Gavi, the experience of a life time.

Last year in November, when we were planning our trip to India, I chanced upon Rishi K Manoj’s post on Aangamoozhi and Gavi. That was the first step towards making a dream come true. It’s planned that we visit his family house in Aangamoozhi first and from there proceed to Gavi.We were on the way to Kabini Jungle Lodges and we made Aangamoozhi our first stop. That was one of the best decisions we had made.

On our first day, we made a short trip to Nilakkal St.Thomas Ecumenical Church, which is just 3 kilometres away from Aangamoozhi. The way to the church is through thick forest and we were told that it was possible to see wild animals on the way. The historic significance of the place makes it all the more interesting. Another captivating experience that awaited us at Aangamoozhi was the “Kuttavanchi Safari”. The river flows through forest area and it’s a paradise for bird watchers. And you will definitely see monkeys. We saw a Malabar grey Hornbill on the coconut tree in front of Rishi’s house. Seeing our surprise, he explained that they were regular visitors. Near Rishi’s house is a creek. Hetold us to put our feet in the water and in no time the smallfishes in the creek were nibbling at our feet. It was Nature’sway of clearing dead cells from your feet.

On the second day morning, we began our trip from Aangamoozhi to Gavi. If you are early enough, you can buy lunch from the Kudumbasree counter near the Pass issuing centre. We had never expected that it would turn out to be such a wonderful experience. It was a journey through a 61 ilometre stretch of thick green rain forest. Our driver cum guide Unni was of real help in explaining everything about the forest. We were in no hurry to reach our destination for that day. So we stopped on the way to explore nature whenever possible. It was a sunny day and soon we began to see the forest coming to life.

On the way to Gavi, you have to pass three dams. The first one is Moozhiyaar dam. We crossed the dam by walking, looking around, while Unni had parked the car at the other side of the dam. Since photography is prohibited inside the dam premises, we had to be satisfied with pictures taken from the parked area. As we went a little further, we saw a small waterfall and we stopped there for a short while. As we looked around, we saw lot of big spiders with webs stretching from one tree to the other. The sun shined through thick foliage of leaves. We proceeded further with our journey and suddenly we saw a family of black monkeys.

Our next stop was at the Moozhiyaar bus stop. From the small tea shop there, we drank hot tea. In front of this tea shop is a small garden with nice flowers and lot of different types of butterflies. It’s a feast to our eyes. Anyone interested in bird watching can spend some time there and look for the birds also. We carried on with our journey after getting refreshed. When we reached the point from where Moozhiyaar dam was visible at a distance, we stopped again and there also we saw the black monkeys and there’s an orange breasted green pigeon on the road pecking at something. There was a cleared area nearby and we walked through the opening for a small while. At long distance at the top, we could see a sambar deer gracing.

We crossed the Kakki dam. We halted next at “Echo point “. We saw another group sitting there and having lunch. It’s a place surrounded by small hills and we tried to find out the truth behind the name and we had great fun. The scenic beauty all around was really captivating. We proceeded further and passed through Anathode dam. Suddenly it started to rain. We were taken by surprise. The nature adorns a different look when it rains.

It was almost 3’o clock in the afternoon and we’re slowly nearing our destination. Rishi had booked rooms for us at the KSEB Guest House in Kochupampa which stood amidst thick forests. We ate our lunch from the canteen and made plans for the rest of the afternoon. A sign board told us that Gavi was just 10 kilometre away. Ravi, the Care taker at the Guest House was very friendly and asked what we wanted to have for dinner. He showed us videos taken from his various experiences of sitings of elephants, tigers and leopards near the Guest House.it was just amazing. He relished his stay in the midst of nature and wild animals.

We decided to walk around the area. A little up from the Guest House is the Annex. On the way up we could see the Kochupampa dam. That place also turned out to be a perfect place for bird watching. We saw crested serpent eagle, blue winged parakeets, lorikeets, long tailed minivet etc. As we moved up further, we could see the Pampa reservoir and the landscape appeared stunning. We could see more Sambar deers at the distance. Slowly the place began to get shrouded in mist. That was an experience beyond words. As the sun was setting, we walked down towards the Guest House. We got refreshed and by then Ravi had prepared our dinner. He turned out to be a super cook as well. We made plans for the third day.

Around 6.30 am the next morning, we began our safari through the jungle. Unni asked us to keep our cameras ready. Suddenly out of nowhere, a barking deer appeared and crossed in front of our car in high speed. We were so lucky to see it because usually it’s extremely difficult to see barking deers. We could not see anything more on that stretch, but a wonderful sunrise was awaiting us. It was a misty morning with a fantastic sunrise and a surprise of a small rainbow. We met a group that had come from Gavi for the morning Safari. They said that they had seen elephants on the way. We returned to the Guest House to have breakfast and we were ready for the rest of the day’s adventure. What an adventure that was!!!

Before proceeding to Gavi, we decided to go for a boat safari at the Pampa reservoir. On the way, we passed the KSRTC bus plying through Gavi. Our driver cum guide was Murugan. He assessed us in a short time and realizing our interest in nature, he became the guide anyone would love to have. He eagerly answered all our questions and spoke about the forest and the animals in there. Suddenly we sensed the presence of an elephant and we waited for almost half an hour for it to come out at the clearance. Finally it came out and our waiting was rewarded. We saw lot of birds both on the water and on the trees. He took us to the places where Tigers and black panthers drink water from the reservoir. Suddenly there’s this giant Malabar squirrel on one of the trees. He showed us the place where usually snakes are found. We were not really very keen to spot any because of fear.

Murugan presented a very tempting picture of the future when he informed that trekking which was stopped two years ago because of an unfortunate incident would be restored soon and that tree houses would be renovated for staying overnight. Kochupampa seemed to us more or less untouched. That adds to the beauty of the place. We had planned for a one hour boat safari and it turned out that we spent 3 hours at the safari. If you go for package tours from Gavi, you will get just 30 minuets of boat safari. So it’s better if you go separately so that you can make the hours flexible.

There is a very nice restaurant there at the boat safari Centre from where you can have breakfast or lunch by placing orders in advance. We ate our lunch from there. There’s a well kept Rest room also. We continued our trip to Gavi from there around 2’o’clock. On the way, to the right side of the road, Unni showed us the Gober tree which is connected with the biblical story of Noah’s Arc. It is assumed that Noah built his boat using the wood of Gober trees. Only two of this species of trees existed in the whole of Asia and luckily for us, we’re standing in front of one of them. Beware of leaches. By the time we reached Gavi, each one of us had had one experience at least with the leaches.

We reached Gavi around 3’o clock in the afternoon. There also you can go for a boat safari in the lake. We spent some time at the Gavi dam, which is the fifth and the last one on that stretch. Since we were not spending the night there, we had to get out from there very fast as there are restriction in time for driving within the forest area. We continued with our journey through the forest, this time up to Vandiperiyar. Once again it turned out to be a feast to the eyes with lots of black monkeys at different places, crested serpent eagle, Malabar giant squirrel and a gigantic Indian Gaur. Unni showed us the huge honeycomb. As I got out of the car to take pictures, two forest guards passing by on a motorcycle warned me about elephants. The sun was slowly fading and we had reached the end of our journey we had started the previous morning from Aangamoozhi to Vandiperiyar through an unbelievably long 81 kilometer stretch of thick green rainforest full of wildlife and wonderful scenic views.

Anyone out there with interest in forests and wildlife?

This is your route to have an experience of a life time.

Hans & Nishi from Switzerland