Palace Estate

Where the rainforest retreat taught us about the flora and fauna of Kodagu, the Palace Estate introduced us to the Kodovan people.  Prasad and Vinsie are the fourth generation to run their 26 acre family plantation and share the main house with generations 3 and 5 (albeit he’s only about 8).  All of the delicious home cooked (wheat free no problem!) meals were served up in the main house with proceedings carefully managed by Vincie as her family and guests chewed the fat about coffee cartels, the cardamon market and monsoon-proofing banana trees.

The rooms at Palace Estate are adjacent to the main house and have been uniquely designed by Vincie using the beautiful old wood from an old silk-worm barn that used to be on the plantation.  They have the most incredible view over about 40km of forest canopy and our huge balcony was perfect for snapping sunrises and whiling away the pleasantly warm hours that scattered themselves between mealtimes and walks.

When Steve landed in India, I think my whole body sensed the arrival of a support network and packed up having to look after itself.  Following internet research and antibiotics we now believe that I either have Giardia or my tummy has been so assaulted that it is now highly sensitised.  The culprits are dairy, spice and fat so I am on a pretty boring diet right now but it seems to be working.  Anyway, I digress …the tummy has had somewhat hampered our trekking plans since reaching the plantations but whilst at Palace, we managed to achieve our aim of climbing Kodagu’s highest peak …Tadiyendamol.  The walk was only as challenging as a day’s summit-bagging in the lakes but we had the whole range almost to ourselves, the rain held-off and we didn’t come face to face with wild tigers or elephants …although we did see wild elephant poo in a rather enclosed corner of the reserve!

“Don’t Panic, its Organic”

Rainforest Retreat at Mojo Plantation has a communal daily program much like an Ashram although there are no compulsory early mornings and the optional activities are based around nature walks and talks on the Kodagu (Coorg) environment, conservation and organic plantation farming.  Elective early mornings tend to take hold the first time you are woken at dawn by the whistling thrush and rush outside to hear it again along with its vast array of backing signers.  Tasty, healthy and locally-sourced buffets are served in an open pavilion beside the stream which we cross a couple of times on the path that winds between the lush green plants from our cottage.  Log burners in the outer walls of each cottage (and the shared bathrooms for the bunkhouse and tents) are lit morning and evening for steaming hot water.  There is no phone signal and no internet access.  Lights operate on batteries charged through solar units during the long sunny days.  Meals are cooked using the biogas generated from the cow and goat manure which is digested anaerobically in a tank right beside the livestock area, creating combustible methane and organic fertiliser slurry.  Everything here in this (Indian) temperate paradise is done beautifully, from the “eco-chic” cottage decor to the delicate carrot and beetroot salad.

  

Papaya

Pepper ready for Harvest

Steve (Irwin) and the 7ft Rat Snake Skin!

Our fellow guests were originally a couple of charming Lithuanian orienteerers, a Swedish ecologist rock climber and an Indian biodiversity research student, however, we were then joined by seven, twenty-something “conservation and lifeskills” students and their lovely teacher, a botanist who runs a botanical reserve in the Wayanad area of the Western Ghats.  Their fascinating course to date has seen them building and living communally in a shelter within the botanical reserve and experiencing first-hand the impact of uncontrolled mining in the Goan foothills of the Ghats.  The camaraderie between their group has been heartening to watch and a pleasure to reside amongst.  The arrival of the students was fortuitous for those of us who were already here because we have been able to tag onto their educational program which has facilitated walks with three naturalist experts and some very interesting supplementary talks in addition to the basic educational talks about the plantation and its organic operation.  Last night, Maya the owners’ daughter, gave a passionate and insightful presentation on the full suite of local fauna without reading a single word from her powerpoint slides (…a fine example from a 14 year old for many a UK business presenter!!!).  Maya’s presentation was followed by an impromptu talk on the Indian Elephant by one of the world’s few female Elephant Mahoots, who runs a nearby sanctuary and had been invited for dinner.  This evening, Chamika the research student (who Osa the Swede had spent the day bagging soil samples with) gave us an overview of her findings to date and with the ever-present “Collins challenge” and all of the other scientific opinion interjecting around the place she was brave indeed!

The main crops grown in the plantation are coffee (a blend of Arabica and Robusta is brewed morning and afternoon), cardamom (apparently you can also “pop a pod” to help you get over a nicotine craving), vanilla and pepper - although the planting by no means stops with the crops.  Biodiversity has been groomed here using lure plants and barrier plants to encourage the beneficial bugs to thrive and inhibit the hostile ones from surviving. There are also a lot of useful herbs, flowers (hibiscus juice is delicious!), fruit trees (even a fat and cholesterol and busting one!) and of course hundreds of orchids! 

Tarrantula Nest

Our walks have taken us from fish watching in pretty valley bottoms to bone dry ridges topped with unique “Shola” grasslands and we have wandered steep sided forest tracks that place you right in the rainforest canopy and areas that the Indian Government calls “forest” but which actually represent a spread of non-indigenous fast-growing trees which look “foresty” quite quickly but do not support the delicate local ecosystems. 

Ants eating larvae petrified by a wasp for its babies

For the first time ever I have been shown bird calls and images and gone away able to identify them for myself, I have viewed creatures that would normally have made me squirm with absolute fascination and my itch for scientific learning has been well and truly scratched.

Speedtrekking accross the Western Ghats

Our trek started leisurely, we stopped for coffee at Vatakanal where hoardes of post-military-service-Israelis were encamped along with a guy from Ludlow before an auspicious mountain view.  Eucalyptus plantations shot skyways from precarious slopes and our track wound down to a remote mountain village where we had another freshly grown grown coffee.  The village was both beautiful and friendly although the chap who served us coffee from his kitchen stove seemed in a rush to get away.

Half way down our momentous descent, we stopped by a Tree Temple and chatted via our guide with three village farmers, one of whom was our keen-toget-away coffee host.  The ground level of the forestry up in the Western Ghats is leased for free to villagers prepared to live with minimal facilities and no roads up in the mountains an dthey put it to great use.  Our shade-seekers at the temple were bringing down 25Kg sacks of super-fresh beans and cardamom pods.  These green delights were expected to make 350 rupees a kilogram at wholesale market prices that day and so the arduous task of bringing them down to the town was going to send them home with about 120 GBP.  I hadn't given much thought to how they were carrying their sacks but as we passed further down the rocky path, I winced at the fact that all of this weight was being carried on their heads and these were not young men either.   

In the mango plantation (sadly these beautiful fruits are still only flowers at this time of year) at the base of the track, our guide called for an Auto to collect us and asked if we minded sharing it with the farmers and the produce when they got down.  Absolutely not!  As well as their enormous cargo each of the farmers had a shopping bag over their shoulder and as they reached the mango trees (incredibly only about 20 minutes after we did!) they shot off to the waterpipe with their shopping bags.  Out of the mango grove returned three freshly scrubbed businessmen combing their hair and making mobile phone calls.  Gone were their faded and patterned dhotis and vests; these industrious villagers were now walking tall in bright white dhotis and crisp white short sleeved shirts.  After the phone call I sensed their moods lift further than their shower had provided and on enquiring with the guide we discovered that there had been a real shortage of cardamom and the Kg price had risen to 750 today. That made the precious cargo worth about 250 GBP!!  With huge smiles we shared the delights of this well timed economc phenomen and piled into the auto making sure that the cardamom sack got the safest seat!

Pepper

We descended 2000m of rough terrain on day one and given that we were set to conclude day two on the mountain top border of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, day 2 was always going to be daunting.  I sensed dead areas in my quads despite a concerted stretching session in the mango grove, but regardless, Mr Sekar was convinced that we were fit enough to take on the mountain at trot.  I found myself slipping behind the men.  I never find this when I am walking normally and I worked hard in my mind to park self-punishing thoughts induced by my rather obsessive consumption of Idly, Dosa and Pongal.  Incidentally I do hope to name pets after these south Indian culinary delights at some point in my life!  Despite walking several kilometers each day I just didn't feel as fit as I was when I left home.  The heat, the hassle and fact that most Indians can't grasp why we might choose to walk when we could get an auto/bus/rickshaw had relieved me of the opportunity for aerobic excercise.  I was struggling, Jean luc pointed out at one point that we were also were not getting any younger. Noted.

Meanwhile some stunning paths, views, flora and cloud formations were unfolding around our never-ending ascent.  Shade was scant and as such so were breaks, and I really needed some more breaks but I was driven by the odd notion that it mattered to keep up with a man who does this two or three times a week.  As the tracks waned and tiny vertigo inducing goat paths prevailed, the fact that I had not worn shoes for a month tore right into my heels which I just managed to cover in compeed patches before chronic blistering set-in.

Cotton

As cream permeates coffee, cloud poured over the ridge and dissipated via white tendrils before settling evenly into the atmosphere around us, occasionally the tendrils would peel back to reveal a glimpse of our summit, we even saw human form up there from time to time and I was buoyed by the thoughts of the top, of food …of stopping.  When it felt as if we were within an arm’s length of the top, the now wider track took a wide swoop to our right and zig zagged endlessly up an adjoining valley.  Emotionless I registered this disappointing reality and told my legs that at least it wasn't going to be steep anymore.  That was point at which Mr Sekar climbed up off the track to the left delightedly explaining that we were so strong we would be able to go the more interesting route adding how much he enjoyed being with "strong walkers" for the opportunity they gave him to take the fun alternative to that long zig zag to our right.

The 30 minute scramble through waist high, razor-edged grasses on what I think was the steepest (although I didn't look down) mountainside I have ever attempted without a rope and harness proved to be a heady mix of exhilaration, exhaustion and epilation.  Never have I been so happy to arrive, quivering and covered in tiny cuts at the top of a hill.

Typically we were not actually at the top and had a brutal 500m of man-made steps to climb which were covered with the added insult of incredulous bus tripping tourists.  Eventually our sweat soaked bodies collapsed in happy heaps at the roadside restaurant where Mr Sekar's friend presented us with a not-quite-big-enough veg Thali.



Tea Plantations on the Run back to Munnar

 Call Mr Sekar on 9865214479