A Malabar whistling thrush calls enticingly as I set foot on One Mile Corridor, a relatively untrodden path leading from the streamside field station into the heart of the dense evergreen forest of Kalakad-Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve in Tamil Nadu. It has been five years since I heard its haunting tune. The forest rustles gently, and my boots squelch on the damp soil. The winding trail is peppered with leaf litter. I steady myself on sturdy tree trunks, swinging like the overgrown land ape I am, and letting my feet find the firmest ground. The cacophonous sounds of my classmates fade behind me as I ascend the slope, the gurgling of the Manimuthar River taking over my senses. The thrush sings again, a few echoing, ghostly notes, and I hear the call of a lion-tailed macaque, one of five primates found in these forests. It’s a shy creature, preferring to live deep in the wet, evergreen forest, far from human interaction. I crane my neck, searching desperately for this furry black primate, but it evades me.