I am back to Bangalore and yet to get over the pleasant memories of my stay @ Dandeli. Wow...what a rocking trip that was. On our trek, we came across the giant wood spider (poisonous). The web spun by this spider is so strong that it's said to be tougher than steel. We actually tested it by trying to tear it. :)

Other animals spotted were wild jackals, simian apes (these are similar to monkeys but have a white facial hair growing around their face). Simian apes are much sought after for their meat which is considered a delicacy.

Human's greed for meat and rampant poaching has made this an endangered animal just like the tiger and it has been accorded protection under the Wildlife Act in India . The things I missed were wild bison’s, tiger’s (we did identify a couple of pug marks of an adult tiger), elephant’s (only got to see lots of elephant dung :)). White water rafting was cancelled as trekking took most part of our time. All through the trekking we had leeches for company which was feeding voraciously on our blood. I was lucky to have been bitten only once even with open sandals whereas some of my colleagues were bitten 2-3 times in spite of wearing shoes. Most of us had salt sprinkled on our feet as that repels leeches.

Although it was raining for the 2 days we stayed there, the heavy downpour didn’t dampen our spirits and we stuck to the plan. The accomodation arrangements @ the Forest Department guest house were excellent and the home made food was awesome. We stayed in fixed tent camps, some of which had attached bathrooms.

Special thanks to Mujahid & Narayana for the logistics arrangement and taking care of every team member’s needs.

All in all it was an amazing brush with nature. We are blessed to have such wildlife and the lush green forests. One of my most memorable moments was watching the fog enveloping the hills in the dense forest. As a nature lover I hope that the people and the government take steps to protect and conserve our wildlife.

So it is essential that people respect the sanctity of the forests by not littering any plastic or other wastes, maintaining silence while trekking and not teasing the animals.