One morning we went to the forest department office in Munnar (online bookings don’t take foreign cards) and booked 2 nights in the Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary: One night in Koottar log house in the north of the park and the other at Thoovanam log house in the south of the park.

The next day at 10:30am we took a local Kerala bus for 60 km from Munnar to the northern check-point. The bus was rather full, but we got seats and it only cost us 150 rupees in total for 2.

North Side

Upon arrival we nicely paid the fee of 4630 rupees in cash (no signal for POS-termials, so cash only) for the first night. We could buy ourselves a cheap lunch before we were allocated 2 tribal guides who took us to our house. The path was very nice by the river; we were hoping to see some elephants drinking, but only their poop was present.

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The house was very nice, looked new and smelled really good. There was even an attached toilet with a sink – luxury I didn’t expect. I tested out the bed immediately with a nap, as I was finding it hard to stay awake. Probably a side effect of the Nepalese motion sickness pill I took to survive the bus ride. The ride is very curvy and the bus driver is going fast, which means he also breaks a lot so the pill was necessary. The next day when moving between the check-points that are 10km apart a woman went to the back of the bus and threw up from the last window, so not an easy ride.

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We took an afternoon walk with one of the guides to spot some animals. He was trying very hard looking through his binoculars, but none were around. I fully understand them: It’s hot and they’d rather nap in a bush. I wish I was doing the same. But need to walk around to burn off a bit of the Indian fat I have accumulated on my tummy.

The guides understood our questions, their English was good enough. Apparently there is no census on the animal count in the sanctuary.

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In the evening we had black tea and then dinner on our porch around 7:30pm. I don’t think the guides cooked it there. Curry was cold and rice slightly warm. It would make sense to bring it from the main house kitchen, as it’s easy distance to walk, rather than going through all the hassle on an open fire.

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After dinner we were observing the fireflies flying around and discussed our plan going forward, what will V do when I’m at the Vipassana, the difficulties in space theory and the anti-matter world in the pre-bang era etc.

The guides wanted to go to sleep at 9pm and their sleeping area was apparently our porch, so they kicked us to bed. I was already in bed reading Shantaram, remembering our days in Mumbai, but V would have probably wanted to stay out a lot longer. It was nice and warm, beautiful around. If you have such house for the night you would want to enjoy it to the max.

Wake up was 6:30 and they guides handed black tea to us shortly after 7.

We started hiking ca 30 minutes past 7. One can call it a hunt for the animals, except with our full backpacks and the heat the hunt gets pretty sweaty very quickly.

We heard elephants and our guide passed us his binoculars and told where to look. There was a herd of them. They were on the ridge of the mountain in front of us, so pretty small even in the binoculars. Interestingly, I’d expect to see the elephants also with the naked eye, but you can’t tell them apart from he bushes even if you know where they are. We moved forward and heard the noise of a bison, but he was hiding in the bushes. After some viewpoints we arrived at the main house for breakfast at 10am.

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After a traditional Keralan breakfast and stocking up on the tasty sweets we discovered on sale for 5 rupees a piece the day before we caught the bus to the southern check-point. Bus was supposed to come at 11, but was there 10:48, so good thing we were warned to stand there earlier.

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The ticket seller took great interest to us and spoke excellent English. And mentioned he had a masters degree in something. How does such a talented person end up being a bus ticket salesman?

South Side

At the southern check-point things seemed a bit less organised, they didn’t have a restaurant with a kitchen either. So we again paid the same 4630 rupees in cash, filled out some papers with out details and waited. We then got 4 bottles of water and a guide and started walking.

The path was even nicer than the day before. In the jungle, we saw a bison move in the bushes, a big furry squirrel and had to take our shoes off to cross the river to our house.

It was right next to the waterfall, with a view at it, exactly as promised. So beautiful, what an amazing place to call home for the night.

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We went for a shower and swim in the waterfall. The guide came with us in the beginning and pointed out a deep spot in the pool. I thought he showed ‘deep can swim here’. But apparently it was ‘deep do NOT swim here’. 😀 Luckily V understood his body language better, no english was spoken. We sunbathed a bit, had another waterfall shower and went back hoping lunch would be ready.

We were waiting for the lunch and nothing happened until at 15:45 random foods started piling in. V asked the guy at some point about lunch, and he said he’s waiting for his friend. It was unclear when the friend would arrive. We were promised lunch, dinner and breakfast at the log house.

Then at 15:45 some other guy had turned up and asked if we want bread, jam and banana now. It was food so we didn’t decline. Asked when is lunch, he said 5-5:30, so we realised there’s likely only 1 meal today. Then they also brought us some oranges. A weird, but good appetizer: Breakfast for dinner.

We stuffed ourselves with rice, pappadam and veg curry when it arrived at 17:15. Was very tasty and hot as they cooked it in front of us. We were very surprised when after our meal the guy asked if we want chapati for dinner. There is a dinner?? What time? At ca 9pm. Oupsi. After the guys ate their meals we cancelled the dinner as it was not necessary.

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There was no afternoon walk today, so we read books and I wrote the blog. V observed the many fireflies once it got dark, we watched a movie and went to sleep to get a good view of the animals at 6am.

The alarm didn’t go off, or maybe we slept through it. But luckily my body was so excited to see the animals it decided to check the time at 6:20. We went outside expecting the guides to be waiting and were ready to apologise. They were all still asleep on our porch. They then got up and started doing something, we announced we are ready to go see the animals. Our guide then grabbed a pink blanket to keep himself warm, discussed with the older guy something, seemed like the question was where to take us, and we head off for a walk by the river.

It was clear that a bison had been drinking there not so long ago. He also showed us places where elephants have been rubbing against trees and rocks. The experience was day and night compared to the previous day: no machete, no binoculars, a bright pink blanket. But at least we were looking for the animals around us in the bushes. It would have been glorious to see them there. Except there were none to be seen, again.

We returned to the house to have breakfast as it was promised to be ready by 8am. When I’m promised food at a certain time I like it to be there on time. Especially after an early start and a walk. But we got nothing till ca 8:45. Once we got it, the dish we didn’t know what it will be, it was actually tasty.

We told the main guy speaking english that we need to leave latest at 9:30, as we need to make the 11 o’clock bus. He said something about there being a public holiday today and tomorrow, about a bus at 10am (that we clearly missed) but we didn’t fully get what’s happening. They kept cooking food, which we didn’t understand why, as we had breakfast already. Probably the dinner we didn’t have last night.

At 9:30 the guy tells me our guide still needs to eat so we need to wait. I ask how long, like 10 minutes, he replies no more like 20. Then we get a bit tense and tell him we agreed LATEST at 9:30, and there was the breakfast food so how is it that he still needs to eat. We say that we know the way, so can we just go alone then, which he tells me will look bad at the check-point if we show up without a guide. So then by 9:40 they agree the 3rd guy to escort us back. We are happy, keep pace and we reach back in ca 45-50 minutes.

Getting out and forward

We then got the last pieces of the puzzle: there is a public holiday for 2 days because the trade union is on strike and no bus is driving in the whole state till the next evening 6pm. Now we understand why the guy was so relaxed and didn’t care about the 11am bus, as there was none.

So we sat there, discussing what to do. We were told a water truck sometimes passes by, which could give us a ride to the nearest city. V tried to hitchhike, but all the passing cars were full. Then our guide and another young man went to pick up a second motorcycle and gave us a thrilling lift to the closest city for 100 rupees. Amazing!

As soon as we got off there were tuktuk drivers there offering their services. When we said we actually want to go to Alleppey, which is 250km away, one guy said he will do it. On a tuktuk for 250km? No thank you. ☺️

Then another guy told us to jump on, that for 20 rupees he’ll take us to the bus station. He made some calls on the way and told us we can take a jeep to our destination. Upon arrival in the bus station it was packed with jeeps, the friend showed up and said he can take us. We tried to negotiate on the price, but didn’t get much off due to the strike and no bus service so paid 4800 rupees and we had an open jeep with a driver and the organiser with Indian music pumping. They really know how to make things work in a random situation and do it quick, just a couple of phone calls and all sorted.

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When we got to the city the guys were confused where to go and ended up going round a bit. So upon arrival the organiser first tried to get the toll fee extra from us, 45 rupees. Come on, wtf. We said no, we agreed on a fixed fee. “Sir, but you can pay.” It was ridiculous. When we didn’t budge he then asked to cover the “extra” cost of circling around the city for 3km, which was their fault of not being able to read Google maps. For the good 7 hour ride, he really ruined the thing within the last 5 minutes of trying to milk us unsuccessfully. With the agreed amount they left, we checked in and went for a swim on the beach.