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SHE strides majestically into view, her calf trailing along. At the edge of the forest, she stops and surveys the road before leading her calf onto the macadam. All cars stop to let her pass. She makes sure to flank her baby securely until they both have crossed the road into the other side of the forest. She turns back and trumpets, her trunk held high, as if to tell us to go. But some visitors don’t move. One of them have set up a tripod on the road to shoot her picture, but she doesn’t like it. After another longish trumpet, she moves purposefully towards our car while the calf hesitates and stays back. The ‘photographer’ grab his tripod and drives off. We are in Mudumalai Game Reserve, supposed to be a sanctuary of both elephants and tigers. On the Karnataka side, it is called Bandipur while in Tamil Nadu the same game reserve goes by the name of Mudumalai, or ancient mountain. You cross the state border in the jungle itself and there is an arch welcoming you to Tamil Nadu as you enter the Mudumalai part of the forest. There is also a check post. But travellers are free to drive from one into the other. In fact, this is also a regular transport route through which buses, trucks transporting goods and Sumo taxis ply regularly. We take the jungle safari organised by the forest department on both sides twice a day all the three days we were there. But the big cat continued to remain elusive. During the day we also drove through the forest road several times looking for unusual game. We could spot a monitor lizard sunning itself lazily, a black bear crossing the road leisurely and hordes of deer grazing peacefully by the roadside. There was even a resplendent peacock, its blue-green feathers sparkling in the sun. Every time we crossed this particular stretch of the forest on Bandipur side, the bird was there, in the middle of the road. Actually, he was looking for food. Although there are signposts everywhere telling us not to feed wild animals and warning us of elephant crossings or tiger crossings, obviously this peacock did not take them seriously. He was demanding to be fed and blocked your way until you did. We had driven from Bengaluru to Mudumalai, crossed both the reserves and had stayed in a lovely resort at the edge of the jungle. A five-hour drive through dense bamboo forests and tropical jungle, Masinagudi is a quaint village tucked away in the forest. It is also one of the best-kept secret locations on the Bengaluru-Ooty road. We found a lovely cottage on the banks of a stream. Ooty is just an hour’s drive away. In June, there might not be a foot of turf on which you could stand. Hordes of visitors from Coimbatore and adjoining plains join tourists at Ooty, which looks like a site of miniature Kumbh Mela. Masinagudi, on the other hand, is an as yet uncharted haven. Besides, you can drive through the jungle road as many times as you like which increases your chances of spotting the game. It was thus on our fourth drive that we managed to see a bison, a grand specimen munching placidly near the bushes on the roadside. It was a lone male with impressive horns, shiny folds of skin, and a protruding stomach. Like the mother elephant, this one, too, crossed the road nonchalantly, taking its own time to cover a stretch of 30 feet while we furiously take photos. Usually bison are seen in herds and sometimes in very large herds, but this one seems to be a loner. One marvels at the way in which beast and man have made their peace as long as they keep their distance from each other. Back in our cottage in Masinagudi, we’re entertained by a horde of raucous birds all of which have made the banyan tree their home. The mountain ranges loom through the mist. The Nilgris live up to their name – the blue mountain. From a distance, the jungles seem blue although when you drive through them, they are green enough. The verdant peaks are silhouetted with a golden rim against the setting sun. As dusk merges into the mist, the lights of Ooty come on one by one, yonder.
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