Thekkady trip - Periyar Tiger Reserve

My friend Karthick shared this link to me a month before, kindling my interests in joining him for a trip to this place...

http://www.periyartigerreserve.org/html/tigertrail.htm

After so much speculation upon who all were to join for the trip, me, Karthick and his cousin Sriram finally decided a day before that we 3 are going to make the trip afterall, whatever happens, even if there is going to be a heavy downpour - quite typical in Kerala during this month. So, I started from Trivandrum on friday night (16th July 2010), went to Kumily via Kottayam and reached there by 5 AM, whereas my friends reached there precisely at the same time from Coimbatore. We stayed temporarily at a lodge for the next 3 hours and then reached Periyar Tiger reserve at 9 AM amidst heavy rains. But, that was none of our concerns, because nature is always at its best when it is raining! So much of freshness embedded in the trees and plants around us just because of rain, we just loved the way it all started. After finishing all formalities, including payment, collecting leech protective socks, raincoats, etc., we were accompanied by 2 gunmen and 2 forest guards. Thus started our day long trekking into the forest!

The people who accompanied us deserve a special mention, because these are poachers who turned protectors of the forest. We heard from their own mouth, how they had been hunting wild animals, cutting sandalwood, rosewood etc and hijacking them for their own profit many years before, and how they were identified by the forest department for such a job. It is quite obvious that these people were best suited for accompanying tourists like us, because they know all intricate routes in the forest and knew the way to come out of any hazardous situation inside these forests. Man, these were really dense forests, I should say!!!

Thus we started our trekking, and within an hour of walk, we reached our camping spot, an island of sorts, with water around 3 sides of it. We found some tribals living in the other bank who make a living out of the fishes they catch here and the honey they grab from the forest trees.

--- Our dwelling ---

After a mini-breakfast cum lunch there with some delicious food cooked by our guides, we started our trekking for the day at around 2.30 pm… The rain kept pouring down in torrents, but we weren’t to be stopped on our pursuit of watching the animals and so, we kept going deeper and deeper – through the leech-filled paths into the jungle (Good that we had leech-protective socks with us). They also use the nasal snuff powder to get rid of the leeches – it seems the leeches are allergic to these ;-). Anyways, we trekked till the end of day and around 6.30, we reached back to our tent. By this time, we had seen a big group of wild bison - they look so cute actually, with white horns, white mouth along with legs as if they had worn a pair of white socks!!

We also saw groups of Sambar deer – a common sighting in most Asian forests. Also, we had seen forest dogs – the guides say that each dog has the capability to catch a wild pig / sambar deer alone! We were also taken to that spot where the boat disaster had happened last year.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Thekkady_boat_disaster).

The sad part of the day was we weren’t able to witness an Elephant in full swing, though we saw a couple of them at a very long distance. We didn’t expect too much also, considering that it was raining heavily – a time when animals seldom come out of their homes – even to drink water. The night dinner was great – with my non-veggie friends tasting fish-fry. (Fish – courtesy the tribals living just opposite to our camp) and me tasting a typical Kerala meals with Sambar, Aviyal and vegetables. Never expected such a delicious dinner in the middle of the forest that night!! A nice sleep awaited us – in this cute little tent set up for us!!

--- Our Tent ---

The next morning – we had another small walk – a 2 ½ hour walk into the other side of the forest – where we went in search of more animals. To our luck, we heard Elephant sounds – our guide identified the direction which the behemoth would’ve gone – and behind we went. There they were – 2 big elephants with their 2 little kids – breaking and smashing trees and playing around!

Was fun watching them from a distance – fortunate that they didn’t see us – else we would’ve got a hell of a chase in the middle of the forest!! Saw many varieties of birds, like the grey heron, white-necked heron, stork, a special variety of frog, supposedly present only in Periyar Tiger reserve and quite a collection of rosewood, cardamom and other spices. A great breakfast filled with Chapathis and Kadalai Curry (a famous side-dish in this part of the world) was awaiting our tired and hungry stomachs. That brought an end to a great 24-hour trip as we started our way back to our starting point. We weren't able to see a tiger or a leopard till the end, but that was least expected, because the forest guards say it needs huge luck - as people who have come more than 10 times there haven't witnessed a tiger sighting even once!! We saw some signs of bear's dinner spots and all, though!! :-P

Probably one of the best trips I ever had – the never-ending forest walks, the rides on the bamboo rafts, the continuous shrill of the forest insects, the mad rush of the wild bisons in escaping our sight once they see our faces, the delicious food cooked by our guides, the card-playing sessions inside our tent during our rest-hours – the beautiful rubber and tea plantations on my return route from Kumily to Kottayam – just beautiful!! These memories will remain for ever!!