Wild boars of Parambikulam

So, what is a social group of wild boars called?

"Sounders", says Wikipedia!

Everyone had good sightings of sounders of wild boars at Parambikulam. One lot trudged past our dormitory morning and evening, their snouts in the ground foraging for anything they could find to eat. They really do eat anything edible I believe - omnivores of the highest order!
Nice mohawk isn't it?
Occasionally, they would lift their snouts and sniff out our alien presence, which I thought was rather endearing.

They are fierce creatures, though, and I've heard stories of MNS members being charged by them. Sudhakar gave us a particularly graphic account of being stuck in a nullah within eyeball distance of one, with both man and boar wanting to flee. (He straddled the walls of the nullah and the boar went charging through the tunnel of his legs!!)

Wikipedia says:

If surprised or cornered, a boar (particularly a sow with her piglets) can and will defend itself and its young with intense vigor. The male lowers its head, charges, and then slashes upward with his tusks. The female, whose tusks are not visible, charges with her head up, mouth wide, and bites. Such attacks are not often fatal to humans, but may result in severe trauma, dismemberment, or blood loss.

The greatest headbanger of them all

Having just seen all those woodpeckers in Parambikulam crazily banging their heads, I thought this article was very well-timed!

Woodpecker's head inspires shock absorbers

"A woodpecker's head experiences decelerations of 1200g as it drums on a tree at up to 22 times per second. Humans are often left concussed if they experience 80 to 100g, so how the woodpecker avoids brain damage was unclear. So Sang-Hee Yoon and Sungmin Park of the University of California, Berkeley, studied video and CT scans of the bird's head and neck and found that it has four structures that absorb mechanical shock.

These are its
hard-but-elastic beak;
a sinewy, springy tongue-supporting structure that extends behind the skull called the hyoid;
an area of spongy bone in its skull;
and the way the skull and cerebrospinal fluid interact to suppress vibration."

Read the article for more details.

The Parambikulam poem

Frogmouths and hornbills I hoped to see
but the forest teaches you
that what will be, will be.

Parambikulam was our destination,
in our MNS Pongal peregrination.
Up in the Western Ghats is the sanctuary,
a hot spot of floral and faunal diversity.
A 450 year old teak called kanimara
A Southern Birdwing, I marveled at. The shola
Do we realize we have this treasure,
Its worth to us, beyond measure?

Lost New Yorkers and Naturalists seasoned,

a doc on sabbatical and a writer of fiction,

researcher retired, the children enlivened,

our MNS "herd', a local attraction!

Roshan amused us with snake lores galore

Rohan wanted idlis and puris, some more

Uttara yelled in the cold shower with "delight"

and Vish thought she was in a big fight!

Then, Selvam guided us to the frogmouth pair,
An endemic to the ghats, in their lair.
What an endearing sight they made
Leaf-like, in order to detection, evade.

That large, strange gape helps them hunt at night,

Below the forest canopy in quiet flight.
This Youtube video shows you the frogmouth, Sri Lanka
As also this post in my favourite blog from Gallicissa.

While Pranav continued his quest for crawlies,

Vijay thought we would have leech difficulties,

But instead, Mini had ticks more than forty!

Which her dad picked out, before they turned warty.

He also removed the dead rat from our loo

While Dhruva was revealing sides to us we never knew!

Meanwhile, Raji & Raji discussed music and dance

with Kamini, in this most unlikely ambience.

Outside the dorm was the Malabar Whistling Thrush
Its plaintive call heard from the brush.
An Asian Fairy Bluebird, and woodpeckers a plenty
Nut Hatch, treepie, barbets and hill mynahs, more than twenty!
And boars sporting mohawks, their snouts a-twitching
And Nilgiri langurs, their black coats, so fetching!

The gaurs and hornbills decided to keep away

though we looked hard, day after day.

Sheila was fascinated with all the scat

Porcupine, bear, boar and cat!

Mr Sivakumar's record shot did not help resolve the debate

was that Wagtail grey or yellow, my mate?

Shantaram and me made bird lists, meticulous

In this way, it was not left ambiguous.

Eighty two bird species in all we sighted

And tree names also were noted.

Memories of those vistas, I will carry with me

friends, family and happy camaraderie

forest, flower, bird, animal and tree

how I wish we could all let them be.

Let me learn to consume wisely

be responsible and not exploit blithely.

Clean air and freshwater free

For our children and grandchildren and all eternity.

Ten bird species I had never seen before -

• Pompadour green pigeon - what a lovely, musical call!
• Sri Lanka Frogmouth - I was so looking forward to this, and when I think about them now, it still amazes me. If the guide had not actually told me where to look, I just would not have seen them!
• Brown capped pygymy woodpecker - there were actually a couple in the trees just outside the dorm, so one morning I had my heart's fill of viewing them zipping from tree to tree.
• Great black/white-bellied woodpecker - what an amazing, spectacular looking bird!
• Heart-spotted woodpecker - brought a smile to all of us I remember, as he/she pecked furiously and went round and round the trunk, hanging upside down at some point, but still pecking away.
• Small minivets - brilliant flashes of colour
• White-bellied treepie - The white nape and belly, striking when it flew past
• Velvet-fronted Nuthatch - out in the forest, it kept disappearing around the tree trunk, but I had a good look in the trees outside the dorm as well. When my son first heard the name, he heard it as "natraj", and was amazed that the bird had such an Indian name!!
• Asian Fairy Bluebird - It posed for us, like some fashion model on the Vogue cover! With the sun falling on it, it was a brilliant view!
• Chestnut Tailed Starling - there was a tree full of them one evening.

Memorable butterflies

• Southern birdwing
• Jezebel
• Gladeye bushbrown

Parambikulam, here we come

Off we go, with the usual chaos of waitlisted tickets.


View Larger Map

Map of Parambikulam Willife Sanctuary

Here's what the Official Website of the Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary has to say:

Tucked away in the valley between the Anamalai ranges of Tamil Nadu and the Nelliampathy ranges of Kerala on the majestic Western Ghats is the Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary.This virgin valley that is the pride of Palakkad district is a glorious tribute to untouched nature.The reservoir harbours several varieties of aquatic fauna including mugger crocodiles that are often seen sunning on its banks.

Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary is the most protected ecological piece of Anamalai sub unit of Western Ghats, surrounded on all sides by protected areas and sanctuaries of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the sanctuary is endowed with a peninsular flora and fauna which are excellently conserved due to total protection and minimal human interferences. The sanctuary being a major ecological continuum from Peechhi to Eravikulam through Anamalai aids the large viable populations of wildlife. It is the home ground for different races of indigenous people who are as well an integral part of the prevailing harmonious ecosystem. The thick, opulent habitat of the sanctuary with ample water supplys make it an abode for wildlife and there by for tourist who can have treasured memories of animal sightings and that of being in the lap of mother nature

Western Ghats is one of the world’s 34 bio diversity hotspots. While considering the abundance of Wildlife and the adorable beauty of Nature, Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary is perhaps the most attractive piece of wilderness in the entire stretch of Western Ghats. Thus it is popularly revered as ‘Nature’s own abode’. It has a total area of 285 Sq. Kms.

I am looking forward to catching a glimpse of the broad-billed roller, hornbills and please oh please a frogmouth. The sanctuary is also home to the Tarantula spider, which doesn't live in a web, but in a burrow in the sand or in trees. I hope Pranav our insect wonderkid helps us spot one.

There are also 34 species of butterflies classified as "rare and endemic".

Lets hope the Pongal weekend works well!

Frogmouths, leech socks, rain and puttu.

The north-east monsoon is well and active over the Bay of Bengal, but one would think that that is no reason for Kerala on our western coast to get rain, isn't it?

But rain it did, poured according to all accounts, and the MNS group that went to Thattekad and the Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary had their full share of leeches, spiders, birds, lush green trees, flowing rivers and butterflies.

No, I did not go, (Boo hoo!) was attempting to be a responsible parent, you see. Anyways, Mr Ramanan has taken some fabulous (as always) pictures, and Vijay has written this most entertaining and thorough account. (Please note how each meal has been detailed to add to my envy, and leech inconveniences happily glossed over!)

(Actually, the group went well armed with "leech socks" - a kind of canvas covering for the legs all the way up to the knees.)

Click on any of the photos for a larger view.
View of the valleys - Photo by Mr Ramanan
White cheeked barbet - Photo by Mr Ramanan

Vijay's report:

"16 of us boarded the Thiruvananthapuram Mail amidst pouring rain on the evening of Friday, Nov. 6, 2009. ABEL - a spacious bus - piloted by Unni awaited us at Aluva Station on Saturday morning. In about 90 minutes we were at the Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary at Thattekkad. After dumping our stuff in the dormitory and downing a quick breakfast of Idli and Kadalakkuutan, we trekked off into the Sanctuary upto the Watchtower with our very knowledgeable guides Sudheesh and Mani (pronounced Maa-ni).
Racket tailed drongo - Photo by Mr Ramanan

The trees are gigantic...the cheeni (tetramulus nudiflora) towering nearly a 100 feet in height with a base, to encircle which would need atleast 5 persons to link hands. We parked ourselves atop a broad rocky surface and our binocs began chasing the numerous birds which flew hither and thither gleefully beckoning us to play 'catch'. Butterflies too flitted around gaily. The morning ended with the sighting of a pair of Sri Lankan Frogmouths.

Sri Lanka Frogmouth. The male is more grey and the female more rufous - Photo by Mr Ramanan
The female frogmouth. Their call is supposed to sound like chuckles! - Photo by Mr Ramanan

After a sumptuous lunch and rest we were off again early evening to another part of the Sanctuary that led us to a view-point that gave us a splendid vista of the Western Ghats. We could not spend much time here as it began raining quite heavily and so we were back sooner than planned to the dormitory. Dinner was Rice Kanji, Kappa, Cheru Payaru, Pickles and Pappadam. We retired early as we had planned an early morning trip to Kallippara - 6 Kms. away. Around 11 pm the rains became harder, and continued to be so till 8 am Sunday morning.

The dormitory had a tin roof and so we experienced 'thundering rain'. The din however completely drowned the loud sounds of the inevitable snores. Fortified by a breakfast of Aapam and Veg Curry, we set off by bus to Kallippara, so called because of its rectangular shape. We were rewarded with the sighting of the Crimson-backed Sunbird. Sunday evening, we trekked across the Periyar River to the other side of the Sanctuary looking for the Barred Jungle Owlet and ended up seeing one fly overhead (we did see a couple more though very clearly the next morning).

Little blue kingfisher - Photo by Mr Ramanan
Monday morning was bright and sunny and so we caught a bus and went off 14 Kms. away and trekked to a place called Knacheri. The canopy here was awesome. On our return we saw the Malabar Trogon and the reconstructed Bhagavathy Temple. The reconstruction has been done atop the old Temple remains. We came back famished and the Nool Puttu and Veg Stew awaiting us vanished in no time.
Indian Pitta from below! - Photo by Mr Ramanan
Mid-day saw all of us in various attire scrambling to sight the Indian Pitta, and to our good fortune we also saw the Orange-headed Groundthrush. Kuttikkal was our destination for the evening - the place is so named because it is at this spot that the Periyar and the Edamalayar meet. Further downstream is the old Boothathankettu - a Dam of just big rocks - our destination for Tuesday morning.
Male Asian Fairy Bluebird - Photo by Mr Ramanan

The overnight rain ruled out Boothathankettu and instead, on a very cloudy Tuesday (Nov. 10) morning we trekked 10 Kms. inside the Sanctuary right upto its boundary called Ovungal/Kolumbu. We birded from atop Anachathappara, so called because an elephant is known to have died here. The remains of a Shiva Temple, several centuries old and the watchers' home on the banks of the Periyar were the stops on the trek. Before we began the trek, we were lucky to see the pair of Brown Hawk Owls back at their usual roosting place. They had been chased away by the Bonnet Macaques on Sunday morning. After a late breakfast, we hung around the dormitory and at the bottom of the steps to the Periyar River, rested a bit and began desultorily packing.
The River Periyar flows through the sanctuary - Photo by Mr Ramanan
Soon after lunch, the rains came down in torrents and barely let up to allow us board ABEL to go to Aluva to board the Chennai Mail back.

A rock agama - Photo by Mr Ramanan
Dr. Sugathan, the resident Ornithologist, who was also a close aide of Dr.Salim Ali, said that since the lake inside the Sanctuary had no water this year, the migratory water birds came, stayed for 2 days and went away.

Despite losing around 10 hours of good birding time over 2 days, we still recorded 110 species of birds and around 40 species of butterflies."

A wood spider - - Photo by Mr Ramanan

Aren't the spiders grand?

Looks like they had a great cook as well! (For those unfamiliar with Kerala cuisine, puttu, aapam, etc are all local staples, and highly recommended!)

And the frogmouths do have strange-looking mouths!

The Whistling Thrush Bungalow at Nelliyampathy

The Bungalow

Now, that's what I call a name! So intrigued was I with the images of this little bungalow, tucked away in a sleepy hill town, surrounded by woods, birds, meadows and fresh air, that I dragged my unsuspecting husband and son to the hamlet of Nelliyampathy in Kerala and on to the Whistling Thrush Bungalow!

This is not recent, its another 2006 story, but I'm bored with work, the weather outside is conducive to story-telling, and so the regurgitation.

Getting there

Nelliyampathy is a Kerala hill station, a plantation town really, with coffee and cardamom plantations. We took the train to Coimbatore, though Palakkad would've been closer. We were picked up there by a cab, accompanied by the estate manager Mr Subramaniam Pillai, a serious gent - more about him later, though. Anyway, the driver Razzak was quite a speedking, and we all studiously looked out through the side windows!

From Coimbatore to Palakkad was about 45 mins, then without getting into the city, we drove straight on via Kodayur, Nemmara to Nelliyampathy. The hill drive was about an hour, from the Pothundy dam, which was very scenic, and Japanese-like.
Vistas on the way up

Pothundy dam

The hill road was pretty dicey, with most places only allowing a single vehicle, though the PWD was at work trying to broaden it. (I wonder if its been done now.) We saw one vehicle in the ravine below ... pretty hairy. Anyway, in the hills, Mr Razzak drove more cautiously, while giving us a cheerful commentary on all the various kinds of accidents seen along the way!!

I think the local Keralite has a penchant for the gory, and recount such stories with great relish!

The Bungalow is named after the Malabar whistling thrush, not a very impressive looking bird, very shy, but with a lovely call that makes you go looking for it. When we visited, the staff included Justin the cook, Vishalu the housekeeper and Sunil, our guide on walks. All would rattle off in Malayalam, while we grinned idiotically not having understood a word of what they said. We occupied one room, which had an attached bath, with running hot and cold water, a clean double bed, large windows which looked out into the garden. We also had use of the sitting room, a verandah, and our meals were in the dining room.







The garden of the bungalow had lovely crotons, flowers and a little enclosed lawn, where my son practised his diving catches and many a mini cricket match took place in our stay.

A grey wagtail would come every morning while we had coffee and rummage on the lawn for its breakfast, its tail furiously bobbing up and down. The bungalow was in the midst of a coffee and cardamom plantation, and tree pies, malabar parakeets and langurs would make a racket all through the day.








Workers were busy with cardamom harvesting as well. The pods are found at the base of the plant, and the workers have to root among the thick undergrowth to get at them. The humidity of the pantation makes if a happy hunting ground (quite literally) for leeches. The red berries of the coffee vines also looked ready for picking.

Above in the trees, a paper wasp colony had built a nest. When we looked at the nest through our binoculars, we could see the hive teeming with the wasps, which convert dead wood into these hives, mixing the material with their saliva.

Uh oh, leeches!
Morning came and Sunil decided to take us for a walk of the estate. He made us apply a mixture of tobacco and coconut oil and dettol on our legs, to keep the leeches away. My husband, like a hero decided not to use this, and on his son's advice they both tucked their pants into their socks and felt very safe from the leeches!! (For your information, Sunil was in a lungi hitched up over his knees, so bare legs and chappals!! Claimed he had used dettol.)

So we set out through the plantation, looking around and enjoying the amazing variety in shades of green. A mushroom-laden log lay by the side of the track, and down below we could see a little stream, through the trees of the plantation.



At this point, I happenned to look down at my shoes and let out a yelp - my shoes were crawling with leeches. And so were husband's and son's - and not one on the bared legs of Mr Sunil! Anyway, he calmly flicked them off us, even took a few and carefully put them away among the leaves in the undergrowth. I thought to myself this is the height of environental friendliness, I mean why doesnt he just kill them off? Only later did I realise that they cant be killed off by stepping on - I did try it - or bashing them! They need to be drowned in salt! My first encounter with these creatures.

I must say our ten year old son took all this with great equanimity, saying how he had already been through this in Coorg! After that, the walk was never the same - nervously looking at our shoes every now and then, and the husband urging us to move on and not stop and stare.

So we quickly went past the waterfall, where 2 men were bathing in their chaddis, while the wives looked on very unimpressed, up to the cardamom curing unit - where we got some respite because it was all bricked up and leeches dont like bricks you see. Then up to the top of the little waterfall, and onto the check dam.







Sunil then decided to bring us back through the wilder part of the estate, and we literally ran back, as the undergrowth was just crawling with leeches!! To further my belief about the locals sense of gore, Vishalu proceeded to tell us about how the plantation workers get bitten by leeches near the eyes, on the head, etc. Anyway what a way to earn a living, its no wonder they're having labour scarcity. I shall respect the yelakkai much more from now.

On our return to the bungalow, we all removed our shoes, which were crawling with leeches, Sunil calmly comes by with some salt that he puts on the ground, adds some water, and then one by one puts the leeches in it. Can you believe they were dead in less than 10 seconds? Inspite of all this drama, my son and I escaped unbitten, but husband, who had refused to put repellant did have a bite, and was given a lecture by Sunil. I must say, my good stoic husband did not enjoy it in the least, and declined all further invitations out of the estate!! Our son "comforted" him, and said dont worry daddy, it will stop bleeding (leeches inject some anti-coagulant so the wound bleeds more than a regular hurt).

Hungry after our walk, Justin and Vishalu gave us a sumptuous lunch. Post lunch,
I did go off, smeared with repellant to do some birdwatching - identified atleast 20 species I had never seen before - some really spectacular ones. It was all quite thrilling as my husband had just acquired a new Nikon binocular, which opened our eyes to the world of birds. Small minivets, white-cheeked barbets, racket-tailed drongoes, Malabar parakeets and bank mynahs and tree pies were in plenty. I did have one sighting of the whistling thrush, and a yellow-browed bulbul.

The brave men of my family stayed put in the house and its garden, only coming out for a jeep ride to some view points the next day. There's a place called Sitalakundu, which is like Coakers Walk in Kodai, spectacular views.


Then Sunil proceeded to give us graphic accounts of the various people who've fallen off the cliff! See, what I did tell you!

Mr Pillai saw no humour in our situation, and was rather indignant at our dislike of them leeches. I think he'll make a good president for the Society of Leech Lovers, or a Save the Leech Foundation or some such. For my anti-leech views, I earned a lecture on how leeches only suck the bad blood, are used for traditional medicine, dont pass on anything contagious, etc etc. If you have the stomach for this kind of thing, maybe you should watch Extreme Healing: Leeches in India from National Geographic. My son is fascinated with the clip and watches it over and over again!










While the leech was the primary "adventure", we city slickers also faced a stormy night, without power, and the winds howling through the estate trees. I was glad when morning came, and brought with it some respite from the rain.

The large malabar squirrels also came out, and their call pulled us into the garden.  Lovely, brown coats with a lighter coloured belly, we were lucky to spot a pair of them as they went from tree to tree above us.

Soon, it was time to leave. Our driver going downhill was quite the opposite of Mr Razzak, and we cautiously wound our way down to the plains, reaching Palakkad where there was no power, the roads were full of potholes, and the station had its familiar stench. Armed with freshly fried nendram and tapioca chips, we returned to Madras.

Of course, the veteran MNS members listened in amusement to our first encounter with leeches, having been there done that. And though the whistling thrush bird was a bit of a let down for me, the whole trip, the bungalow and the staff and the mountain terrain of Kerala will draw me back I'm sure.