One morning on the first week of my stay I was up early again and decide to hike up the hill on the west side of the valley. I was told there was an old rock quarry up there and I thought I’d have a look. Plus you know, birds. It was all going so well until I got to the end of the trail, and then things got complicated…
One of the views from the top, back out across the city.
The walk into the start of the hike was a bit longer and more difficult to find then the one on the other side, but once I did find it, the path was clear and obvious. It started climbing fairly steeply, leading up to the ridge/plateau that ran through this part of the city.
The trail up. Once the leaves come out on the tress, it will be a real jungle and will be beautiful. For me at this time of the year it was pretty dry and barren looking.
Looking back on my hotel from halfway up the climb.
Once up to the top, the quarry was pretty easy to find. As it is the dry season, the water levels were quite low and everything was looking a little brown and dry. I was a little surprised t see a few kids swimming in the little waterhole; I’m not sure I would have gone in the water. Much like the park on the other side, it;s a pretty nice (soon to be) green space to walk and enjoy the quiet away from the city noises. Despite being early, it was fairly busy with people running and doing exercise, a few dog walkers and people out with their kids.
There wer enot a lot of birds in the wetlands, but there were a small flock of ducks. These are INdian Spot-billed Ducks. Pretty easy to see where the name came from.
Of course, I was hoping for some new birds to see. There were not a lot, but there were some. With the trees being so open still, it wasn’t really drawing them in. On the hike up, I did see a peacock. It seems odd, as they are common enough in North America, having been imported for parks and zoos and the like. But this is where they are supposed to be. This one was a female and was sitting up in a tree, blocked by all the little branches and so I couldn’t get a shot. But the other people there, the locals, were still pretty excited about it being there. It drew quite a crowd,which I didn’t expect.
One of the parakeets flying by. Damn things still won’t sit still.
I really like these Red-vented BulBuls. Especially their call.
Once past the quarry, I continued along the trail. There were some good views out over a different part of the city that we never really saw. It was still quite hazy, so the views were not as nice as they could have been. At the top of the plateau it really opened up, becoming much more open grassland than trees.
Looking at the trail map, it looked like the trail worked its way northeast, slightly curving back towards the main road that the hotel is on. It looked like the trail ended at the back of the temple that I could see from the main road, which should have been perfect - I could then scoot out onto the ain road, making my trip back to the hotel fairly short.
Well that was the theory anyway. The trail did work it’s way across the plateau and towards the temple. That part of the plateau was quite a steep cliff face back down to the valley bottom. There was no easy way to work your way down, as it was far too steep. And unfortunately the trail, while it led to the temple, was cut off but a locked steel gate. Damn.
Well that was a problem. I had given myself enough time for about 1 1/2 hours of wandering, and I was already about an hour in. It had been a slow meander, but going all the way back really didn’t seem like a good option. Plus now, of, course, I was seeing new birds. Like the bee-eater above. Also, the kites were everywhere! Teasing me with close fly-bys that I was never fast enough to catch. Until one landed…
I worked my way along the cliff, looking for a way down. At one point I found one, with a proper path and some steps built into the cliff. They led me down into the backyard of a small apartment building (it had a very nice garden with a banana a tree!) but still no way out!
I had t work my way back up the cliff and eventually found a couple of locals who looked like they knew what they were doing. I explained my situation, and they were surprised the temple gate was locked too! After some consultation with some other locals, it seems that the temple gate has now been locked for some time and my only way out was back the way I came. Damn. I was going to be late for work…
It was a decent hke back - ended up being 10 km in total for my morning walk. A little more than planned. I did a combo of walking and running coming back and didn’t really stop to take many photos in an attempt to make it to the office roughly on time. It worked out for the most part.
My morning hike up to the quarry was going really well until I hit the locked gate… The “arrow” at the top is where I spent my time scrambling along the cliff trying to find a way out.
