Elephants :)

9.2.19

We were up bright and early for our hike and bamboo rafting. First we had to go to the tourist police office and pay 475 rupees each for admission to the National Park. The admission is only valid for a day. This was on top of the £18 each charge for the half day tour. It’s one of those annoyances, especially when nationals pay 40 rupees but there it is, you just have to accept it.

We met the rest of our group at Bamboo Grove, 2 young lads from Geneva and 6 young Russians. I did feel like they must have all thought we are really old.

We set off at 10am after signing to say the company has no liability for injuries, death etc and being given back packs with water and our lunch.

The Russians were ridiculously noisy and silly even though the ticket and the guide advise silence in order to have a chance of seeing wildlife.

We moved near the front and the 2 Swiss lads made a joke about the Russians behaviour and that was it, we bonded for the rest of the trip.

We hiked through the forest for 2 hours, trying hard to zone out their noise and appreciate the sounds of the birds and monkeys. Sadly they really did spoil it for us.

When we reached the lake it was time for lunch.

Chickpea curry, chapatis, 2 tiny bananas, a huge banana, an apple and a carton of juice. The curry was lovely and thankfully John had saved 2 plastic spoons from a previous meal. I cannot get my head around eating curry with my hands.

I don’t like bananas but these tiny ones were gorgeous. I was assured that the large one was like eating raw potato so am saving it for the wild boar.

After lunch it was time to board 2 bamboo rafts. Well almost – 2 of the girls decided it was time to do lunges, squats, skipping and jumping. The tranquility of the lake and the birdlife was clearly of no interest to them.

The Swiss guys made a beeline to sit with us on the raft, but the guide had already sensed the atmosphere and put the Russians all together.

They started shouting and arguing with each other while the guide was trying to get their attention about the trip. They really were just dreadful.

Off we went, its very slow and tranquil. Lovely.

Very rarely there are elephants.

We could see some far away in the distance.

But then we were totally blessed to see 2 nearby.

It was wonderful. We moored up and just sat on a small hill and watched for ages. The staff were all as excited as we were.

Then it was time for them to paddle us back over to the other side. As we got off and approached where we had lunch the 2 elephants were walking along our path. One guide went ahead to shoo them away.

The only other animals we saw were some bison.

We walked a slightly different route back and didn’t have to be silent. Ironically the Russian worst offenders were tired and quiet. In fact we think they may have had another fallout.

It was lovely chatting to the 2 lads all the way back about travels. One was only 23 and has travelled so extensively. Iran was one of his favourite places and he says we should go.

Our walk was 13km in total and we all agreed we would have felt very disappointed if we hadn’t seen the elephants.

Said our goodbyes and may spot them in Munnar, they go tonight, we go in the morning.

We had a light shower of rain on the way back and the temperature has really dropped. Its been 30 degrees here and cool enough at night without the fan. Just perfect.

We went off to find a mobile phone repair shop as Johns phone won’t charge again. They tried a new charger and hey presto… Fingers crossed this sorts it now.

We ate the huge pineapple given to us by our host family back at our room. It was good to get the walking boots off and chill.

We are planning to book a taxi through our hosts, it’s 5 hours by bus to Munnar, 3 and a half by car. The roads are apparently even bendier than on the way here. Our hosts aren’t back from their family do yet, hopefully it won’t be too late to sort it when they get back.

We went to Bamboo restaurant as it was highly recommended on Trip Advisor. Lemon chicken wasn’t good at all and cashew naan was a big let down. First meal I haven’t enjoyed in 8 days so that’s not bad going.

Our taxi is all booked via Sibi on Facebook, we set off to Munnar at 8am.