Wild Dogs once again. WOW!! Parambikulam is the place. November end and December first week we travelled. Good season, nice cool weather.
This time we stayed only in the tent. Accommodation inside the forest is restricted these days, only one place of accommodation open this year. Traffic inside the forest was less since no vehicles were allowed into the forest until the previous day we landed there.
The package for tent stay is like this, afternoon check in at 12.00 then go for a heavy lunch (buffet system) once the lunch is done then at 3.30 you will be taken in a minibus for a safari called evening drive. Come back by about 8.00pm or so then time for Dinner. The next morning you will be taken on a small trek for bird watch. The safari starts from Aanapaadi Office. This is where the tent is located.
First you will be taken to the Cannemara Theku, one of the oldest and tallest Teak tree and as we moved on looking for animals on both the side of the vehicles this is when we spotted a pack of Wild Dogs eating the kill, first picture above if you watch closely you will see them busy eating. It was a Sambar Deer they killed. The other Sambar Deer was watching the Wild Dogs eating one of his mates and looked very agitated.
After Connemara Theku, next you will be taken to the Island for rafting and animal watching on the banks of the island in Parambikulam Dam. The above picture is one side of the island where you board for rafting. Rafting is for about an hour. You are not taken too far. Both the days we spotted a herd of elephant with babies.
Once you come out of rafting the next thing you will see some traditional folk dance in tiger hall. This will take atleast 1/2 hour and you are also given a break for tea/snacks. Since the whole place was closed for vehicles not much of activity in any shops/hotels, they all opened the previous day and was still not fully functional. We were disappointed since Lakshmi Mess did not have anything ready to eat. By the way, Lakshmi Mess food would be great, be it full course meal in the afternoon or tiffin like ghee roast. We had to come back with just a cup of Katta Chai (Black tea).
On the way back to the tent from Parambikulam it was dark, so we had a feeling that we were on a night drive in the forest. We spotted lot of Bison, Elephant, Spotted Deer and Sambar Deer.
The last we spotted was a Leopard. The road leading to Thellikal IB, is where my nephew spotted the Leopard in the torch light that was thrown by the guide, Babu. It was crossing that road and getting into the bush. The second day as well we spotted another Leopard somewhere near our entry gate to the forest. It was walking along the main road, as we reached near, it was sitting behind a small bush watching our bus and moved further down later. This was pretty close and we were all thrilled. All were talking about the same until the next day morning. We could only catch the back of the Leopard as above. The light was not enough for the camera is what my husband claims.
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| Bison spotted during the evening safari |
We also went for couple of trekking near by but did not spot any animals. Third day after breakfast we checked out with good memories. Our guide Babu as usual took care of us through out our stay. Hopefully next time if they allow us to stay elsewhere inside the forest then we might spot a tiger as well.
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| Me, my nephew and Badri in the reservoir with the guide |
The journey did not end here, we further travelled to Valparai, the famous place for Leopard and Lion Tailed Macaques (Called LTM in short). We reached only by evening, on the way we spotted LTM above the tree amidst the plantations. Our guide Job took us around in our Pajero inside in all the plantation areas where not much movement of people were there. Nothing we spotted except LTM. Then we came to the reservoir during sunset and what a view... so cool and great it was.
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| Sridhar & Me watching the sunset |
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| Beautiful sunset |
The next day we left for Vazhachal, which is foothills of Valparai, on the Chalakudi side. The place is famous for wildlife and also for Athirapilly falls (also known as Punnagai Mannan movie falls).
Beautiful sceneries on the way from Valparai to Vazhachal. Lots of water falls small and big, and rivers flowing etc., the forest was dense on both the sides of the road and nothing we spotted on our way.
Nothing you get to eat on the way not even a cup of chai. Lucky our vehicle was loaded with snacks, otherwise we would have been hungry.
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| Me and Sridhar on the way to Vazhchal |
We reached Vazhachal by noon, checked in the forest inspection bunglow there. Went through the Athirapilly falls starting point, at the back of the Inspection Bunglow. That evening we went for a safari in the main road where we spotted a herd of elephant trying to cross. First we saw few of them standing on the left side of our vehicle, then we further moved up in the road my nephew spotted one elephant with the small baby on the road, that's it, he started reversing the vehicle fast, tried to turn around after few metres and rushed back to our place. Since the elephant was with the baby its not safe to go close or to stand there since it was a big heard and some had already crossed the road.
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| Athirapilly Falls ( Famously called Punnagai Mannan Falls) |
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| Me and my Nephew Aswin, at the background the start of falls |
Once we finished visiting Athirapilly falls we left the next day morning drove via Chalakudi, Palghat, Coimbatore, Bangalore. It was a long drive way back. But enjoyed chatting about spotting of Leopard, Wild Dog Kill, Elephant on the path way etc.,
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