Adventure & Wildlife Magazine - Vol 1|Issue 5-6| Nov 16 - Jan 17 Vol 2 | Issue 1 | Mar - May 2017 | Page 48

ADVENTURE & WILDLIFE
A sojourn to Valparai!
The Ghat Section, I adore !!
Karthik B (Srinath)
T he traveler in me craved for a much needed short,
simple, and a worthy trip… that’s how I just decided
to go to Valparai in the month of August, 2016 with my
friends. An interesting little hill station specked with tea
plantations all over was the ideal getaway. The pleasant
place overpowers you with its unpolluted appeal and it
feels like you have entered the realms of heaven. But It occurred in August, 2016, where we,
namely Merlin, Anand, and I wandered into the side of
Western Ghats unexplored by us before. The trip was
such a strange affair to us, who always loved to see wild
creatures in open, just in front of our vehicle, barely 20 to
30 steps from us, strolling in front of us was a Gorgeous
Leopard!
With mountains covered with lush green fauna, and hazy
drapes of fog and mist hanging all over, I never wanted
to wake up from the fantastic dreamscape that we were
in for 2 entire days. In one of the winding turns, we came
across the State Animal of Tamil Nadu, The Nilgiri Tahr.
This endemic wild goat is also known as Varaiaadu in the
local Language. That was one moment where the three of us, lost
ourselves totally and were looking at each other’s eyes. A
Leopard!!! Sitting majestically in the middle of the busy
Ghats section road!! That night we wanted to spend all
our time on these roads which are usually busy during
the day time. It wasn’t one leopard which we witnessed;
it was 5 leopards we encountered on the trip! The
highlight of the trip was, we could see a leopard stalking
and trying to make a kill on porcupines.
Awakening early to the singing birds, my heart slurped
up all the enchanting shades of the morning sky even
as the sun was just ascending in the skyline. As far back
as my youth, at whatever point I got an opportunity to
go on a holidaying trip with my family on the roads of
Western Ghats, I took it….
With the Lion Tailed Macaque’s giving us some
dazzling sights, the Malabar Whistling Thrush
invited us to Ghat areas with their trademark whistles, the
elephants charging at us and the Indian Gaur was
likewise one of the creatures who welcomed us
There are signboards in the ghat roads, with a silhouette quietly with their kind gaze…. Wild encounters!! Many
painting of creatures, forewarning us of their presence, memories of the Lands of Mountains, with carpeted
saying “Leopard crossing, go slow”. I had always giggled with Lush greenery!! The Trip to Valparai through the
insidiously at those boards thinking all these were only ghats was worth it…
for name purpose.
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Vol 2|Issue 1|Mar - May 2017