The Sirocco Plateau in North Goa is a vast, ancient laterite table-land surrounded by forests and is a wildlife hotspot featuring over 235 species of birds, a vast array of insects (especially during the monsoon) and even heavyweights such as leopards and guar in the surrounding forests.

During the monsoon it turns emerald, rich in flora and during the dry season, into a vast golden grassland, crisscrossed with low black laterite walls. The sky is huge and this morning, a pale milky blue in places, strung with transmission lines. The drive up to this place is through a narrow steep road cut through canyon-like forest dark and brooding.

It is a wonderful place for birding and dog-walking and there are already a few cars scattered about that morning, with the odd birder and photographer tr

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