Spotted this place whilst I was shaking dung hands with Adib.

Left the rather posh Green Gates Hotel in Kolpetta and chanced our luck here: no booking or prior knowledge of what it was or whether it was open!

Turns out it was a lovely oasis of calm and quiet, comfy, clean; people so friendly and humble.

At night sounds of the birds in the trees surrounding the paddy fields, clear night sky filled with stars as far as the eyes can see.

Muthanga Park at 6.30am next wildlife tour: about 5 mins from our hotel stay.

Our jeep tour of Muthanga Park; beautifully plumed birds, wild elephants (three tame elephants strategically chained to spots near the entrance to liven us up a bit I guess), tiger footprints, peacocks and woodpeckers. Oh and Chital deer, Samba deer and the lovely Malabar squirrel…

Hanging out with Mr Sulaiman again today. On our way to the paddy fields in Muthanga, about 10 mins out from Sultan Batheri to meet his friend Adib (sic) who lived in a forest hut on the edge of the wild park.

As we rolled up Adib was smearing cow dung over bamboo sheets; you spread green pepper corns over the sheet and the dung absorbs the moisture, drying the seeds out. I shook his hand politely of course.

As Mr Sulaiman regaled us with his elephant stories he stepped across a mini bridge made of two old tree logs: the bridge straddled an eight foot deep ditch that went round the perimeter of the forest to prevent errant elephants from wandering into the villages (apparently one had killed a local lady).

The right log gave way and he plunged head first into the ditch. He was so winded that he got up (thank god) and wandered up and down the ditch wheezing and panicking. We couldn’t go down and he couldn’t come up until we alerted Adib who bought a bamboo ladder out to fish him out.

Poor chap. We felt sooooo bad for him; we even escorted him to the hospital for an XRay during which time he was still insisting that we stay. We were so gutted for him.