Satyamangalam

Satyamangalam

1 to 3 Dec 2007

The trip to Satyamangalam was being planned while we were at Penchalakona. I was sure that I would'nt go. But then I had to cancel a trip home (for Vavs engagement) and so I decided I should go to Saty. And the prospect of seeing sholas was too rewarding to resist. So even though it was a weekend + 1 day trip, I found myself booking tickets to Erode.

There were sixteen of us on the Coimbatore Express going to Erode. There were the usuals: Sudhakar sir, Vijay sir, CK, Geetha mam and Sundaramoorthy sir. There were several new others whom I had never met.

Anyway, it was a cold morning at 5 AM when we reached Erode. I had no warm clothing...I didnt get CKs mail asking us to bring warm clothes. So I put on a couple of shirts was ready to face the elements. Our van was waiting for us at Erode station, and it was a three hour ride to Dimbam, near where our rooms were booked.

After some hot tea, we were soon on our way. Dawn was just breaking, and sunrise was delightful over the fields of sugarcane. We got on the ghat road, and soon were climbing up the hairpin bends (twenty seven of them.) Traffic was fairly heavy, and the road was narrow, with lorries coming up all the way. This was a main road, the NH-205 going to Chamrajnagar.

We stopped a few miles before Dimbam, to look at the scenery. There was a lovely view of the Satyamangalam plains far down below. And delightfully, there were a lot of birds: we spotted a grey wagtail, lots of drongos and a green billed malkoha on the side of the highway. We saw the famous Dimbam forest bunglow mentioned in Kenneth Andersons books. But the Special Task Force had taken over the bunglow and we could not go inside.

By nine thirty, we were at the Bush and Bull Resort, a nice little place overlooking green medows. There was lots of birdlife around the resort...lots of jungle mynas and drongos were in constant chatter. At breakfast, I tried the ragi ball (again mentioned by Anderson.) It was absolutely tasteless, a black solid mass. Maybe I ate it with the wrong chutney or whatever. Thankfully there were other things too on the menu! Afterwards we visited the farm house of the owner of the resort, who invited us to walk around his estate. They were growing amonst other things vanilla, pepper, coffee and oranges (but as we later found out, it was not an organic farm.) As we walked around, we saw a flurry of birds: a mixed hunting party amongst the silver oaks. There were treepies, drongs, an oriole, a fairy bluebird, fantail flycathers and a velvetd fronted nuthatch. Sadly, I was not able to spot the fairy bluebird nor the fantail.

Then we crossed the electric fence around ragi plantations and walked into the forest. It was quite sunny, and we were getting roasted. The jungle was thick and the route uphill. We stopped in between, looking at plants and lichens and the occassional interesting bird, eating wild amlas. We also saw the Jerdons leaf bird and jungle babblers. After about four kilometers, we reached a lovely water hole in a clearing. A trio of spot billed ducks greeted us. We also spotted the skin shed by a long cobra and turtles in the water. We reached backed into the resort for a late lunch.

A little while later, the DFO of Erode district joined us for tea. He was quite friendly, and spent more than an hour with us, talking about elephant-human conflict, and nature camps and life in the post Veerappan era. We spotted three grey partridges in the meadow adjoining the resort.

Next day was the long trek to Minchikuzhi. We rose early morning, and it was quite chilly! We piled into the van, and with an armed forest guard and a couple of guides for company, set off for the point where we would begin the trek. There was a halt on the way, and here we saw clearly a white cheeked barbet on a tree. We also saw quite a number of blue winged parakeets. The Blyths reed warbler was giving us company wherever we went...it's quiet 'snick' was there behind every bush. Soon after we started walking , we heard the call of the scimitar babbler, but it was quite far away. Suddenly, we saw everyone crowding around something on the ground. We saw fresh elephant dung, and this was enough to convince the forest guard not to pursue this trail any further. The forests were full of dense lantana bush, and we were in trouble if we came right into the path of an elephant.

So we trooped back into the van to take a different trial to Michikuzhi. We came to a village, and walked onto a side road, which led into the forest. We walked at different paces, one group walked fast and left the others quite behind. I was with the slower group, and we took our time watching the birds and having great fun. We saw an oriental white eye, common ioras and scarlett minivets. After walking for about an hour, we came to a shallow stream, where we found another mixed hunting party: we saw paradise flycatchers, nuthatches and woodpeckers.

We were quite hungry, and soon came into a lovely hillock, where we had breakfast. After a good meal in the billowing breeze, surrounded by lush hills, we were ready to resume our trek. Some of the members went back to the resort, as they were leaving for Madras.

We started off again, climbing over the small cliffs, which gave a lovely view of the valley below. A pair of kestrels put on a spectacular show for us, and it was reluctantly that we left them to continue our walk. We saw shola like forests in the mountains far away. We saw the distant hills of Kodanad, and the ranges of the Nilgiris, the Western Ghats. Satyamangalam is the meeting point of the Eastern and Western Ghats. As time was short, we decided not to go all the way till Minchikuzhi, but to stop at an old hunting lodge built by the Britishers. While some of us rested in the grass near the lodge, the others went on ahead to climb one more hill further away. We would have walked about 8 kilometers.

Soon, we were back together again, starting our trip back to the resort. By four thirty, we were back, and after some tea, went for a drive on the Talamalai –Thalavadi road. Sudhakar sir had spotted elephants, gaurs and dholes a month before on the same road. But we not not so lucky. Some of the members saw a couple of dholes, but I missed it. We saw leopard pugmarks and spotted the Nilgiri verditer flycatcher. We also saw the demolished hunting lodge mentioned by Kenneth Anderson looking out into the plains.

On the last day, we took a ride on an open Tata 405 truck to Dengumarahada on the banks of the Moyar River through SujjalKuttai forest. The road was terrible, and all our bones rattled. The sun was roasting us, but we held on bravely. The highlight of the ride was sighting of raptors: we saw the black eagle, honey buzzards (?) and the crested serpent eagle. The birdlife was amazing, with birds flying all over...bulbuls, drongs, bee eaters, doves, wagtails.
We then reached the village and had a wonderful bath (at least the men did!) in the Moyar river.

We returned back to Satyamangalam by late evening to travel back to Erode. We stopped for a few minutes at the Bhavani Sagar dam near Saty. And on the return to Erode, we were lucky to spot a gaur on the side of the highway...a massive fellow.

Our train was on time, and we wearily turned in for the journey back to Madras.

It was a good trip, with lots of lifers for me. The birds list is given below. The birds in italics were not seen by me, and those in bold were lifers.

Ashy Drongo – Dicrurus leucophaeus
Ashy Prinia – Prinia socialis
Asian Fairy Bluebird – Irena puella
Bay-backed Shrike – Lanius vittatus
Black Drongo – Dicrurus macrocercus
Black Eagle – Ictinaetus malayensis
Black Kite- Milvus migrans
Black-Hooded Oriole – Oriolus xanthornus
Blue-winged Parakeet – Psitticula columboides
Blythe’s Reed Warbler-
Booted(?) Eagle – Haeraetus pennatus
Brahminy Myna – Sturnus pagodarum
Brown Shrike - Lanius cristatus
Cattle Egret – Bubulcus ibis
Common Flameback - Dinopium javanense
Common Iora - Aegithina tiphia
Common Kestrel – Falco tinnunculus
Common Sandpiper – Actitis Hypoleucos
Coppersmith Barbet – Megalaima haemacephala
Crested Serpent-Eagle - Spilornis cheela
Emerald Dove - Chalcophaps indica
Eurasian Golden Oriole - Oriolus oriolus
Falcon (?)
Flowerpecker (?)
Great Tit - Parus major
Greater Coucal - Centropus sinensis
Grey Heron - Ardea cinerea
Grey Junglefowl - Gallus sonneratii
Grey Partridge – Francolinus pondicerianus
Grey Wagtail - Motacilla cinerea
House Sparrow – Passer domesticus
Honey buzzard (?)
Hoopoe
Indian Peafowl - Pavo cristatus
Indian Robin – Saxicoloides fulicata
Jungle Babbler - Turdoides striatus
Jungle Myna - Acridotheres fuscus
Large Pied Wagtail – Motacilla maderaspatensis
Large-billed Crow - Corvus macrorhynchos
Lesser Green-billed Malkoha –
Little Brown Dove – Streptopelia senegalensis
Little Cormorant - Phalacrocorax niger
Little Green Bee-eater – Merops orientalis
Magpie Robin – Copsychus saularis
Nilgiri Verditer Flycatcher – Eumyias albicaudata
Oriental White-eye - Zosterops palpebrosus
Paradise Flycatcher – Terpsiphone paradisi
Pied Bushchat – Saxicola caprata
Pond Heron – Ardeola grayii
Purple Sunbird - Cinnyris asiaticus
Purple-rumped Sunbird - Leptocoma zeylonica
Red-vented Bulbul - Pycnonotus cafer
Red-wattled Lapwing – Vanellus indicus
Red-whiskered Bulbul - Pycnonotus jocosus
Ringed Dove- Streptopelia risoria
Rose-ringed Parakeet – Psitticula krameri
Rufous Treepie - Dendrocitta vagabunda
Rufous-backed Shrike – Lanius schachs
Scaly-breasted Munia – Lonchura punctulata
Scarlet Minivet - Pericrocotus flammeus
Scimitar Babbler – Pomatorhinus horsfieldii
Spot-billed Duck – Anas poecilorhyncha
Spotted Dove - Streptopelia chinensis
Spotted Owlet – Athene brama
Tailor Bird – Orthotomus sutorius
Velvet-fronted Nuthatch - Sitta frontalis
White-breasted Kingfisher – Halcyon smyrnensis
White-Browed Fantail - Rhipidura aureola
White-cheeked Barbet - Megalaima viridis
White-headed Babbler – Turdoides affinis
Yellow Wagtail – Motacilla flava
Yellow-browed Bulbul – Iole indica
Yellow-footed Green Pigeon – Treron phoenicoptera