We weren't expecting much out of today, and our expectations were further lowered when we were told at 6am as we started the trip that all shops in Wayanad district had gone on a two day strike and we wouldn't be able to buy any food.
If I had ever doubted that not driving in India was a good idea, driving before dawn confirmed it was the right decision. How our driver spotted unlit vehicles in our path, how he still overtook on blind bends, I can't explain. All I know is I couldn't do it.
We had to reach Muthanga wildlife reserve entrance before 7am when the ticket office opened, which we did with quarter of an hour to spare. The reason was that the first couple of jeeps see the animals, the following convoy see nothing. We managed to share the second jeep and off into the reserve we went.
Shortly later we saw elephants close up, then an entire herd in the undergrowth. Sambar deer, wild boar, spotted deer and bison followed as we bumped along the rocky road. No tigers though, and altogether less animals than we saw in Yala. Good fun though.
Next we stopped at Sultan Bathery to visit an ancient Jain temple. The town was named after Tipu Sultan who bought cannon from the French in Pondicherry and stored them here, the name being derived from Sultan's Battery. They ended up captured by the British.
The Jain temple was explained by the temple guardian, both he and the driver agreed that the seven chakras or energy points controlled the body, and the religion gave both spiritual and practical guidelines by which to live life. Every stone in the temple, every carving on every stone, seemed to be imbued with meaning.
We found a wayside tea shack where the cook had just prepared some sort of deep fried doughnut delicacies which provided breakfast, then drove to Edakkal caves. These required climbing a kilometer and a half of first steep path and then steps up to and through the first cave. Stainless steel staircases then led upwards to the second. These caves were actually enormous clefts in the gneissic rock spanned and roofed by enormous boulders. On the walls were deep geometric carvings, reminiscent of runes, of unknown age and meaning.
Afterwards we visited the Wayanad Heritage Museum at Ambalavayal. This was a beautifully presented museum of local tribal life and we were taken around and the exhibits explained by a charming cleaning lady.
Lunch followed at Nest 'n Mist, a very clean modern restaurant which gratefully was open.
After lunch we walked for two kilometers at Neeli Mala which means blue hill. For this, apart from our own driver/guide, we needed another guide as it was tribal land. As we walked, there were coffee bushes on one side and tea plants on the other. Pepper vines were being grown too. Further on we came to tribal people building what looked like an irrigation tank, but it wasn't. They were building a temple. Not a Hindu or Jain temple, but a tribal temple to their own gods, as if any further gods could possibly be needed in this country. As we entered forestry land, we acquired a forest guide too. Eventually the five of us reached the view point. It overlooked the valley towards Chembra peak and was spectacular mountain scenery of the Western Ghats.
Finally, we drove to Soochiparra waterfall where a kilometer of walking brought us to an overlook to where scores of excited young Indians were playing at the base of the falls.
Tired but happy, we drove back to the hotel, safe in the knowledge that as house guests we would be fed despite the strike.
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