Agumbe is a rainforest in Western Ghats and it houses some of the diverse flora and fauna. I saw this Fungus on a fallen trunk of a tree while I was walking in the forest

Exploring the rainforest of Agumbe

A multipart series from Agumbe, first chapter …

Agumbe is a small town situated in the Thirthahalli taluk of the Shimoga district of Karnataka, India. It is in the midst of a dense rainforest of the Malnad region of the Western Ghats. Agumbe has the second highest annual rainfall in India with 7000 mm per annum and one of the highest in the world. It teems with a diverse variety of animals including various species of mammals, reptiles, amphibians, birds and butterflies.

I was very fortunate to visit this place twice (so far) once in 2019 November just after the monsoon and recently in August of 2021 during the peak monsoon. The place is beyond any other place I have visited. It is a natural wonder of species. All you have to do is walk, observe and explore. Of course it has a lot of its own challenges with respect to the weather and the terrain but once you are there you know how to overcome those.

It was during our walk into the forest. The other side of the stream is the Someshawara Wildlife Sanctuary. We hiked the hill to get this spectacular view of the rainforest surrounding every inch of us

I didn’t want to travel there as a tourist but wanted to learn about the place and its rich bio-diversity. So, I stayed in the Kalinga Centre for Rainforest Ecology where I was hosted by Bhaskar a wildlife enthusiast who was doing an internship there, Prashanth who has worked years in this field working with reptiles and other species in Western Ghats and quite well known locally, a group of wildlife travelers and herpetologist (Swapnil and Abhijit) from Kolhapur who were exploring the wild Karnataka and a couple from Coorg just like me enamored with the beauty of this place.

Other than that we had some very nice people from Agumbe who were helping us with the food and maintaining the place which was located well inside the forest. One of them was Nishanth, who is planning to join the army and is very proud of it. He kept telling me various stories of the town and how he got interested in wildlife and the Indian army. We shared a common habit of running and we discussed how to stay fit naturally.

I am always in awe when I look straight into a forest. I think it is the element of surprise that it entails. What better way to learn and share your experience than having a good team. Here we were getting drenched with experience and nonetheless rain :)

During this visit I saw everything in a wild environment, just the way they are doing their chores just like we humans do. I am grateful that I was surrounded by people who know a lot about them and kept sharing with me during those long forest walks and night trails. I am also elated that some of them I could capture through my camera and now I can learn more about them and share those happy moments with you all. More than this, I learnt a great deal about them, kept reading journals, going through documentaries and I am sure this will help me a great deal in my own personal quest for life.

Met these lovely beings on my way through the forest.

As I was walking through those dense forests I wanted to stay there a little longer and I was reminded of this inspirational quote from John Muir -

“I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.”

Explore and come to a conclusion that we all living beings are taking journeys in our own way and it is incredibly enriching looking around and appreciating that. Life is priceless to each one of us. Embrace the life to the entirety.

During the course of this multipart series I will share some of the stories about these living beings I met during my stay in Agumbe. They are really fascinating. Enjoy your read.