This is yet
another travel tale! This time from Thekkady, Idukki district - Kerala, India.
A trip to
Thekkady is incomplete without visiting the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary.
Inspired by my husband’s induction to the wonders of the jungle, we signed up
for a night trek / jungle patrol in Thekkday. I sheepishly enquired about how
large our trek group was expected to be. “10 including the guards”, came the reply.
Taking comfort in the numbers, I decided to give it a shot.
It was 7 pm.
As luck would have it, none of the others turned up! So there we were, two of
us, two from the patrol team, armed with anti-leech powder, boots, torches and
rain coats; inside the Periyar wildlife sanctuary.
It seemed
like a cake walk along the fringes of the forest, since there was some kind of
lighting from nearby settlements. As we went into the thicket, the rain gods
decided to make things slightly more adventurous. Picture this – rain lashing
down on us, pitch dark, sounds of the jungle and sudden flashes of glistening
eyes of animals. There was this one particular moment, when 4-5 pairs of eyes
were too close for comfort. My heart was pounding and it felt like my temples
would explode. “Deer”, announced the patrol leader.
My husband
helped me a great deal by narrating an incident where he got chased by mad
elephants in an earlier forest trip!!! The guys in the patrol nodded in
agreement and confirmed that was commonplace. Wait, this was not the part where
I freaked out… Read on…
For some
reason I stopped and happened to look down at my feet. That is when pandemonium
struck. Leech!!! All over my boots, crawling up. That was it. I could take it
no more. I had enough adventure for a night. Slimy, bloodsuckers on my feet is
not my idea of adventure. Anti leech powder came to my rescue, not for long
though. Within a few minutes, my boots were back to square one. Since it was
just us, I took the liberty of cutting the trek short and ran back to familiar
surroundings. Phew!
This was one
of those trips that I was very glad to have done, but I know will never repeat.
Anti-leech powder? That alone scares me!
ReplyDeleteOh yeah. Had it not been for my husband, I would have opted out of the trek when I saw the patrol lead pack a huge packet of the powder!
DeleteYeah, I think leeches would have done me in faster than the fear of large carnivores. Definitely sounds like one of those stories where you are miserable/fervently wishing it to be over at the time, but the it makes for great memories and stories to share once you make it out safely. :-)
ReplyDeleteHope you’re having fun with the A to Z challenge,
Jocelyn
True Jocelyn, now that I have lived to tell the tale ;-) it feels nice reminiscing those crazy adventures!
DeleteBrrrrrr!
ReplyDeleteYeah, it was totally EEEEEEW.
DeleteOn a trip to the Gavi forest, we were given leggings to avoid this precisely! :)
ReplyDeleteOh yeah Corinne, we did that too! Here, we were armed with plastic leggings - a part of the rain coat. Did not help much :)
DeleteYikes! You're brave to have even attempted this. Fair play to you :)
ReplyDelete:D Thanks Trish!
DeleteYikes! You're brave to have even attempted this. Fair play to you :)
ReplyDeleteHaha...Still, an adventure is an adventure is an adventure ;)
ReplyDeleteTrue! Nice to talk about it now, ain't it?
Delete