The Wild Ways of Masinagudi

 

The Philosophy of Travel

       
    The urge for travel might be a genetic trait of human beings .The history of human journeys are as old as the origin of the human civilizations .Inspired by the various instincts, Human beings used to travel from the very beginning of ancient ages.The Great human migration,which began from African continent, crosses the country and continent borders and spread all over the globe, then ,by the ages , the human beings aimed the extra terrestrial world and began their journeys to the unknown planets of the universe.The human journeys were motivated by various instincts , some of then were the painful dispersals,some of them were migrations to the lands of promises in search of better prospects , some of them were sacred pilgrimages in search of holy blessings , Yet some journeys had nothing to do with declared goals, they were just the wanderings without any pre determined itinerary .They are the journeys inspired by the curiosity to see the unknown world , to enjoy the beauty of nature , to know the lives of the outside world and to decode the secrets of some

mysteries of the universe .These humans spent their entire life for travel or dedicated their life for travel , to them life is to travel , they gained knowledge and attained wisdom through their journeys . They revealed the unknown parts of the globe to us , and amused the entire civilization with the tales and fables of unexplored world, they spread the myths and culture of our land to farthest of the globe and ignited our genetical urge to travel with the travelogues of their adventure journeys .They strongly believed that the various cultures of the world should be fused together in order to form a huge liberal world civilization that will treat the entire human civilization as the strings of a same garland . They dreamt of such a world and spread the message global humanity around the globe .

            Huyan tsang, Fahiyan , Magellan,Ibn batuta, Lawrence, Muhammed Asad etc are the historical personalities, who led the world travel culture and paved the way for the crazy travelers .Of course, the urge for travel is the genetical trait of human beings , and this genus contributed a lot to the great idea of universal humanity .The human civilization still pursue their travels to the new destinations , they keep traveling together even though the goal varies .
 

Travel Trance 

     Some journeys are to go only once in life , such itinerary meant just to have a look and return back and the curiosity of such places will vanish with a first look itself .Every traveler might have such offbeat destinations in his nomadic life, which the traveler wouldn't like to visit again.Yet some trips are to go back again and again , such place will seduce the traveler with fresh visuals and ethereal feelings, one cannot depart the place for ever, each returns of the traveler becomes an interval for another visit .The travels ,which seems like a pilgrimage might be spiritual wanderings of the traveler .Most probably , a traveler finds such destinations accidentally or in an unexpected manner , often a step in wrong direction from the route or the result of a purposeful deviation in search of a resting place .

I turned up in Masinagudi, a Tamil forest village , in such an unexpected way of travel.Years before, inspired by wildlife photography , my travel to bandipur ended up in masinagudi.The lorry driver who offered a lift from gudallur , told me about masinagudi and detailed how to get there.He added that the possibility of sighting animals will be high at Masinagudi and one can have an economic stay there.Its a place the so called tourists rarely visiting and for a jungle traveler , it would be the an ideal place.After getting down at theppakkadu tri junction, took a deviation in to the right direction and started my repeated travel to masinagudi.That,later, proved to be one of the right moment in my travel life.

Some History of Masinagudi

    Masinagudi got its name from the name of goddess masiniyamma.This place believed to be, once, the capital city of Wayanad kingdom. The myths about this place is that , several communities were migrated to this place in order to find an asylum during the attack of Tipu sultan.These communities included the Okkiliyars, who were farmers; the Vokkaligas, a warrior community; the Kannadiya Naickers of Lingayath origin, which comprised of mainly infantry; the Siviars, mainly palanquin bearers; the Besthavars, which included fishermen, palanquin bearers, lime burners and kiln workers; the Kurumbars, who were mainly shepherds; and the Rauths, that made up the cavalry. The people brought their family deities along with them. Legend has it that when the army closed in on them, these many different communities prayed to “Masiniamman” to keep them safe. After the people crossed the Moyaar River, it flooded, hence preventing the army from effectively pursuing them. This happened around the present town of Masinagudi. To show their gratitude, the people constructed a temple and consecrated the deities of “Masiniamman”, who continues to be the family deity of these communities in the area. 

 

 Wilderness

              Masinagudi is an ecological sensitive area, It has of paramount importance in the ecological balancing process of our earth .This is an area ,where human beings and wildlife having a peaceful co existence .This area is the buffer zone of Mudumala Tiger Reserve and the border area of Bandipur National Park .The Moyar river,which is a tributary of bhavani river ,separates masinagudi and Bandipur .The Masinagudi is an integral part of 778.8 sqkm Segur plateau .Segur plateau is an important wildlife corridor which combines the Western ghat and Eastern ghat .This is home for more than 6000 elephants and holds the number one position in nation in number of elephants and tigers.The Segur Plateau is the most important part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, the first biosphere reserve in India, incorporated in the UNESCO's Man and Biosphere (MAB) project. So masinagudi is a geologically and ecologically important place in the region. It is not surprising that this region, which is a hot spot of Indian wildlife, has become a dream place of wildlife lovers and photographers.

 

          

           The jeep safari through the masinagudi moyar road is the highlight of Masinagudi trip .The 10 km long road ends in Moyar Dam area, then separated into smaller roads and entering moyar's suburbs.The dry forest ecosystem of this area turned this place as a haven for wildlife. Just because the geographical proximity to the Sathyamangalam forest and eastern ghat, this area is one of the most important elephant corridor in the nation and that is why elephant herds are a common sighting here , moreover,one can expect the sighting of tiger,leopard,sloth bear,wild dog,and black bucks here .Masinagudi is rich in bird diversity .Including the Red headed vulture and white rumped vulture, which are under the threat of extinction , this area hosts 260 species of birds .There has been reports of breeding sites of those vultures. This place has some reported sightings of very rare Egyptian vulture also .In masinagudi, one might have a chance to sight stripped hyena, if luck is there, and this is the only spot in south India,where one can expect the sighting of stripped hyenas .The hyena population in nilgiri area now fallen heavily and the population shrinked in to some pockets of masinagudi.

     The surrounding hamlets like singara,bokkapura,vazhathottam are the other attractions of the traveller and masinagudi really an entrance to that hamlets, it opens the door to some heavenly places. E.R.C Davidar, the jungle man of India,set up his dream jungle home named chital walk at Bokkapura, where he lived in complete harmony with wild animals . In this same place Mark davidar, son of E.R.C Davidar , lived with the company of wild elephants , Mark named the elephants after Brazilian football stars and his favorite was the giant Rivaldo.His was the story of unusual bonhomie of man animal co existence .

The Murugan Temple at Murugan Hill is another attraction of Bokkappura, a light trek leads you to a another world of scenic beauty .The aerial view of forests in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu can be enjoyed here. In spite of all its unique beauty, people rarely visiting this place , just because , one need to have a trek to get this place

    

        Masinagudi, now on the verge of a major turning point and facing a crucial moment in its history .A section of people in Masinagudi are worried about the decision to take over the private land in the forest related to the Tamil Nadu forest department's elephant development project. Though the government has agreed to the demand for rehabilitation of homes, they fear that this step will destroy Masinagudi's main source of income, as well as the resort and hotel business. The local people sharing their apprehension over after effects of such actions on the economy of masinagudi.But there are other sections which believe that the wildlife and environment of the Masinagudi, which have been destroyed by illegal resorts, home stays and tourism, will be preserved through it and ultimately it will strengthen the region's survival. Authorities say that there is only some restriction of tourism and they do not want to prohibit it. They have to retain the ecosystem of masinagudi , that has been collapsed due to the lack of some restrictions