Grasshills and Topslip

Although I just wanted get out of town to go hiking, my host (the serious photographer in the pictures, click here) and the local guides made sure that I learned a lot about a national park like those I used to read about in National Geographic. For me, it was also great to see that buzz words from those old articles--ecotourism, sustainability, anti-poaching--can be implemented without a lot of fanfare.

The first day was spent walking and driving past the tea plantations edging the park and going into and throughout the Grasshills, a windy plateau of grasslands, much cooler than the searing summer heat of the plains below. A wooded dell sometimes becomes large enough to be called a "shola", which can support its own entire ecosystems, including a wide range of large mammals.

The remaining two days were spent down in the thicker forested areas, high- and low-altitude rain forests and deciduous forests. Though my Tamil knowledge is poor, it was enough to kid around with my local trail guides, usually local guys who have lived up here all their lives and can effortlessly point out every bird, rodent, and animal dangling from the treetops. My success rate of photographing animals was very low, but click here for the wildlife photos that turned out. We saw several species of monkeys, birds, and deer, as well as large mammals such as Asian elephants (domestic and wild), snakes, dhol/whistling dogs, giant squirrels, gaur/bison, and a leopard lounging calmly by the side of the road at twilight. Even without seeing them, the cicadas were a constant presence, whirring loudly with varying songs from valley to valley.