Last weekend in India for a few weeks and the first this visit with a promise of fine weather and so it’s off to the Jungle reserve at Phansad three hours south of Mumbai with a bunch of mates for two days of savoring the Jungle Experience. The birding is rubbish we know because the post monsoon vegetation is so thick and luxuriant, however abundant insects and amphibians more than make up for it.
Arriving at the little tin roofed bungalow the outside strip light is on and plastered with moths, crickets, bush crickets, lantern bugs, assassin bugs, spiders and beetles but most of all mantids. Mantids of all shapes, sizes and colours stalking the other visitors to the lights. Up above under the veranda massive geckos wait for stray moths while down below is a collection of frogs and toads cleaning up anything that should fall. Outside in the lawn mole crickets are singing their piercing monotonous song while cicadas and tree frogs try to sonically out compete each other all around us. Noisy yes, but also massively soothing.
We waste no time and as soon as out kit is stashed we head out into the forest, the head forest officer has seen Leopards nearby so we hope against hope to see one. Standing in the middle of a jungle clearing, late at night is an extremely wonderful experience and we all soak up the atmosphere. There are a myriad of fireflies blinking on and off in the trees and many pairs of eyes reflect our torch beams, the vast majority of which turn out to be spiders. Actually it struck me that this jungle could have easily been Tolkiens model for Mirkwood, its dense and tangled, gnarled old trees festooned with twisted and
cris-crossed lianas hung with spiders webs and positively crawling with BIG spiders, Wood spiders, Huntsmen, Tarantulas, Cat Legged Spiders, Thorn spiders , an arachnophobes worst nightmare come to life! I have to say we loved it!
Next morning we’re up at dawn and off to a waterhole five kilometers in to check out some vultures nests, the walk seems hard to me and I’m pouring sweat, my mouth is dry no matter how much water I drink and a dull headache makes its presence felt. When we get back to the hut for breakfast I find that I’m not ravenous as I normally would be in fact I cant really face food. I feel tired and listless and decide to lie down. There’s a power cut and the ceiling fan grinds to a halt. I tell my mates to go on out and I’ll just have a lie down. And so I lie there, basically all day, drink water and aching all over. Is this H1N1? I wonder? The start of a stomach bug? Late in the evening I get to sleep and awake on Sunday morning drenched with sweat and still aching. I get up and take a walk and feel fucking awful. Eventually we leave and sitting in the car heading to the local town for some breakfast I feel a little cooler, by the time we reach a breakfast stop I’m actually hungry and notice that the headache has gone. By the time I’m back in Mumbai I’m feeling about 95% better. So: WTF was it? I really dunno but there is a theory: Whilst in Delhi last week I cut my finger, just a very slight nick, no blood raised in factso I thought nothing of it until about 24 hours later when I wake up with a swollen throbbing finger with a large ugly yellow lump on it, I can hardly bear to touch it but stab it with a pair of tweezers and massage Savlon into it and cover it with a plaster. Immediately it feels better and after another 48 hours ( Saturday afternoon in fact) I take the paster off to check that’s its not turned gangrenous or something equally horrid and it looks absolutely fine so I leave the plaster off, but it soon becomes swollen and painful again. Doh! So I repeat the treatment again and once again it seems fine. The plasters still on as I type. It has been suggested to me that this pusy infection of my finger may be related to my mystery malady, maybe I’ll never know…..
The mantids were amazing however, and we did see a Sea Eagle on the way home!
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