We woke up early for our booked bird watching tour and lunch at a Spice Plantation. Unfortunately, we were victim to false advertising and bird watching was really going to the Bondla Wildlife Sanctuary sanctuary to see the zoo! We made the best of it, thanks to a great guide, and off we went on the one-hour ride.
During the drive we learned a little more about the development of Goa. In the 1970s the area was discovered by American and European hippies who were drawn to the simpler, undeveloped lifestyle complete with beautiful and pristine beaches. When they left in the 1990s, a resident came up with the idea to turn heritage homes into hotels and started advertising in the UK. The rest is history, and Indian tourists are plentiful as this is a major ‘go to’ weekend location.
In this area you will find 400-year-old mosques, modern mosques, and equally old and new Hindu temples.
Previously, there was a lot of mining in Goa due to the red soil which indicates the presence of iron.
We arrived at the Bondla Wildlife Sanctuary and stopped a few times along the road as we heard bird calls, but the guide was quite honest in saying for the bird watching you need to be at the park much earlier. Of course, there is a bird sanctuary ISLAND in Goa, which is yet another reason to visit Goa.
First seen, of course, were some monkeys. The joy with this sighting was seeing a monkey hoarding food in its mouth, a baby grabbing on to his mother, as well as seeing a monkey being groomed. As I was researching for this blog to see what they were grooming, I learned some fascinating information:
- Social bonding – Grooming is an important social behavior in primate species that helps strengthen social bonds and relationships within the group. It serves as a way for monkeys to reinforce their connections with one another.
- Hygiene – Grooming helps remove dirt, debris, and parasites from hard-to-reach areas of the body that the monkey itself cannot easily access. This helps maintain the monkey’s health and hygiene.
- Conflict resolution – Grooming can be a way for monkeys to reconcile after conflicts or disputes. The physical contact and attention involved in grooming helps reduce tension and reaffirm the monkeys’ social ties.
- Hierarchical reinforcement – Grooming can be used by higher-ranking monkeys to assert their dominance over lower-ranking individuals in the group. Receiving grooming is seen as a privilege that reinforces the social hierarchy. (source: https://www.quora.com/Why-do-monkeys-in-the-zoo-spend-so-much-time-preening-the-hair-of-other-monkeys)
At one point, the mother felt we were standing too long and protected her child by fully covering her. Our clue to leave.
The bird songs and nature were very soul-feeding and while we didn’t stay anywhere long, it did help to lessen the sting of no serious bird photography.
There were many butterflies, fluttering around. I was able to catch a few of the active creatures.
Before reaching the zoo we stopped at this dam, created for animals to drink. No big animals spotted, but two dragonflies (one red!) and a zen frog who was clearly meditating. I was worried he was dead but eventually he swam off.
We entered the Bondla Zoo, which isn’t horrible as far as zoos go, but still a zoo. However, Lynn and I were able to enjoy taking some photos. The best moment was seeing a peacock open his tail and strut his stuff.
I was lucky enough to catch this peacock catching insects and eating:
The official animal of Goa, The Gaur, caught during feeding time!
A cute Jungle Cat.
This is a turtle, as it is largely aquatic.
This is a tortoise, as it is largely living on land. I was fascinated to see who deeply they go into the shell for protection. There were two levels. First the tortoise was someone in, then when it was even more frightened, it went even more inside the shell.
Another highlight was seeing a wild Giant Indian Squirrel (also known as a Jain Squirrel) up close. Previously I only saw them from afar and shaded by trees, so I was able to appreciate their coloring.. The guide had never seen one come down from the mountains before, so he was equally excited.
The guide, ever trying to compensate for us missing the bird watching, pointed out birds whenever he saw them. This time we were able to follow this bird as a flew from tree to tree and I was able to capture one decent photo.
As it is monsoon season, tree mushrooms were growing. Fascinating how different they looked from different angles.
Then we were off to the Spice Plantation for lunch. While this is a real plantation of 100 acres, 2 acres are allocated to tours, another 10% is given to the workers to farm as they wish. The remaining 80% we couldn’t see, which is where these organic spices are grown. As I had a spice tour before I wasn’t as fascinated as Lynn, but I still learned a lot and enjoyed our visit.
During lunch, the fried fish was delicious and not spicy. I tried Feni for the first time. As cashews are grown in Goa, this is a hard liquor made from the flower of the cashew. It is quite strong and when plain, drunk like vodka in shots.
The tour began with an old-fashioned feni distillery. To create the necessary condensation, you would constantly pour cold water over the hollow branch tube.
This is Beetle Nut and when it is raw is behaves like pot, making the imbiber sleepy. The nuts are orange when ripe and you peel off the skin. This is what is used to make pan. The leaves are used to make the biodegradable plates we ate lunch on, as well as the bridge we walked on to get to the plantation.
Turmeric, like ginger and garlic, is a root vegetable. To make the powder you bake the seeds.
Pineapple plants can be male and female, and while there is a difference in the taste, you can tell the different plants but their leaves. The spiky leaf is from the female pineapple plant.
This is a Cashew tree, and they do not usually grow this large. Raw cashew fruit can be eaten but not the nut, it must be roasted. Feni is made from the fruit
The tour ended with a traditional pour of spring water infused with lavender.
Originally, Old Goa was the capital and as a result many churches and basilicas were built here, with the city being known as the Vatican of the East. The capital moved to Panjim when the plagues hit (more on that later). Since north of here was still ruled by the Moghul empire, the Portuguese imported crocodiles to protect the river border, which acted as a moat. Crocodiles still live in the Panastri River but currently they are mating and laying eggs so are in hiding, thus there was no point in stopping and trying to find an animal living in the wild. Factoid: The official dialect of Goa is Konkani and because of the Portuguese influence, it is written in both Latin and Hindi-style letters.
Since the guide was trying to make us happy, we stopped in Old Goa on the way back to look at the Basilica of Bom Jesus.
Construction on the basilica started in 1594 and it was consecrated in 1604. It is very European in style, and quite beautiful. While you can’t take photos in the main sections, here you can see some of the side rooms and entryways, which will give you an idea of the style. What I was not able to photograph were the beautiful wood carvings on the pulpit and around side altars.
The façade has three column styles, takes on Ionic, Doric and Corinthian. One of the factoids I remember from my Art History 101 class my freshman year in college!
This basilica houses the remains of Saint Francis of Xavier, a major priest involved in missionary work in India and Japan. Photos were not allowed in the main vestibule, but I snuck one (of course) and took more photos in the rooms where they are allowed. While he died in China, he asked to be buried in India and his remains were brought here. His body did not decompose (one of the reasons he is a saint) and every 10 years (November-ish 2024 is next!) his body is removed from the crypt and venerated.
This is a life-size statue of Saint Francis of Xavier, he was quite short.
Upon leaving I learned this Acacia tree is 300 years old. There are now only two of them as the third one recently fell down.
We didn’t have time to visit the other churches across the road. During our tour on Monday we learned that before the churches were painted white, they were covered with colorful frescoes and restoration work has started to uncover this beauty. A THIRD reason to return to Goa!
The ride back to Panjim allowed us to see these columns welcoming us to the city, painted by (or in the style of) a famous cartoonist who lived in the area, Mario Miranda.
It also allowed me to take another animal photo, this huge fly who was in the car!
After resting for a bit in the hotel, we headed out in search of a typical Goan dinner. We were sent straight to Antonios, a happening place with great ambiance, but unfortunately only spicy food.
So instead, we headed to the other side of town where Lynn read about a bar called For The Record (a vinyl bar), which was near the restaurant we decided to eat at – Aangan, which had advertisements all over the Latin Quarter and had good ratings. It was a long but lovely walk, passing some interesting buildings, several temples, including one modern one set in the hillside. By the time we reached the restaurant ( of course there was a lengthy stop for drinks in the bar) it was dark and the moon was out.
The bar was amazing. By this time, with all the sitting in the car my frayed tendon was killing me so being in a bar the only course of action was to forgo the diet and drink! The drinks were very interesting and the ambiance awesome. Although you could go to the side room and choose what album you want to hear, Louis Armstrong was playing when we arrived and that was perfect.
Lynn’s first drink was a Red Hiding Hood: Feni, lemongrass, pomegranate, and sweet vermouth. Mine was a Feni Colada: Feni, Hung curd, pineapple, roasted coconut, cashew sponge cake. Lynn’s second drink was the best Old Fashioned she ever had: bourbon, rice washed house bitters, burnt caramel, coriander seeds. For my second drink I wanted a Silver tip: vodka, pineapple, white tea and smoked lime but there were out of the tea-infused vodka so I ended up with a Hydroball: gin, distilled jasmine/plumeria flowers, lemongrass and Fusion X liqueur.
Dinner did not disappoint. Housed in a heritage house, the décor was stunning, matching the food and service. The name of the restaurant is the word for an Indian courtyard in the middle of a house, where a lot of life happens as quoted in the menu, “many daily activities take place in the aangan. From drying pickles to teaching children, to scribbling the alphabet, to organizing a wedding or a pooja or other cultural events. The aangan projects the Indian ethos in its totality.” The menu goes on to invite us to enjoy authentic Goan Saraswat cuisine with contemporary Portuguese touch.
The drinks were equally interesting. I had a Sunset Mog: Kaju feni, mango juice, mango pulp, fresh litchi, lemon juice and golden hearts. Our appetizer was butter chicken lapta kabob (a roulade with authentic makhni sauce). We both ordered fish. Dessert was a splurge of Salame de chocolate: chocolate and Marie cookie salami with walnut disc and vanilla bean ice cream along with Caramelized Pain Perdu (French toast): condensed milk French toast in crispy caramel cashew chikki and carmalized condensed milk ice cream and rhubarb confit.
While waiting for the taxi to take us back to the hotel we got a tour of the different rooms and met the owner. An amazing end to a long but fun day.
