Encounters in the Night

Biting wind, diluted sun, dusk descending with winter’s grip still evident: an all-round bad combination, and two misguided blokes hiking in the high country of India, because hitching proved to be non-existent!

Adrian and I had been walking for hours and were totally exhausted, tramping through dangerous terrain, both of us cold, disgruntled and in desperate need of food and rest. Night’s soft tread was getting louder with no village in sight, not even a distant twinkling light.

Then — salvation! A machan, or lookout platform, ahead. Such relief. Here was our home for the night, pure five-star luxury for two bone-weary travelers.

These machans are makeshift, flimsy structures, built in the middle of tea plantations in the high country. Nothing more than a platform of bamboo and timber planks, thatched roof and straw walls, they are fragile, very basic and accessible by a rickety ladder. But they serve a vital purpose, enabling people to keep an eagle-eye on the surrounding terrain. Here they can be on the lookout for dangerous animals and to warn their fellow workers of any predators lurking.

Well, we had found our chalet and I was ecstatic. Adrian not so much. None-the-less, no more trudging through the undergrowth, worried we were being stalked by marauding beasts. 

I cajoled Adrian into staying the night here. Then, in my usual foolhardy way, I took the rickety steps two at a time and bounded into the entrance, only to stop dead.

There was an ear-shattering roar, followed by a fearsome growl. A snarling creature hurtled past. One giant leap and it was off the platform and gone, followed by a terrified scream and another giant leap off the platform as I hurtled in the opposite direction, shouting, ‘Run! Run!’

To this day, I don’t know who was the more thunderstruck — the leopard or me.