Beware Tigers Crossing

Ooty, Tamil Nadu 14 August 2010 9:30pm
The place where I was told I could go for a walk at Bandipur I was prohibited from entering. Also while having lunch at Bandipur I somehow got separated from my phone. Shortly before leaving I took a photo of the hills and then went to buy some biscuits. I was sure the phone was in my pocket or in my bag but half an hour later I realised I didn’t have it. Babu rang it but it diverted immediately to voice mail which means it was switched off and probably now minus the sim card. I rang Fiona who was the only person whose phone number was in my wallet and asked her to ring Vodafone and get the Sim blocked.

I went for the 4pm safari at Bandipur. I saw lots of gaur, a family of elephants, and heard another elephant trumpeting but never saw it. Also saw a woodpoker ( a mammal), a woodpecker , some peacocks, guinea fowl and deer. I also saw a kingfisher an it really is turquoise blue with a red head just as on the Kingfisher Airlines logo.

Then 45minutes later while driving through Mudumalai Forest (a game reserve) I saw a tiger crossing the road about 150m away. It was going at a very leisurely pace not hurrying at all. It made the long drive really worth the time. Big and brown apart form the head which was orange but definitely stripy.

The last 20km to Ooty are an amazing piece of road it climbs from about 1100m to 2200m. There are 36 really tight hairpins and lots of other blind corners. The road is a single lane sealed strip. In most (but far from all) places there are gravel strips giving just enough room for 2 vehicles to pass. It must be fairly interesting when the buses and trucks coming down meet one coming up.

I’m staying at the Hotel Venus in Ooty. Rs1300 for the night. Quite comfortable apart from 2 things. I was told hot water would be available between 7:30 and 9:30 am and pm. At 9pm I had a shower but the water was still fairly cool – once I got under it felt warm but the initial feeling was cold. The other problem is that the toilet comes without toilet paper. After nearly drowning myself the first time I used it I got the hang of washing my bum rather than wiping it. I don’t like my bum being damp afterwards however.

Bangalore 15th August 10:30pm
I had a really fun day today. I went for an early morning walk to the botanical gardens in Ooty. They aren't as big as the Wellington ones but still fairly impressive. It took 90minutes to get around them. Next Babu and I took a paddle boat out on the lake for half an hour. It was great going away from the pier but when we turned around discovered we had a head wind so had to work harder getting back. They had a collection of side shows - miniature railway, Dashing Cars (read Dodgems in NZ) merry-go-rounds etc. They had a haunted house, Freaky jungle and a mirror maze. You could do all 3 for Rs100 ($3) so I decided to become a 10year old again and do all 3 - took all of about 10 minutes.

Just as we were leaving Ooty the fog came in. It was really thick - about 15 to 20 metres visability. It was a very slow decent until we got below the fog.

There are numerous signs on the decent from Ooty telling you to use second gear. There is a checkpoint on a bridge at the halfway point. Before you can proceed you have to pay Rs20 to the "Break Checker" (that is what it says on the back of his shirt) who will only let you proceed once he is happy your brakes are working - although this check seems fairly rudimentary.

Babu decided to wait 10 minutes at the checkpoint to let the brakes cool before proceeding with the second half. The "Break Checker" just took the Rs20 and left Babu to do his own thing. I guess he recognised Babu was being cautious. Shortly after us an SUV came down. The brakes were visibly smoking. The "Break Checker" gave the driver quite a lecture. I didn't understand any of it apart from "second gear" that was said about 5 times.

A little from the bottom we stopped at a lookout point. Just as I was getting back in the car I noticed a car coming down the hill fail to slow down in time for the hairpin. It carried on straight ahead and hit the stone barrier - by then doing about 5kmh. No damage to the car but a lesson on how difficult the road is.

On the way back to Bangalore I realised that there was a house less than 2km from where we saw the tiger. It had the doors wide open on Saturday and again today. The tiger was actually just outside Mudumalai Game Reserve but tigers can't read signs. There were goats an cattle grazing where I saw it. Also 2 cars stopped and the people were out of one of them. They moved fairly quickly when Babu told them we saw a tiger there yesterday. (for those who know the area heading towards Ooty the tiger was about 1.5km north of the bridge where the road to Ooty starts climb).