Day 40 - Alleppey to Kottayam to Kumily - Friday 25th November 2011

Wet, cold and foggy. Well, ok, our day didn't start off that way but it defiantly ended that way! We woke up to the sound of our house boat slowly paddling down the backwaters. We had a shower and then sat for breakfast right behind the skipper who was steering the boat whilst texting (love India!). We had an original Keralan breakfast which was steamed rice puffs, curry and dhal, followed by a sugar coconut pancake and coffee. At about 10am the boat pulled into the small port and we waved goodbye to our small, two man crew and headed across town to the next boat jetty. Where we boarded the 'Boat Bus' which took us to Kottayam. After 2 hours on the water ferry we arrived in Kottayam and jumped on our bus to Kumily.

If you have seen this film you will totally understand and be able to picture what I'm saying…

We were on the way to Periyar Tiger reserve - so basically the jungle, there were tall trees and shrubs as far as the eye could see, it was foggy, we were on an old shaky bus with windows but no glass, as we worked our way across the mountains every corner seemed to be the edge of a cliff, the rain was coming down in sheets and the wind was howling - It was just like the opening scene from "Romance In the Stone!!". The bus ride was amazing and completely frightening at the same time. I'm still unsure as to whether the bus drivers are ex formula one test drivers or just plain crazy people?! Somehow we arrived on time and still in one piece! We put our rucksacks on and headed for our place for the night, 'Mickeys Guesthouse'… The problem was that it was dark as there had been a power cut in town and we didn't really know where to go and last but not least, we were in the middle of the jungle - which has tigers, leopards and panthers. I was a tad worried, Soph was cool as a cucumber (just wait till later, leeches is all I'm saying!!). We looked around for any signs and then suddenly a man was in front of us asking "Mr Slint? I show you the way to Mickeys" - no joke, I'm seriously thinking of changing our surname to Slint for the reminder for India! We found Mickeys and after a bite to eat we hit the sack ready for tiger trek the next day… (Well Soph was ready, I was still unsure about the whole walking through the jungle looking for a tiger bit?!)

Day 41 - Kumily and Periyar tiger reserve - Saturday 26th November 2011

Freezing, wet, foggy and dark. We woke at 4.45am to the sound of rain hammering on the roof and no light - the power cut was still on-going it seemed. We were due to be picked up at 5.15am to start our jungle tour but were now looking at each other (with our head touches on, of course) and wondering if it was too late to cancel. Yesterday, I'd even taken it as far to say that the cold and rain were quite a welcome relief from the oppressive heat but now, with the prospect of spending the day in the jungle, in the cold and wet, I was starting to wish for the sun again. The inappropriateness of the day's outfits suddenly dawned on us - Adam had a pair of green cotton trousers with a hoodie and espadrilles for his feet whilst I had a back jumpsuit and hoodie with, at least some sensible footwear, my teva churn trainers. But all is not lost! I remembered I had bought us each a primark style "pack a macs" so we could wear them and they would keep us dry! I dug them out of my rucksack, only to be confronted with the large print on the packet "shower proof only". Oh dear, it was going to be a long day………..

Come 5.15am, our jeep arrived to pick us up and our driver was a lovely man called Jobin, who had the most amazing green eyes I've ever seen. We drove for 45 minutes and then entered into the reserve, at which point Jobin starting to look around very seriously at the surrounding jungle. Ad started to get nervous and was convinced that at any minute a tiger was going to jump out and gobble us up for breakfast - Jobin very quickly informed us that there was only 44 tigers in the reserve and so it was very rare to even spot one, let alone be eaten by one. After about 10 minutes more of driving, Jobin suddenly stopped the jeep and ran out and dragged us both with him. He had spotted a troop of wild elephants - we sat and watched them for a while and of course, took lots and lots of photos. Back in the jeep, we continued on and then again Jobin was out of the jeep and pointing up in the trees - we looked up, only to see what could only be described as a big cuddly toy. Apparently its proper name is a giant Malabar squirrel - I much more prefer the name of big cuddly toy. Jobin's knack of spotting animals is really quite amazing - I commented to him he'd be excellent at "where's wally" - he didn't seem to get the joke.

We arrived at the main entrance to the park at about 8am and after registering, headed over to get some breakfast. It's amazing what a warm cup of coffee and some food can do for your spirits and before long, we were both quite looking forward to our 3 hour trek - even though it was still raining buckets. Our guide came over and with his limited English, gave us some knee length cotton socks and told us to put them on. Perplexed, we did what we were told, no idea why we had to wear the ridiculous socks. I voiced that I didn't need socks - my trainers were designed to let water in and out quickly and so the socks would defeat the idea, the guide looked at me like I was something out of space so I decided that now was not the time to do a marketing pitch for Teva and I should shut up and just keep the socks on. We started our trek and entered into the thick, lush jungle and even found that the rain was not as bad in the jungle, as the canopy of trees sheltered us. After about 20 minutes, we stopped by a huge dam and our guide produced from his rucksack a bag of salt. Again, we were puzzled. We looked at him, questioning the need for the salt, to which he pointed at our feet and said "leeches". Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh our feet were covered in blood sucking, not worthy of life, horrible, wriggling leeches. I had to fight the sudden urge to scream and vomit. I'm normally fine with insects and bugs; I'll happily pick up spiders and actually pride myself on not being particularly girly in that area. Well it seems that leeches are my kryptonite! After our feet being covered in salt, which kills the leeches, we headed back on our way. I then spent the entire 3 hour trek trying not to look at my feet or freak out! At one point I had a leech on my leg, so trying to be brave I tried to remove it, only to find that the bloody things suck on to everything so it's virtually impossible to get them off you. To make matters worse, my teva trainers, that I had so bragged about being great at letting that water in and out, were now hosting a full on leech party with the in / out design feature being the main event - the little blighters loved it! At one point, the guide pointed out a couple of animals and then a footprint which he said was a tigers - the colour actually drained from Ads face and I thought he was going to pass out. I, on the other hand, hardly noticed this comment as I was far too busy trying not to look at the leech party in my shoes. What were they doing to my feet?!? Images of blood being sucked out of my feet was enough to bring the sick feeling back to my stomach.

After nearly 3 hours of trekking, we reached the summit of one of the mountains - the view was divine; we were above the clouds, but not the rain it seemed - it was now pelting down harder than ever. After a few pictures, we started our walk back down and via a plant nursery and some tasting, finally arrived back at the entrance of the centre, completely soaked, freezing cold and covered in leeches. The scene we walked into did nothing to help my fear - people were bleeding, pools of blood lay on the floor with salt soaked dead leeches in the middle, some people were even being bandaged up from leech wounds. Ok, maybe it wasn't quite as horrific as I'm making out - but it was still not great. We de-leeched ourselves and sat waiting for our lunch and whilst we were chatting I happened to look down at my chest only to find…….yes, a bloody leech sucking on my boob!! I screamed at Adam to get it off me. It was lucky that lunch was still another 20 minutes away as I'm sure I wouldn't have been able to stomach it at that point.

After lunch, our guide came to collect us for our afternoon boating exercise. We were still completely wet and freezing cold and so the thought of sitting on a boat did nothing for us. Life jacketed up, we boarded and tried to keep in good spirits. The reserve is truly beautiful and the scenery spectacular but when you're cold and wet in a country that is supposed to be hot, it starts to dampen your spirits after a few hours. We moored up and as we climbed out of our boat came face to face with a magnificent waterfall. This promptly cheered us up! We climbed up and through the water (no leeches, yay!) and marvelled at the view.

Waterfall and reserve done we decided to head back and so jumped in the jeep with Jobin and headed back to our homestay, hopeful of a hot shower. Wishful thinking on our part, firstly there was still no power and secondly, the guesthouse is solar powered (great invention - if it's a sunny day and not cloudy and raining), end result is………..no hot water. The guesthouse kindly boiled some up for us so we washed ourselves, got into clean clothes, went and got some hot coffee and food and then absolutely knackered, went to bed. I dreamt of leeches!