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Linx

I came to know about this event from buddy Arvind, who had participated in last year's census operation for Lion Tail Macaques @ Parambikulam. This time around he got an e-mail from the Forest Dept, announcing the dates. When I heard about his experience, I got real thrilled, thought I shouldn't miss it..

Boy, such opportunities are hard to come by.. , u r gonna get to WALK right thru the middle of the forests and see the wildies right in front (or mayb even unaware of them stalking U ! :)..

Though I had done jungle safaris 6-7 times on open jeeps in Bandipur & Nagarhole National Parks (all Motorola-sponsored :), wasn't lucky to catch some real action, like when one of the jeeps of our group was attacked by a herd of elephants.. by the time my jeep reached the scene, there were just fresh pungent droppings.. and when I'd to be contended with pugmarks near a watchtower, after waiting to see some tiger quenching thirst from the lake nearby.. those safaris and hearing about the narrow escape from elephant attack had whetted my appetite for the real taste of the wild.. But it's a whole different ballgame when u r out on the same turf as some Faster, Stronger creatures.. when your instincts take over your Higher Intellect.. which may black-out when your eyes lock with that of a beast..

The thought of 3 days of trekking thru some prestine forests or, tourism-restricted parts on the foothills of Western Ghats, was exhilarating.. u'll even have the company of an expert tracker (a tribal guide).. who knows the Laws of the Jungle.. what more can u dream of ?? After going thru some websites, there were expectations of spotting the likes of elephant, bison, giant squirrel, sambar, spotted deer, mouse deer, and the elusive tiger, leopard etc.. apart from whole lota birds.. and it's summer.. perfect timing.. as far as chances of spotting and visibility are concerned !

+food and acco-in-whatever-way-available, will be taken care of by Forest Dept.. -as they say, Best things in life are for free !

Started out on Thursday evening from Bangalore by 8pm TN-state bus to Pollachi. {There's NO road access to the WLS from Kerala.. the only public transport available is a bus from Pollachi to Parambikulam (6am & 3:30pm), and the sanctuary gates will be closed from dusk to dawn.}.

We reached Pollachi before 5 next morning. Got into the bus to Parambikulam. On the way up the Anamalai range [part of IndiraGandhi WLS in TN, which is adjacent to PWLS] spotted some interesting birds, a Malabar pied Hornbill (vezhambal) being the most memorable.. got down @ Anappady, at the periphery of the WLS, it's Kerala-TN border.

For day one, there's only registration and introductory function in the evening. Today we r supposed to stay in a dormitory next to Wild Life Warden's office @ Anappady.

Birding..

After breakfast, me & Luke went for a dekko.. around the place.. and that morning I had the first and best of birding.. can't forget the sheer joy of it.. We both hunting for 'em.. huh the splash of colours.. seeing most for the first time.. the likes of Paradise Flycatcher.. its aerial sortie is a delight to watch.. we followed one Blue Jay for a long time (also called Indian Roller.. it's the "State Bird of Karnataka") striking flash of blue when in flight arrests your attention.. that's what made us follow..

Guest Lecture on Primate Ecology.. & Theory session of Census Operation

By evening there were more than 150 volunteers regd for census.. (mostly from neighbouring districts +students from Forestry colleges of Agricultural Uty.).

The function started off by Mr Pugazhendi, (IFS),The Wildlife Warden, welcomed the gathering.. also mentioned..
"Salim Ali came to this Sanctuary to start his study of Birds of Kerala.. The bungalow where he used to stay is now converted to Salim Ali Centre, a very scenic place.." . [ Dr Ali later authored the book titled 'Birds of Kerala' ]
Then there was an interesting guest lecture on Primate Ecology by a scientist (Primatologist), Dr Ajith .. He gave a presentaion about the fauna found in the sanctuary.. with more details about the primates including Slender Lorris, the nocturnal primate.. evolution, geographic distribution, habitat types, food and social habits etc.. followed by detailed description of the Method used for census, termed Line Transect Method..

Line Transect Method :

Groups of 2-3 guys guided by a tribal (tracker) will go deep in the jungle, to places marked out (a strech of around 2km ) earlier for the purpose, The marked portion inside the forest is called 'Line Transect', and there were 70 of em all over the sanctuary with total 285 sq.km spread.. while walking thru the Transect, once monkeys are seen on a tree, v 've to note down the perpendicular distance of the tree from Transect, also the count and other details.. those seen when v r outside Transect area, or coming back thru transect etc are not taken into account..

this has to be done twice a day, for two days.. early morn & evening.. finally researchers'll collate all the data from all the grps and by a scientific statistical method, estimate the total population..

For each species, if
N is the total number of monkeys spotted,
L, the lenght of the transect in km., and..
D the average of the perpendicular distances from the Line Transect, of the trees where the monkeys are spotted.. then ..
N / (L * 2D)
gives the average number-per-square-km distribution.. The values are arrived at by taking 4 samples of data over two days.. For the final estimation, factors like the habitat type are considered.. The population estimation is o'course done by the researchers/scientists.. field data collection is what we need to do..

By next morning, the list with the 70 Transects, people appointed, their guides, and the 17 base camps across the Sancutary were put up. The Transects are coded with the type of forest.. Luke to Moist Deciduous Forest, Me to Evergreen. Thomas Nelson, who coordinates the whole event gave briefing and tips about what to look out for in each Transect area (habitat types) and some of his experiences there..

Apart from the monkeys.. he listed out the possibility of seeing other animals.. areawise.. Bisons (Gaur), Sloth Bears, Spotted Deers, Sambar Deers, Elephants, Giant Squirrel, Civet, Slender Lorris, King Cobra, Leopard and Tiger..

He mentioned about this plant called 'Aanamayakki' (Elephant nettle ), seen in the evergreen forests.. if your skin touches it's leaf, u'll experience excruciating pain, swelling, sleeplessness, and even fever !..

Nelson got bedridden for 3 days when he happened to come into contact during the Transect marking.. During those outings, he also spotted a King Cobra, the largest poisonous snake on earth, inside the evergreen.. near humid area close to a stream.. said to be it's habitat..

Because of lack of vehicles available, it took the whole day to dispatch people to places near their base camps., with their share of 2 days' food ration to each camp. Some base camps have 'guest house' (small house), some had to sleep on rocks (who all really slept is a ? mark), some on watch towers etc.. My camp was one proper house :(, Luke's was a so-called 'Karadi Bungalow' where Sloth Bears ( Karadi ) visit for shelter during monsoon.. with muddy marks of Bears' paws and back on the walls !

The Night Trek By around 6pm, the 16 guys of my base camp were dropped near Parambikulam dam. Raghu, our coordinator told it's around 6km trek to the base camp, some had anxious moments since we had to cross two elephant- areas in the jungle, and within half an hour, it'd be real dark. As we crossed the dam, it started getting dark.. there were some isolated song birds like Malabar Whistling Thrush and loud Jungle Fowls' calls which died down soon.. when passing thru a teak-forest, suddenly there was a snorting sound from nearby.. some were dumb-struck.. others in a dilemma whether to run or stay put.. 2 seconds later there was a rustling sound..there were layers of dry leaves all over.. "a Bison".. Raghu informed.. then I could smell it.. [ Generally referred to as 'Bison', the Gaur is the largest wild ox on earth.. see pic from NatGeo.. ] so we started tasting the wild.. half an hour past, we were trudging along jeep tracks with all the luggage and ration.. cutting across a grassland.. a loud snorting.. first question flashed in mind.. 'Elephant ??'.. and the sound of a huge herd starting to run.. it seemed getting closer.. guides with big torch lights were in front.. and some others much behind.. I didn't know which way to run .. three of us in the middle started running towards guys in front.. backpack's pulling me down.. then someone directed the light.. sighh.. Bisons.. huge herd.. actually disappearing into the woods from the salt lick near the grassland.. whew.. safe. The sound was that of the Head of the herd giving a warning signal.. Then some Spotted Deers here and there.. torch-lights directed at the disturbance of dry leaves reveals many pairs of glowing eyes.. some staring.. some dashing off.. leaving streaks of yellow glow.. after more than an hour and half, we reached the house.. a large herd of spotted deers moved away from near the compound.. there's trench dug around it.. when relaxing, awaiting dinner prepared by the guides, we realised that we'd walked too fast.. After a refreshing bath near a step-well in a marshy grass land in front, we gathered for a solar-lantern-lit dinner amidst stories of last year's incidents by Hamsa, a very jovial chap (one of the guides). Some of us slept on the terrace with soothing breeze wafting thru.. I snuggled up inside the sleeping bag..

Inside Tropical Evergreen Rainforest

When I look back for the most memorable pages added to my life from those days, it's Darkness that appears first!.. of that Night Trek.. and the Glowing eyes of the deers in the torch-light.. staring at us..

Then I can hear the insects' incessant ear-piercing chirping.. echoing all over.. inside the evergreen rainforest..

Another moment flashes in mind.. when inside a teak forest, I caught glimpses of a pair of Bulbuls chitter-chattering on a nearby branch, when focusing the binox, 2 Drongos landed on the tree next to it.. and there was another sparrow-sized yellow song bird behind.. it's high pitch tones masking all others.. now all looking towards me, inquisitively.. what's-this-guy-upto kind of looks.. some moved to nearer branches.. then there were these two myna-sized yellow birds with greenish head and crimson patches on the breast.. pecking on flowers, perched higher up.. another Green Barbet landed and disappeard into the foliage.. looked at the song bird again.. it took to wings.. wavy flight between a row of trees.. when it disappreared, I realised that "I'm quite far behind than the other two guys.. can't see them.. I've to catch up fast".. I walked off briskly..