A weekend away....

Back to the Jungle reserve at Phansad this weekend despite prognostications of a post cyclone deluge, nobody else staying at the bungalow and so we have it too ourselves. Arrived in Murud and straight to my favorite beach side bar for beers and snacks before decamping to a restaurant for a totally authentic Malvani veg thali. Although not licenced they turn a blind eye to our under the table decanting of wine into the stainless steel mugs they provide. Back up to the bungalow at midnight and then an hour session photographing cricket, mantids and spiders in the garden. Next morning dawns bright albeit it misty and we face two severe disappointments; firstly we are told there’s no milk for the Cha’ha which necessitates us jumping in the car and driving down the mountain to the first village that has a tea shop. With our craving for tea sated we then go back up for breakfast only to be told on our arrival that ‘there is no breakfast as the man who prepares it ‘did not come’.  So we drive down ( again) to the coast where we have a breakfast in the beach bar and more tea before driving back up ( again) to go birding in the paddy fields. Climbing down the steep slopes into the valley we find that the rice has just been harvested and is spread out across all the little dykes between the fields which means that we cannot walk on them.

Back down the mountain again and this time we decide to stroll along the beach looking for gulls, terns and waders. Having exhausted that possibility we then drive slowly south along the coast, past the furthest limits of our previous explorings and discover a magical world of small sandy palm fringed bays, old forts and crumbling temples like something out of an Indiana Jones adventure. This area seems to be the first point south along the coast that is finally free of the metropolitan influence of Mumbai 200 km to the north. The coast road here is a pock marked single track affair traversed mostly by ox carts, around each headland is another little sandy bay where Oystercatchers, curlew and sand plovers feed completely undisturbed by humans. A few miles away, across the board bay there is a distant rumble and what looks like an open cast iron ore mine and dock but it hardly encroaches on the seaside idyll we are enjoying. Here there is a large Moslem temple and mausoleum that is being restored and we are able to wander in and around it completely unhindered by anybody, the guys working on it greet us with smiles bid us ‘welcome’. I even walk inside where there are a series of carved stone tombs, carvings and ancient wood workings lay around and we are completely trusted just to explore. Fantastic! Down the road there is a small sandy bay fringed by a number of huge baobabs, a tree that I have never seen outside of Africa and we puzzle over their origins which, judging by their size must be hundreds of years ago.

Then its back to Murud for lunch the skies that have been darkening all morning finally produce the rain and it wastes no time in becoming torrential so we drive back up to Phansad again for a rest and to await the end of the rain. When it does clear and the sun comes out the jungle steams and I take a solitary walk through it I the sauna like humidity, a time for some reflection on my luck at being in such a magical place! Before dusk we drive deep inside the jungle to a water hole where a Sri Lankan Frogmouth, often considered to be the worlds ugliest bird has been seen and quite well twitched. The waterhole is alive with tree frogs and mosquitoes and while we wait to hear its distinctive call we are eaten alive despite a liberal coating of ‘Expedition Strength’ deet.

Having drawn a blank on the SLFM we go back to Murud for dinner on the seafront under the leaning palms where we bump into a crowd from work, it’s the purchasing department picnic, I’m not sure who is more surprised……

After another nocturnal photographic session I retire to bed to find my shoes are full of blood, I’ve been well and truly leeched.

During the night I am awoken by more rain hammering on the tin roof of the bungalow and decide to pop outside for a pee. I emerge onto the veranda dressed in nothing more than my shorts, torch in hand and wonder if there is any wildlife about, looking down, about a meter from my bare feet is a forest scorpion of quite gigantic proportions! A grab my camera and fire off some shots before retiring. At six we are up and off to the coast again where we spend a happy morning at a favorite spot watching many different guls, terns and waders including what we think may be a Saunders tern.

Saunders or Little Tern?

We arrive home, hot sweaty, dirty and covered in bites but agree that’s its been an absolutely exellent weekend. In the evening we sit on the balcony sipping icy cold Sauvignon Blanc and watching a thunderstorm build and die with the fading light of the day. Werk tomorrow…..Sigh.