Flowers and Mountain goats
The Ungulate conference at Munnar went really well. Got to meet some of worlds best wildlife biologists, scientists, photographers, filmmakers etc. Ofcourse, I also planned the trip to go see the Kurinji Flowers which are in bloom and the Nilgiri Thar and to do some ground work on another project.
But the weather was not on my side. It was wet wet wet and my new gear got fully drenched in the rain.. including my bag.. the big lens.. everything. To make matters worse, the place was infested with leeches. Till date, leeches got me many times on my foot and sometimes on my leg. This trip, they got onto my face, neck and lot of them even inside my shirt and pants. Anyway, in the 6 days I was there, I got less then few hours of shooting time, as I was either in the conference or the weather was not on my side.
The highlights of the trip:
The Neela Kurinji flowers which are in bloom in Eravikulam after 12 years. Their 12-year flowering cycle is still a very big mystery. One will have to wait till year 2018 to see these flowers again. The Nilgiri hills, which literally means the blue mountains, get its name from these purplish blue flowers which transforms the ghats into purple blue. They transform the green mountains into purple during the peak of their flowering. This year, the bees will come in huge numbers too and south india will see a record collection of Honey. All these plants will die out at the end of the year and will only come out after 12 years. |
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The Nilgiri Tahr (Nilgiritragus hylocrius) is native to the Nilgiri Hills and the southern portion of the Western Ghats and is found in no where else on earth. It’s highly endangered as their range is very restricted and their numbers are less than 2000. They are quite tame, in the sense, they are used to humans around them. You can almost go touch them at this place. However only a small group is used to human contact. The rest of the population is very shy and run away even if they see you half a kilometer away. This photographs is very special to me as in a single frame I have both the Rare Nilgiri Tahr and the Kurinji flowers. |
I uploaded some of the trip photographs onto my website.
The image links are broken, refering to localhost instead of your domain.
Thanks 🙂
lucky you man. I had been to rajamalai on my honeymoon hoping to see the neelakurinji and the tahr and got to see neither. it was just 3 months back. The flowers were just about to start budding that time and there was just 2 semi bloomed flowers when I had been there.
Of course the tahr was a different story. Spent almost 1 hour there in the steady drizzle without any sight of the ‘goat’. btw, there were some nice bird sightings up close with a good amount of white eyes, flower peckers, adn prinias.
any idea what flubber(flower) this is? shot at rajamalai.
http://prashu.phanfare.com/album/81544/83799/3983340
wow. i love the goat! i would love to see them in the wild. they are some of my favorite creatures…thanks for sharing such beauty here.
http://kalyanvarma.net/photography/photo.php?id=429&tag=Portfolio
i love the “last supper” pic of the monkeys. wow. i wanna see that in person!
If Kurinjis interest you, the Mautam (bamboo death in Mizo) should interest you as well. These bamboo plants in Mizoram flower cyclically every 48 years, an event that took place this year during the monsoons.
Nilgiri Tahr ,Leeches ,Neela Kurinji flowers N’ heavy downpour ….
what a rare combination kalyan [:D]
are the flowers the reason, why it’s called blue mountains?
These flowers bloom all over western ghats and are not limited to the Nilgiri ranges. infact you can see them in Charmadi ghat, Babbudan range, Mulklian giri range ets now. Even the bamboo flowering is not restricted Mizo it happens everywhere – Niranjan
These flowers bloom all over western ghats and are not limited to the Nilgiri ranges. infact you can see them in Charmadi ghat, Babbudan range, Mulklian giri range ets now. Even the bamboo flowering is not restricted to Mizo it happens everywhere – Niranjan
Yep.. absolutely.. infact the local tribals.. ‘todas’ use this to measure the age.. so a guy who has seen 4 seasons is 50+ years old types.
Well yes, the Mautam however is significant to Mizoram. It is the single event that brings naturalists, experts, scientists, religious sects, and the people of Mizoram together. Mautam signifies, why the flowering of the bamboo brings death and famine to the land.
Hey,
The photo is amazing.Not sure though the Tahr looks so beautiful in reality.Saw one in Eravikulam itself…dull coat and broken horns.Great pic; the rare kurunji and the elusive Tahr..salute,the patient hours that went behind this pic!
lovely! thanks for bringing us such moments which we may never witness first-hand!
The Kurunji flower
The Kurinji flower has a 12 year blooming cycle, however I believe no two flowers need to share the cycle. This means that you can theoretically see a kurinji flower on any given year.
Here’s a Hindu story from 2004 about the flowering of the Kurinji
Keeping the myth alive is good for the tourist trade I guess 🙂
p.s. I grew up in the Nilgiri Hills and the most common explanation for the name Blue Mountain is that the Mettupalayam facing side of the mountain is seen in a blue hue when you approach it from the foot hills.
p.p.s. I think the photo of the Nilgiri Thar is very good
You must be lucky to have spotted the Nilgiri Tahr
Well not really.. they are quite common there 🙂
What you have seen is the females. The males are something else 🙂
Well not so rare in kerala 😉
Amazing pics, as usual.
I liked the pic titled “Cliff Hanger”. It’s just stunning, looks like a statue.
Re: The Kurunji flower
what I have heard about the name Nilgiris is that the mountains look blue because of the haze created by the evaporating eucalyptus oil (just like in Australia).. the vernacular name for eucalyptus oil is nilgiri thyla
Can’t make much from the top view 🙁
I missed all the birds because of hectic schedule and bad weather.. I really wanted to catch the nilgiri pipit and the Grey brested laughing thrush.
These monkeys are my friends.. if you come to my place.. they will even come and play with you 🙂
Re: The Kurunji flower
I think kurinji flowers at diff areas have their own cycle.. but all the ones in one area.. do always bloom exactly at the same year. Not sure how they do it.
Nice Photos
Good photos again. No need to comment on them :-).
I hope your gear did not get damaged because of the rain.
Nagesh
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nsaligrama
superb !! the tahr looks awesome !!
india yes i will come some day!
wow. i love animals and those monkeys look magical! gorgeous creatures. sensitive.
Re: The Kurunji flower
The eucaplyptus tree was introduced to Nilgiris by the British – it’s another story that it’s turned out to be an ecological disaster.
Incidentally, Neela+Giri = Blue+Mountain in the Kannada influenced Badaga language.
Re: The Kurunji flower
Yes, That’s what I meant – I guess 🙂
Just beautiful(i mean both the nature & the photography!)!! I think I know now know why they call it God’s own country!
n btw..that’s a lot of new stuff I learnt abt the flowers n all here! Thanks everyone!
But don’t take any of them with you when you come down on 13th 🙂
acting smart 🙂
That could lead to an incorrect age. So this guy could have seen the first bloom at the age of 1. So he’d have seen 4 seasons by the age of 37.
Not that it matters one bit… but technicalities :-))
oh. right 🙁
it took this to make me realise that I need to get better angles than just take shots of the insides of flowers.
Re: acting smart 🙂 and here’s my addition.
Maybe the first year wouldn’t count cause he would never remember seeing it ;)..
When I visited the Bhadra Tiger Reserve in May this year, there was dead bamboo allover in Muthodi range, whereas Lakkavalli range had new bamboo.
Bamboo flowers together, this is nature’s way of ensuring regeneration.
Super Pics!
Hey Kalyan,
Great pics all. Keen to know how you managed the moisture and the equipment.
The Lowepro built in Raincover saved my day when I got caught in a thundershower at Nannaj Wildlife Sanctuary in August. I was also carrying a huge plastic bag and I quickly slipped my 50-500 Sigma lens into it.
—Krish
http://www.krishphoto.com
Re: Super Pics!
Well the lowepro itself is good.. but I had to use the gear in the rain.. so the equipment itself got wet along with the bag. I too carry a dozen of those big black garbage bags.. they make excellent camera coats 🙂
Yeah, being able to see the kurinji is a great experience. I did happen to see in 1994. Great journal. I am one of the frequent reader !
lovely pics …
Elephants at night
Of all the photographs,a personal favourite is ” Elephants at night” and “Forest cover”.I don’t know anything about the gears and photography nuances but the pics convey the very essence of jungles…untamed,feral and fiery spirit…Awesome!Arun what do you say?
This picture are quite amazing. Linking them to my blog. Fandu!
Punds
Beautiful
Wow… beautiful photographs.
From Jo
Superb pics man!!!
[http://jocalling.blogspot.com]
Re: From Jo
What’s your equipment?
nilgiri?
nilgiri doesnt get its name from this… the nilgiris gets its name from the eucalyptus…which the species is called blue eucalyptus and durin dawn or dusk, there is a blueish haze when u see from far and hence the name !
Re: nilgiri?
That’s what I thought, as well.
Thanks for these wonderful photos…so I don’t have to suffer the leeches in order to enjoy the kurinji. 🙂
😀
Had few sips in 2004…little problem…
few days back, to do a real test…one complete ‘can’ at 11PM and sleep knocked at 1… hmm..guess few systems work the strange way!
Info about the Kuriniji
Hi Kalyan,
I am planning a trek in Munnar(specifically to spot the Kurinji blooms)
Is this the right time?
rEEna
chengappa.reena@gmail.com