Historic, Happy, Hampi

Following the suggestion from a number of our friends, our final stop in Goa was the stunning Palolem beach, in the south of the Province. Online searching revealed no shortage of beachfront cottages and small huts to choose from. Upon arrival you immediately see how the small village has capitalised on the tourism interest, as the different little resorts seem to merge seamlessly with one another into one large holiday town. Finding your accommodation becomes more an act of intuition than logic. Fortunately, within a couple of hours and one or two walks to the beach we began to recognise our specific set of sandy paths. Upon arriving on our first evening we headed across the small river in the northern corner of the bay, and set ourselves up to take in a magnificent sunset. As it turned out, this stunning bay offered just such a beautiful sunset every evening, from a very well located beach bar. After the early starts and late nights of biodiversity exploration, followed by the usual harrowing overland trip (where your driver uses his judgement to determine which blind corners are fine to overtake on), we headed to bed rather early and slept fitfully to the sounds of the ocean.

At this stage, we had become weary of booking too much accommodation in advance, due to the images of the lodge not always matching up to reality. However, as we really liked the spot we had found, we asked to extend our stay, not realising that the Indian holiday season was still in swing. Thus we found ourselves with all our gear on, navigating the tiny by-ways of the village in search of a new spot. We didn’t take long to literally stumble into another great spot, complete with a small porch with a hammock and some chairs, where we could “hide” from the onslaught that is India, just for a moment. Whilst it is an incredible country to visit, the sheer scale and diversity of India is an assault on the senses. We found these brief periods of recharge essential during our weeks of travelling around the country.

Our days in Palolem generally comprised of relaxing, reading and chilling, on the beach taking in the scenery, or in front of our beach hut. We did have one active day as Dale hired a kayak to paddle up the nearby river and into the mangrove system. It took some negotiation to ensure that the proprietor of the kayak would indeed be on the beach at 5 am the next morning to meet me, obviously needing to synchronise my trip to the lives of the birds. I was pleased to find him there, and jumped into the large double kayak and navigated the waves, before setting a course towards the river mouth and estuary. The early bird was indeed rewarded, with, well more birds actually. My primary target was the Black-capped Kingfisher – a narrowly distributed mangrove specialist in India – and I was lucky to chance upon one fishing just after entering the mangrove. It was accompanied by views of the incredible Stork-billed Kingfisher, White-throated Kingfisher and Common Kingfisher, to make it four from that awesome group of birds. Whilst the breeding pair of White-bellied Sea-eagles kept me entertained from the forested slopes above.

Drifting silently, alone amongst the mangrove trees, as the sun rose and the Brahminy kites began filling the skies is the kind of “off the beaten track” experience which I always yearn for, and am fortunate to find. Of course Esti is not one to sit out an adventure, and so I paddled back to the river mouth to meet her at 7am as we had arranged the night before (as you know by now she will only swap birds for sleep when absolutely necessary). This was followed by a fun paddle around the small offshore Canacona island. Although we were told it was exceptionally dangerous to paddle around the island it definitely did not seem too bad, with hardly a swell in sight, as we navigated it comfortably and ably surfed the waves back to shore. As we sat that afternoon watching a group of men unable to launch their own kayaks through the tiny waves we realised that perhaps the dangers of these waters were more real for some than others.

But all good things must come to an end, and so after a few days of lounging like lizards in the sun, we booked our overnight bus to Hampi. As we had the entire day to kill, we decided to hire a scooter and take a short ride to check out the nearby Agonda beach. The drive itself was spectacular, and I had fortunately chosen a rather quiet road to test out my scooter skills in India. Agonda beach was well worth the trip and after some time soaking up the sun we walked its length, enjoying the much quieter and emptier space than its cousin Palolem. Adequately prepped for our night bus (or so we thought) we headed off to the station.

The bus was fortunately on time, but we soon realised that the “sleeper cabin” which looked like a single, was in fact required to fit the both of us, along with some of our luggage. Not even our contortionist yogis could have prepared us for that night, as we tried to get comfortable, and battled the space, endless rocking and loud driver conversations. Thus we arrived at the village of Hampi at 7 am rather dazed and confused, but at least with a plan in mind to get to our accommodation. We opted for a small backpackers known as “Tutti Hampi” across the river and after arriving were fortunately upgraded to a wooden cabin. Given our limited time and not wanting to miss out, we skipped catching up on sleep and hired a scooter to begin our exploration of Hampi.

This is another town which regularly pops up on the tourist’s radar in India, attracting people from all over the country, and for very good reason. It includes a number of ancient Hindu civilisation ruins set amid a backdrop of over-sized red boulders tumbling down the surrounding hills. Our first stop was the active Lakshmi temple, where we were very casually ushered inside the temple and before we knew it had received a blessing from one of the Hindu priests living there, without any request for a “donation”. Such spontaneous happenings can be hard to come by on the well tramped tourist routes and we felt especially appreciative of this interaction after getting to know the Hindu religion during our Yoga course. After visiting another temple, we opted for Lake Sanapur and a refreshing dip to ease the heat. Wrapping up our day early after not sleeping the night before.

Obviously a short morning birding stint was in order the next day, during which I was thrilled to find two species which are special to this area, the Painted Spurfowl, and Yellow-throated Bulbul – which was one of the most localised endemics I saw during our entire sabbatical – occurring only in a very small range in India. I had been told the birding in Hampi was good, and it definitely did not disappoint, as I clocked up a comfortable 50 species during our couple of days, with a few new “lifers” to add to the list. I shared my finding of a juvenile Drongo Cuckoo with my Indian friend Parag, who, after passing it on to a local birder for confirmation, let me know it was a new addition to the area’s list. But, surprised as you may be, we had not come for the birds, and after breakfast headed back across the river to explore the major portion of the ruins at Hampi. We negotiated a rickshaw driver for the morning, who took us around the sites, including visits to the Sacred centre and Royal centre, where we marvelled at the scale of these ancient royal palaces and their grounds.

The group of monuments at Hampi is a World Heritage Site. The site itself was the capital centre of the expansive Vijayanagar empire, which rose to its pinnacle by the 14th century. According to various historians and travellers Vijayanagar was indeed a massive, prosperous city, with royal palaces and temples surrounded by extensive farms and trading markets. It is estimated that by 1500 CE it was the second largest medieval city, following Beijing in size. Sadly, after it was conquered by a coalition of Muslim sultanates, the capital was subsequently pillaged and destroyed in around 1565. India has a history so complex it is unlikely you can get your head around it, but I did try. Numerous, significant empires have risen and fallen through its ages, across different parts of the region, empires both of local origin and foreigners arriving from nearby lands. Its final coalescence as the single nation state we know today is a remarkable feat given the region’s diversity and convoluted history.

Our third and last day in Hampi saw us taking a casual stroll along the water canal, before climbing up a never-ending staircase to take in the views from atop Anjenya hill and the Hannuman temple. As luck or fate would have it, we then bumped into our German friend Arnd, who had met his brother in Hampi for some rock-climbing – for which the area is also world famous. That evening we enjoyed a quiet dinner with them, before embarking on yet another not-so-quiet night bus. We travelled inland for almost a full 24 hours, before finally arriving at the cooler highlands of the central state of Madhya Pradesh, home to the famous tiger forests of India.