Road Trip

          I have been on the road for the last 5 days and have viewed the rolling green hills of the Coorg plateau in northern Kerala, coffee and tea plantations and almost the whole route of the NH17 that starts in Bombay reaching all the way to Kochi.
         The drive has been an eye opening experience and I have learned a lot. I now have a more accurate idea of how long a journey takes between major cities in India. The roads I travelled have not been that bad, the worst part was yesterday when we were crossing the border from Kerala into Karnataka; a very dusty and bumpy drive and it took us more than 1 hour to cover only 20km, quite frustrating after a long day of sitting in a car. At the moment I have finished the route of “Ride to the Sunny South” and I am heading back to Goa where I catch my return fight to Bombay and continue back home to London.I will definitely need to change some things on my route and so I have some more to do!!
         I had the best experience in Wayanad. We arrived in the early evening around 7.30 PM just after sunset and had a quick stop to grab a bite to eat at Tholpetty wildlife sanctuary entrance. There were some vendors who sold all kinds of local items like bamboo rice and sandalwood soap. I got myself some raw honey from the forest and coffee powder for the office J and lucky as I was I got to see a wild male elephant with huge stusks standing around a corner. I was so happy I got to see that! The next morning I went to visit Jungle Retreat and met Anil, the owner of Jungle Retreat in Thirunelly and a big wildlife lover. He shared with me some great ideas for when we would arrive with a group. For example visit a local tribe and go trekking in the forest with a guide. And he even shared breakfast; tasty local rice pancakes and coconut curry. He told me the guide had found tiger paw prints at the edge of the forest and if I would like to go and see it? – Of course!
When we reached at the edge Rajen the guide explained that when you see a tiger or a leopard you should stare it in the eyes and be very quite. But when you encounter a sloth bear or elephant you should quickly retreat and run. ( I was getting a bit nervous by than) November and March is the best times to see a tiger because it is their time to mate. Thank god nothing crazy happened and I got safe back to the cottages of the retreat. I did get a photo of the paw print look closely as it is difficult to see.

India has 1576 official languages. In Bombay they speak Marathi in Goa Konkani, in Karnataka Kannada and in Kerala Malayalam.  4 totally different languages and so asking for road direction sometimes was a challenge even when the driver speaks kannada and Konkani his pronunciation was making me laugh every time he asked for directions. First to tell you a road trip in India is a challenge all by itself. The way the people drive; zig-zagging between potholes, cows and other road participant is one thing but over taking on a slope in a curve with no view is a whole different thing. To be honest you get used to it after a while. We as westerners are not used to driving the way the locals do. They have absolute control of the situation and think they are good drivers.
I will assure you I will look for the best driver there is and I will hit him in the head if he doesn’t drive slowly.

After being away for so many days I checked my mails today and noticed Tracy and Conrad have been a bit worried as they couldn’t get in touch with me.  OOPPPSS…..  All is well this side. Just 4 more days left and then this recce will be coming to an end L

Thanks for reading check for some pictures at the photos button!

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