. Lucky visitors get to see wildlife – bisons, spotted deers, boars, wild hens etc..

We rode on a 33 year old Male Tusker named Surya. Surya has been domesticated now for 8 years. Surya was different than the other tuskers in that his tusks were off center and not symmetric. Surya rested it’s trunk on it’s right tusk a lot of times – signs of old age?

The Safari takes one through fairly dense forests. Apparently there were a lot of Gaur (Indian Bison) sightings the previous day but we were not that lucky. We caught a brief glimpse of a spotted deer behind the bushes and that was it. In this Jurassic Park like atmosphere, one almost expects to see plant eating dinosaurs peek through the tall trees.

Scenic Beauty

Visitors can drive up to the Kerala border where the checkpost to the Parambikulam Sanctuary exists. The drive is both scenic and refreshing. Private vehicles are not allowed after this checkpost but one can avail Forest vehicles to head into the Parambikulam Sanctuary.

Gaja Poojai

Pongal or Sankaranti – the Harvest Festival is celebrated all over India around mid January every year. This is followed by Mattu-Pongal – a celebration of the Harvest Festival for cows as they are so critical for agriculture in India.

While everyone knows about Pongal, most are not familiar with another ritual – Gaja Pooja or Elephant-Pongal – held every year in Topslip in the Anamalai Mountain Ranges to celebrate the usefulness of elephants to the Forests. While Elephant Safaris can be had round the year, the Gaja Poojai is a special once a year affair that lucky visitors have a chance to witness usually in the third week of January.

The Forest Elephants are lined up on this day, and sandalwood paste is applied to their foreheads to decorate them. This is one chance to see elephants of all sizes lined up next to each other on this special day – the young cub drawing the most attention with the children.

While the daily feed to the elephants is only 10kg of Raagi (Finger Millet) – the rest coming from the forests, Gaja Pooja is a special day for the elephants as they are fed delicacies to satisfy Lord Ganesha! The end of the Pooja is marked by a Salute to all the visitors by the assembled elephants. A sight to behold.

Entry Fomalities for TopSlip

If you are visiting the park for the day you can go directly to Top Slip (Entry INR 50). The Sethumadai checkpost is the entry point to TopSlip.

In case you plan to stay at Top Slip, accommodation must be booked in advance at the:

Summary

TopSlip is a fabulous getaway – serene, calm, unpolluted and totally uncommercial. Wildlife, birdlife are available in plenty and it also offers trekkers great options. Gaja Pooja offers a great opportunity to see tens of elephants at the same time if one can time their visit on that day. While the guesthouse accommodations can be rather basic, TopSlip offers a fabulous gateway into the wilderness – a true nature lover’s paradise!

[This article was contributed by Vijay Ramanathan - a Technology/Gadget enthusiast and Blogger. You can follow his tweets at http://twitter.com/tekdude & his blog at http://tekdude.wordpress.com/ ]

Tusker Taking A Mud Bath in Corbett

Many a times, people wonder and debate on the most feared animal in the forests of India. We have been asked this question on multiple occasions and the answer is difficult because when in the mild in addition to the big predators there are zillions of life threatening living bodies that one should fear. A lot of people believe that a confrontation with a big cat like a tiger or a leopard can be a nerve-chilling experience. That’s definitely true to a certain extent but the king of the Indian forests – the tiger – is not a wanton killer. It attacks in its defense only when it is provoked and in a lot of cases we have seen that a tiger can be the most harmless predator and gives a damn about your presence. When given his space, he can offer you some of the most wonderful moments of your life giving you the opportunity to get upclose with him and witness his glory.

Looks can be deceptive. Moving away from the big cats, there are other animals that look quite harmless but our experience in the wild has led us to believe that they are the unsung rulers of the Indian forests. As you traverse into the heavily wooded forests – especially in belts like Uttrakhand, Kerala, Mysore and Assam – you would invariably bump into huge and massive herds of slow and lethargic mammals who graze from morning to night in the grasslands, bathe in rivers, ponds and lakes and cover themselves with loads of mud to keep the summer heat away. For centuries, elephants have been used by man for multiple purposes making him one of our best friends in the animal kingdom. However, the scenario changes when you come across the wild cousins of these mighty mammals. Elephants have the ability to surprise you in the wild with their extraordinary speed, agility, unpredictability, intelligence and raw power. Their amazing ability to diligently communicate with their fellows within the group can leave you stranded at their mercy in the middle of their forest.

We take this opportunity to narrate one of our most thrilling encounters with the most dreaded mammals of the Indian jungles. In the warm summer month of June 2007, we set off for an early morning safari in Corbett National Park and came across this huge herd of elephants. These wonderful creatures are a wonderful subject for wildlife photography and for the first time in so many years we bumped into a herd of around 80-90 elephants grazing merrily in the open grassland of Dhikala in the early morning light – a very tempting sight for any wildlife photographer.

As Kahini sighted the herd from a distance, we inched closer. It’s fascinating to study the behavioral traits of an elephant family and before shooting a herd as big as this it is always advisable to read the mind of the animal. As per our understanding the herd wanted to cross the road as they wanted to climb uphill and as we were trying to analyze the situation we spotted a tiny 4 months old calf clinging underneath his mother’s massive legs. Elephants are highly over-protective with babies and the herd shields the youngsters by keeping them in the middle of the group. “This was our opportunity to shoot a young elephant calf,” was the common thought in our brains. However we had to take the risk of going near to the group as the calf was being well protected and the only way we could get the shot was to play the waiting game and make use of the first opportunity offered by the herd.
Inch by inch, we moved our 4×4 closer to the group. It was obvious that the group was wary of our presence as low trumpets made by the elders of the group meant that the communication has started. As we moved closer to our target – the little calf – the mother and the elders were keeping a close watch on our movement. Every movement, every noise was being closely observed. The alarm signals were being given – the mother flapped her ears, filled her majestic trunk with mud and puffed it in the air in anger and discomfort. The mother then gave us a mock charge and warned us to maintain distance. We stood our ground and made our best possible attempt to put the herd at comfort.

Within minutes the herd that was on one side of the road had surrounded us blocking all our escape routes. Being surrounded by a massive herd of 80 giant elephants was a magical experience. A slightest error could have agitated the group leaving us in a big soup and we realized that the only escape for us was to hold our ground and stand still and let the group feel that we did not mean to harm them in any way. The next 25 minutes were something we had waited for all our life as the group had to get the youngster to cross the road and that was our chance to get a shot at the kid. Luck favored us and the young elephant calf finally started crossing the road. It could barely walk and tumbled right on the middle of the road. The group realized that the calf was exposed and we got to hear some of the loudest nerve-chilling trumpets. Even the young males were trying to shoo us away! Finally, the road was clear as one by one the elephants disappeared in the thick forest leaving behind some sweet memories that Kahini and I cherished for ever

(Kahini Ghosh Mehta and Shivang Mehta are photographers and naturalists from Corbett National Park and also run a wildlife camp in Corbett. Visit www.naturewanderers.com to know more about them and stay tuned to Kunzum for exciting jungle stories from this husband-wife duo)