More Birds

Our early morning visit to the bird sanctuary was a little disappointing - despite assurances that there would be thousands of roosting birds, we mostly saw large numbers of egrets and purple heron and not much else.

Purple Heron

Great Egret

However we did manage to catch the only guide - Mr Mohandas - who helped to make the trip more enjoyable. In fact, without his help we would probably have missed the best parts of the sanctuary altogether since there were no signs or instructions to help find our way around.

Before we headed home for breakfast, we agreed to take up his offer of a boat trip on the backwaters, the lake and around the paddy-fields in the late afternoon where he reckoned we should see large numbers of other birds.

Despite our other reservations about the homestay, Mrs Varghese - or her maid - served a good breakfast with an interesting mix of Keralan and western staples: a plate of pineapple followed by omelette and toast and then Appum and Curry - all washed down with black tea. Set up for the day!

We strolled around the paddy-fields and canals for an hour or so before it got too hot and we retreated to the AC cool of our room.

Luckily the heat had eased a bit before we set off to meet Mr Mohandas and a very pleasant 2 hours or so cruising the canals and backwaters between Kumarakon and Ayemenen (the setting for Arundhati Roy's 'God of Small Things' which Linda is currently reading). Some parts of the village have no road access, so rely on the canals for all their supplies.

Loading bananas is hot work!

True to his word, we did encounter huge flocks of Egrets, Whistling ducks, Swamp hens and many other species including the Stork billed Kingfisher and Bronze-winged Jacana. As a final bonus, the boat dropped us right outside our homestay so we avoided the Tuk-Tuk ride home.

Stork Billed Kingfisher

Purple Swamp hens and Whistling ducks

Bronze-winged Jacana

Darter

By the time we had relaxed and 'showered' our dinner had arrived - a Karimeen (fish) curry with a green pea Masala - which was as good as the previous night.

Great reflections as the sun is setting

At the end of our trip