The Mighty Anaimalais, Valparai

DAY 1:

Note: This tour includes all travel to and from Coimbatore International Airport/ Railway Station to Valparai and back in an A/C MUV.

Arrive at Coimbatore airport (flight costs not included) by 9AM, and be greeted by your driver to escort you to the hills of Valparai. You will soon find yourselves ascending the hills. The view gets more stunning by the second, and there are several opportunities en route to stop and capture some amazing vistas. Chances of sighting and photographing the endangered Nilgiri tahr, too, are very high.

Following an invigorating ride, we arrive and be greeted by tour leader Phillip Ross, at a quaint bungalow situated in the middle of a tea estate and close to a fantastic shola forest. We check-in and while enjoying a scrumptious lunch, Phillip will introduce everyone to the Anaimalais with a brief on the wildlife found in the area, the afternoon’s plan and also a presentation on the ideal settings for their cameras. Later that evening, we proceed to a private forest patch that is home to two troops of lion-tailed macaques. We keep our eyes peeled and hope that the macaques reveal themselves without much difficulty. This area is also known for its amazing birdlife too and gives us a good chance to spot some endemics to the area. After an exhilarating experience with the macaques, we return to the bungalow and set up and deploy a camera trap in order for us to capture some of the Anaimalais nocturnal wonders. Later that evening, we set out for the much awaited late evening walk in a private estate that is home to several amphibians and reptiles and walk along a brook to look out for various macro subjects. We have a great chance to come across various bush frogs, gliding frogs, lizards, spiders, caecilians, beetles, centipedes and an array of insect life.

We end the night with a delicious dinner.

DAY 2:

We wake early and return to the lion-tailed macaque forest patch for another rendezvous. We spend most of the morning observing and photographing these magnificent animals along with some fascinating birding.

After breakfast, we checkout and depart for hornbill land. As we descend into this amazing valley we will already begin to hear the congregation from afar, before we get to sight these amazing birds in all of their splendour. We spend the entire evening with these birds, capturing several different perspectives in order to capture a hard-to-beat portfolio. While sitting around the campfire, we spend the evening reviewing pictures and sharing some insights about the day.

DAY 3:

We awake to the calls of the hornbills, and at the crack of dawn, we go out once again for another amazing opportunity to photograph these extraordinary birds. After breakfast, we proceed to the gorgeous Sholayar Dam. Here each participant can get a panoramic view of the Anaimalais and take home some breathtaking landscape images, before checking into the amazing Sheikalmudi Bungalow, a beautifully restored British bungalow. After some much needed rest, we embark on an amazing drive through the Vazhachal forest reserve to spend the rest of the evening tracking and photographing mammals and winged beauties along the way, with the hope of coming across a leopard, elephants and a troop or two of Nilgiri langurs.

We return to the property for some refreshing beverages and snacks, and a superb presentation on photography by Phillip, before another late evening walk with our macro lens to try and photography some rare amphibians and reptiles before retiring for the night.

DAY 4:

We awake to the sweet call of ‘the whistling schoolboy’ the Malabar whistling thrush and after a quick breakfast, we embark on drive around the property and do some birding. The Anaimalais are one of the best places in the Western Ghats for birding and the area has over 250 species of avian wonders, most of which are endemic to the region. We end the walk at a beautiful waterfall at the edge of the property and participants will be taught how to use filters and learn to take slow-shutter images and capture the ‘milky effect’ of a waterfall.

After lunch, we depart to a patch of evergreen shola forest known for some amazing elephants that use these patches during the winter months. The Anaimalais after all mean “elephant mountains”, and what better that capturing these gentle giants amongst this fragile habitat.It is likely to be dark by the time we return, and on the night drive we hope to come across some rare nocturnal inhabitants of the rainforest like porcupines, brown palm civets and Indian flying squirrels. We end the night with a celebratory dinner.

DAY 5:

After an early rise, we bid adieu to our beautiful bungalow and descend the hills looking for wildlife as the morning-light fills the surrounding hills and valleys. We halt for a quick break along the way before driving back to Coimbatore airport/ Railway Station, where we are sure, you will be waiting to tell your friends and family some fascinating tales.