all photo are here
Before I left for Himalayas me and Murthy worked out all logistics and plan for the first 2 day program of Eastern Ghats Wildlife Society (EGWS). A facebook event was created and RSVP's started pouring in which was really encouraging.
I came back from Ladakh and 20 days later was our program. Surprisingly there were zero confirmed participants when I came back and we were worried for it. I started forwading it to my channels. We got a couple of confirmations but still atleast 10 members we were looking at. Luck played our side as one of my friend, owning his private startup, gave me a team of 11 people to visit Araku. It was a good angle of his where his employees can enjoy an outstation visit and he gets a chance to contribute to my initiative as well.
We had a team of 12 participants + me and Murthy. Murthy took care of all booking for accommodation and transport in Vizag. I took care of indemnity forms and transport for Hyderabad participants. After an overnight bus ride, me and 11 others reached Vizag. We boarded our private bus to Araku with 14 people onboard, plus 2 snakes :) Murthy visited Srikakulam day before to get 2 snakes rescued by his uncle in last 2 days, to be released in the wild. No one was aware of the snakes part except me and Murthy, as we didn't want to unnecessary scare the first timers of a wildlife visit.
As we started to climb the valley, I realized how the amazing monsoon weather has turned this place into heaven. Clouds of mists hung on the peaks around us making an amazing site. And it was much cooler than the hot and humid of our last visit.
The stop at Tyda resort was a good start, which is in the middle of hills. People refreshed after the overnight journey, did their breakfast and also got a glance of what they'll witness in the next 2 days. We also spotted a black crested bulbuls, my firstie from eastern ghats. A nice tea and we move ahead as Murthy was anxious to release the snakes into wild. He is a true snake lover as he time and again talked about the stress the snakes were having, how he hydrated them last night and took care during the 120km journey from Srikakulam.
So here we were, at the Maryland resort of Raghu. The distant tents few kms away were visible, but Raghu recommended us to stay at resort as there was a forecast of bad weather in evening. We kept the decision aside till evening and headed straight to campsite so that we can do a brief about snake behavior with live specimens and let them free in wild. We had 2 specimens, one rat snake and one common cobra (spectacled).
It was a good session for about an hour where the participants were keen, curious and excited to see the snake behavior. They got a chance to touch the rat snake, but the cobra was handled well by Murthy. The hiss of it was scary and kept participants on toes, but as we told it is more scared than us (and as it ran in wild as we let it free), it calmed the nerves. It was great talking, busting all the myths about snakes, interesting facts about their venom and other behavioral aspects.
We headed for lunch, then for a climb to a nearby hill after a small briefing session about forest etiquettes and general do's and don'ts. Two local tribal escorted us as guides. This was a first time trek for many and it also rained heavy, so it did create a sense of anxiety. Many didn't carried rain suit (including me), just umbrellas. But it was good enthusiasm and all climbed some really steep sections to reach to the top. And it was all worth the effort, the view from top was a heavenly one. The clouds hung below as, and beyond you could see the entire valley. A sense of excitement was there as all were awestruck by this natural beauty, a first experience for many. The rain came and went away, along with the wind. We enjoyed this view for some time before starting back as it was getting dark. The silence of forest broken by the toads and crickets, the fresh air and mist all around. It was a dream experience, the one I always cherished in western ghats, I was surprised to have it here.
At Maryland it was Jayshree waiting for us. We had a brief talk before it started to drizzle again. We realized, we made just in time as this was one of the heaviest rain I experienced. We were not even able to come out of our room for an hour or so. We freshened up and waited for rain to calm down. I observed the group people were having their good time in their tents, singing and dancing.
Another amazing meal was served in dinner and later Murthy gave a small presentation on common snakes, their distinction and first-aid. It was a long day indeed, that ended well.
Day-2, I woke up around 4am as my sleep broke. Outside it was total fog, we were inside a cloud. I saw Seetharam Raju, the enthusiastic birdwatcher and our only participant from Vizag. He was ready with his camera to go to camp site as he saw an oriental white-eye there last day. He went out as the day broke.
We got ready at 7, the amazing idli wada chutneys were served in breakfast. We headed for our morning trek to Galikonda forest patch. It is one of the last intact forest in this region, mainly grassland (similar to palm) what created a Savana kind of a landscape. The trek route was easier than last day but the views, the trail and the unique rock formations were a highlight. Also highlight was the visit to a natural cave in the dense forest below. We spotted a toad and few small insectivorous bat specied inside. It was interesting to see the unique formations inside, my first natural cave experience, and also for the participants.
The trek continued uphill and we crossed the Galikonda peak to go further traversing a huge patch of savanna forest with an amazing backdrop of clouds. We later reached a water stream, spend some time there and enjoyed the really tasteful water. Further down near another stream we spotted 3 different species of frogs in the small pond there. This was exciting for all, as apart from caves, there weren't any good sightings today.
There was another good lunch served and we gave some video bites to local news channel reporter (yes we got some media coverage as well), We now started back for Vizag as our first time visitors wanted to enjoy the Vizak beach as well. At a stop on the way we had a feedback talk with all and it was good to know all the people thoroughly enjoyed the trip.
Me and Murthy had a good talk in evening about our next plans. We mainly observed, the stay in Raghu's farm earned him a lot money but we hardly saved much for our conservation activities we want to do. We are thinking of capacity building programs, with home stays in villages as well. The idea is to create an Eco-tourism environment around wildlife of region, where the communities value what is there in their backyard and also generate revenue from it. It is theoretical right now but we hope it works out well. It would be an ideal win-win for everyone.
Before I left for Himalayas me and Murthy worked out all logistics and plan for the first 2 day program of Eastern Ghats Wildlife Society (EGWS). A facebook event was created and RSVP's started pouring in which was really encouraging.
I came back from Ladakh and 20 days later was our program. Surprisingly there were zero confirmed participants when I came back and we were worried for it. I started forwading it to my channels. We got a couple of confirmations but still atleast 10 members we were looking at. Luck played our side as one of my friend, owning his private startup, gave me a team of 11 people to visit Araku. It was a good angle of his where his employees can enjoy an outstation visit and he gets a chance to contribute to my initiative as well.
We had a team of 12 participants + me and Murthy. Murthy took care of all booking for accommodation and transport in Vizag. I took care of indemnity forms and transport for Hyderabad participants. After an overnight bus ride, me and 11 others reached Vizag. We boarded our private bus to Araku with 14 people onboard, plus 2 snakes :) Murthy visited Srikakulam day before to get 2 snakes rescued by his uncle in last 2 days, to be released in the wild. No one was aware of the snakes part except me and Murthy, as we didn't want to unnecessary scare the first timers of a wildlife visit.
As we started to climb the valley, I realized how the amazing monsoon weather has turned this place into heaven. Clouds of mists hung on the peaks around us making an amazing site. And it was much cooler than the hot and humid of our last visit.
The stop at Tyda resort was a good start, which is in the middle of hills. People refreshed after the overnight journey, did their breakfast and also got a glance of what they'll witness in the next 2 days. We also spotted a black crested bulbuls, my firstie from eastern ghats. A nice tea and we move ahead as Murthy was anxious to release the snakes into wild. He is a true snake lover as he time and again talked about the stress the snakes were having, how he hydrated them last night and took care during the 120km journey from Srikakulam.
So here we were, at the Maryland resort of Raghu. The distant tents few kms away were visible, but Raghu recommended us to stay at resort as there was a forecast of bad weather in evening. We kept the decision aside till evening and headed straight to campsite so that we can do a brief about snake behavior with live specimens and let them free in wild. We had 2 specimens, one rat snake and one common cobra (spectacled).
It was a good session for about an hour where the participants were keen, curious and excited to see the snake behavior. They got a chance to touch the rat snake, but the cobra was handled well by Murthy. The hiss of it was scary and kept participants on toes, but as we told it is more scared than us (and as it ran in wild as we let it free), it calmed the nerves. It was great talking, busting all the myths about snakes, interesting facts about their venom and other behavioral aspects.
We headed for lunch, then for a climb to a nearby hill after a small briefing session about forest etiquettes and general do's and don'ts. Two local tribal escorted us as guides. This was a first time trek for many and it also rained heavy, so it did create a sense of anxiety. Many didn't carried rain suit (including me), just umbrellas. But it was good enthusiasm and all climbed some really steep sections to reach to the top. And it was all worth the effort, the view from top was a heavenly one. The clouds hung below as, and beyond you could see the entire valley. A sense of excitement was there as all were awestruck by this natural beauty, a first experience for many. The rain came and went away, along with the wind. We enjoyed this view for some time before starting back as it was getting dark. The silence of forest broken by the toads and crickets, the fresh air and mist all around. It was a dream experience, the one I always cherished in western ghats, I was surprised to have it here.
At Maryland it was Jayshree waiting for us. We had a brief talk before it started to drizzle again. We realized, we made just in time as this was one of the heaviest rain I experienced. We were not even able to come out of our room for an hour or so. We freshened up and waited for rain to calm down. I observed the group people were having their good time in their tents, singing and dancing.
Another amazing meal was served in dinner and later Murthy gave a small presentation on common snakes, their distinction and first-aid. It was a long day indeed, that ended well.
Day-2, I woke up around 4am as my sleep broke. Outside it was total fog, we were inside a cloud. I saw Seetharam Raju, the enthusiastic birdwatcher and our only participant from Vizag. He was ready with his camera to go to camp site as he saw an oriental white-eye there last day. He went out as the day broke.
We got ready at 7, the amazing idli wada chutneys were served in breakfast. We headed for our morning trek to Galikonda forest patch. It is one of the last intact forest in this region, mainly grassland (similar to palm) what created a Savana kind of a landscape. The trek route was easier than last day but the views, the trail and the unique rock formations were a highlight. Also highlight was the visit to a natural cave in the dense forest below. We spotted a toad and few small insectivorous bat specied inside. It was interesting to see the unique formations inside, my first natural cave experience, and also for the participants.
The trek continued uphill and we crossed the Galikonda peak to go further traversing a huge patch of savanna forest with an amazing backdrop of clouds. We later reached a water stream, spend some time there and enjoyed the really tasteful water. Further down near another stream we spotted 3 different species of frogs in the small pond there. This was exciting for all, as apart from caves, there weren't any good sightings today.
There was another good lunch served and we gave some video bites to local news channel reporter (yes we got some media coverage as well), We now started back for Vizag as our first time visitors wanted to enjoy the Vizak beach as well. At a stop on the way we had a feedback talk with all and it was good to know all the people thoroughly enjoyed the trip.
Me and Murthy had a good talk in evening about our next plans. We mainly observed, the stay in Raghu's farm earned him a lot money but we hardly saved much for our conservation activities we want to do. We are thinking of capacity building programs, with home stays in villages as well. The idea is to create an Eco-tourism environment around wildlife of region, where the communities value what is there in their backyard and also generate revenue from it. It is theoretical right now but we hope it works out well. It would be an ideal win-win for everyone.
