Just Li'Es

You wake up to the sweet sonorous whistle of the Malabar Whistling Thrush exactly at 5.30 in the morning and begin to marvel at the similarity between bird and man and at God’s creation. Perhaps the bird scores over man in its consistency of the tune, I thought. Then the other   birds   appeared to take over from there as though waiting for a signal, chirping endlessly, all at the same time. When  I  was about to  open the door leading to the balcony  to  feast  on the  scenery, I noticed a large monkey with its baby firmly  entrenched  in its pouch  keenly watching us  through the glass  door and scratching it vigorously  in an attempt to  enter  the room.  Immediately half a dozen monkeys, big and small joined him wagging their tails as though beckoning us.  It was   amusing   to watch one of them dragging its baby by its tail towards her when she noticed the young one was at some mischief.  We came to know later that these visitors frequented their guests during the time of breakfast expecting to be fed with fruit or bread.

While on our morning walk along the path that was lined with  spice trees and some flowering plants,  we spotted the whistling bird and a giant squirrel  but  before I could take a shot, they had disappeared from our sight. We had to miss  Bird  watching  since  it  was suspended  during    summer   as it was the time elephants encroached  to  feast on jackfruits (we saw  clusters of  jackfruits hanging  from  trees  inside and outside the resort).

One of the lower level suites

The Resort   has 19 cottages and two suites, all built at different levels amidst a thick growth of a variety of spice trees. When asked for the reason, The General Manager of the Resort, Jiju James  said “since the resort is built in a  spice  valley  the owners did not wish to  cut down the trees but build cottages around them  in order to preserve such treasure’’.  Another piece of information   that came  as a surprise  to me was  the distant  hills  that were seen  from  Bevina were  called  The Bakasura Hills as the  mythologica figure  was believed to have lived there and his footprint was proof of this. Noticing my astonished expression of disbelief, Jiju displayed the name on his mobile for me to read. It appeared Tippu Sultan had his Watch Tower over the hill.

Kurumba Village   Resort has 19 cottages which are reachable with less number of steps compared to the two suites for which you have to climb down 100 steps. 

The path from Bevina leading to cottage

Perhaps it’s worth the effort when you realize you can have the best view of the valley from here —the small lake fed by the gurgling waters we know not from where as you just hear their sound!  Even if you miss the Forest walk for some reason,  during  your climb up and down  within the  Resort, you come across almost all the trees it boasts of—Silver Oak, Sandal, Mango, Pears, Peaches, Nutmeg, Mace, Pepper, Cloves and  so on. Time appears to stand still when you begin to revel in   nature’s beauty and bounty in all its pristine form. You immediately strike a rapport with Robert, the friendly Guest Relations Staff. All that the Resort needs is a Souvenir shop where the artifacts of the Kurumba tribes are displayed and  a  fund of information in the form of brochures  which  could  be made available  to journalists and tourists  as this five year old  Resort  certainly requires more publicity   for future tourism.  

Thanks to our good friend Dr. Hariharanath for recommending Kurumba
Village Resort for our holiday but for whom we wouldn’t have known
that such an idyllic place existed.    

(Concluded)                                                                     

N. Meera Raghavendra Rao