Gaur-anteed Wild Night

Posted by Earthly Notes

Two weeks ago, I was in Coonoor, a beautiful hill station in Tamil Nadu visiting my friends. In Coonoor, wildlife doesn’t just surround you; it coexists right outside your window.

Image: My friend’s house sat tucked away on the edge of some forest patches and vast tea estates, the kind of place where nature doesn’t knock before entering. The family dog had to be kept inside many times in absence of humans for leopard attacks on dogs was not uncommon in the region.

That night, being a light sleeper in new places, I went to bed with one ear slightly awake.

Around 4am, I was jolted by a loud thud. Half-asleep, I assumed the dog had sneaked into the room and curled up under my bed. I looked around for 10 seconds and then was about to lie down… But then came a deep, low rumble — unlike anything I’d heard. The sound was heavy, slow, and eerily close.

Image: Curious and slightly alarmed, I crept to the window (I was on the ground floor). A pale wash of moonlight mixed with distant streetlights lit the garden outside faintly. I parted the curtain and put my face near the glass — just a foot away — and that’s when I saw it: a massive shadow lumbering past the window. It moved with a quiet power, brushing the wall as it walked.
(AI generated image)

My first thought? An Elephant calf! But it wasn’t quite right… it was too big for a calf, yet too small for a full-grown elephant.

I caught glimpses of it through the other two windows in the room as it walked along the narrow path around the house. Oddly, I felt safe within the solid concrete walls, and eventually drifted back to sleep.

Image: At dawn, I stepped outside. Mud trails marked where the creature had jumped over the elevated fence… that was the loud sound I’d heard. Then I saw it! Our night visitor was a Gaur! Two of them, in fact. Why did I not think Gaur?! It was so obvious! The Gaurs were seen till almost 9am; they had spent three more hours lounging on the porch, chewing through the garden grass and my friend’s kitchen garden!

This was just a brief brush with wildlife in close quarters — and it was just a Gaur. For many living in forest-fringe areas across India, such encounters are part of daily life — sometimes involving tigers, leopards, or sloth bears. It’s not an easy life, and the encounters are never entirely predictable. Yet, large populations across the country continue to display remarkable tolerance — a quiet, resilient coexistence with the wild.

It takes a different temperament to live like that: to make peace with animals that don’t recognise boundaries the way humans do. Kudos and deep respect to everyone who embodies this way of life. There’s so much to learn from you.

Video: Here is a video of the Gaur spotted outside the window later in the morning. Click on the red play button to view the video.

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My name is Adithi Muralidhar. I am a nature enthusiast based in Mumbai, India.

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