"Vazhachal Falls is a rushing watercourse in the
Chalakkudy River in the Thrissur district of Kerala, South India. It is located
36km from Chalakkudi and 5km from Athirappilly Falls. The riparian forests of
the Chalakudy River have revealed the existence of a thick riparian vegetation
of more than 10 metres width for a distance of 10.5 km downstream from
Peringalkuth, covering an area of 58.5 hectares. Out of this, 26.4 hectares lie
within the Vazachal area, including three large islands densely covered by
riparian forests.Chalakkudi is the nearest railway station and Athirappilly is
the nearest bus station."
Vazhachal - In the kingdom of the
Rain God
You’ve
not experienced the monsoon until you’ve been drenched in the Western Ghats.
One morning in August we set off across the Tamil Nadu border and into Kerala’s
Vazhachal forests. It rained. Oh my goodness, did it rain! Mist rose from
forest floors to spiral up and mix with clouds where you could not even tell
them apart. Rain drenched leaves shone verdure and drip-dropped everywhere.
Ankle-deep puddles threw up a neat arc of spray as we drove through them. Frogs
and tiny toads jumped out of our way and eager leeches sensed us and stood on
tip-toe (not really, you know), looking to latch on.
Vazhachal
Reserved Forest unfurled in front of us – wet, evergreen, wonderful and, as
beautiful things go, fragile. The windshield wipers were ineffective at times
and the going was slow. Which was as it should be, for the forest is
breathtaking. Here, in Vazhachal, is where ferns still live.
Banks
rose from the sides of the road, covered in roots and ferns, fungi and moss.
Rock-faces seemed to melt into rivulets as water seeped through and over them.
Boughs and lianas were smothered in moss, and epiphytes were everywhere.
Creepers hung from branches like curtains and every bend in the road had a
frothy, white, gushing waterfall. It looked like a set from the movies. The
bigger characters in this drama –Nilgiri Langurs, Malabar Giant Squirrels and
birds – seemed to respectfully give way to the small, the immobile, and the
green.
And
then there are the impatiens – little pink, fuchsia and white flowers that
grow on wet rock. Whole beds, small clumps, and lone sentinels bending and
twisting but holding their own under waterfalls.
It was the paradise I’d imagined and longed to walk
through. Vazhachal is a primary forest, albeit logged, and the trees were old
growth. Electric transmission lines scarred the landscape at regular intervals,
but around it foliage determinedly continued on. Fabulous as the scene was,
there was a sinister undertone. A four-lane highway was to replace this 20-foot
road. That meant that the ferns and the first few rows of trees would be
cleared. It rankled, for with increased traffic and disturbance comes the
scourge of the invasive species – the lantana, parthenium and eupatorium. And
with that, this diversity of ferns and flora would be crowded out.
Light was low and
photography in that rain was a prayer. But for me, the quest for tack-sharp
images respectfully retreated behind the grand drama of green that surrounded
me. The dark of the rainforest in monsoon is what it is. Raindrops on every
blade, every edge, every petal, every moss fruiting body, is life – as it
unfolds. Hence, if blurry, grainy, and high-ISO images were to be a legacy of
this trip, so be it.
Soaking wet by now, finding a dry corner of my
t-shirt to wipe my lens clean was nothing more than a dream. My knees were
muddy from kneeling to take eye-level shots. I’d found a couple of leeches on
my neck, one on my face and one on my lip. I’d no idea what else was inside my
clothes. I was faced with a choice. Wetness and leeches can make one miserable.
But I had one glorious day in such a forest, and a few hours to simply soak it
all up. And so I took all my leech-bloody-wetness thoughts and locked it up in
a small compartment in my head. Then I threw the key away. Access denied to
negative emotions, I chased snails and sloshed across a stream to see insanely
huge fungi. Clambering up mud walls and slip sliding on leaf litter, I was
laughing inwardly at the sheer joy of being there.
