Bird Camp!!!! YEAAAAAAAYYYY!!!

While I was in Coffee Day on my birthday, my first full day in Goa, I was reading about what to do in the area when I happened upon a write up on a Backwoods Camp for birding. I called them the same day and had a somewhat garbled conversation with someone. He said I could come on Sunday, someone would pick me up at my hotel at 6:30 am. Yeeee, bird camp!!!!

Sunday 6:30, my drive arrives. The man is also going to be my bird guide. His name is Lovin'. I kid you not (except he spells it Loven - but what fun is that). He also looks alot like Sayid from Lost.

Lovin'

It is a long drive to the camp which it turns out is on the edge of a National Wildlife Preserve (whose name I have elsewhere) in the Western Ghats. Now, I'm sure I don't need to tell you, but the Western Ghats are a birding world hotspot!! Lovin' is not very chatty but he is pretty so that is ok. I asked how many other people we would be picking up and he let me know that I was going to be the only one at the camp. He had actually called me a day before and asked about my schedule but when I told him I was leaving and couldn't go at any other time, he seemed fine with that. But I had no idea I would be getting my own individual guide. We arrived at Camp at about 7:30 and I was shown my cabin. It reminds me of the tent cabins Mom and I stayed at in South Tanzania but it was an actual building. The camp also has tents but since I was the only guest, I got a cabin.

My cabin.

Inside the cabin.

View from the deck of my cabin.

The little cairn out front. It was the only way I could ever find my cabin.

No time to loiter, we had a quick cookie (biscuit) and tea break and then out to find birds. There is a 700 year old temple in the park so that is where we started. Lots of birds sitting along the edges of the clearing. Lovin' is an amazing spotter and identifier. He even knew what page each bird was on in my book so that I could confirm (for my own counting purposes) each species.

The temple.

Spotting birds.

The days at Bird Boot Camp were quite regimented.
6:30 am - Biscuits and tea
7 am - Birding til 9:30 or so
9:30 - Breakfast
10 am - back to birding
12:30 - Lunch and a break
3:30 - Biscuits and tea
4 pm - back out there til 6:30-7
7:30 - dinner

It was awesome! AWESOME!! I loved it. And of course, traipsing through the wood behind a Sayid lookalike - I, of course, had to be Kate (not quite a lookalike unfortunately). That first day, we saw lots of birds and I got lots of mosquito bites.

As I look at my pictures, I see that I only took two bird pictures, one of the Frogmouth and one very blurry Kingfisher. I will spare you the blurry one.

Frogmouth birds. These are a big draw at the camp. They wouldn't turn around.

Jungle adventure.

A giant squirrel.

Crossing a steam on our jungle hike.

Hunting the elusive Green backed kingfisher. we never did see one but we spent hours looking. I couldn't complain because it was such a beautiful spot.

It was blazing hot. At one point, we were in some field or other and Lovin' said it was 99 degrees (what is that in Celsius - a thousand?) Side note, the power seems to have gone out in the internet place but the computers must be on generator). No lights or AC though. I have to mention the wildlife in my cabin. When I first arrived, there were some spiders, kind of like daddy longlegs. They were big but seemed pretty harmless. But I accidentally stepped on one when I first arrived. By lunch, there were more. By bed time, they were massing, I assumed for a vengeance takedown. I had a shower and they really seemed to like moisture so I had lots of company. They were on the bed too, at one point I opened my eyes and one was right there in front of my face, staring at me (well, I couldn't see his eyes but I assume).

The big spider, before the kill off.

The next morning, I mentioned to Lovin' that they were kind of out of control. He told one of the 'boys' to clear them out. I hoped it was with a broom but I didn't ask for specifics. But when I returned to the cabin that evening, there was the familiar perfume of my old friend 'Raid Max', the only thing that kept the cockroaches at bay when I lived in Mexico. No spiders though. But, never fool around with an ecosystem. By nightfall, my room was full of moths. Then the next day, new spiders but these ones were big and hairy and looked like they could jump and bite. Then that night, there was an infestation of dead ants in the bathroom, they had reversed beached themselves into any standing water they could find, the wash bucket, the toilet, any little puddles of water, there they were - drowned. But at least, everyone else stayed off my bed. that's all I ask of my insects.

After two full days of Lovin' attention (haha - Loven is happily married with a baby by the way) new people arrived. It was a group of 11. Actually it was two groups, 6 Swedes and 5 Brits. The Swedes were hard core birders. the Brits were flaky. there was one couple who were not birders, they just thought it sounded relaxing. the other three were a older married couple and a female friend. the husband only wanted to take pictures of the birds, he didn't care about IDing them. But the two ladies were so stereotypical of old British ladies that I think someone should start a murder mystery series about them, two doddering ladies who stumble upon Murder whenever they are out using their binoculars. (Look, Hillary, there is a Jungle Babble. Yes, I see it Joan, but what is that in the background? A Body! and I see a clue next to it!! - as played by Angela Lansbury and Helen Mirren). It is getting bloody hot in here and I still can't see the keyboard. Anyway, I got stuck with the Brits. The non-birding lady kept pointing out the exact same bird every time (red vented bulbul) and I would say, that's a red vented bulbul and she would laugh. She was actually quite funny but no birder potential whatsoever.

My little British birding group. Obviously they have spotted something to the left, probably a Red Vented Bulbul.

That third day was a bit of a washout, I wish I had gone with the Swedes but it sounds like they didn't get much either. Although I was still stacking up the new birds just not the exciting ones. I am such a bird snob. That night, we went nightjar searching. I was the only woman to join the group. It was pitch black out and we had to climb a rocky hill to get to where the Nightjars hang out. The other ladies didn't think this sounded like fun. Wusses. So me and 5 men, all 6 ft or taller, headed up the hill. I only had my wee headlamp that Melissa had given me before the trip to light my way (I left my big one from Lea at home to save space - who would have guessed I would need the extra volts to not stumble and roll down a rocky hilly path). I made it and we found one beautiful Nightjar. I can't remember the species, but it was chestnut coloured and let us walk right up to it. It was just sitting on a rock, peacefully minding it's own business until we got too close and then it took off.

A picture of my nightjar, stolen from the internet.

The next day the Brits and I went on a field trip to Bondla National Park. More birds. Lovin' was going to drive my back to Panjim at the end of the morning and he had set himself a goal of me getting 75 new birds. I got the 75th just before we left the park. By now, he was more talkative and told me all about meeting his Russian wife and how he asked her to marry him after only one month.

I also took the opportunity to ask how it was that I ended up by myself for two days. It seems that his partner, when I first called, couldn't really hear me. When I said had read about the camp in Lonely Planet, he thought I said I wrote for Lonely Planet. No wonder I got special treatment. It worked out for me but I felt bad for Lovin' who gave up his days off to wander the jungle with me. But Lovin' was a nice guy and didn't seem to hate me for the misunderstanding. As we got close to town, he even asked if I had seen a Jacana yet. I said no so he took me on a side trip. He said he felt bad that hadn't seen as many birds on the last day so we stopped by a pond and picked up another 11!! (A rock dove - that completes my list - a Simpson's reference, you thought you were going to get away scott free - not) I gave Lovin' a big tip when he dropped my at the hotel. Paul, you need to come to bird Camp.

For the afternoon, I wandered around town for a while and stopped by my new favourite jewelry store, New Bazaar run by three Kashmiri men. One of whom was single and the other two decided we would be the perfect couple. They invited me to evening tea but I declined - I had blogging to do. I bought some more stuff and went back to the hotel to bed.

The next morning I went back to the bus station to catch a local bus to the train station. It was $21R for the bus as opposed to $600R for a taxi. The bus station I arrived at was two blocks from the train station. By now I had aquired another bag, (I have alot of bags - and I would like to note for the record that I have used all of the bags I brought and then some for all of you bag naysayers. ) But this meant I was lugging alot of stuff, in the hot hot mid day sun.

I made it to the station and had to figure out where my train would be, that wasn't easy, of course, but I made it and eventually the train arrived, miraculously on time.

The Train Station.

The stairs I had to carry my many bags over.

My first attempt at a self portrait, waiting for my train.

Now, I'm sure you all remembe but let me refresh you on Val and my experience on the train in Thailand. We sat and were served tea and dinner. then as darkness fell, the car steward arrived and turned down the beds. He made each one with fresh sheets and blankets and pillows. Then he put up curtains to give a bit of privacy. This is what I was expecting when I got a sleeper ticket for my overnight train back to Bangalore. Not so. It all started out ok, but I immediately realized that the trains in India in reality are not as romantic as they sound. I couldn't get a lower bunk so I had to take an upper bed, which meant travelling backwards the whole way (I think that if you get the crappy bed you should get the good chair, but that is not the way it works, it seems.)

My 'deluxe' seat.

My second and last attempt at a self portrait. Don't I look excited about my seat. As a bonus feature, check out the sweat pouring off me.

Anyway, we went through some mountains and I took some pictures (I haven't been taking that many pictures since Judy left). The scenery made that one hour worth it. Then it got dark.

Views from the train window.






Going into a cave.

Inside the cave, the sign announced that it is handcarved.





After a while a train person stopped by to tell me not to buy any food or drinks from strangers because there would be drugs in it. Not that there might be drugs, there definitely would be drugs. As it turned out, I wished someone had drugged me, at least I could have slept. As the hours passed, I realized that no nice car steward would be showing up to turn down my bed. So I climbed up to my hard, plastic lined bed and tried to sleep.

They looked bad enough before everyone arrived.

That does not look comfortable.

Yup. Nothing more to say.

First there were lights and noise. Then there was snoring. But mostly my problem was that I had a makeshift pillow and I didn't have enough water. But at about 1, I realized I could shove my makeshift pillow into my new bag with my fabindia purchases and make a bigger pillow. And low and behold - smart Morning Joanne had hidden some water in there for dopey Night Joanne to find. So pillow and water issues resolved. I finally fell asleep. Until 2am. that's when the real lower level bed passanger arrived on the scene to find someone else in her bed. Side note: do no piss off a Indian lady - they yell - a lot. so there was lots of yelling and light turning on and who knows what all was going on down there, I didn't dare look over the edge. That went on for way too long and someone official had to be called. More lights and ticket checking I think. Yea, power and fans back on. Anyway, long story slightly shorter. Very little sleep and I missed the stop I wanted to get off at.

I wanted to get off one stop before my actual destination but they didn't make any announcements and I didn't have a window to see where we were. But no worries, I got off at the next one which was only 4 kms further away. Auto rickshaw to Kamat Hotel, the first place I stayed at. Alisma, you will appreciate this. I said I wanted to go to Kamat Hotel (at 5:30 am) and was taken to the Kamat Restaurant. Eventually I remembered and started saying Lodging, Lodging. After alot of asking random men, we found the place and I went to bed.

It is now my last day in India. I have 90 more minutes until Suresh arrives. Did I mention that Judy wasn't able to take all of her stuff back with her so she left some with Suresh for me to take back. However, left alone with a FabIndia only a block from my hotel, I have done some damage today. My comment the other day about Christmas presents made me realize, everyone should get Indian Christmas presents! And I bought myself a rug. A RUG for Jimminy sake! That should take up some space. So, we are finally caught up. My next post will be from Canada. See you on Monday. Joanne