Chimmony Jungle Camp : Day 1, Part II

To the Wilderness
After lunch we started towards the camp site. A 45 minute ride in the speed boat along the lake took us to the depths of the sanctuary on the eastern edge of the Reservoir. We were accompanied by an armed forest guard with communication facilities and 4 tribals. Once we got out of the boat and trekked to the campsite, we were exposed to the virgin forest which was the home for all sorts of creatures and many medicinal plants. We could spot some huge praying mantis, some rare flowers, medicinal plants, different varieties of mushrooms,…


The camp site was a clearing near the stream and some elevated base was already there. Our hosts (they are the tribes from the settlement of Echipara) were quick in setting up the almost ready made tent

After spending some time near the stream we headed towards a waterfall nearby. That was a beautiful sight indeed.
There was a tree lying horizontally from one end to the other (kind of natural bridge) and it seems they used it for collecting honey (info from kk). We walked on that tree and went near the falls. But after sometime it started raining and we got completely wet.

After spending sometime there we headed towards the next falls. It was a stream flowing through the huge rocks. They said in monsoon the entire rock area will be covered by water. By then the light was very dim and Pint tried out some excellent long exposure shots.

As the dusk fell, we came back to the camp site. There the lanterns (I’m seeing it after a very long time) were kept on the dining table (don’t mistake. It is a nice bamboo structure) and a camp fire was also lit(tho it got extinguished soon). We were ready to crash but discovered that the tents were wet due to rain. Our hosts immediately changed two tents under the tarpaulin and they were busy preparing dinner for us – chappathi and peas curry. After relishing the same we immediately went to the tents and crashed while our hosts were awake. It seems in the middle of the night some wild boars came and they shooed them off. They then lit a camp fire so that some more attacks will not be there.