Amboli!
It was the 19th of December!
The day we were to leave for Amboli….a hotspot for amphibians and reptiles. I was just too excited because it was the first trip outside with my brother after more than a year!
And him being around meant everything but behaving ourselves!
My parents, of course, couldn’t help it since it we are just two uncontrollable brats!
I had heard of Amboli in the past . It is a dense evergreen forest near Kolhapur .
On the way to this magical place, my only ambition was to prevent my brother from reading my poetry book and teach him some birdwatching! I did succeed eventually!
We reached Amboli after about 6 hours of driving. We stayed at ‘Whistling Woods”,a beautiful place which was in the midst of nature!
It was the 19th of December!
The day we were to leave for Amboli….a hotspot for amphibians and reptiles. I was just too excited because it was the first trip outside with my brother after more than a year!
And him being around meant everything but behaving ourselves!
My parents, of course, couldn’t help it since it we are just two uncontrollable brats!
I had heard of Amboli in the past . It is a dense evergreen forest near Kolhapur .
On the way to this magical place, my only ambition was to prevent my brother from reading my poetry book and teach him some birdwatching! I did succeed eventually!
We reached Amboli after about 6 hours of driving. We stayed at ‘Whistling Woods”,a beautiful place which was in the midst of nature!
We were really lucky to find an environmentalist called Hemant Ogale there.
He took us around the little town and educated us about the various butterflies and plants there.
The plant that I was absolutely amused by was known as “datpadi”.(dat=teeth,padi=fall). What is amusing about this herb is that when its stem is chewed,your teeth fall off!!!!!
We had a mighty laugh at this one!
Infact,the local villagers rub this on the cows. Their body swells up and they are sold off in the local fair as “extremely healthy” cows.
We watched many birds!
To name a few of the amazing ones, there were brahminy kites, a skimmer , kestrel, black naped oriole, Indian roller, a yellow throated bulbul and many other birds!
We were also very lucky because we saw a BISON!!!!!!!!!!
We had gone for a night trail and we were lucky! In fact ,saying that we were “lucky” is and understatement!
We also saw a pair of civet cats, and a mongoose !
The reptiles we saw were simply mindblowing! We saw a checkered keelback snake in the water for more than an hour! It just stayed near us for very long!
Then,on the way back from a beautiful place whose name I can’t recollect, I spotted a MALABAR PIT VIPER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It was simply awesome!
Just on the opposite side of the road, Hemant spotted a green vine snake. Vaarun handled it! My mother, of course, was screaming in fright from the car since she is terrified of snakes; an environmentalist, nevertheless.
We spent a week there and I feel that whenever one enjoys something, time flies as fast as a peregrine falcon!
Without a choice, we headed back to Pune , to the dreary life here….. I say dreary because I had to study for my preliminary examinations!
I fell in love with Amboli and I am sure that anyone would!
I plan to visit this place atleast twice a year!
