Mir and Mar in India, Day 5

Phew, that was quite the climb!  We are brought to the Edekar caves, which reach over 4000 metres above sea level at their highest point. Thankfully we only go half way, as the humidity has us sweating moments after leaving the air conditioned bus.

Edekar means ‘mountain split in two’ in the local Malayalam language, and these hills are so called because the caves were created 40,000 years ago when the huge boulder that constituted most of the mountain split. From 4000 BC to around 700 AD these caves were home to various tribes who found shelter here from the rain and safety from the wild animals. Having staggered and struggled our way up the mountain, slipping on moss, regularly pausing to catch our breath, we enter the vast dome of the third and final cave, and experience an all enveloping sense of calm. The cave is warm and dry, and totally devoid of the incessant noise of the cicadas which followed us all the way up. It makes sense such that this place provided shelter to people for so many centuries.

Each generation of dwellers have left their mark, with carvings on the walls telling us about their customs and practices, as well as the changing nature of their tools. With an expert eye, our guide Sabu, points out which drawings were made with blunt stone instruments and which later etchings used a finer metal blade.

Apparently it was a British police officer, stationed nearby in the early 20th century, who first took an interest in the cave drawings. He brought in experts from the area to help interpret them and when in 1921 he published an article about them, visitors began to flock to the area.

We come across dozens of monkeys and today’s guide, Sabu, (of Wayanard Nature Tourism) points out all kinds of birds and plants.

Eight weeks ago, a mudslide devastated a village 50 kilometres north of here, killing over 400 people with a further 200 missing. The publicity about the disaster has decimated tourism in the area and so, what would normally be a busy, buzzing destination is deserted, our group being the only one here.