Poor Naomi, yet another early morning, the third or fourth of the week and she’s supposed to be on vacation! Today we woke up half an hour early in order to have a small omelette breakfast in the guesthouse before setting off for our second attempt at bamboo rafting. We made sure that we didn’t have to pay the 600 rupee ($13) foreigner’s entrance fee for the park again as the mess up from yesterday was not our fault.
Back in the same hut as yesterday we donned the anti-leech socks like experts this time. There were two other groups joining us: four Brits, a couple Chris and Stacy and Stacy’s flatmates Deborah and Julia and a late 40 year old woman from the States named Mary Beth and her daughters in their early 20s Kailie and Breanna. We didn’t talk to them to much at the start but by the end of the day we found everyone to be super friendly.
We were led down to the shore by one of the guides. Expecting to see a couple of bamboo rafts with seats, we were surprised that there weren’t any and we were instructed to sit on the cross brace pieces of bamboo. With the weight of 5-6 people, the long pieces were partially submerged in the water. Hmm...is this what we signed up for? Well no, it was just a means to cross 30 meters of water to the other shore where we began an hour long hike to the rafts. Not that we knew that as the guides seemed to think we were on a need to know basis and we didn’t need to know anything all day!
What? Is this our raft?
Thankfully it was just to cross a small section of the lake:
The hike was pleasant, wandering alongside some pockets of trees and crossing between some of the fingers of the dam created lake. We saw a mongoose on the other side of the shore looking for his breakfast. I’ve never really seen a mongoose up close but do know that they are vicious little fellas...able to take on big snakes! We did see some fresh elephant tracks from the night before in some of the mud by the banks.
The start of the lovely views in the park:
Our group on the hike:
A cool "Touch me not" flower:
Calm waters:
I couldn’t help but giggle a bit at our “guard”. There were three guides but then a fourth guy was packing a gun to ward off marauding animals. With the gun resting on one shoulder, wearing his shorts and wellies (rubber boots) and carrying an open umbrella for protection from the morning sun, he didn’t exactly look like a threatening character!
Our umbrella protected guard:
Lovely lakes:
We reached the rafts and I think we were all excited for some rafting action. We took our seat, two by two and then launched. The guides turned the boats around, paddled them for about 100 meters to another shore and we were told to disembark. What? That’s it. Well again, we didn’t need to know what was going on. It was breakfast time. There was a small, blue tarp covered shelter just in the trees. We were told to walk up there. We could not reach the little hut as there was a deep trench surrounding the place...cool, an elephant moat! Makes sense I guess, otherwise the place would get continually trashed.
Finally we arrive at the rafts:
All aboard!
I'm diggin' the ride:
The elephant moat:
One guide jumped into the ravine and pulled up a couple of poles that were used to bridge the gap along with a stick that was already tied in place to serve as a handrail. As we dined on a sad meal of stale white bread with jam, cookies, bananas and coffee, we got to know the other rafters better while chatting around a big table under the shelter.
Setting up a bridge:
Crossing over:
Our breakfast spread:
Okay, now can we finally do some rafting? Naomi and I sat behind Chris and Stacy in our raft with the jovial guard with his gun and umbrella and gun singing and occasionally farting behind us. At the very back were two guides who were paddling however the four of us at the front had been given two paddles so we took turns in helping propel our slow vessel forward.
And finally we are off for real:
Naomi paddling:
Our jovial umbrella and gun wielding guard:
It was peaceful and relaxing but we realized that we weren’t going to cover much ground in the three hours of paddling. There were some wild boars far off on a distant shore and some cormorants hanging around on the petrified tree trunks jutting out of the water. The excitement increased as a couple of local fishermen paddled by and told the guides in Malayalam that they had seen a half a dozen elephants in the trees nearby.
A slow but peaceful way to travel:
Rafting action:
We pulled up onto shore, at the designated spot for lunch and some of the guides ventured into the woods while we were made to wait on the rafts. Unfortunately it turned out to be a false alarm...damn elusive elephants. Lunch of some rice and a few vegetables was a bit better than breakfast but nothing to write home about.
Our group flaked out at lunchtime:
A supposed elephant tooth:
Darker clouds began to roll in as our group decided we’d had enough of lying around on a tarp just inside the trees. We headed back to the rafts and got the guides going. On the paddle back the skies opened up but not nearly as much as they did on our hike back. We returned back to the breakfast shack, but on the opposite shore and began our walk. Sadly I don’t think we covered much more than a kilometre or two in one direction on the rafts.
Good paddling Naomi!
More rafting action:
The other raft arriving at the end point:
The skies got darker:
But it didn't dampen our spirits:
Although it was raining for part of the return hike, we did spot some gaur (big bison like cattle), some wild boars up closer but those pesky pachyderms still remained hidden. Breanna got a bit freaked out by the leeches that were attempting to enter everyone’s footwear but that’s why we’re wearing silly socks!
Hiking through the slightly leech infested forest:
Nice raincoat!
Where are you elephants?!?
A crazy big yet dead moth:
The last 15 minutes of the hike was a real downpour but at least it was happening at the end of the day and not the beginning. We ferried back across on the big bamboo raft to the main shore and proceeded to the ranger’s hut to de-leech...fun stuff! I actually didn’t have too many on me although earlier in the day one had somehow found its way to my crotch area, thankfully on the outside of my clothing! There were shrieks and “ewws” as some of the younger women were disgusted by the sight of this little creepy crawlies that move around like they are Slinkies (remember that toy?).
That evening we joined the Brits for a dinner at the Spice Garden and many laughs erupted from recounting the day’s events. Bamboo rafting...check.
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