Last weekend, we headed to Amboli.
Amboli is a hill station in south Maharashtra, India. At an altitude of
690 m it is the last hill station before the coastal highlands of Goa and a
relatively unexplored one. Amboli lies in the Sahayadri Hills of Western India,
one of the world's "Eco Hot-Spots" and it therefore abounds in a
variety of fairly unique flora and fauna. The hills of Amboli village provide
one of the sources of the Krishna River (The Ganges of south India).
The weather was beautiful, with misty mornings and blossoming flowers
all over the place. The rain was pleasant as well, with regular intervals of
drizzling. Lots of birds like Rufus Babblers were active in the morning, in the
resort.
We explored variety of landscapes - rainforest, plateau, road side,
Ghats, etc., during the visit.
Deep inside the rainforest with different forms of life under the foot on
the forest floor, canopy as roof covering everything, very less sunlight
penetrating through, a stream flowing silently nearby and the feel was divine.
The forest floor was spectacular with different colors of leaf litter.
The trees were all covered with moss, and looked differently than the
trees we see usually. Moss is one of the Earths earliest land plants. It is part
of the bryophyte family. Moss is a non-vascular plant (has no eternal system to
transport water). Moss grows by spreading out. Moss is important to the
ecosystem, as it produces more oxygen.
We also explored the plateau nearby, which had various shapes and sizes
of flowers everywhere. Plateaus can be formed by a number of processes,
including upwelling of volcanic magma, extrusion of lava, and erosion by water
and glaciers. Magma rises from the mantle causing the ground to swell upward,
in this way large, flat areas of rock are uplifted. Plateaus can also be built
up by lava spreading outward from cracks and weak areas in the crust.
Also, we explored the amazing view of the Ghats, with mist everywhere, colorful
trees, and clouds passing by.
There were plenty of orchids we saw during the forest walk, and for the
first time, I noticed the ground orchids. They were small, but very beautiful.
There were carnivorous plants grown on the tree trunks which feed on
small insects and larvae crawl on the trees.
Wide variety of fungi was witnessed everywhere in the place.
Many life forms – small and large, all perfectly accustomed to the
habitat.
There were ants on the plants, feeding on plant sap as well as protecting them. There were snails slowly moving and feeding. There were spiders waiting for the prey to get closer to their trap. A huge Emperor’s Moth was found in a night walk. The highlight was to witness the Tiger Centipede, which could grow near to 1 foot, venomous and their bites are fatal to humans. These veracious predators are amazing to watch. There was a fishing spider which floats on the water surface, waits for a fish or tadpole to catch. A cricket was moulting, which is a process of removing old exoskeleton with a fresh one. A huge long horned beetle was watching us in a night trail. I was told it can deliver a painful bite. The mandibles were looking scary too.
Crustaceans – There were many crabs. The purple tree crab was plenty in
number. We saw them feeding on moss grown over the trees. Also the spectacular
red crab with yellow legs was the highlight. It looked like somebody did a
tattoo work on its legs. We were even saying, Rig vedha was written on the legs.
Many transparent crabs were found on the rocks of the ghats, feeding near the
small water falls formed. The crabs were beautiful, and when we go closer, they
protect them by covering their face with their chelae/claws.
Amphibians – many frogs were there in and around the place. We saw
Bombay bush frog, common Indian toad, Amboli toad|Tiger toad, Fejarvarya sp.,
Cricket frogs and many tadpoles of Malabar Gliding frogs. In the stream, there
were eggs laid by wrinkled frogs everywhere on the leaves, stem, rocks and
stones. We decided to visit the place in the night. In the night, by the time
we were nearing the stream, we heard loud bird calls. It was the call made by
wrinkled frogs. They were everywhere. We found a male frog fertilizing the
eggs. This frog looked different, than the usual frogs we see in cities. They
had diamond shaped pupils, bird like calls, round shaped body and wrinkled
skin.
There were almost 15 Prashad’s Geckos around the walls of our rooms.
Also there were Day Geckos on trees and Brook’s House Gecko on the plateau.
On the night trail, a bamboo pit viper was found on a small shrub. It
was in a curved position, ready to catch any prey like frog or lizard passing
by. Also, the Malabar pit viper, was lying low on a tree root, for trying its
luck. These snakes are classified as pit vipers. They are nocturnal, which
means they are active and hunt prey in the night. They lie motionless at a
comfortable place waiting for the prey to pass by. When a prey passes by, they
catch them by striking. They are venomous, but no human fatalities are recorded
so far. A bite to humans can cause local allergies. They have heat-sensing pits
between the eyes and the nostrils using which they can sense the heat of their
surroundings. These snakes use this as a tool to identify the prey and danger
around them.
In the plateau, there was a huge pied belly shieldtail, feeding on a
huge earth worm and finished in seconds, sucked it all just like a noodles. On
an evening trail, a large scaled shieldtail was found feeding on an earth worm.
Shieldtails are burrowing snakes, which have a distinct sliced like tail. They
burrow under the ground and hide their burrow using their sliced tail, which
acts as a shield.
There was a Striped Coral snake, which is a venomous snake found near
the resort. These snakes feed on other small snakes and amphibians.
While walking inside the rainforest, a Beddome’s Keelback just
slithered into a stone hide. These are non-venomous snakes. They display colors
in their skin when threatened.
Also, in the night trail, there 3-4 common vine snakes were found
sleeping just at the edge of the branches, which was assumed as the safest
place to roost.
Though the forest was lively, with lots of various life forms, with good weather, there was lots of plastic litter everywhere on the road sides. These pollute the streams flowing in the forest which intern will pollute the rivers which we are dependent for drinking water. Also, we witnessed a beautiful Tiger Centipede killed by some fast driven vehicle on the road. It is hard to avoid animals getting killed by fast moving vehicles in the road.
Tourism should support the nature, and both tourists and the Govt. are responsible to avoid pollution in any form – land, water, air and noise, at places like Amboli which are important for the ecosystem.
