11:20 Hrs. Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, Tamil Nadu, India.
Today (June 12th) we leave for Mysore and we're all very excited to get back to civilization. We packed up the boys dorms and joined the field site for breakfast. Then we were back in jeeps again for a hiking excursion. the day before at an overlook, Siddappa asked us which mountain we liked best. Haley was very enthusiastic about a particular hill so Siddappa told us we would climb it. Properly known as Malki Betta, we dubbed it Malki 'Haley' Betta. We took the jeeps the majority of the way up, truly off-roading it and giving us all whiplash.
We hopped out and began the trek to the top. Pointing out trees along the way, Siddappa showed us a fruit that elephants eat essentially as an aphrodesiac. It makes bulls more aggressive and active. Before I could write anything down, much of the group had moved on. "What was it called?" I asked to no one in particular. "I think they said 'Carria Arboria'" Lisa responded. I pressed on. Whatever trail had been present had disappeared. We were fighting a literally uphill battle with the Lantana forest before us. Eventually we reached a small rocky outcrop to rest. Siddappa came up behind us carrying a small plant. "This is a plant commonly used by tribals and is supposed to improve memory when eaten, I'll give it to whoever remembers the name of the elephant tree..."
"Carria Arboria...?" I threw out... "Wonderful!" Siddappa shouted. I won myself a little memory booster (a leaf) to eat. I gave Lisa a head nod. "What was the name of the memory plant?" people asked me later...
I couldn't remember.
Continuing on, we took another few rest stops at beautiful views, held some giant millipedes (been there done that), ate some fresh Amla fruits, caught a glimpse of a sambar poking his head out of tall grass, and sat in some light rain for awhile before finishing the final 30 or so meter hike to the top. We relaxed for awhile at the top and let the clouds pass through us. Siddappa asked us to sing, and upon realizing we had my iPod and Bradley's speakers, we reunited the band and pulled out a long overdue Bohemian Rhapsody from the vaults. Freddie would have given us a 10 out of 10 just for shear passion. After a small tribute to the Beatles as well, we trekked back down. Indo Crew: 1, Lantana: 0.
We returned to where the jeeps were to see only one. So half of us began the incredibly muddy trek back along elephant-made paths. Passing smiling Soligas hard at work along the route, the jeep returned to pick us up at a small village. We returned back to the filed site for our last meal in BRT. Something should be said for this place; a well decorated lush site. Despite the difficult accomodations, I'd love to return to see the true wealth and happiness of the Soliga people.
We loaded the van and were off to Mysore. The halfway point of the program. Congrats readers. Ya made it this far. It became a reminder for all of us of how much we had done, how long 3 weeks had felt like, and how long before I see home again...This time around, we watched all of Ongbok 2. There are no words for that movie. Watch at your own risk.
First impressions of Mysore were favorable. A faint echo of Bangalore but more variety in architecture, more smiling people, and much less pollution. I mean some pollution...just...less... ;) We give it two thumbs up. The drive was only about 3 hours.
After some driving, we spotted a Baskin Robbins. The luxuries of home trumpeted like an elephant out to us in the bus in the liquid form of salivation. It got better. Connected next door was a bakery with pastries, desserts, and interesting foods. Still better. Our lodging was a block away. Dangerously close walking distance. STILL better. Western toilets, closets, soft beds, electricity, even desks. Oh yeah. I think we'll manage. After some ice cream (or frozen heaven), we went to dinner at a place a little walk down called Uncle Lobo's, which served Indian and Chinese. We completely feasted on delicious food and purchased a few boxes of Kingfisher. After the walk back, it was Chi'party' time...With a free day in Mysore the next day, the party continued into the wee hours.
~Straying down familiar paths...
-David
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Saturday, July 3, 2010
After breakfast the next morning, we loaded back into the jeeps to visit some small sacred shrines (a total of 480 in BRT) at a few trees and lakes, and an interesting megalithic burial site, dating from around 800 A.D. Then off to the school. The school was the Vivekananda Girijana Kalyana Kendra school adjacent to our (boys) guest houses. After a strange interaction with some American college students from Pennsylvania working here (everybody seemed uneasy and on-edge and lost their smiles, I'm not sure why), we spoke with some school administrators who took us to a grand hall showing off the many awards the school had won as a top of the line tribal school.
We then moved to a classroom where we stood in front of 35 or so 16 year olds, all in what they call 10th Standard, and had a very nice Q&A dialog with the students, exchanging comments on food, sports, occupations, school systems, impressions, etc. We managed to get out of there without singing anything, probably for the benefit of everyone. Before we left the area, we stopped in a small manufacturing center next to the school. Siddapa has started a honey extracting initiative with the Soliga people as a sustainable NTFP. Here we saw a bit of the machinery used to process the honey (which we'd been devouring with every meal). We took a shortcut through the community and walked back to the field site.
After lunch we got a quick ride back to our dorms to change as needed for a more casual, cultural evening, including a visit to an important temple. When we returned the girls came out dressed in beautiful Indian attire. We felt significantly under-dressed as we paled in comparison. Before the temple, we took a quick trip to a second honey production site, this time run by a group of about ten self-help women. Then to a beautiful sacred temple high on a hill where Siddapa made us feel like VIPs, getting us into some sacred sections. Truly a moving experience. We stopped on our way back at another shop surrounded by coffee plants and had some local coffee. There were also tall, thin black pepper plants around the building. It was this that Colombus had been seeking when he left Spain, only to be disappointed by its absence in America. We took a lengthy ride in the van for wildlife and saw quite a few chital, sambar, and gaur.
Upon our return to the field site, we had a delicious dinner that included some chicken! We piled into the office to listen to a PhD student, Samira give a talk on her research with racket-tailed drongos in the area and their elaborate mimicking abilities. Next Siddapa gave a few brief presentations on BRT and his work there with ATREE. Another long day as we draw nearer to the halfway point of this program. I'm liking BRT...
~Living like a tribal...,
- David
We then moved to a classroom where we stood in front of 35 or so 16 year olds, all in what they call 10th Standard, and had a very nice Q&A dialog with the students, exchanging comments on food, sports, occupations, school systems, impressions, etc. We managed to get out of there without singing anything, probably for the benefit of everyone. Before we left the area, we stopped in a small manufacturing center next to the school. Siddapa has started a honey extracting initiative with the Soliga people as a sustainable NTFP. Here we saw a bit of the machinery used to process the honey (which we'd been devouring with every meal). We took a shortcut through the community and walked back to the field site.
After lunch we got a quick ride back to our dorms to change as needed for a more casual, cultural evening, including a visit to an important temple. When we returned the girls came out dressed in beautiful Indian attire. We felt significantly under-dressed as we paled in comparison. Before the temple, we took a quick trip to a second honey production site, this time run by a group of about ten self-help women. Then to a beautiful sacred temple high on a hill where Siddapa made us feel like VIPs, getting us into some sacred sections. Truly a moving experience. We stopped on our way back at another shop surrounded by coffee plants and had some local coffee. There were also tall, thin black pepper plants around the building. It was this that Colombus had been seeking when he left Spain, only to be disappointed by its absence in America. We took a lengthy ride in the van for wildlife and saw quite a few chital, sambar, and gaur.
Upon our return to the field site, we had a delicious dinner that included some chicken! We piled into the office to listen to a PhD student, Samira give a talk on her research with racket-tailed drongos in the area and their elaborate mimicking abilities. Next Siddapa gave a few brief presentations on BRT and his work there with ATREE. Another long day as we draw nearer to the halfway point of this program. I'm liking BRT...
~Living like a tribal...,
- David
Wednesday, June 16th, 2010. - Day 25
16:30 Hrs. City of Mysore, Karnataka, India.
The next morning, June 10th, we had a most terrible time getting out o the boys dorms because the rains had created quite the mudslide. fortunately Manoj seems very experienced and we soon joined the girls for breakfast. Afterwards we finally got a glimpse at some maps from Siddapa and understood our surroundings a little better. Instead of taking the van today (too large to off-road in BRT; very well protected) we loaded into jeeps! True safari style. Squished in the middle of the front seat trying very hard not to get in the way of gear shifting by Madeva, our driver, we headed out.
A brief digression. India has a four-step hierarchy for protected areas. At the bottom is the Reserve Forests. Next follows National Parks such as Bannerghatta. The third level is Wildlife Sanctuary such as BRT, which begins to have much more serious protection, many permits were reluctantly given for foreigners to be here, and even then rarely on foot. The final level is Tiger Reserve, such as Bandipur, our stop after Mysore.
After a beautiful ride through lush forest, though incredibly bumpy (there wasn't really a road), we got off at the beginning of a long staircase down. Siddapa told us to watch for leeches. We were in moist to wet deciduous forest after all, and we knew this tragic day would come. The paranoia set in with everybody. Small inch-worm like critters covered the ground, feeling around for delicious human flesh. After some initial dramatic reactions by most people, Andrew and Bradley decided to self-inflict themselves and hold a friendly competition. In an attempt to see who's could get bigger, they voluntarily placed a leech on one arm each. We trekked down the steps and reached what the locals call 'Doddasampagi', a Mikilia Champaca tree that was around 2,000 years old, and very sacred. Decorated in garlands, stones, and tridents of Shiva, the tree commanded the respect of the entire peaceful, Riparian area. As we climbed the other side of the hill, we passed some Soliga women at a watering hole filling jugs, and methodically setting them on fabric rings on their heads. Beautiful and shy, they are forest dwellers; experts at simple living. As we passed a few huts and Soliga buildings, coffee plants grew rampant around us, and evidence of a village increased. We arrived at the school room (a hut made from sticks that was empty) and the village head spoke through Siddapa to us about his community.
Loading back into the jeeps, we made a few stops at breathtaking overlooks, spotting shola forest and distant mountains, all the while removing the onslaught of leeches from our shoes and legs. A wild boar managed to get stuck on the road in front of our first (of two) jeeps and with thickets of Lantana on either side the boar was forced to keep running like someone running from an oncoming train with no means to jump off the tracks. Entertained, we snapped pictures as the boar ran off, finally finding an exit through the thorny wall. We stopped at a small estate with some beautiful white temple structures which appeared to no longer be in use, and grabbed some bananas from the nearby store.
Another jeep ride and we arrived at Honnamatti Betta (Betta is hill in Kannada), another breathtaking overlook and forest service watch tower. Sitting at the level of the clouds blowing past us, we ate a delicious lunch off biodegradable leaf plates (made from leaves from Butia Monosperma aka 'Flame of the Forest' stitched together with dried plant sticks). There was an enormous monolithic vertical boulder sitting at the edge of the hill. Siddapa told us to take a rock and hit it. I couldn't believe my ears, the boulder made a hollow, metal clang. Truly fascinating. BRT we've noticed is notably cooler and mistier than our previous locations, and up here we certainly felt it.
Another stop for a few more bananas and we began our afternoon travels. Now it was safari time. We traveled through BRT and spotted chital (spotted deer not unlike our white-tailed), an elusive langur that jumped across the road and back into the brush, some massive gaur, and a couple of eagles. As evening approached we returned for some tea, a toilet break at our own quarters, and got more comfortable for a cultural night back at the field site. Shortly after returning, various Soliga arrived, quickly made a fire, changed into tribal attire (body paint and leaf headdresses) and kicked off the musical evening.
After a few numbers, they added dance as they chanted and played (drums and cymbals) around the fire. We did our best to quickly catch on, and having been exposed as dancers after our MM Hills escapade, joined in. An amazing evening. If Geeta doesn't come back to help make a CD of these guys with the next study abroad, I certainly will. An amazing night. During dinner, Geeta told us we'd be visiting another school tomorrow so we should prepare songs to sing. Not wanting a repeat of Old MacDonald at Kanakpura, we went late into the night suggesting and veto-ing song options, settling uneasily on Bohemian Rhapsody, and the Star-Spangled Banner, using my iPod and Bradley's portable speakers as backup.
~Desparate not to disappoint Freddie Mercury...,
- David
The next morning, June 10th, we had a most terrible time getting out o the boys dorms because the rains had created quite the mudslide. fortunately Manoj seems very experienced and we soon joined the girls for breakfast. Afterwards we finally got a glimpse at some maps from Siddapa and understood our surroundings a little better. Instead of taking the van today (too large to off-road in BRT; very well protected) we loaded into jeeps! True safari style. Squished in the middle of the front seat trying very hard not to get in the way of gear shifting by Madeva, our driver, we headed out.
A brief digression. India has a four-step hierarchy for protected areas. At the bottom is the Reserve Forests. Next follows National Parks such as Bannerghatta. The third level is Wildlife Sanctuary such as BRT, which begins to have much more serious protection, many permits were reluctantly given for foreigners to be here, and even then rarely on foot. The final level is Tiger Reserve, such as Bandipur, our stop after Mysore.
After a beautiful ride through lush forest, though incredibly bumpy (there wasn't really a road), we got off at the beginning of a long staircase down. Siddapa told us to watch for leeches. We were in moist to wet deciduous forest after all, and we knew this tragic day would come. The paranoia set in with everybody. Small inch-worm like critters covered the ground, feeling around for delicious human flesh. After some initial dramatic reactions by most people, Andrew and Bradley decided to self-inflict themselves and hold a friendly competition. In an attempt to see who's could get bigger, they voluntarily placed a leech on one arm each. We trekked down the steps and reached what the locals call 'Doddasampagi', a Mikilia Champaca tree that was around 2,000 years old, and very sacred. Decorated in garlands, stones, and tridents of Shiva, the tree commanded the respect of the entire peaceful, Riparian area. As we climbed the other side of the hill, we passed some Soliga women at a watering hole filling jugs, and methodically setting them on fabric rings on their heads. Beautiful and shy, they are forest dwellers; experts at simple living. As we passed a few huts and Soliga buildings, coffee plants grew rampant around us, and evidence of a village increased. We arrived at the school room (a hut made from sticks that was empty) and the village head spoke through Siddapa to us about his community.
Loading back into the jeeps, we made a few stops at breathtaking overlooks, spotting shola forest and distant mountains, all the while removing the onslaught of leeches from our shoes and legs. A wild boar managed to get stuck on the road in front of our first (of two) jeeps and with thickets of Lantana on either side the boar was forced to keep running like someone running from an oncoming train with no means to jump off the tracks. Entertained, we snapped pictures as the boar ran off, finally finding an exit through the thorny wall. We stopped at a small estate with some beautiful white temple structures which appeared to no longer be in use, and grabbed some bananas from the nearby store.
Another jeep ride and we arrived at Honnamatti Betta (Betta is hill in Kannada), another breathtaking overlook and forest service watch tower. Sitting at the level of the clouds blowing past us, we ate a delicious lunch off biodegradable leaf plates (made from leaves from Butia Monosperma aka 'Flame of the Forest' stitched together with dried plant sticks). There was an enormous monolithic vertical boulder sitting at the edge of the hill. Siddapa told us to take a rock and hit it. I couldn't believe my ears, the boulder made a hollow, metal clang. Truly fascinating. BRT we've noticed is notably cooler and mistier than our previous locations, and up here we certainly felt it.
Another stop for a few more bananas and we began our afternoon travels. Now it was safari time. We traveled through BRT and spotted chital (spotted deer not unlike our white-tailed), an elusive langur that jumped across the road and back into the brush, some massive gaur, and a couple of eagles. As evening approached we returned for some tea, a toilet break at our own quarters, and got more comfortable for a cultural night back at the field site. Shortly after returning, various Soliga arrived, quickly made a fire, changed into tribal attire (body paint and leaf headdresses) and kicked off the musical evening.
After a few numbers, they added dance as they chanted and played (drums and cymbals) around the fire. We did our best to quickly catch on, and having been exposed as dancers after our MM Hills escapade, joined in. An amazing evening. If Geeta doesn't come back to help make a CD of these guys with the next study abroad, I certainly will. An amazing night. During dinner, Geeta told us we'd be visiting another school tomorrow so we should prepare songs to sing. Not wanting a repeat of Old MacDonald at Kanakpura, we went late into the night suggesting and veto-ing song options, settling uneasily on Bohemian Rhapsody, and the Star-Spangled Banner, using my iPod and Bradley's portable speakers as backup.
~Desparate not to disappoint Freddie Mercury...,
- David
Wednesday, June 9th, 2010 - Day 18
...Perhaps relieved that the engine noise meant we were leaving, or perhaps because a small part of the lake was between the road and the islet they were on, the cow stopped and returned to the others. We drove on.
Our last sighting was a Wild boar in the distance running fast as we returned to the field site. A delicious dinner as usual, and Manoj drove the boys back to our quarters.
First night of some pretty amazing wildlife...,
- David
Our last sighting was a Wild boar in the distance running fast as we returned to the field site. A delicious dinner as usual, and Manoj drove the boys back to our quarters.
First night of some pretty amazing wildlife...,
- David
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