Aiyur forest is a relatively less known place. A slightly better-known place is Bettamugilam. There are quite a few biking trip chronicled on blogs recently. The route to Bettamugilam goes through the Aiyur forest. I ventured out an early morning to drive through this forest.
The entry to the forest has a checkpost and a forest guest house too. When I reached there at the break of daylight, the gate was closed. A grumpy forest guard, clearly unhappy at having his sleep disturbed, was in no mood to let us through easily. A volley of questions followed – where are we going, what purpose, where are you coming from, etc. After these, followed a sermon – no one goes through at this early time, there is nothing to see along the way, etc. After making an entry in the register, we move along. All through this time, I could see a few two-wheelers pass through freely – this is common almost everywhere – needlessly making people wade through layers of bureaucracy.
The landscape changes suddenly while driving. Suddenly we see bamboo trees lining the road on both sides. The roads are winding. There is a small watering hole that is known to be frequented by elephants, called Samiyeri. We stop here, waiting for sunrise. The silence is absolute and golden, barring the coos of birds and the jarring-yet-soothing sound of tall bamboo shoots rubbing against each other.
I had hoped for a nice, clear sunrise. But, it was cloudy. As I mentioned in the previous post, the struggle of a landscape photographer is quite real. Here are some images and a small video of the drive.
Samiyeri – the elephant watering hole in Aiyur forest
A cloudy sky masks the sunrise colors
Nice post…