A Weekend in the Rainforest

From the polluted streets of Bengaluru, I decided to head out into the forests of Agumbe to attend the Rainforest Exploratory Workshop conducted by ARRS (Agumbe Rainforest Research Station).  The research station is nestled within the pristine rain forests of the Western Ghats.

A View of the research station.

Just before reaching Agumbe, a mud road, on the right of the main road, leads to the research station. 

Day 1

Our willing model – the bicolored frog.

After a brief presentation regarding the research station and the conservation of wildlife in India, we decided to head out into the wild to do some photography.  We were lucky enough to spot, quickly, a model eager to be shot into stardom – a bi colored frog which was very willing to pose for us.  Of course, we made the most out of the situation.

Getting back to the research station, we had a session on camera trapping by Siddharth, who has captured quite a few animals, from leopard, barking deer to otters and spur fowls on his camera trap.  The camera trap has been designed by IISC and uses passive infrared (body heat of animals) to trigger the camera.  The camera is an old Olympus digital camera with a memory card capable of holding around 16 pictures. 

One of our camera traps.

We headed out, armed with rotten bananas as bait, to try our luck with the camera trapping.  On the way, we discovered the spoor of dholes (Indian wild dog) very close to ARRS.  Finally, we set up 4 camera traps and baits , hoping to capture every species that has been seen – or not been seen – in the Western Ghats.  But, alas, for all our hopes and ambitions, only one of our camera traps managed to capture an image – that of a spur fowl.

 After dinner, which was a scrumptious fare of native food, we headed out into the jungle for a night walk.  For those of us who have never ventured out from the safety of civilization, the jungle at night provides a truly awe inspiring experience.  A mysterious world awaits, just beyond the reach of our torch beams, with strange animals more often heard than seen.  The animals that we did see included a pair of civets, a spider with its hatchlings, a scorpion with a fatal bite, ... 

Scorpion with a fatal bite

Praying mantis

A spider with its hatchlings

Here, I must digress to mention a fascinating fact about scorpions.  When exposed to UV light, scorpions glow with a greenish blue color.  This is the best way to find scorpions during the night.  Many theories have been put forward to explain this florescence, but no one is quite sure why this occurs.

A scorpion glowing under UV light

With our minds still on the scorpion with a fatal bite and on the cobra, which we were told was wandering freely within ARRS property, we decided to turn in for the night.  A brief bout of suffocation made us realize, quickly, the futility of keeping the tent flaps closed.  This led to a very interesting, but somewhat disturbing incident.  In the middle of the night, we wore woken up by something crawling on our legs.  Could it be the cobra? A brief, sleepy eyed search of the tent revealed nothing.  Too sleepy to do anything more, we hit the sack and had an undisturbed sleep until the first rays of a rising sun heralded the beginning of a new day.

  

Day 2

Indian Golden Backed Three Toed Woodpecker

The day started off with a birding trip among the forest giants, whose canopies were lost within the morning mist.  A few birds took pity on us and decided to grace us with their presence.  These birds included scarlet minivets (of late known as orange minivet), changeable hawk eagle, ioras, egrets, parakeets, woodpeckers, flowerpeckers, lapwings, orioles, bulbuls, …

Fishing spider(?) walking on water

A walk in a nearby stream unveiled even more wonders of the jungle – a spider (fishing spider ?) which walks on the water to catch fish and tadpoles, otter scat (an interesting fact about otters is that they relieve themselves on almost the same spot every day), a frog endemic to western ghats …

Black Torrent Frog

A trip to Jogigundi yielded another forest dweller endemic to Western Ghats – a black torrent frog.  This frog lives near fast moving streams (torrents) and hence the name.  Due to its selection of habitat, it would be futile for it to call during the breeding season to attract a mate.  No other frog will hear it.  To solve this problem, the frog has developed an unique way to attract mates - it climbs to the top of a rock and waves its front leg.

Jogigundi

Stream glory - a damselfly found near streams.

 After another night walk, in which we were lucky enough to spot a slender loris, we turned in for the night.  This time we were determined to solve the mystery of previous night  - the identity of the mysterious crawler who had so rudely disturbed our sleep.  At midnight, a scream by one of my tent mates, alerted us to the return of the intruder.  Torches were quickly put on and we glimpsed a rat running around in our tent.  But, was this really the intruder of previous night?  How did it get in (our tent flaps were open only at the top)? More importantly, how did it get out (after the initial glimpse, further searching yielded nothing)?

Day 3

Malabar Giant Squirrel

A new day, new opportunities - this time in the form of a Malabar Giant Squirrel basking on a tree. 

Juvenile Bedome’s Keelback

A trip into the forest resulted in the sighting of the first and only snake of this trip – a juvenile Bedome’s Keel Back.

After seeing a documentary by Kalyan Varma – One Million Snakebites – it was time for us to pack up.  With heavy hearts, we bid adieu to Agumbe, making a mental promise to return at the earliest opportunity.

My sincere thanks to the researchers – Siddharth, Naren, Neethi, Srikar, ..- in ARRS, my tent parners – Antony & Anirban - and all the other participants of the workshop for making this workshop into a pleasurable and informative experience.

Some details about ARRS:

The research station is located beside the Agumbe reserve forest.  Hence even a stroll inside the ARRS campus is likely to be very fruitful.

The research station derives almost all of its electricity from the solar panels and mini hydel plant.  It has a well stocked library and internet connectivity. 

Only BSNL mobiles get the network connectivity inside the research station.

Where to stay:

 The research station has 2 cottages open for visitors.  One can also stay in tents pitched within the ARRS property.

How to reach:

From Bengaluru, reach Shimoga by train/bus.  From Shimoga, there are lots of buses to Agumbe.

Also, there is a Rajahamsa (deluxe) bus from Bengaluru to Agumbe every day.

From Agumbe, hire an Auto to reach ARRS.

Contact Details:

Website: http://www.agumberainforest.com/

Email: arrs.india@gmail.com

Phone Number: 08181-223081 / 08181-233186

Address: 

Suralihalla,Agumbe
Thirthahalli Taluk
Shimoga District - 577411
Karnataka, India