MY JOURNEY
DAY - 1
DAY 1-NILIGIRIS
Nilgiris : On the Blue Mountain Trail
NILGIRIS: On the Blue Mountain Trail
We have finally entered the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, the first Biosphere Reserve in India which also has another claim to fame, it is a Biodiversity Hotspot amongst 962 hotspots in the world. Whether we are the first school to visit this for the records, has yet to be confirmed, as this declaration by UNESCO has come only on 1st July 2012!.
We are a group of 8 students including 04 boys and 04 girls respectively, who are ranging from IBDP Year 1 to Grade 7 and have made a very informed choice to visit the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve this summer, to appreciate the relevance of this declaration to the world.
We had a rather comfortable flight to Coimbatore via Hyderabad and following this, we sat in a bus from Coimbatore to Conoor. The students were introduced to the local lingo of saying “Vanakam” to greet anyone in this land. Some of them, saw a ripe jackfruit for the first time in their life. They surely enjoyed the crisp “ Murukkus” and ate “Lemon Rice” for lunch.
Our journey to Conoor took 2 and half hours and much to our delight we saw the most spectacular sceneries while climbing up the hill. The Mountain Railway, The Wellington Cantonment board and the Defence Science Staff college were the star attractions of Day 1.
Once we entered Surrenden, an amazing resort with cottages which can house a maximum of 40 students , we came face to face with stories of the history of Conoor. The orientation on Day 1, was befitting the persona and gravitas of Dr Raminder Choudhary, the trustee of ONE EARTH FOUNDATION. In the evening the students went through Power points, interactive discussions and short and sharp quizzes to feel the relevance of the Nilgiris.
The students have been clearly designated various jobs which include Daily Newsflash production, flora and Fauna identification drive and Logistics.
A great day comes to an end with a sumptuous dinner meal which included a wonderful Bread Pudding.
DAY 1-DEBRIEFING SESSION
Day 1-Wellington Cantonment Board
DAY - 2
DAY 2-KURUMBA TRIBAL SPECIAL
Day 2 on Camp Nilgiri saw us taking off on a journey to Village VelarikombAI to understand the importance of our tribal communities and how they actually live in the hostile forest environment.
During our journey we saw spectacular views of nature along with tea plantations stretching over vast slopes of the mountains. We took our bus to Mamaram, where we disembarked and started our trek uphill to interact with the ‘Kurumbas ‘ who have been living in these forests for more than 1000 years! We were lucky to interact with the tribals who are essentially agricultural labourers, artisans and people who derive life from NTFP [Non Timber Forest Produce] products.
We met Mr Krishnan who is the sole living Kurumba artist who has been inspired by the cave paintings made by his ancestors years ago, and is still keeping the tradition alive. However, he earns a living by working on coffee plantations downhill. The unique thing about his paintings were, the process, the material used and the finesse of the painting.
He taught us to identify and make natural colours simply by using a bunch of leaves and resin from the ‘Vengai ‘ tree. It was amazing to learn using and creating colours and shades using the actual palette of nature! All of us tried our hand at creating little motifs and recreating the work done by Mr Krishnan, and we surely made him proud!
After this exposure to the real tribals in our country, who actually number more than 100 million! We realized that tribals have a wealth of knowledge regarding medicines, customs and agricultural practices but do lead a completely tough life, with no creature comforts like we do, in the cities and rural areas!
We followed this with a visit to the the John Sullivan memorial which houses the documents and records of how Nilgiri came onto the world map, thanks to the British who made this the first Rest and Recreation centre in the early 19th Century when it was actually called NEILGHERRY!
DAY 2-ON THE WAY TO VILLAGE
DAY 2-JOURNEY TO VELARIKOMBAI VILLAGE
DAY 2-JOHN SUVELLIAN MUSEUM SPECIAL
DAY 2 -KURUMBA TRIBAL SPECIAL
DAY 2 -KURUMBA TRIBAL ART
DAY - 3
DAY 3-SHOLA FOREST SPECIAL
DAY 3-SHOLA FOREST SPECIAL
Our 3rd day in the Nilgiris in Conoor started with a sense of excitement as we were heading to see a tea factory, walk through a forest and do shopping! Our trek at 9‘o’ clock through a forest and marshland stretch was the most incredible start to our day.
We got the opportunity to walk through a reserved forest where we actually saw how the native species were fighting a lone battle against the invasive species of Eucalyptus and Pine trees. We were clearly instructed to keep extremely quiet so that we don’t disturb the rhythm of the forest. Later we saw some plants with great medicinal properties. We actually realized how resources can be used sustainably without harming the planet.
Walking through slippery routes, we realized that sometimes it is rather difficult covering even the smallest distances in a dense forest. We got to taste and feel the purest water available on earth which was released by a forest. It was a great opportunity to see the connect between forests and rivers which we only study in books! We actually lost our way and with the help of a handheld GPS we found our way through the forest.
Walking through the thick of the forest we discovered how the exotic species had taken over the shola forest (rainforest). We did our bit of cleaning the forest trails by removing the litter generated by the irresponsible tourists and visitors to the jungle. Our joy knew no bounds when we saw the Giant Malabar Squirrel in its full glory.
The lichens, mosses, the marshland, the undergrowth and the river which was born from the Shola forest will forever be etched in our memories for years to come, as seldom do we walk through such thick forests in our life, as they are vanishing fast from the face of this planet.
The second half of the day took us to a Tea processing plant. From the plucking of fresh tea leaves by dedicated women who earned a paltry Rs 200 per day for 60 kgs of leaves collected to the entire process unfolded in front of our eyes as our able guide, Sundar took us through the journey of a tea-leaf which was either curled, roasted or ground to give us the cup that cheers .
We ended the day with shopping of hand-made chocolates, forest produce, fine tea for our loved ones. Our de-briefing session in the evening saw 3 presentations by Jaspreet on Animal Adaptation, Kshitij Verma on Man-animal Conflict in the Nilgiris and Pragya Jhingran on the Journey of a Tea leaf from the garden to the Tea-cup respectively. They really did us proud with their effective presentations.
We also collated our questions for administering questionnaires for tomorrow in the Toda villages which was a great collaborative exercise.We are truly curious to meet the Toda Tribals tomorrow as we have heard so much about them, and hope that they too will be delighted to see us!
DAY 3-TEA INDUSTRY SPEICAL
DAY 3 TEA PROCESSING INDUSTRY
DAY 3 -SHOLA FOREST SPECIAL
DAY 3- CLEANING THE SHOLA FOREST
DAY - 4
DAY 4-KURUMBA TRIBAL SPECIAL
DAY 4-KURUMBA TRIBAL SPECIAL
Our fourth day was meant to be path-breaking, as we were meant to spend a day with the tribals of the Toda community up in the Sholas. The journey was relatively long in comparison to the other days. But, once we reached the dead end of the road at Koranur, we parked our bus and trekked our way up to Bikapathy Mund, overlooking the Sigur Ghats, the abode of the Todas.
Incidentally, todas live in villages which are called ‘Munds’. It was slightly steep and a difficult terrain for us but the sight of a Giant Malabar Squirrel was our bonus to make it to Bikapathy Mund. It was an amazing view where we were crystal clear about the concept of a Shola [a rainforest], which is protected by a grass land and is fighting its battle with an aggressive patch of invasive species.
The weather was brilliant and the members of the Toda family won our hearts with their warmth. We informally interacted with a family and began chatting with the mother of a house who turned out to be the most loving mother who instantly reminded us of our homes and mothers. She lived in a traditional Toda hut with a rainbow design, and all materials used to build this were locally available.
We met the villagers and asked them informal questions about the Demographic structure, Religion, Customs and Rituals of this PTG [Primitive Tribal Groups]. It was surprising to know that they had so much to share despite being so isolated geographically. They also served us coffee which tasted like coffee from heaven.
They introduced us to their Toda embroidery done on a casement fabric in a continuous stitch using red and black threads only.
We were actually given the honor of wearing these and we merrily got ourselves photographed with them. Later, we met a lady and were surprised that she spoke fluent English. Her name was Sangeetha and she spoke so well, as she studied in a Kendriya Vidyalaya when she cleared her Grade 12 exams. She showed us our wedding album and we understood the rituals performed in a traditional wedding in a toda village. We also learnt that these Todas were a Pastoral tribe which was now settling down because of the disappearance of the grasslands all thanks to development at large.
Our high point literally, was to look down at the Sigur Ghats, which is where we saw the blooming ‘Kurunji flowers’, blue in colour, hence the name….BLUE MOUNTAINS!! We will also go down in history as a brave bunch of kids who actually observed a Toda Tribal checking on a bee-hive for honey. We entered their homes which were most amazing in terms of their design, utility and layout. Downhill, we had our lunch on a hair-pin bend and had the most amazing packed vegetable biryani ever! Back in our camp, Camp Surrenden, we got into a rather aggressive ‘Dog and the Bone” which brought out the best in all of us.
Our evening presentations were spectacular, with Guru Sir’s video of the day becoming our staple. We super-imposed our route for the day on Google Maps, and actually saw what we accomplished for the day. The presentations by Sonali, Pia, Samyak and Kshitij today were indeed brilliant as they made much sense as now we had actually seen the real phenomena.Bhagi Madam also got an opportunity to thrust upon the Non Geo-team, a mini Geo lesson on the interpretation of Contours on Survey Maps, which was much to her delight!
DAY 4-SIGUR GHATS-KURUNJI SPECIAL
DAY 4-PLAY TIME
DAY 4-KURUMBA TRIBAL SPECIAL
DAY - 5
Day -5-Udhagamandalam Speical
Day -5-Udhagamandalam Speical
The fourth day was a free-flowing day which took us to Udhagamandalam, i.e. Ooty/Ootacamund. It was a short journey and took us no longer than 40 minutes!
Our first stop was the Lovedale Lawrence School. It was an amazing campus spread across 600 acres. We went inside the building and met the Deputy Head Mistress. The school is actually 154 years old! We saw the senior school building and the horse stables which had over 20 fine horses. On the way back, we saw the dormitories that the students lived in.
After a quick photograph outside the school, we climbed onto the bus and headed for the Fern Hill Palace which belongs to the Maharaja of Mysore. Now, it is a fine Heritage Hotel with much history and archival material to keep you curious about the bygone era.
We came to know of a famous Hunt Club, which still has its roots in Ooty, and is apparently, the only Hunt Club east of England, and the members get together once a month to recreate a Hunting trip, wherein, Hounds which are bred by them, are brought out to showcase their might, even though, unlike the past there are no fox to hunt now! Our next stop was Deer park where we saw Sambar Deer and the park was located on the rim of the lake. We then headed to do some boating in the Ooty Boat House.
We also bought Bonsai plants and seeds from a plant nursery which was adjoining the lake.Then, after picking up a few snacks we headed towards Dodabetta meaning Big Mountain[2683 metres above m.s.l]the highest point in South India. On our way, we picked up a few packets of ‘channas’.We got the opportunity to witness the most amazing weather and great scenery here.
The telescopic view from here was spectacular. On our way back, we had a good lunch break in a forest clearing. After this it was the Botanical Garden, it was drizziling lightly. We went through the exhibits in a rather hurried way, but caugt some photographs which are incredible. On the way out , we grabbed a few ‘buttas’ (corn on the cobs) and headed towards our next stop, the famous Ooty Coffee House. In fact, we had seen and heard of this, in a travel show on NDTV 24X7 just a few months ago.
We had amazing filter coffee and got an extremely delightful Roast Dosa which all of us shared to our heart’s content. Now, we were headed to board the Ooty Mountain Railway, a world heritage railway which was declared so by UNESCO. We got some spectacular views from the train and hence got some great opportunity for photographing a world heritage phenomenon. We reached the Conoor station at 7:00 pm, which was a bit later than our predicted time of arrival. We were chased by our own bus all along from Ooty to Conoor, which later took us home.
The evening session saw another mind-blowing video by Guru sir. Raminder Choudhary shared with us his encounter with Bisons, as he didn’t join us for the day in Ooty. The vote of thanks from the students, teachers and the organizer seemed to be in complete sync with all the good that this camp had done to our sensibilities and bodies.
We are extremely grateful to the parents of these students, the management of Pathways, One Earth Foundation and the enthusiastic kids who made this a grand success. We all vowed to return here with more specific aims and objectives and also get our families to visit Conoor. The icing on the cake was that the students got Participation Certificates too!
We have truly fallen in love with Conoor and the Nilgiris….
And today, we are determined to meet the Bisons, as we have half a day before we travel to Coimbatore to catch our flight to New Delhi in the evening.
Day 5-Ooty Speical
Day 6-Last Day
Day 6-Last Day
Today was a day without an Agenda…..only an appointment with the Indian Gaur or Indian Bison.
We actually drove down a few kilometers through Karanji and Dolphin Nose Road to walk between Tea estates where the Bisons where roaming oblivious of anyone.
We also walked up to a spot called “Lady Canning Seat” from where the view of the valley was spell-binding. We witnessed a sheer cliff which drops for more than 400 mts! We also understood and saw the gap in the Western Ghats, the Palghat Gap, after which the Western Ghats continue their presence in Kerala.
While returning back, we were lured by a pristine waterfall and we immediately disembarked from our bus to reach upto the fall. We took many photographs and were delighted by the sheer location of the place.
However, much to our relief, we realized that we came down the site fast enough to be safe, as we were warned by the local villagers of the sudden rise in the water level which happens in these valleys and could prove fatal to the local tourists. Interestingly, these are called ‘Rapid Wadis’ like the ‘Wadis’ which are common in the desert regions.
All good things come to an end. We are now all packed up to go back to Delhi with our shares of the “Nilgiri Days”.
Last Day in the Nilgiris
