Yesterday we travelled up into the jungle, here to Wayanad. What a contrast from Mysore. Absolute silence except for the wind in the trees and the birds calling. It was a relief to leave the tooting of tuk-tuks. Here, lush green jungle, gardens and farms replace the dust and rubbish of the city. And lazing in hammocks (or watching the grandmas fall out of the hammocks) replaces cooling off in the hotel pool. This place is utterly restful, once you've mastered the art of clambering into the hammock. But not being ones to get overly rested, we all got up at 6am to take a wildlife drive! It was worth the early start as we saw many deer (spotted and the large Samba), three types of monkey, many huge bison and what we were really here to see, elephants. A mother and calf right by the roadside. They crossed within feet of our jeep, the mum driving towards us with a protective look in her eye that saw our driver accelerate away to a safe distance. The homestead we are in here is an organic farm where they grow everything you can think of, literally you could name a tropical fruit or herb and I'm sure they grow it here: avocados, mangoes, pomegranates, passion fruit, pineapple, figs, coffee, vanilla, chillies, mint, cinnamon, coconuts, cashew nuts, pepper, Jack fruit, kiwis, grapefruits, and 14 different types of banana to name a few!. We tried to make it to the circus whilst here, but a huge hailstorm prevented us. Until Wayanad, we have had nothing but sun and searing heat whilst in India, so it was somewhat surprising to be pelted by freezing hailstones whilst lying on our hammocks. My flip-flop were nearly the first casualty as they went sailing off in the torrent of gushing rainfall down the monsoon runoffs, thankfully I rescued them just in time. We leave tomorrow back to the beaches, this time those of Northern Kerala, where my Fidel Castro hat seems to fit right in - there's large support for the communist party in this state, stencils of Che Guevara adorn every lamppost. Let's hope we like it more than we did Cuba, and pray we've seen the last of the hail!
4 Comments
Sunoj
2/5/2017 08:40:10
Nice photos...great description...
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Useful Links to other sites:Authors (in a very loose sense of the word)Kelly and Mikey (but mostly Kelly). We sold up in the UK to travel with our two littluns for a year or so. If you want to know more click the about us! |