How would you feel if you get a chance to hike around in dense forests and through streams, well past the midnight, to see reptiles and amphibians, especially frogs, toads and snakes like Malabar pit Viper in their own habitat. At Amboli I went through that experience and I have no words to describe how I felt. We were right there, in their own backyard. It was an "out-of-this-world" experience to say the least, an adventure I would want to keep revisiting again and again. And my three friends accompanying me definitely shared the same sentiments. We couldn't help but feel like those top notch Nat Geo/Discovery Explorers who make it all happen on TV.
The sightings were amazing & it included a rare tussle for survival between a Deccan banded gecko and a cat snake! We were hoping that this hike would never end. But we had to give our herptile friends their much deserved privacy and so decided to call it a day.
As we headed back to the hotel I looked at my watch for the first time during that trail & it showed - "2:35AM".
The picture below shows the "fight for life" between the snake and the gecko that we witnessed during our late night hike at Amboli. Any guesses on what would have happened next?
Rewind back around 24hrs - Phone alarms started ringing early Saturday morning to let us know that it was time to get up, get ready and get started on the iCampers' maiden journey to the Amboli wetlands. The excitement was palpable & I am sure none of us needed an alarm to get up that day. For the 4 of us - Kedar, Ninaad, Shreepad and myself the early morning synch-up was almost telepathic. No one needed a wake-up call nor any reminder calls & neither was anyone even a minute late. ( So much in contrast to our regular commute to the office where we have to make a minimum of 5 synch up calls amongst the carpooling partners. :) ) We left around the "BrahmaMuhurta - ब्रह्ममुहुर्त" - the best time of the day - & that probably set the tone for the entire trip.
In the car there was this aroma of hot upma freshly prepared by Joshi Kaku (Ninaad's Mom). We tried to resist ourselves from immediately eating it at the onset. But soon it became uncontrollable. So we took a quick stop to binge on the Upma.
Meanwhile Shreepad couldn't resist another temptation, that of taking a few pictures of the rising sun along with the windmills and this is one of his unique PoV of the sunrise.
Next it was time for tea & little did we know that the Tea Stall on the highway would make us unpack our 100L macro lens. We were greeted by a Beautiful Green Butterfly (Common Emigrant), a pair of mating moths (sandlewood defoliator/wasp moth) and Scarlet Skimmer(f). Tea took a back-seat and we began hitting on these beautiful models posing in front of our cameras. A 5min T-Break turned out to be a 35min one, but no one was complaining. We had got these cool photographs for starters, and that too totally unexpected.
BTW, this would not be the only unexpected photography session that we would have, this would be the first of the many…
After our T-Break we were driving peacefully on NH4, having a good chit-chat, when around 1000AM seeing the beautiful lush green fields outside, we felt the urge to stop for a few minutes and take pictures. Little did we know that these "few minutes" will turn into a "few hours". We all headed in various directions going after our favorite targets. Shreepad went out to shoot Sunflowers, Ninaad found some insects while I found a cute red ladybird. However Kedar was to be seen nowhere for quite some time.
Suddenly we heard Kedar calling us in excitement from somewhere in a field at a distance. Inside that field there was a water body and lots of Baya Weaver nests. Some were under-construction too!
The site was just awesome and we thoroughly enjoyed the chirping of the birds, their movements around and also got a few tips on interior decoration from the Baya Weaver. "Expect the unexpected" is what they say when it comes to Nature and Wildlife. It is so true. We were headed to Amboli and we were supposed to do macro photography & here we were, faced with a situation that needed atleast a 400mm :)
Luckily Kedar had a 400mm & Ninaad had a 300mm so we took turns of shooting the Baya Weaver from our PoV by sharing the lenses. By the time we were satisfied enough it was around 12noon and the sun was shining brightly above us. Amboli was not far from here and by 1300hrs we were at the hotel trying to find a parking spot for our car.
After some R&R and malvani lunch, we left our hotel at around 1545hrs, fully armed to "shoot" (read as Take Pictures).
Near the Amboli Police Station, we met our guide, an unassuming, soft-spoken but a very knowledgeable person, and our wonderful tour officially kicked-off.
It was not raining that day, but the trail was beautiful. The track was covered with moss and we had to watch every step, lest we step on any of the tiny creatures jumping around (frogs, toads, geckos...).
We could see a lot of species of miniature frogs and toads. The stand
out was the "Amboli Toad" which is found only in Amboli. There were
quite a few Blue Mormon's flying around the trail. We tried to take
pictures of them but they were too fast for our cameras. Seeing so many
around, we decided that we will not leave Amboli before taking a picture
of a Blue Mormon, especially since it is now declared as the state
butterfly of Maharashtra.
As we walked further we saw this rounded structure perched up over a stone.
At a first glance it was hard to believe it was living creature, more so a millipede. After spending some time with it, it "opened up" and flaunted its beautiful self before starting off to go home.
The daylight was diminishing fast, especially since we were under dense tree cover. However our guide was sharp enough to spot this cicada.
By the time we were done taking pictures of the cicada, it was almost dark. We could see a very beautiful twilight from an open area on the trail as we were returning back.
Thinking that we were done for this session, we packed our cameras and started our long walk back to the hotel. By now it was pitch dark and the light from the torch was the only light showing us the path to walk on.
But then suddenly Kedar spotted a beautiful Blue Mormon peacefully "sleeping" on a tree with its wings wide open, posing perfectly for our cameras. What more to ask for! We took out our cameras and made quite a few pictures of this beautiful creature. As I had mentioned earlier in this blog we really wanted to photograph Blue Mormon but never thought that it would pose for us this early.
Well by now we had started expecting the unexpected from our trip. :)
We started our night trail at around 930. We had been to many National Parks earlier but a Night Hike to watch herptiles in their own habitat would be our first-of-its kind experience.
As we walked into the habitat we saw the same Blue Mormon we had earlier photographed peacefully sleeping. Right besides him were these guys enjoying their good-night sleep. (Common Crow mating, Owl Moth)
Further down, we were greeted by a green caterpillar hanging by its strand out of nowhere. Normally it would be a spider who would love to hang around this way.
We also saw this gecko. (Brooks House Gecko)
The signature moment of the trip came when we spotted a tussle between the cat snake and the Deccan Banded gecko. The snake was going for a kill and was constricting the gecko in order to eat it, but the gecko was also squeezing the snake with its feet in order to escape.
Ultimately the gecko emerged a winner and the snake let it go! There was a very thin line between life and death for the gecko but its fighting spirit saved its life. "Never Give Up" they say...! Even our guide was fascinated with this sighting. He indicated that he hadn't seen such a thing during his tenure as a guide here.
The snake was left hanging, probably wondering what actually happened and also thinking what to do next..
We were still in awe with what we had seen when going a bit further near the pond we were greeted by another superstar of Amboli - The Malabar Gliding Frog. We were also lucky to see its tadpole.
After having spent significant amount time with the Malabar Gliding Frog our guide changed directions and decided to take all of us "to a less traveled trail - on the unbeaten path" in search of the Malabar Pit Viper. As we were hiking, Ninaad was able to take this amazing pic of the Bombay Bush Frog.
& Shreepad spotted this Hitler Bug and the gecko.
We were actually awestruck when our guide asked us to climb down into a stream where he thought we would be able to see that snake. It was an amazing experience to be walking through the stream on a pitch dark night with just the sound of the flowing water and that of the typewriter frogs.
As we explored various possible locations in search of the Malabar Pit Viper we encountered even more species of Frogs, mainly Borrowing Frog, Cricket Frog, Wrinkled Frog. We also saw eggs of the Wrinkled Frog.
And just when we had started thinking that maybe we won’t be lucky enough to see the Malabar Pit Viper, our guide spotted that snake hanging by the tree. (It is a venomous pit viper species endemic to southwestern India. No subspecies are currently recognized - src. wikipedia)
I'll let the pictures do the talking. We almost ran out-of-memory making pics of this dude!
We didn't want to leave but it was about time that we left all these herptiles alone. So we turned back. This is what we found on our way back. (Tailless whip scorpion)
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As we headed back to the hotel I looked at my watch for the first time during that trail & it showed - "2:35AM".
This was the last shot of the day..err.. night! :)
The opportunities for Photography at Amboli seem to be never ending & even our hotel provided a lot of them. We got up early the next morning, around 7AM, and the first thing we did even before having a cup of tea was to grab our cameras and take pictures around the hotel premises. One of the interesting catch was this Golden Emperor moth.
We had to go out for our final hike by around 930AM, so we quickly had our breakfasts, got ready and headed off to meet our guide. The night trail was an amazing "out-of-this-world" experience for us and we were more than satisfied. So for the morning hike we decided not to go after anything specific but to enjoy the natural beauty of Amboli and for once explore the Flora around the Trails.
We found some amazing Mushroom formations, Vanaspati Tree, Root parasite (Aeginetia Indica) amongst others. A few leaves also made up for some interesting "models".
Now it was that time of the day when we had to head back into the "real world". We packed our bags, checked out of the hotel and started our drive back home. Another destination had just been added to our "must frequently visit" list.
In the car we were tracing back our entire trip and we were totally pleased with what Amboli had offered us.
But guess what.. the party was not over yet...
We were barely about 30kms into the drive, when Kedar, who was driving the car, spotted this wonderful Rat snake alongside the road.
We also spotted this amazing yellow caterpillar (Dysphania Militaris) on a tree nearby our car. Expect the unexpected… you see!
I think this was Amboli's way of saying "Please come back to visit us again, there's much more to explore .."
Thank you all for coming this far .... hope you enjoyed reading this blog! I'll be interested in knowing your comments and feedback!!
& Thanks to my dear friends Kedar Kulkarni, Ninaad Joshi & Shreepad Hardas for contributing their pictures to this blog and for everything :) !
