Journey Across Southern India

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Saturday, 15 December 2018 - Started the day with a pre-sunrise boat ride to photograph waterbirds and canals, then packed and took the houseboat back to the dock before heading inland toward the hills of Munnar. Along the way we passed rubber plantations, scenic waterfalls like Cheeyappara and Valara, and climbed through tea fields and forests, visited Eravikulam National Park in search of Nilgiri ibex, even spotting one hidden near the trail, and soaked up panoramic views of the high-altitude tea region before arriving in Munnar.

At 6:30PM Cal took a boat for sunrise and shots of birds on the water.

Once on the water the camera which was sitting in the air-conditioned room all night immediately fogged up in the humid morning air. It was 15 minutes before I could take a picture without worrying about the lens.

india2018 — This is the narrow canal we navigated

india2018 — A kingfisher enjoys breakfast

india2018 — Fishing boat

india2018 — The canal we were exploring

india2018 — A bike propped against a tree on the dike

india2018 — Water lilies in the canal

india2018 — Sunrise through the palm trees

india2018 — A yellow kingfisher - with cute little red feet

india2018 — A blue kingfisher

india2018 — One of the water taxis ferrying people from one side to the other

india2018 — A striated heron looking over the marsh

india2018 — Cal docking after his early morning canal trip.

india2018 — Back on the houseboat we traveled up river and spotted a cluster of Indian flying foxes - or fruit bats. They are huge - 3 to 4 pounds.

india2018 — This kingfisher was sitting very still when I started to press the shutter - and the result was a diving bird.

india2018 — A kingfisher on a palm frond

india2018 — A cormorant sunning feathers and letting out a cry

india2018 — Palm trees on the river bank

7:30AM we have breakfast, pack and boat back to the dock. We leave for Munar.

india2018 — Double-crested Cormorant

india2018 — A fisherman using a bow and arrow to spear fish. He shot the bow while we went by, but we did not see if he pulled anything up.

india2018 — A nun walking on the river shore....

india2018 — ... toward this church

india2018 — A bee-eater singing

india2018 — These men are fertilizing the rice field by hand

india2018 — A spilt tail Black drongo.

india2018 — Back on the road as we travel into the mountains to the east.

These are ducks are part of a duck farm.

india2018 — Pala Church Tower - built by the British - maybe?

india2018 — Many rubber tree farms with the cuts to tab into the sap for rubber - the plastic is to protect the sap from the rain.

india2018 — We saw two waterfalls on our climb up the mountain.

Cheeyappara Waterfalls has seven different drops

india2018 — Valara Waterfall on the Deviyar river

india2018 — A man making containers from bamboo reeds

india2018 — We arrive in the tea-growing region - and it is planted everywhere. Here workers are picking the tea leaves - the dark area is the area of tea which has been harvested and the lighter color is tea to be harvested.

india2018 — A road cuts through the tea fields

india2018 — We stop to hike Eravikulam National Park. As we climb the mountain, it looks more like a jungle.

india2018 — A tea field from high up on the mountain

india2018 — Anamudi mountain - the highest mountain in South India. We did not climb to the top but we were pretty high.

india2018 — Virginia Ann spotted this Red-whiskered bulbul.

india2018 — An old electric/telephone line reclaimed by the jungle

india2018 — The park is known for the Nilgiri ibex - we looked and looked but could not see any herds of the ibex. So, we began asking every park ranger we saw to point us to the location of the animal. We learned that they typically come out in the morning. Dejected we headed down the mountain. A Park Ranger ran up to us and said he saw one of the elusive animals. We rushed back up the trail with him and in the brush was an ibex - unfortunately well hidden behind the toilets.

india2018 — On the way down the mountain another picture of the tea plantations.

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