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* Hmmm... its gonna be some 30-40kms thru the hills in two days !.. We r all geared up.. By 9:30 we started from Samse, crossing a stream.. meandering mud road thru coffee plantations.. we reached our first PitStop for refilling with Bananas, Chocolates.. it's a 2-room-primary-school courtyard.. near sparsely populated hillside farm areas..

* Next target is Lobo's House [ Lobo Mane ].. as we were told.. we were wondering what Mr Lobo has got to do with this place ? started getting tired cos it was hot and sunny.. then we came across a stream with cool wooded area only along its banks.. outside, it's mostly grasslands.. which is the general pattern of the terrain out there.. and for crossing the streams at some places, there's just one or two tree trunks laid across.. difficult task for us to balance on them.. one by one we stepped gingerly..

* Then there's a repeat of such feats.. we went thru grasslands followed by temperate forest, popularly referred to as 'sholas' and characterised by a dense closed canopy.. here it's isolated, only along the streams thru the narrow 'grooves' of the hills..

* Planned for lunch after reaching Lobo's place.. some villagers helped with directions.. we reached large expanse of grasslands on the slopes.. and there we chanced upon two concrete crosses in the midst of the grass..at the base of a hill.. I tho't may be that's Lobo's ?! Thus clearing the mystery about this name 'Lobo', hw must've been a missionary.. we grew more hopeful about finding his house nearby.. finally it's around 4 when we could spot it.. behind thick growth of creepers.. looking abandoned, and haunted.. but apparently some villagers from the hamlet that we crossed keeps the key.. and sometimes lets the trekkers stay there overnight.. our idea was just to cook in its courtyard, eat and carry on till sundown. After gathering some firewood, we got the upma ready quick.. and some bread & jam. While getting water from a nearby stream, I got one unusually large black&yellow butterfly lying dead.. picked it up for Luke to try some tricks with his new SLR to make it look alive on a large flower.

Later we came to know that it was Southern Birdwing (Troides Minor), largest Indian Butterfly !.. with a wing-span 140-190mm. It is abundant in the Western Ghats during monsoon and immediate post-monsoon months. Active during early morning hours with a slow flight, usually high above the trees.. Frequents shady walks and glades in the jungles and comes down from tree tops to feed on Lantana, Mussaenda etc.

* Now since there's no hope for villagers to be around to ask directions, we felt a little lost.. though had a general idea of direction there was no clue about the shortest trail.. or one which can lead us to a place where we can camp for the night.. for which proximity to clean water streams/ springs is a must.. we lost some time exploring what seemed to be trails thru tall dry grassfields.. later they turned out to be dried-up narrow water channels..

* Then onto a beautiful purple patch of flat grassland.. which seemed to end near the thickly wooded area at the base of the steep slopes to the way up.. and from distance saw a dilapidated old mudhouse at the base of the slopes.. and it was getting dark.. a sense of emergency crept in.. I dumped my backpack and ran thru the purple grassland towards the mudhouse for a quick reconnaissance.. though one side of it looked creepy with thick undergrowth into the rooms with falling roof, there was some clearing on the backyard.. also there's some firewood around.. someone had camped there recently.. .. Ah.. so possibly we are on the right trail.. Kool.. Mission Success, I waved to guys..yelling.. we decided to pitch the tent in the clearing next to the mudhouse..

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