Well woke up and enjoyed the hot water wash courtesy of the morning bucket service. Glad it is not just cold showers as it is a little chilly. Bbbrrrr. Asked about the guide but that seemed to confuse the guy behind the counter so popped back to the veg restaurant that I had dinner in yesterday for breakfast. Had a tasty onion parva (basically rice mixed with onion & saffron). During breakfast the guide came and found me. Strangely enough it was Sini, the guide that is mentioned in the Lonely Planet. Had another quick Masala Chai and then met Sini at the bus stop. We took a bus to place about 4 miles out from Ooty before walking for 15 mins, seeing the Sheep research station, before then catching another bus to '9 Mile'. Apparently the British organised it that every mile for the first x miles out of Ooty that there should be a chai/convenience shop!! We walked up the hill from the stop and Sini explained that this was a choice spot for the Indian film industry to shoot movies. The countryside is gorgeous but does strangely look like Australia, especially with all the Eucalyptus & Acacia trees.
Weaving up through some of the natural ever-green woods Sini showed me some interesting trees with natural anti-monkey + animal defences. After coming out of the wood we headed for one of the Toda villages. The Toda are one of the main tribes that still function in Tamil Nadu. Most of there livelihood is based on agriculture and textiles. One of their hand sown blankets can take up to a month to complete. Each of the Toda villages has its own temple for worship. The one here was carefully crafted from Eucalyptus, bamboo, hardwood and covered with grasses. The front of the temple had a number of symbols, key being the buffalo, but also showing the sun, moon & stars. The traditional Toda houses are built in a similar way with the same materials. One fact that you immediately notice is that the doors are extremely small & the ventilation for the fire inside is equally limited.
Moving on from the village we walked along ridge so that we had a tremendous panaromic view. Breath taking. Our walk took us to another small Toda place where Sini talked with the family & played with their kitten. Fortunately we then headed in to the woods, as by now the temperature was pretty high, even though nothing compared with Cochin & Goa. Now it felt like I had been taken back to Dorset, wondering through the woods, brushing branchs away, weaving though the under-growth. This is what I miss about always been in cities. Observing the passing of nature, hearing the call of the birds, the way tree inter-twine and the light falls between the canopy above. Lush!
As we negotated the under-growth we found the skull of a wild buffalo. Sini explained that this area has a reasonable number of tigers who enjoy a tender bit of Buffalo steak now and again. As our walked progressed over the day we were to see many more signs of the tigers presence. Arriving at the shore of a lake we took the opportunity to enjoy the cover of the trees and tranquility of the water. Ah Shanti.
After nattering and enjoying the silence we worked our way round the shore of the lake. The corner of my eye noted a sudden movement. Across the lake I spotted a herd of Buffalo enjoying a cooling drink. I guess there was a hurd of around 20 animals of all age. Certaintly don't see that in Shanghai, but that said you can see it in Indian cities!
Looping round we headed up the hill, in clearing there was a strong smell of Eucalyptus; passing over a ridge there was a pile of Eucalyptus leaves; getting closer it was evident that it was in fact a hut ajoining a pile of leaves. This I discovered was were the local people made Eucalyptus oil for sale in Ooty and else where by boiling & distilling the leaves. In true Indian style of utilising everything, the spent leaves were used to build the hut and also fire the still.
Pretty much next to the hut Sini showed me a tree where the Tigers enjoyed chilling out on a branch in between sharpening their claws on trunk of the tree. Though the marks weren't as big as in Karzaranga they still gave the impression that a human wouldn't last long against an attack. Climbing the hill there was a commosion about above us, peering up we could make out a black money leaping through the trees. These black monkeys, though not as rounded as Oli, were much bigger than the common monkeys you see in many places in Asia and India.
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