Kala and his Jungle

We started at a curry house on the side of the road.

A man named Dinesh introduces himself to my family leads us behind the building, down to a river. Distracted by a group of monkeys, who appear to be having some kind of block party, we follow on.

Next thing you know, we're on a boat.

Cramped onto the small canoe, we were taken to a massive jungle across the river.

There's a vague pathway that leads us through the jungle as Dinesh assures us that the snakes in this area aren't deadly. We arrive at a hut in the midst of the jungle as the heat begins to take its toll. Beside the dwelling is a few banana trees and a treehouse. Here, we were introduced to Kala, the Jungle Man. He's barebodied in a sarong, smoking what appears to be some of the local produce. We're told that this is not the man's real name - and that nobody knows too much about him.

Kala lives here, with his dogs. Though he doesn't speak, he welcomes us with a smile and invites us to come over. Noticing our fascination with the sturdy looking treehouse - Kala gestures for us to go up and check it out. We climb up and into the hut, there is just enough space for my two brothers, myself, and maybe another to kneel inside. The ground is covered with a mattress and there are a couple books and blankets in the corner of the room.

Dinesh tells us that Kala needs to sleep at a height, due to the danger of elephants. For the same reason - the treehouse acts as a lookout - providing some incredible views.

We're gifted a bunch of bananas, as we farewell Kala and move further through the jungle.

Next, we find a man chopping and carving king coconuts - a fruit known locally as thambili. We're each given a one, carved into bowl. Back home the coconut water phenomenon is just beginning to spread among athletes and fitness freaks, and here I am in the middle of the jungle drinking it straight out the coconut the way its been done for hundreds of years.

It's sweet, refreshing and filling - and was the perfect energy boost for what was to come.

Around the corner we meet two more men, who each have in hand a very large bull. We're encouraged to hop onto a bullock cart, and the bulls begin to take us out of the jungle and into a village. Here, we hop off and are taken yet another boat, which we use to get back to where we began - the curry house on the side of the road.

I don't know how I ended up there, but I'm glad I was able to taste just a little more of the local culture than I expected.