We had so many travels in rain but being pluviophiles we don’t mind the continuous rainfall. Especially when we visit Kerala, one should always have an umbrella or raincoat in hand. We had been to Thattekad, Eravikulam National Park during rainy season and explored the place drenched in rain. So when we planned a trip to Thekkady and Vagamon with our birding friend Shanti and Anju, we had packed all our rain gears. As Vagamon was a tourist place, we had second thoughts to visit this hill station. Still the place was just few hours from Thekkady, so we decided to just give a day to this location. After 2 days in Thekkady where all our activities like boating, birding, trail walking was in rain and a bag full of grapes we bought in Kumili , we were ready to venture Vagamon through the bad roads.
We were advised to visit Parunthumpara, a tourist place on the way to Vagamon. So we took a small diversion and drove to the road to Parunthumpara. As it was a tourist place, we expected better roads but seeing the potholes in the estate roads we questioned ourselves whether its worth the risk. Anju and Shanti were ready for exploration, so we went ahead. After few kilometres the road got better and soon we reached the tourist destination Parunthumpara.
Spotting Ceropegia ensifolia !
The place was covered in mist, so we couldn’t see anything infront of us except for the garbages the tourists have left mind. Due to the weather there were no tourists at that time. We walked along the sidewalk and then decided to continue our drive to Vagamon. We were about to get inside the car the mist slowly started moving and we were awestruck by the scene infront of us. The hills looked very beautiful, so we again found a spot to enjoy the view. Vinod spotted a Ceropegia at distance through binocular and he went to the cliff side to get a picture of Ceropegia. After seeing the picture, we confirmed that as Ceropegia ensifolia. When the mist started covering the hills again, we decided to move on.
Within few minutes of our drive , we saw a cliff covered with balsams and other flowers. It was a narrow road, still we parked our car and rushed to the flowers. It was a beautiful sight and I didn’t expect rocks on the roadside will have native wildflowers in a tourist place. So I was really thrilled to see the pink blooms. After few more flower stoppings and misdirections , we finally reached the resort. The resort was located in a scenic location like we preferred. We were welcomed by the Little Spider hunter inside the resort and few other butterflies. We explored the resort and then rain started. So we just sat on the balcony and enjoyed watching the rain. Evening when the rain receded a bit, we walked to the nearby road and enjoyed some good scenic view.
I was particularly thrilled by the balsams on the rocks and vinod spotted a fresh water crab. Shanti was into vlog, so she just took video of everything. It was a very casual walk and we were surprised that this section of Vagamon had no tourist stint. A local guy who noticed us wandering around talked with us jovially and handed over homegrown bananas and guavas. Our culture had stressed not to receive anything from strangers but this time as we were in a group, we decided to break that rule. The rain poured throughout the night and the next morning we did a short walk hearing the music war of Puff-throated babbler and Malabar whistling thrush which was fun. Vinod and myself spotted the Travancore Evening brown butterfly near a stream which was a lifer for us.
After spotting more than 270 butterflies of the 330 butterflies in South India, seeing a lifer is always special. Rain started pouring again, so we decided to start off our long return journey. We had a delicious breakfast in the resort and bid farewell to Shanti, Anju who were heading to Cochin. We took a route which was bit long but very scenic. We drove 20 kms for 2 hours as we had to stop in every turn to see the plants on the roadsides. Bamboo orchid, Christisonia tubulosa,Impatiens scapiflora, Rhynchoglossum notonianum were in full bloom and many other beautiful plants were commonly seen on the roadsides. Vinod and myself took our umbrellas and got down on every corner to have a close look at these plants. Till we hit on the National Highways it was a fun ride and then it was very hectic driving.
We couldn’t explore Vagamon like we expected , still it was a very pleasant trip in rain. Tourists mostly hit on Vagamon meadows and do the so called fun activities like Paragliding, dancing on the meadow and kayaking in the lake. We are bird watchers, butterfly watchers and plant watchers, so even in rain we managed to get a glimpse of them. We decided to hit Vagamon again in another season and explore more !