Day 100 (Sun 15 Oct) - Kalpetta (Tholpetty)

Got up at 5.30am after another nights restless sleep.

Met our driver and we drove for about 40mins to a village where we picked up Suresh. Got to the main gates of Tholpetty at 7am. There were a few other carloads of people milling about.

Suresh tried to buy some tickets but was told that because the Governer of Kerala had decided to pay a surprise visit we would have to wait. We hung around thinking that the Governer would pitch up, whizz round the park and be on his merry way. And we waited. Anyway about 10ish the Governer appeared complete with attending ambulance, fire truck and a host of other lesser vehicles. Resisting the urge to lob a brick at the elderly gent we had a huddle and decided that the park might remain closed for most of the day so best to head off and return later.

Decided to go to Kuruva Island, a large evergreen forest reserve. Walked through the forest past massive bamboo trees.

For some reason Suresh decided that we ought to go on a raft across the fast flowing river. We got on and the raftman, using a rope strung across the banks of the river, pulled us across to the other bank. From there we floundered around before making our way back across the river to our starting point. We were a little bemused as to the whole point of this jolly.

During this journey we were sitting on the raft when Sarb spotted a whacking great spider (spanning about 3.5 inches) making its way straight towards him. Without having a regrettable toilet accident or throwing himself into the river Sarb told Jo that there was a rather big spider heading his way and calmly stood up on the raft. The spider by this time had made his way to the edge of the raft and as we looked round for a suitable implement to shove it off, it simply leapt from the side of the raft and skittered away across the fast water. Quite amazing, although we were glad to see the end of him.

Walked on through the forest listening to the burble of the river and birdsong. Very difficult to actually see the birds though.

We passed through a small carpet of plants whose small leaves would actually contract when you touched them. Quite uncanny.

Suresh had organised a local family to provide us with lunch. Jo and I sat outside where we were served a bewildering variety of food on banana leaf plates. Great food and a really friendly family.

After lunch we drove back to Tholpetty hoping that we could get in. Luckily the governer had shoved off so we paid for our tickets and a forest guide. Jo quite rightly then pointed out that our jeep was not very good for spotting wildlife. The back of the jeep was completely covered offering absolutely no visability. So the only visability we had was out the windscreen or from the back of the jeep. Not very good. Sarb sat at the front and Jo, Suresh and the guide were in the back.

(However as we drove round we passed similar vehicles where there must have been at least 10 people crammed in.)

From the start the driver seemed to think that we wanted to see the reserve at about 40 km/h. We asked him to slow down. It turns out that a trip to the reserve actually means that you get to drive round a circular road that should take about 1.5 hours ie. you are not encouraged to stop at a promising spot to wait for wildlife. Bonkers!

Saw some animals though including a bison, monkeys leaping through the trees, wild boar, squirrels and deer.

Drove back to Kalpetta and had dinner in the restaurant downstairs. Everything we ordered seemed to be drenched in the same white sauce. Very odd.

Again it was a very stormy tonight.