We traveled higher into the mountains. We were going to Munnar Wildlife Sanctuary.
We passed by a waterfall as we went up.
After a few hours, we reached what looked like the entrance of the Camp.
The sign of the building said “Disaster Management Center”, but it looked like a welcoming building to me. We had come a long way to think of disasters at this point.
We passed by a white haired young man sitting at the side. Just a few feet away sat an equally bored monkey, also white haired.
A sign showed that there were a lot of things to do in this mountain.
We checked into our Camp. There were others who were there, but it was a small camp.
After leaving our things in our rooms, we decided to do what we were expected to do: look for game. This was going to be exciting, if we will be successful. The roads were very narrow, a cemented road good enough for two jeepneys. We passed a jeep with people looking for game. Our guide has been here many times. From my Kenya experience, you had to look for the watering holes if you wanted to spot animals. Animals always went there to drink and bathe.
We were excited to see our first deer. Then another with his family. Then another. Pictured above was my favorite shot: a deer with antlers, and gorgeous spotted smooth skin. A lemur shot up a tree, but he was too fast for my camera to catch it. We drove on. A peacock! It had a bright blue head with a crown, black-and-white wings, and a green tail. When it fluffed out the feathers, the peacock was a sight to behold.
We went on to see more animals. Would we ever get to see an elephant? Just when the sun was slowly going down, an elephant appeared from our left! We got out our cameras ready and started shooting this video.
We were so happy to have been able to catch an elephant up close. In a few minutes, more elephants appeared, all eager to get to the watering hole that was across the street from where our jeep lay. The guide was happy that his customers were happy. It was worth all the trip up the mountain! You can tell that I was taking a video, since you can see my green jade bracelet taking the video. But my camera wouldn’t save it to my directory because my storage was too small.
The guide and my companions decided to have a celebration dinner! We were going to have roasted chicken with beer, in addition to the usual rice and condiments. They put out a bonfire in front of our rooms, but I stayed inside my room, worried about dengue and similar sicknesses. My hosts couldn’t understand why I was so worried about getting bitten by a mosquito. But they accepted my explanation that “local mosquitoes” would probably be thrilled to bite an “imported” blood. So I should keep inside where there were less mosquitoes who will target my unusual blood. Honestly, the locals just ignored the mosquitoes. I saw the pests everywhere: in the city hotels, in the rural hotels, in the camp. But you could tell that the mosquitoes in India did not feel threatened by the locals. They were easy to kill. The mosquitoes that lived with people who killed them instantly on sight, usually were quick to evade being killed.
When we left the camp, we went to a building that showed a lot of things that the Munnar Sanctuary wanted to do: preserve the cultures of the two tribes who were there, provide skills to the tribesmen so that they could be economically capable in the fast modernizing world, and for the tourists, to show the archeological heritage of this part of India. Ecotourism was the key word.
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