Monday 19 January 2015

My trip to India

I spent two brilliant weeks in India over christmas and the best way to deal with post-holiday blues is to re-live it through a post - so here it is:

We left on the 22nd of Dec and after over 20 hours in transit we finally arrived at our hostel in Mumbai:



The first thing we noticed was the sheer density of people – they were everywhere (but in a city of more than 20 million that’s hardly surprising):



What was surprising was the bird life – it was insane. There were your usual city birds like crows (these are columbo crows – pretty badass birds) and pidgeons:




But there were also heaps of parrots (Indian ringnecks and alexandrines were the most common) and thousands of birds of prey (mostly black kites):













I won’t bore you with everything we did in Mumbai, but there were definitely a few highlights. We spent a day in Dharahvi, which is the biggest slum in India and where they filmed slumdog millionaire. 60% of India’s population lives in slums, with almost a million living in Dharahvi alone in an area less than a quarter the size of Melbourne. We weren’t really sure what to expect – I had some vague western preconceptions of beggars and starving children – but it wasn’t really like that at all. Firstly, everyone was working. There were metal workers, leather tanners, seamstresses, plastic recyclers, bakers, soap makers, and many other basic trades being conducted in every inch of free space:





Secondly, eveyone in the slum had access to clean water, which was supplied via these gigantic pipes:



And finally, there were no beggars, and the vast majority of kids were clean, well-dressed, and extremely happy:




This little girl was an absolute sweetheart, insisting I take a rose and refusing any money:



And these lads let us join in their game of cricket (they gave us a nice touch up):



But all that said, everyone was still living in extreme poverty and at times it was a little confronting:



That night we went out to one of the more prestigious clubs in Mumbai and saw first hand the wealth disparity in India. We ended up at a house party in a high rise apartment with marble floors, crystal chandeliers, an open bar filled with grey goose, johnnie walker blue and courvoisier (which of course we took full advantage of), servants running around everywhere, and even a stereotypical angry pug in a mini-vest. Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera with me, but you get the idea.

The next day was Christmas and my mate and I decided we’d try and find the local flamingo population that appears in the bay at this time of year. I think this got lost in translation with our cab driver and we ended up at the Mumbai fish docks:




It nearly put me off fish for life - it was gross. There were literally piles of rotting fish everywhere, and every pile had at least half a dozen crows, rats and cats picking at it. There was a layer of fishy sludge about 2 inches deep covering the entire dock that ended up all over our clothes, and the smell was unbelievable - we had to throw our shoes out after because we just couldn’t get the stench out of them. And they didn’t like westerners being there one bit - when I tried to take a photo they nearly threw me over the side. But I managed to sneak one before they noticed (these looked like hairtail):



When we left we absolutely stunk like rotting fish so we headed to the worlds biggest open-air laundry to get our clothes washed:



And they came back spotless. So after enjoying one last sunset in Mumbai:



We said goodbye to our little blue mate who lived outside our hotel:



And jumped on an overnight bus to Goa, which is the beachy, touristy state in India. Our overnight bus was meant to be a sleeper bus with beds (we were even shown photos) but the ‘beds’ turned out to be chairs that just reclined about 45 degrees:



So after 14 hours we finally arrived in Goa and although it was still full of people, it was a far cry from the mayhem that was Mumbai:















After checking into our cheap but quite charming little hostel:



And acquainting ourselves with the local wildlife in our room:





We set out to do some exploring. We were staying in a touristy area called Anjuna, which is set up very much like the touristy parts of Thailand (but without all the Aussie heroes) in that it’s main attraction are beach bars and restaurants:



Except like everywhere in India, the beaches are ruled by sacred cows:




And stray dogs:



We went for a bit of a wander down the coast away from the crowds and although it looked nice:



It was a wasteland. There were absolutely no signs of marine life - no crustaceans, no seaweed, no molluscs - nothing. And there were gill nets everywhere:



It was obvious that fishing wasn’t an option here, but the main reason we came to northern Goa (apart from a bit of cheeky partying over new years) was to spend some time in the Bhagwan Mahaveer national park:



There were a few species that we really wanted to see (tigers and leopards topped the list) but we knew our chances of seeing them were extremely slim, so we set a more realistic goal of finding hornbills, giant Indian tree squirrels, Indian bison and cobras. The highlight of our time in Bhagwan Mahaveer was finding this deep fissure with a skinny stream flowing through it:



We decided to climb down into it (easier said than done):



And follow it for as long as we could:



It turned out to be a really sweet little stream. It was full of little fish like this awesome striped panchax, and lots of cool freshwater crabs:




And HEAPS of frogs (the first one was about twice the size of my hand):





We also had to crawl through lots of these little caves as we made our way along the stream:



Which were full of bats:



As we got further downstream it started to widen:



And we eventually came to this wicked canyon:




After a bit of exploring we came to a pool that was full of BIG fish:



Mahseer!



Mahseer are India’s prize freshwater fish (they are like a giant, streamlined carp on steroids) and we didn’t expect to find any this far south (the keen mahseer anglers all fish for them up north at the foothills of the Himalayas). Even though we couldn’t fish for them (India has strict no fishing laws in its national parks) we were thrilled just to see some. And while we were busy watching the mahseer, we heard the tell-tale heavy wing beats of a hornbill:



We had found our first target species – a greater Indian hornbill. They were a long way away but they were still an impressive bird. And while we were watching them, we spotted another of our target species – a giant Indian tree squirrel:



Unfortunately we didn’t find a cobra, but we came close:







































We managed to see a few Indian Bison but they were so spooky they took off before we could get a photo. Man were they impressive though. We also saw a heap of cool invertebrates:




But to be honest, the place was so beautiful, any wildlife was a bonus:



So after a couple of awesome days in the national park we headed back to Anjuna beach to party over new years. I won’t bore you with the details, but we had a lot of fun:





After new years we headed further south to a quieter area called Palolem. After checking into another cheap little hostel:



We did some exploring. It was still pretty touristy, but it was a lot quieter and if you drove out of town a little bit the beaches were beautiful:




There was a national park close by called Cotigao wildlife sanctuary that holds a healthy population of leopards, so the first thing we did was hire scooters and go and take a look. Our main target was a leopard, but we were also hoping to see the endangered golden langur. We followed a road that led deep into the national park:



And set out exploring. This park was full of giant orb spiders, and I lost count of the number of times I nearly walked into one (this guy was bigger than my hand):



It was also full of these cool little dragons:













We eventually started following a river:



And it didn’t take long before we started seeing signs of a big predator. We found the remains of several birds:



And the remains of a big fish (check the size of this scale!):



And in some areas it absolutely stunk like piss, which must have been a big cat marking its territory. But despite some serious searching:



We couldn’t find a leopard. We did, however, see lots of beautiful kingfishers (this is the best photo I could get – kingfisher on the left, some species of heron on the right):



We eventually left the river and made our way up a hill, and all of a sudden the landscape changed dramatically from dense jungle to sparse, grassy woodland:



And after a bit of aimless wandering, we came a across a family of langurs:



They were pretty far away and super spooky, but we were stoked nonetheless. We also spotted a lone macaque in the same area:



After leaving the national park we did a few touristy things (the highlight was a cliff-top silent disco) and before we knew it, it was our last day. My mate and I were determined to spend it fishing but we knew we’d have to drive a fair way out of town to find some fishable water. So we got on google maps, found a nice looking creek, filled our scooters with petrol and set off. It was about a 3 hour ride (which in India is a longggg time to be on the road - road rules don’t exist there) and after passing some beautiful scenery:




And heaps of these pretty little rainbow bee-eaters:



We eventually found our creek:



Straight away we knew that this was a very fishy little creek. It was full of life, teeming with all sorts of little fish and crustaceans. However, like every Indian waterway, it was still full of gill nets:


We whipped out the bream gear, not really sure what to expect, and starting flicking around little hards. And second cast I was on:




A beautiful mangrove jack! It wasn’t huge (in the low 30s) but it was my first Indian mangrove jack and I was stoked. And a couple of casts later, my mate was on too:



Another mangrove jack - you beauty! In 10 minutes we’d both landed our first Indian jacks after we’d all but given up on fishing in India. We kept casting and landed a couple more little jacks (how cute is this little guy):



But it soon went quiet. We decided to cruise down to the beach and meet our mate for lunch (not a bad place for a feed):



And after a delicious Indian lunch of curry, rice and naan:



We went back to the jack spot for the last couple of hours of light. And it didn’t take long before I had a hit:



A cute little barracuda. I’d seen a much bigger version follow my lure earlier in the day, but this guy was a nice consolation prize. My mate followed this up with a little cod next cast:



After this it went quiet and we were just considering heading home, when my lure was smashed. This guy hit hard and immediately dragged me into a snag, but after a bit of patience and some fancy rod work, I managed to get him to the bank:



Another beautiful jack, and a great way to finish the session. By this stage the sun was disappearing and we were getting absolutely destroyed by mozzies (we’d forgotten the bushmans and neither of us were taking anti-malarials):



 So we decided it was time to go. We jumped on our scooters:



And after narrowly escaping death several times (night driving on the Indian highways is an experience I won’t forget any time soon) we made it back to the hostel. And that brings an end to an amazing trip. India truly is a wonderful country – the people were so nice (I lost count of the number of times locals bought us dinner or drinks), the food was unbelievable, and the scenery was unreal. I also discovered a new favourite beer:



Do yourself a favour and try a kingfisher – you won’t be disappointed.

Cheers!

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