The beauty of the backwaters in Valparai, Karnataka, India.

I never imagined that I would see scenery like this while visiting the rainforest of Valparai. It was just incredibly beautiful and serene. A place I would love to visit again <:

Tiny little frogs of the rainforest in Valparai, Karnataka, India.

To get some macro pictures of some of the frogs was really a challenge. When it was pitch black I had to go out into the rainforest ( not alone though ), and listen to the frogs singing and then try to find these tiny creatures. Truly a challenge ! All about team work since light is needed to get any pictures at all.

Raorchestes Jayrami
sitting on a coffe bean

Lion Tailed Macaques, LTM’s, in the Western ghats of India.

The lion tailed macaque or the wanderoo, is an old world monkey endemic to the Western ghats of South India. It’s one of the most endagered species in the world. And I was lucky enough to meet them, spend time with them and get some great pictures of this amazing creature.

Gentle giants of the jungle.

Elephants are the gentle giants of the jungle. On my last trip to Bandipur I met this amazing flock of female elephants taking care of the baby in the family.

Botlappa Cave temple hike in Coorg.

From our homestay Silver Brook Estate we decided to do a short 4 kilometer hike up to Botlappa cave temple. Beautiful but hot walk up through the coffee plantations and the jungle. A narrow winding road for what we thought bikers but no no no……it was for jeeps, cars and rickshaws. Amazing to get a close look at how people live around here. We met kids walking home from school and women who had been grocery shopping. We also met the greenest snake ever. Turned out it was not dangerous at all. So cool to be hiking in the tree tops in all the greenery.

Coffee everywhere…
The views where amazing
Lots of cute houses in the slopes and in the greenery. Sometimes difficult to spot due to the jungle.
Giant brugmansias among all the coffee.
A dash of color in all the green

Our little hike turned out to be longer and hotter than expected but it was totally worth every drop of sweat. Don’t miss the next post where I’ll show some picture of the temple itself.

Good shoes and socks are essential when hiking but also water ! See ya’ soon.