
Grey Wagtail near the Frog Rock on the gateway to the Nilgiris from Gudalur. A migrant from distant lands, early March 2013.

A local ritual procession in Naduvattam. The place name Nadu Vattam literally means the Vattam or Kottam or Kuti at the centre of the region. It once housed the Vattam or Vihara or Jain/ Buddhist Pally in the ancient days.

Brown-cheeked Fulvetta in a crisscrossed shola patch near the road between Gudalur and Naduvattam, early March 2013.

Pykara falls, Nilgiris, early March 2013. Pykara means the land of the cattle. This grassland sholas and Pykara river were most sacred to the Toda tribe the early inhabitants of the Nilgiri plateau. The river Pykara originates from Mukurti peak and flows north west through the Nilgiri plateu.

The Toda buffaloes grazing in the pastures in Pykara. The buffaloes are central to their cosmology and myths. The sacred buffalo only found in the Nilgiri Toda Munds or villages were created first along with the first Toda man according to their creation myth. The Toda buffaloes have close similarity to the water buffaloes of Assam.

Stopped by the bison/ gaur on the way to Kotagiri the hills of the Kota tribe near Dodabetta, south india’s second highest peak after Anamudi in the south.