Bird Sanctuary

On Sunday we had decided we were going to set off at lunchtime and head over to the Bird Sanctuary as my dad wanted to take photos of the birds (his favourite pastime). We set off at 1.30 p.m. and followed the map down past Mallamapuram. We drove and drove down the East Coast Road and after a couple of hours driving, stopped for petrol to find out where on earth we were. The guys in the petrol station told us we had gone too far and the Bird Sanctuary was about 30 kms back the way we had come. So, we turned around and drove back the way we came. We stopped and asked someone else who hadn’t a clue what we were talking about so we kept driving until we came to a little village. We stopped to ask some guys who were sitting under a shade listening to some music. When my dad opened the door, the smell that wafted in was definitely not cigarettes. The guys were high on whatever it was they were smoking so I told my dad to get back into the car and we’d ask someone else. We finally found someone who seemed to know the place we were talking about and he told us to keep driving until we came to a crossroads then we should turn left and head down that road. So, that’s what we did. We ended up driving through this tiny village and out the other side. We spent the next 40 minutes driving down the road pictured below. Penri was dodging potholes and buses (which kept coming towards us) as well as crazy people walking down the middle of the road.

The most hilarious thing was when we stopped to ask someone who was walking down the road for directions. He obviously spoke no English so Dave tried to explain where we were going by bending his arms and flapping like a bird …. Well, you should have seen this guys face! His jaw dropped open and he just stared at the four of us as we cracked up laughing and drove off.

At this point my dad kept saying ‘we should turn back’ – there was no way we were going to give up after we’d come so far (even if no-one knew where we were going). We finally found someone at a petrol station who knew the way exactly. He directed us right to the town where the sanctuary is. When we got there it was 5.30 p.m. and we had been driving for four hours! The sun was just about to set so we thought we’d check out the bird sanctuary anyway. My dad took a couple of photos although we didn’t have much time before it was too dark.

The idea was that we would find a place to stay near the Bird Sanctuary so that we could get there first thing the next morning (before sunrise) so my dad could take photos. We checked out the only hotel nearby and it was a dump! We drove into the entrance, took one look at the building and decided it was worth heading back to Chennai. Once we left the sanctuary we came out on a massive dual carriageway! A road, funnily enough, that leads straight back to Chennai – the map we were reading was completely wrong! So, coming home wasn’t half as bad as going as it was motorway all the way. We were all tired and starving so we stopped at Cedar’s (a Lebanese restaurant) for dinner on the way home! When we got back to the house we all crashed out. It had been such a long day.