Yettina Hole Study Trip in Pictures

The Camp site- a theatre that holds one or two festivals a year is constructed on an altar and gives a wonderful view of the Western Ghats all through the day. 

The Gypsy and his caravan;  early birds do the most waiting.

The Best activity the children enjoyed was putting up their own tents

The boys did not find it hard to get along with the make shift arrangements

Getting on with the makeshift class room, cum studio ...

Typical Lunch time; 

Visiting a Land Loosers house was very touchy. He was in grief to part with the standing coffee, areca and pepper that stands in the back drop of his two room house. 

Visiting a Land Losers house was very touchy. He was in grief to part with the standing coffee, areca and pepper that stands in the back drop of his two room house. 

The tanks that supplied water to Raxidi village placed upon a hillock were not considered a daily essential when water was being discussed with the local community. Incidentally, in spite of the rains the camp site was depending on this water for every use and there was  problem due to power cut.

A water tank used to to store water during the curing season of Coffee. Such tanks were common on the bigger estates such as Poornima and Raxidi. 

A 25HP  diesel motor in possession with an estate right on the banks of one of the streams that is proposed to be taped. The estate needs water for coffee curing. We cant depend on the govt supply says the owner of Purnima Estate.

It was a breath taking experience to see hundreds of gigantic pipes laying all around the forests....waiting for a chance to get aligned towards the Eastern plains, up the Western Ghats. An estimated length of 800 kms and more of these pipes are to be put up to carry water from this "Water rich area" to drier districts of Karnataka.

Some biodiversity recorded by the students.

What ever the intention, children had a chance to be close the many creatures they wouldn't have made  an eye contact with. Here a friendly calotis jumps upon the mobile phone they tried to photograph with.

A beautiful fern amidst a gamut of ground cover in a Coffee estate

A colourful Millipede coils like a chakli the moment it is disturbed. This endemic species is harm less and lives on leaf litter making inroads across the topsoil and increasing the porosity of the soil.

This is another species of millipede called the Wood louse. This too has the tendency to curl up into a metallic ball at any instance of disturbance. Its hard shell and jointed legs have brought in another name in the western folk a Armadillo beetle.