Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary Camp Report
The Background
The National Nature Camping Programme held its autumn batch of camps at the Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary this year two general batches were planned in August / September and two student batches in September. Only one general batch was held, the second being cancelled due to unseasonal rains. The two student batches went through, despite some rain in the second one.
The Sanctuary
The Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary (IGWLS), named after earlier Indian Prime Minister, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, lies in the Coimbatore District of Tamil Nadu at the southern part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve in the Anamalai Hills. It is spread over the Pollachi, Valparai and Udumalpet taluks and comprises of six administrative ranges: Pollachi (Range Head Quarters at Anaimalai); Vaalpaarai (Water Falls) Ulandy (Topslip); Amaravathi ( Amaravathi Nagar) Udumalpet (Udmalpet town). The IGWS was formerly known as the Anamalai (Anaimallai) Wildlife Sanctuary. Notified as a sanctuary in 1976, the park falls in Pollachi, Udumalpet and Valparai taluks in Coimbatore District. About 108 sq km of high altitude grasslands was declared as a National Park in 1989, and is known as the Grasshills National Park. A rainforest in Ulandy range, Karian Shola, has also been declared a National Park and is also designated a Medicinal Plant Conservation Area. The sanctuary is popularly known as Topslip, which is actually its main tourist area, located in the north-west corner. The name was derived from a practice followed during the time of British rule, when the timber harvested from the forest was slipped down a chute from the hills to the plains below.
Separated from the Nilgiri Hills by the Palghat Gap to the north, the sanctuary is contiguous to three other sanctuaries of Kerela: Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary to its west and Eravikulam National Park and Chinnar WLS to its south. It is an important watershed area for Coimbatore and Erode districts, drained by several perennial and semi-perennial rivers that feed major reservoirs like Parambikulam, Aliyar, Thirumurthi, Upper Aliyar, Kadambari, Sholayar and Amaravathy. Its terrain comprises of thickly wooded hills, plateaus, deep valleys and rolling grasslands and its climate varies from very hot (in the scrubland plains) to very cold (in the wind-blown, rain-swept mountain-tops).
Because of its significant elephant and tiger occupancy, the sanctuary has been given the status of a Project Elephant and Project Tiger area. It may be the first (or only) Protected Area to hold all 16 endemic birds of the Western Ghats, and contains several endemic species of butterflies and reptiles.
The camps
General batch 1(29 Aug to 1 Sept.)
As was the general global trend in weather conditions this year, unpredictable weather bringing unprecedented rains was the order of the day. The Field Director-Nature Camps, Mr. Preston Ahimaz, arrived at campsite a couple of days earlier to check out the situation and arrangements prior to holding camp. The two days there were bright and sunny, forecasting merry weather for the camp. However, on the morning of the first day of the first batch, a heavy downpour signaled a different situation. The campers were met at Coimbatore station and transported to Topslip, the campsite in the Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary. Hoping for better weather subsequently, the party arrived at the designated Forest Rest House – Ambulli Illlam – where they were to be accommodated for the next 4 days.
Ambulli Illam is located at a secluded spot about two and a half kms from Topslip – the tourist nerve centre of the sanctuary. At Topslip, the Forest offices, canteen staff quarters, reception and tourist gatherings make for a noisy, distractive stay. Although this is not an unmixed blessing as the rides and other facilities are all accessed from here. But for the avid nature lover who wants to be in undisturbed communion with nature, the Ambulli Illam (AI) Rest House has it all. Surrounded by dense forest, it is the perfect place to be in if one can overlook the minor flaws of maintenance – something that is common in such areas. Rain, however, changes the scenario entirely, unless the objective is wet weather.
Unpredictable weather: The four days spent here during this camp were a constant wrangle with the weather: rushing out for brief treks before resumption of rain forced an early return. The wet weather also had much of the wildlife under cover which made sightings infrequent and also caused frequent power failure which did not help the situation. Although the campers brought rain gear along, continuous rain offset this precaution, but nevertheless, the walks through the wet jungle were an experience in themselves. The greenery of the forest shone greener than ever with the coat of wetness that the plants wore. The smell of damp earth mixed with wet vegetation produced a heady sensation and some inevitable birds just had to be out. Every break in the rain brought out butterflies and when the sun did shine, as it did in brief takes, the forest came into its own, glistening after the many baths it had received.
The Ambulli lower watch tower: Despite the weather the campers were able to make interesting treks into the forest. One trail began near the AI rest house itself and, after winding through bamboo thickets, led to a huge clearing in the forest close to a massive sheet of rock which sloped down into the depths of the forest. Here, strategically located, stood a watch tower but sadly, the access ladder up its side had broken and fallen off. The surface of the sheet rock was very slippery but a couple of the group groped their way across to the marsh on the other side to check out a bird that was suspected to be skulking about the tree foliage. The group explored the site and tramped its way through the dense vegetation to a spot where a number of birds including the endemic white-bellied tree pie, were seen.
Another trek was conducted into Karian shola, a huge patch of wet evergreen montane rainforest right at Topslip, the intention being to attempt to ascend the 1290 mt. Pandaravarai ridge, which lies in Kerela, across the interstate border inside the shola. However, the weather (and the multitudes of leeches, brought out by the rains) thwarted this plan and the party turned back after reaching the interstate line. A safari in the Forest tourist van was also made which wound through interior forest roads to the Koli Kamathi elephant camp in order to witness the care and maintenance of the department elephants.
Parambikulam visit: Eventually, an out-of-schedule vehicle ride was finally organized to the adjacent Parambikulam sanctuary in Kerela, which enabled the campers to visit the very well-prepared visitors’ interpretation centre and make a detour to view the largest teak plant in the region–-the Kannimara Teak. This 360-year old beautiful teak specimen towers 48 metres (150) ft high and has a massive girth of 9 mts. (28 ft). The tree itself is a lumberjack’s dream: a massive trunk rising unbranched for most of its length, sprouting branches only near the top, somewhat reminiscent of the giant redwoods of California. Parambikulam also appeared to have more wildlife about the sides of the road in the form of spotted deer (Chital) and wild boar, but this was probably because a greater length of the road runs through Parambikulam. Peafowl were also seen frequently and as the vehicle neared the Parambikulam settlement, the guide pointed out to a sambar doe in a tiny clearing in a densely wooded valley a great distance away. A magnificent view of the Thunakadavu dam, which one passes just before the detour to the Kannimara teak, was also had from the road nearer to the Parambikulam settlement.
At the end of the camp, the group was dropped back at Coimbatore Junction station to catch their train back to Chennai.
Student batches 1& 2 (11 to 13 Sep and 18 to 20 Sept)
The campers: These batches comprised of 35 students in two groups from the Visual Communication department of the MOV Vaishnav College for Women, and were accompanied by the Photography Teacher, Mr. E.Omalur. The students were put up at the dormitory at Topslip, located at the entrance of the Karian Shola. Food wass served at the Forest Canteen which made it necessary to trek the intervening 100 mts for each meal, an exciting, if somewhat wary, prospect at night when the group had to have dinner. Wild boar constantly haunts the area but is not a threat; however, elephants also make an appearance here, especially during the rains. The dormitory’s strategic location made it possible to see wildlife emerge from the Karian Shola in the evening’s anted early mornings and the students were treated to sightings of gaur, sambar and wild boar here as well as on the vast sloping meadow which had to be passed on every trip to the canteen.
As these groups were from the photography class of the Vizcom dept., they bristled with cameras and telephoto lenses and no trek was spared of the innumerable halts made to photograph everything that moved – and didn’t move!! The enthusiasm of the students was impressive – many had never been to a forest before and nature photography was new to them, but it was with this exposure in mind that their teacher had brought them to this camp.
The first batch had good luck with the weather. There was no rain even as they drove toward the sanctuary although the place was indeed wet. Just before the Topslip barrier the group saw a sounder of wild boar with a full complement of youngsters, complete with baby-stripes, a lone barking deer which scooted off the road as the transport approached and two cow elephants with a calf. The second batch had a little less luck with the weather but this was compensated for by the availability of the Forest van which enabled a visit to the Forest Elephant Camp.
The activities: Karian Shola was one of the trails that were chartered for the camps. In the first foray into this wet evergreen rainforest, a coffee locust at the entrance became the crowded subject of sixteen busy cameras. A little further in, the tribal guide led the group to a spot in the brush where a couple of Ceylon frogmouths (cryptic, nocturnal birds with large eyes) had taken up a roosting station about 10 ft. up in a dark, dense bit of foliage, returning to it day after day as is the habit of these birds. The bad position and light made photography difficult, but the students had a go at the birds anyway. A flying lizard, a little cryptically coloured agamid with extendable ribs along its sides which could be spread to form gliding vanes when the creature took to the air, was also seen. A little later, a startled exclamation brought the attention of the group to a small brown worm flexing along on the ground. As soon as the identity of the dreaded leech was announced, a shriek of dissent rent the air and was immediately followed by a desperate scanning of shoes and legs for the ‘despicable monsters’. The trail soon degenerated into a scurrying rush to avoid further leech intimacy and even the few students who were not particularly bothered by the leeches and wanted to stop for observation or photography were shoved along by their more discerning classmates. After some scouting around at the check-dam, groups tackled the watch-tower, which caused some consternation at the precarious nature of the bridge across the elephant-proof trench around the tower which one had to cross to reach the tower. Later, the group headed back to the dorms where. Another trek was also made through Karian shola, this time near along the interstate boundary line which took the group deep into the forest requiring crossing of several streams.
The second batch also did the inevitable Karian shola trail, this time in rain, so the leeches and other “discomforts” of the shola became more prominent. The usual rush to avoid the leeches was there, and this time there was the added exercise of some students biting the dust (or slush) as they tried to negotiate a stream on the slippery ground. Returning from each foray into the forest, footwear would be yanked off for a close inspection of footwear and feet in a feverish search for leeches -- de-leeching became a familiar exercise during these camps.
Another trek route was to the Lower watch-tower near the Ambulli Illam Rest House. On this trek, the group took a short-cut through the jungle, accompanied by a Forest guide, through dense vegetation and bamboo thicket -- ideal elephant country, which had the guide’s eyes peeled for any sign of the pachyderms. At one point the trail descended sharply to the wall of a checkdam which had to be crossed and which had some students in a tizzy. Near the watch-tower, a wolf spider scurrying along the path, carrying her egg-case, brought the girls to their haunches for the usual pictures, and split the group, keeping the more intense photographers rooted to the spot for a good length of time. Returning to base, the campers spent their time to dinner with some noisy indoor exchanges which students can indulge in very well. One night, clear skies enabled some star-gazing to take place until the wind got too strong and chilly which turned the gazers indoors. Less-than-ideal weather precluded such activity in the subsequent batch.
One evening in the first batch, after the usual outing, a nature game was played, which was similar to the popular ‘dogs-and-the-bone’ game. Several placards representing mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates were lined up between two rows of players who, on hearing clues called out, had to rush and pick up the appropriate placard and rush back home without getting caught, or catch her opponent if she had picked the card first. Penalties awarded to wrong pickings added a further twist to the game. Of course, the expected high-decibel cheering, urging and instructing was very prominent and the game brought out the tiger in the girls, climaxing in one of them sending her opponent crashing to the ground with a headlong tackle which produced in the felled student, a limp that accompanied her to the end of camp.
The Ambulli hilltop watch tower: A third trek was to yet another watch-tower located at the top of a hill behind the Ambulli Illam Rest House. This trail was long and through dense bamboo jungle with the added exercise of involving a good climb. A jungle stream had to be crossed a couple of times as well, resulting in a couple of falls by the students, cameras and all. Luckily, however, no cameras were damaged (nor the girls!!) Climbing the last slope toward the watch-tower, a magnificent view of the surrounding hills came into sight. The roof-top of the watch-tower produced, if anything, an even more magnificent view, a clear, unobstructed 360-degree panorama of the surrounding greenery, the distant and nearby forested hills, and the even more distant plains beyond. The return trek brought the campers upon a white-lipped lizard which was besieged by the usual invading lenses for a considerable period of time.
The second batch of students arrived to a wet start despite which the photography halts began right away with the girls jumping out of the transport to photograph the terrain and scenery. The wetter weather ensured that most treks were done under umbrellas, but this did not deter the photographic urge in the girls; the sessions were just as intense, long and frequent as in the previous group. One trail led to an open meadow of grass and rock which was bordered by dense forest on one side and sloped down steeply into dense forest on the other. Here, time was spent photographing the scenario. A good deal of time was also spent in using the perfect setting for some creative modeling, with some students posing and others doing the picture-taking. (Okay, nature is interesting, but which girl can resist posing for cameras? And after all, these were aspiring visual communicators!!). A small lizard – a rock agama – on a rock brought out the usual battery of cameras which gave the little reptile the kind of attention few models or politicians get, after which the group returned to the dormitories along the road. On another walk, another check-dam close to a tribal village along the main road was visited, and here again, some of the girls came to grief in quick succession as they negotiated the slippery mud path down to the check-dam. None of the spills at any of the batches, however, had any more serious consequences than drawing a shout of concern (or a peal of laughter) from the students who were still standing.
The elephant Camp: On this batch, the Forest van was available and a ride to the Kolli Kamathi elephant camp was taken. Here the girls experienced the thrill of being able to get up close to these gigantic creatures and to see how they were cared for and fed. Of course, the usual posing (this time with a tusker) took place and camera shutters had a busy time. The girls were also able to get an insight into the life of the tribals here, for the camp elephants are all trained and manned by local tribals who have been engaged by the Forest Dept. to tend to them. The elephants were initially used for lumber work in the teak plantations raised in the forest as well as for carrying tourists on safari rides, but now with the timber activity stopped, the animals are only used for tourist rides – when it does not rain.
Wet weather has its own advantages as this group learned – in compensation for not being able to trek as much as the other group, they were treated to a ride to Parambikulam sanctuary in neighbouring Kerala state. The students visited the visitors’ interpretation centre but could not make it to the Kannimara Teak tree as the vehicle used could not negotiate the forest road there. At Parambikulam, the dam, which had its sluice gates opened at the time, provided the girls with much opportunity for photography, after which the party embarked to drive back to Topslip, pick up their luggage, and proceed on to Coimbatore to catch their return train to Chennai.
The National Nature Camping Programme held its autumn batch of camps at the Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary this year two general batches were planned in August / September and two student batches in September. Only one general batch was held, the second being cancelled due to unseasonal rains. The two student batches went through, despite some rain in the second one.
The Sanctuary
The Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary (IGWLS), named after earlier Indian Prime Minister, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, lies in the Coimbatore District of Tamil Nadu at the southern part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve in the Anamalai Hills. It is spread over the Pollachi, Valparai and Udumalpet taluks and comprises of six administrative ranges: Pollachi (Range Head Quarters at Anaimalai); Vaalpaarai (Water Falls) Ulandy (Topslip); Amaravathi ( Amaravathi Nagar) Udumalpet (Udmalpet town). The IGWS was formerly known as the Anamalai (Anaimallai) Wildlife Sanctuary. Notified as a sanctuary in 1976, the park falls in Pollachi, Udumalpet and Valparai taluks in Coimbatore District. About 108 sq km of high altitude grasslands was declared as a National Park in 1989, and is known as the Grasshills National Park. A rainforest in Ulandy range, Karian Shola, has also been declared a National Park and is also designated a Medicinal Plant Conservation Area. The sanctuary is popularly known as Topslip, which is actually its main tourist area, located in the north-west corner. The name was derived from a practice followed during the time of British rule, when the timber harvested from the forest was slipped down a chute from the hills to the plains below.
Separated from the Nilgiri Hills by the Palghat Gap to the north, the sanctuary is contiguous to three other sanctuaries of Kerela: Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary to its west and Eravikulam National Park and Chinnar WLS to its south. It is an important watershed area for Coimbatore and Erode districts, drained by several perennial and semi-perennial rivers that feed major reservoirs like Parambikulam, Aliyar, Thirumurthi, Upper Aliyar, Kadambari, Sholayar and Amaravathy. Its terrain comprises of thickly wooded hills, plateaus, deep valleys and rolling grasslands and its climate varies from very hot (in the scrubland plains) to very cold (in the wind-blown, rain-swept mountain-tops).
Because of its significant elephant and tiger occupancy, the sanctuary has been given the status of a Project Elephant and Project Tiger area. It may be the first (or only) Protected Area to hold all 16 endemic birds of the Western Ghats, and contains several endemic species of butterflies and reptiles.
The camps
General batch 1(29 Aug to 1 Sept.)
As was the general global trend in weather conditions this year, unpredictable weather bringing unprecedented rains was the order of the day. The Field Director-Nature Camps, Mr. Preston Ahimaz, arrived at campsite a couple of days earlier to check out the situation and arrangements prior to holding camp. The two days there were bright and sunny, forecasting merry weather for the camp. However, on the morning of the first day of the first batch, a heavy downpour signaled a different situation. The campers were met at Coimbatore station and transported to Topslip, the campsite in the Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary. Hoping for better weather subsequently, the party arrived at the designated Forest Rest House – Ambulli Illlam – where they were to be accommodated for the next 4 days.
Ambulli Illam is located at a secluded spot about two and a half kms from Topslip – the tourist nerve centre of the sanctuary. At Topslip, the Forest offices, canteen staff quarters, reception and tourist gatherings make for a noisy, distractive stay. Although this is not an unmixed blessing as the rides and other facilities are all accessed from here. But for the avid nature lover who wants to be in undisturbed communion with nature, the Ambulli Illam (AI) Rest House has it all. Surrounded by dense forest, it is the perfect place to be in if one can overlook the minor flaws of maintenance – something that is common in such areas. Rain, however, changes the scenario entirely, unless the objective is wet weather.
Unpredictable weather: The four days spent here during this camp were a constant wrangle with the weather: rushing out for brief treks before resumption of rain forced an early return. The wet weather also had much of the wildlife under cover which made sightings infrequent and also caused frequent power failure which did not help the situation. Although the campers brought rain gear along, continuous rain offset this precaution, but nevertheless, the walks through the wet jungle were an experience in themselves. The greenery of the forest shone greener than ever with the coat of wetness that the plants wore. The smell of damp earth mixed with wet vegetation produced a heady sensation and some inevitable birds just had to be out. Every break in the rain brought out butterflies and when the sun did shine, as it did in brief takes, the forest came into its own, glistening after the many baths it had received.
The Ambulli lower watch tower: Despite the weather the campers were able to make interesting treks into the forest. One trail began near the AI rest house itself and, after winding through bamboo thickets, led to a huge clearing in the forest close to a massive sheet of rock which sloped down into the depths of the forest. Here, strategically located, stood a watch tower but sadly, the access ladder up its side had broken and fallen off. The surface of the sheet rock was very slippery but a couple of the group groped their way across to the marsh on the other side to check out a bird that was suspected to be skulking about the tree foliage. The group explored the site and tramped its way through the dense vegetation to a spot where a number of birds including the endemic white-bellied tree pie, were seen.
Another trek was conducted into Karian shola, a huge patch of wet evergreen montane rainforest right at Topslip, the intention being to attempt to ascend the 1290 mt. Pandaravarai ridge, which lies in Kerela, across the interstate border inside the shola. However, the weather (and the multitudes of leeches, brought out by the rains) thwarted this plan and the party turned back after reaching the interstate line. A safari in the Forest tourist van was also made which wound through interior forest roads to the Koli Kamathi elephant camp in order to witness the care and maintenance of the department elephants.
Parambikulam visit: Eventually, an out-of-schedule vehicle ride was finally organized to the adjacent Parambikulam sanctuary in Kerela, which enabled the campers to visit the very well-prepared visitors’ interpretation centre and make a detour to view the largest teak plant in the region–-the Kannimara Teak. This 360-year old beautiful teak specimen towers 48 metres (150) ft high and has a massive girth of 9 mts. (28 ft). The tree itself is a lumberjack’s dream: a massive trunk rising unbranched for most of its length, sprouting branches only near the top, somewhat reminiscent of the giant redwoods of California. Parambikulam also appeared to have more wildlife about the sides of the road in the form of spotted deer (Chital) and wild boar, but this was probably because a greater length of the road runs through Parambikulam. Peafowl were also seen frequently and as the vehicle neared the Parambikulam settlement, the guide pointed out to a sambar doe in a tiny clearing in a densely wooded valley a great distance away. A magnificent view of the Thunakadavu dam, which one passes just before the detour to the Kannimara teak, was also had from the road nearer to the Parambikulam settlement.
At the end of the camp, the group was dropped back at Coimbatore Junction station to catch their train back to Chennai.
Student batches 1& 2 (11 to 13 Sep and 18 to 20 Sept)
The campers: These batches comprised of 35 students in two groups from the Visual Communication department of the MOV Vaishnav College for Women, and were accompanied by the Photography Teacher, Mr. E.Omalur. The students were put up at the dormitory at Topslip, located at the entrance of the Karian Shola. Food wass served at the Forest Canteen which made it necessary to trek the intervening 100 mts for each meal, an exciting, if somewhat wary, prospect at night when the group had to have dinner. Wild boar constantly haunts the area but is not a threat; however, elephants also make an appearance here, especially during the rains. The dormitory’s strategic location made it possible to see wildlife emerge from the Karian Shola in the evening’s anted early mornings and the students were treated to sightings of gaur, sambar and wild boar here as well as on the vast sloping meadow which had to be passed on every trip to the canteen.
As these groups were from the photography class of the Vizcom dept., they bristled with cameras and telephoto lenses and no trek was spared of the innumerable halts made to photograph everything that moved – and didn’t move!! The enthusiasm of the students was impressive – many had never been to a forest before and nature photography was new to them, but it was with this exposure in mind that their teacher had brought them to this camp.
The first batch had good luck with the weather. There was no rain even as they drove toward the sanctuary although the place was indeed wet. Just before the Topslip barrier the group saw a sounder of wild boar with a full complement of youngsters, complete with baby-stripes, a lone barking deer which scooted off the road as the transport approached and two cow elephants with a calf. The second batch had a little less luck with the weather but this was compensated for by the availability of the Forest van which enabled a visit to the Forest Elephant Camp.
The activities: Karian Shola was one of the trails that were chartered for the camps. In the first foray into this wet evergreen rainforest, a coffee locust at the entrance became the crowded subject of sixteen busy cameras. A little further in, the tribal guide led the group to a spot in the brush where a couple of Ceylon frogmouths (cryptic, nocturnal birds with large eyes) had taken up a roosting station about 10 ft. up in a dark, dense bit of foliage, returning to it day after day as is the habit of these birds. The bad position and light made photography difficult, but the students had a go at the birds anyway. A flying lizard, a little cryptically coloured agamid with extendable ribs along its sides which could be spread to form gliding vanes when the creature took to the air, was also seen. A little later, a startled exclamation brought the attention of the group to a small brown worm flexing along on the ground. As soon as the identity of the dreaded leech was announced, a shriek of dissent rent the air and was immediately followed by a desperate scanning of shoes and legs for the ‘despicable monsters’. The trail soon degenerated into a scurrying rush to avoid further leech intimacy and even the few students who were not particularly bothered by the leeches and wanted to stop for observation or photography were shoved along by their more discerning classmates. After some scouting around at the check-dam, groups tackled the watch-tower, which caused some consternation at the precarious nature of the bridge across the elephant-proof trench around the tower which one had to cross to reach the tower. Later, the group headed back to the dorms where. Another trek was also made through Karian shola, this time near along the interstate boundary line which took the group deep into the forest requiring crossing of several streams.
The second batch also did the inevitable Karian shola trail, this time in rain, so the leeches and other “discomforts” of the shola became more prominent. The usual rush to avoid the leeches was there, and this time there was the added exercise of some students biting the dust (or slush) as they tried to negotiate a stream on the slippery ground. Returning from each foray into the forest, footwear would be yanked off for a close inspection of footwear and feet in a feverish search for leeches -- de-leeching became a familiar exercise during these camps.
Another trek route was to the Lower watch-tower near the Ambulli Illam Rest House. On this trek, the group took a short-cut through the jungle, accompanied by a Forest guide, through dense vegetation and bamboo thicket -- ideal elephant country, which had the guide’s eyes peeled for any sign of the pachyderms. At one point the trail descended sharply to the wall of a checkdam which had to be crossed and which had some students in a tizzy. Near the watch-tower, a wolf spider scurrying along the path, carrying her egg-case, brought the girls to their haunches for the usual pictures, and split the group, keeping the more intense photographers rooted to the spot for a good length of time. Returning to base, the campers spent their time to dinner with some noisy indoor exchanges which students can indulge in very well. One night, clear skies enabled some star-gazing to take place until the wind got too strong and chilly which turned the gazers indoors. Less-than-ideal weather precluded such activity in the subsequent batch.
One evening in the first batch, after the usual outing, a nature game was played, which was similar to the popular ‘dogs-and-the-bone’ game. Several placards representing mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates were lined up between two rows of players who, on hearing clues called out, had to rush and pick up the appropriate placard and rush back home without getting caught, or catch her opponent if she had picked the card first. Penalties awarded to wrong pickings added a further twist to the game. Of course, the expected high-decibel cheering, urging and instructing was very prominent and the game brought out the tiger in the girls, climaxing in one of them sending her opponent crashing to the ground with a headlong tackle which produced in the felled student, a limp that accompanied her to the end of camp.
The Ambulli hilltop watch tower: A third trek was to yet another watch-tower located at the top of a hill behind the Ambulli Illam Rest House. This trail was long and through dense bamboo jungle with the added exercise of involving a good climb. A jungle stream had to be crossed a couple of times as well, resulting in a couple of falls by the students, cameras and all. Luckily, however, no cameras were damaged (nor the girls!!) Climbing the last slope toward the watch-tower, a magnificent view of the surrounding hills came into sight. The roof-top of the watch-tower produced, if anything, an even more magnificent view, a clear, unobstructed 360-degree panorama of the surrounding greenery, the distant and nearby forested hills, and the even more distant plains beyond. The return trek brought the campers upon a white-lipped lizard which was besieged by the usual invading lenses for a considerable period of time.
The second batch of students arrived to a wet start despite which the photography halts began right away with the girls jumping out of the transport to photograph the terrain and scenery. The wetter weather ensured that most treks were done under umbrellas, but this did not deter the photographic urge in the girls; the sessions were just as intense, long and frequent as in the previous group. One trail led to an open meadow of grass and rock which was bordered by dense forest on one side and sloped down steeply into dense forest on the other. Here, time was spent photographing the scenario. A good deal of time was also spent in using the perfect setting for some creative modeling, with some students posing and others doing the picture-taking. (Okay, nature is interesting, but which girl can resist posing for cameras? And after all, these were aspiring visual communicators!!). A small lizard – a rock agama – on a rock brought out the usual battery of cameras which gave the little reptile the kind of attention few models or politicians get, after which the group returned to the dormitories along the road. On another walk, another check-dam close to a tribal village along the main road was visited, and here again, some of the girls came to grief in quick succession as they negotiated the slippery mud path down to the check-dam. None of the spills at any of the batches, however, had any more serious consequences than drawing a shout of concern (or a peal of laughter) from the students who were still standing.
The elephant Camp: On this batch, the Forest van was available and a ride to the Kolli Kamathi elephant camp was taken. Here the girls experienced the thrill of being able to get up close to these gigantic creatures and to see how they were cared for and fed. Of course, the usual posing (this time with a tusker) took place and camera shutters had a busy time. The girls were also able to get an insight into the life of the tribals here, for the camp elephants are all trained and manned by local tribals who have been engaged by the Forest Dept. to tend to them. The elephants were initially used for lumber work in the teak plantations raised in the forest as well as for carrying tourists on safari rides, but now with the timber activity stopped, the animals are only used for tourist rides – when it does not rain.
Wet weather has its own advantages as this group learned – in compensation for not being able to trek as much as the other group, they were treated to a ride to Parambikulam sanctuary in neighbouring Kerala state. The students visited the visitors’ interpretation centre but could not make it to the Kannimara Teak tree as the vehicle used could not negotiate the forest road there. At Parambikulam, the dam, which had its sluice gates opened at the time, provided the girls with much opportunity for photography, after which the party embarked to drive back to Topslip, pick up their luggage, and proceed on to Coimbatore to catch their return train to Chennai.
