South India, February 2002

Ooty (Ootacamund)
Mudumalai National Park
Munnar & Eravikulam National Park
Anamalai National Park (Top Slip)
Notes on Endemics seen

Intro
The Western Ghats are a mountain range stretching from Mumbai (Bombay) to the south of the peninsula. They are well known as a region of high biodiversity and a number of endemic species are found here. The reason for this is thought to be due to the large evergreen forests found on the mountain slopes which are separated from similar forests in the north by hundreds of kilometres of open plains and dry forest. The area is classified as an important bird area by Birdlife International.

We flew from Colombo to Coimbatore via Chennai (Madras) with Sri Lanka Airlines and Jet Airways. As in Sri Lanka, the security around airports was remarkable. In fact it was even more tight here - three x-rays and metal detectors, two hand luggage searches, two body searches and a baggage identification!

Our plan was to try to see as many of the endemics as possible - not such a hard task as there are a number of excellent national parks clustered in a relatively small area. In ten days we visited 3 states (Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala) and four sites. We travelled by public bus between sites, which we found to be a not unpleasant experience. The efficiency of the public transport system in India is remarkable! In Ooty we hired a motorbike, which we found to be very useful to get to a couple of sites with a minimum of fuss. That said, the state of the roads is very poor and this made travelling on the bike exceptionally tiring.   

References
A Field Guide to the Birds of the Indian Subcontinent by Krys Kazmierczak
Birdwatchers' Guide to India by Krys Kazmierczak

Ooty (Udhagamandalam)
Arrived in Coimbatore by air, then took a taxi from the airport to the Central Bus Stand. After waiting only 5 minutes an Ooty-bound bus arrived and we were on our way. The bus trip takes three hours (with a break at Mettupalayam en route) and is a wonderful experience, with stunning vistas over the Nilgiri Hills as the bus negotiates dozens of hairpin bends climbing eventually to over 2200 metres.

We arrived in Ooty in the midafternoon and decided to stay at the Nilgiri Woodlands Hotel, which is a 5 minute walk from the bus station. The hotel is a remnant of the old colonial hill station days and the rooms are spacious and clean as well as very reasonably priced at Rs 900/night. The meals at the hotel were excellent - the malai kofta is not to be missed! After organising the room we went into town to hire a motorbike. The U-Rent motorcycle shop mentioned in Lonely Planet and Where to Bird in India has gone out of business but it is possible to hire a bike from any of the IDD telephone shops in town. You will not get insurance with this, though! The motorbike was well worth hiring to visit the far flung sites but you could just as easily have travelled to the closer sites by three-wheel taxi. (Thanks to Dr. David Prasad, who we met in the Cairhill Reserve, for giving us good advice on where to find some of the birds we were seeking.)

Birding: We birded at Cairnhill Reserved Forest, Naduvattum, Muthorai and the Botanical Gardens. The whole area around Ooty has been largely deforested and only a few small fragments of forest remain in the sholas (patches of evergreen forest). The closest shola to the town is Cairnhill (about 10 minutes by motorbike) but even here large areas of the forest have been overtaken by eucalypts with only small patches of original forest enduring. Nevertheless we found this to be a very rewarding site with excellent sightings of Nilgiri Laughingthrush, White-bellied Shortwing, Black-and-Rufous, Rusty-tailed and Nilgiri Flycatchers. A long and extremely tiring ride to Naduvattum was rewarding for the experience of walking in an almost intact shola. The birding was slow, with no new sightings, as we didn't arrive until midday but we did see a troop of the very impressive Nilgiri Leaf-Monkey. We dipped on the Nilgiri Wood-Pigeon at Muthorai, where the vegetation is very battered. The Botanical Gardens is highly recommended - here we had close-up, prolonged looks at two very cooperative White-bellied Shortwings in the top end of the gardens which are less often visited by the public.

Mudumalai National Park
This park lies on the northern and north-western side of the Nilgiri Mountains, about 80km north-west of Coimbatore in the extreme north-western corner of Tamil Nadu, on the state borders with Karnataka and Kerala. From Ooty we caught the bus to Theppakadu travelling via Gudalur. There are really two places to stay at this national park - either Theppakadu or Masinagudi. On the strength of some of the literature we had booked accommodation in Ooty for one of the Minivet Guesthouse at Theppakadu. It is very basic which is no problem except that the overhead fan in our room didn't work meaning that we had a very stuffy night. After this we moved to the Belmont Retreat just out of Masinagudi, much more pleasant but more expensive. There is really no need to stay in Theppakadu as it is easy and cheap to get a 4WD taxi to the area from Masinagudi. This would negate the hassle of dealing with the irritating bureaucracy in both Ooty and Theppakadu. There were at least two reasonable looking small hotels in the town of Masinagudi itself and many more in the outlying areas. We returned to Ooty and Coimbatore via the Sighur Ghat Road - another essential experience! The hairpin bends are numbered through to 40 or so and the bus must a three point turn in order to negotiate many of the tighter ones. Try not to look over the edge....

Birding: The birding in this dry open woodland is absolutely fascinating. We birded a selection of areas including the Ooty-Theppakadu road near Kargudi, the park near Masinagudi, Bokkapuram near Jungle Huts and the Sigur River. The forest was very dry at the time of our visit and the Ooty-Theppakadu road running parallel to the Moyar River was quiet. We did find White-bellied Minivet here as well as Black-headed Cuckoo-shrike, Bay-backed Shrike and Hume's Lesser Whitethroat. Oriental Honey-Buzzard was common overhead. We walked inside the park boundary one morning with a park guide (compulsory) finding some great birds such as Jungle Bush-Quail, Yellow-footed Pigeon, Brown Fish Owl, Blue-bearded Bee-eater, Wire-tailed Swallow, Rufous Treepie, Yellow-eyed Babbler and Large Grey Babbler. Eurasian Hoopoe was noticably common here. In a final effort to find the very localised Grey-headed Bulbul we took a jeep-taxi to the Sigur River a few couple distant from Masunagudi on the Sighur Ghat road. At the last minute and rather to our surprise two of this elusive species appeared at a pool in the river bed.   

Grey-breasted Laughingthrush

Munnar & Eravikulam National Park
From Coimbatore we took a bus to the charming town of Munnar in the Cardomam Hills travelling via Pollachi and Udumalpet passing through the Chinnar Wildlife Reserve and some very spectacular country. The bus ride is very long and tiring but otherwise not too uncomfortable. We arrived on a Saturday night to find the whole town lit up like some type of religious theme park. A Hindu temple and a Christian church, both covered with coloured lights, dominate the town's landscape and in fact we found a big and colourful Hindu festival in full swing the following day. There are some good restaurants around town but I highly recommend Aiswarya near the main market for the best Biriyani you will ever taste!

Birding: We birded two sites near Munnar - the Eravikulam N.P. and the Cardomam Shola. The national park is located on the high crest of the Western Ghats and the park headquarters are located at Rajamalai. Two nights at Munnar should be enough to see the target species here. These were Grey-breasted Laughingthrush and Nilgiri Pipit, both of which are locally common at Rajamalai. The Nilgiri Tahr at Rajamalai, for which this reserve was established, are habituated but not tame - many of the visitors were trying in vain to feed (and harass) the aloof beasts. If you arrive early enough you can enjoy watching these rare mountain goats as they graze in peace. Directions to the Cardomom Shola can be found in Krys' book. At the Cardomam Shola in the afternoon we easily found Malabar Whistling-Thrush and Nilgiri Flycatcher, amongst others.     

View over the Karian Shola

Anaimalai National Park (Top Slip)
We headed back to Pollachi in order to book accommodation for our stay at Top Slip. No hassles at all in this regard and we were soon on our way by taxi to Top Slip. There are two checkposts before the town of Top Slip where the guards will grill you on your intentions, length of stay and so on. They are most persistent in regard to whether you are carrying alcohol as this is "extremely prohibited", presumably because there are many indigenous people living within the park boundaries. The accommodation within the park is limited and very basic, it is not permitted to stay more than two nights. Meals can be bought at the co-op in Top Slip adjacent to the park headquarters - this is limited to dosa and simple curries and soon becomes monotonous.

Birding: Given the above, you may wonder why you would bother with a visit but this area was by far the best we visited and really shouldn't be missed. We had a spectacular start with two beautiful Asian Dhole on the road just below the second checkpoint as we arrived, then a pair of Red Spurfowl foraging in the woodland at the checkpost itself! We concentrated on the Karian Shola with a guide from the local tribe, Ayumandi. He knows the forest like the back of his hand and is an excellent bird spotter. This was without doubt the best forest we saw during our stay in the Western Ghats and some of the best sightings included Chestnut-winged Cuckoo, Brown Hawk Owl, Jungle Owlet, Jerdon's Nightjar, Great Hornbill, Crimson-backed Sunbird, Wynaad Laughingthrush and Rufous Babbler. Malabar Grey Hornbill and White-bellied Treepie were common. The density and variety of mammals in this part of the reserve was also notable with ten species recorded including Mouse Deer, Indian Civet and very impressive Gaur.

Notes on Endemics seen