Travel: Driving through a Kerala rainforest

The young girl with bright kohl rimmed eyes caught my attention as I saw her being dragged by her mother rather urgently.

Holding a bow and arrow in her hands and dressed as a warrior princess, the girl smiled coyly saying that she was late for her school where she was participating in a fancy dress competition. I looked around myself and wondered where the school was, considering that I was amidst a thick jungle, very close to the famous Athirapally – Vazhachal waterfalls in Kerala.

I had decided on driving to the falls on an impulse. It was just the beginning of monsoons and I was in Thrissur and my driver suggested a quick drive via Chalakudy.

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Dubbed as the Niagara of India, the journey to the cascades took me through a montage of villages before the pristine forests took over.

Driving through the green cover, I could hear the rain gently slapping the leaves of the trees that leaned over eagerly from the branches, awaiting the monsoons.

The birds were silent, but one could imagine them resting in their homes on the trees, anticipating the impeding downpour.

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The falls however was a sea of humanity. Walking along a path lined with trees and monkeys, the screams of the picnickers were louder than the roaring cascades.

I still managed to find a silent corner from where the Chalakudy river plummets down at 80 feet into a mysterious valley, covered by the spray and the haze of the dazzling white waterfalls.

I stood there and wondered about the course of the river and its many moods – sometimes a gentle stream caressing the rocks on its banks, at other times, a thundering torrent that storms its way through cliffs and crevices.

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The Vazhachal Falls located barely five kilometres away was a lot quieter and gentle, its still waters probably running deep. It seemed content to slope against a rocky path, taking the hues of the forests around it.

I walked around for a while and saw boards announcing the presence of one of my favourite birds – the great Indian hornbill. The tropical rain forests seemed a perfect cover for these colourful winged creatures and much as I tried, I did not get a glimpse of them.

The rains tumbled down and the earth was wet . The greens took on a tinge of grey and soon, the darkness seemed to engulf the path. I slowly made my way to the driveway, only to see busloads of tourists coming from Coimbatore.

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The road from Valparai to Athirapally along verdant jungles, encountering wildlife was one of the most scenic routes in the hills and I added the same to my bucket list, only to see my dream come true, long before the monsoons were over for the year.

The rains only got heavier and I braved the leeches and let the winding roads take over my life.

The forests spread themselves the moment I left Pollachi. The rains came tumbling down the moment I passed the Anaimalai Hills. There were patches of tropical evergreen forests and then there are rolling tea estates.

The 40 hairpin bends curved through the mountains, offering me a new view every time I looked out of the window. The reservoirs followed me around and I could see in the green canopy, a shade of white as a waterfall cascaded into another lush valley.

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Valparai is not just a hill station or a plantation town. It is one of India’s bio diversity hot spot and a lot of endemic and endangered species find their home here in this tropical rainforest.

I encountered one of them at the intersection of the hairpin bends. Nodding its head rather vigorously, the Nilgiri Tahr made its appearance raising its head over the thickets. A herd soon gathered.

We next spotted the lion tailed macaques, one of the threatened species in the open.

Walking along the paths of the tropical rainforests, we saw the flying squirrels in the late evening, jumping and gliding from one tree to another . But my moment of the day was the sight of a pair of great Indian hornbills, perched comfortably on the branches of the trees.

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A quick drive then took us into a misty marshy land of ferns and orchids as the rains lashed the trees. More rains and more mist blinded the views from the window. The earth turned slushy, the forests looked wild, caught in the frenzy of the rain.

We were in the forests surrounding the Athirapally and Vazhachal waterfalls and the rains drowned all the sounds of the jungles. It seemed like a harmonious rhythm of water, rising forever in its tempo, beating the surface of the earth, cooling and nourishing it.

The trees were entwined, the forests merged and borders blurred as we moved from one state to another. A nameless waterfall beckoned us. We looked around and saw several of them – some tumbling over the rocks, some pouring down a small cliff, some meandering into a mysterious path of their own.

Blinded by the fury of the rains and the passionate dance of nature, I closed my eyes and lost myself in a carpet of greens, soaking in the spirit of the monsoons.

Lakshmi Sharath is a travel writer and blogger from Bangalore and she blogs at http://backpakker.blogspot.com.

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