PARAMBIKULAM DECEMBER 2014

This was the second time we visited Parambikulam Tiger Reserve this year, it was December 2014. We celebrated our New Year there amidst Tiger Sightings and Early morning bird calls waking us up.

There are several types of accommodation and the show is run by Forest Development Agency, which benefits the Tribals living in Parambikulam. The agency has taken up measures in providing various amenities for the Tribals and has keen interest in their Development. The Agency runs a community based Eco Tourism. The service rendered by them are commendable and the food is excellent. The guests are well taken care and we can see the keen interest they have on Wildlife and their preservation. One can visit the site http://www.parambikulam.org or call Cell No 9442201690  and make reservations at Parambikulam Tiger Reserve  Please remember that the Reserve is a liquor free zone. The very fact that we visit the Reserve and stay there, provides the Tribals a job and keeps them busy. The Green shop sells among other things, items made by the Tribal women like caps, pen stands etc.,which are very attractive. They have very nice T shirts and over coats on display.

The Tiger Reserve was busy with guests as it was holiday season and all the accommodations were full.

We reached on 30th December, by noon as usual, had good lunch, rested and waited for the game drive in the afternoon. The mini bus was full of guests as all the accommodation were full. We saw nothing much in the game drive except for some Indian Gaur and sambar deer. We went for the Rafting and reached Parambikulam, where we saw a Fish eagle by the dam.

Fish Eagle

On the way back, during night drive, we were not that lucky to see any wildlife, except for some Indian Gaur and sambar deer. We came back had good dinner and went to bed early. Next day morning we chose to do trekking early instead of bird watching etc.,

We were lucky to manage a different route and not the routine beaten track. We had a couple of guides with us and took a longer route, the guide was confident of locating tigers on the way. They had heard the tiger roaring the previous day in that direction.

We came across the Elephant carcass we saw last time. We could only see the skull of the elephant, and other bones around, everything else had disappeared, eaten up by scavengers and the insects.

Remains of the Elephant Carcass-only the skull remaining

The river bed where we saw Tiger Pugmarks

We had gone a long way, may be an hour and a half and saw nothing on the way. After reaching a river bed, we saw some tiger pug marks criss crossing the river bed, but no tiger to be seen. We were thrilled to see the pug marks that too very recent ones and expected to see the tiger anytime.

With butterflies in the stomach, expecting to see the Tiger in close range, We followed a track and after some time saw tiger pug marks again in the same direction. This time there were a few of them. The guides explained that a family of 5 tigers were around and the pugmarks were of those tigers. We were repeatedly cautioned not to make any noise, not even to stamp on dried leaves, as the noise will alert the tigers if they are around.

Two tiger cubs of the family of five

We trekked for another km may be and reached a vayal, an open space, grass land. These grass lands are the hunting grounds for the tigers. We rested for a few minutes, a bit disappointed as well as we had come to almost end of the trek and we had sighted nothing, not even a Gaur or a sambar deer. We were in one corner of the vayal, on a little elevated ground surrounded by the trees. As we were watching the vayal, suddenly a sambar deer bellowed and ran into the grassland followed by a few more. We could see they were panicky and the guides immediately cautioned us to be quiet and observe, as they expected a tiger or a Leopard to follow the them.

As expected, a tiger walked out from behind the woods, majestically, following the deer. As we were watching the tiger, another one also walked out, and then another and then another. They were all moving up and down the grassland, and we were a bit confused as to how many were there. They were a bit far from us and we could enjoy the  sightings thru the binocs. The tigers were quite far for the cameras. We saw all the five tigers of the family. There were 3 cubs, about one and a half years old, almost the size of a fully grown adult.

 

We could identify the cubs only when they started to be playful and running and jumping over one another. It was a sighting of a life time, that we had, for all these years we visited Parambikulam.

The next day afternoon we went for the game drive and saw a family of Elephants on the road, when we were coming back from Parambikulam to the tent. All the elephants moved to the side of the road except for one male. He stood on the road and refused to move. We waited for about 5 minutes and the driver raved the engine, so that he will move. He still stood there doing nothing, just playing with the grass at the edge of the road. Eventually when all the elephants had moved away to safety,he moved out and let us go.

 

 

We had the best time in parambikulam and left the next day morning with happy memories.

PARAMBIKULAM OCTOBER 2014

We visited ParambikulamTiger Reserve twice during 2014. Easily reachable from Coimbatore, Pollachi. About 40 Kms from Pollachi.Its part of the Western Ghats Mountains.  The very atmosphere and the thought of the wilderness attracts us so much that we did go there twice. Even though the deep forest accommodations are no longer available to the visitor, its still worth a visit for the serenity, peace and the early morning bird calls that wake you up.

Our first visit this year was in October 2014. There were some rains, very unexpected, but good for the forest and greenery. We stayed in the Tented Niches. These tents are permanent tents in Annapady, by the side of the Reservation office and the Office of the Conservator. There are about ten tents and we are told that they want to add more. There are a few other accommodations available like the tree tops, about 2 of them, The Island package, Honey Comb Accommodation which are more like rooms in lodges.

 For the adventurous, The Island package will be ideal. You are taken to an Island in the middle of the dam by rafts, it takes about 1 hour or so. You will have to carry all your needs including the food that you want to cook and eat. There is no power in this Island. The Accommodation is a big room  in which about 5 can stay. It is very thrilling as it gets dark, and you are cut off from the whole world and in total darkness. You come out of the room and take a look at the night sky, it is breathtaking and awesome to see such a clear sky, which you may never experience any where else but in deep forests. If you have a pair of binoculars it will be fun identifying the stars.



A view of The Island

 Food will be prepared by the helpers who accompany you to the Island. It will be fun to help them cook the food you want and enjoying it under the clear night sky. The Island dosent have much of wildlife sighting except for Elephants which swim across to the Island in the evenings and stay in the Island at nights. You might hear the breaking of bamboos very close by, while the elephants are having a great meal. After a good night sleep, you can eat the breakfast you want and later leave for the mainland. You might get disturbed during night by rats running around in the room, but safe storage is provided so that the rats don't mess up your things or food. Overall it will be fantastic experience on the Island, very peaceful and right in the middle of the forest.

For those who stay in the tents, the activities available are a routine everyday, starting with early morning bird watch, come back and have breakfast and then leave for a trek in the forest. In the afternoons, after lunch, they take you for a game drive cum boating trip ending with a tribal dance at Tiger Hall in Parabikulam, which is about 20 Kms from the Tent Accommodation. This is more or less a set routine followed here. The cherry on the cake is the drive from Parambikulam back to the tents,after seeing the tribal dance. By the time they leave parambikulam, its a bit dark. The thrill is to sight animals by the bus lights in darkness. We have sighetd leopards on several occasions and your heart is in the mouth by every turn the road takes. Sighting Indian Gaur, Sambar Deers, Elephants are almost for sure. As the night approaches, these animals come to the road, for some reason, probably they feel safer by the road.

Unfortunately on the first day this September trip we didn't have much sightings on the night drive, except for a few  Indian Gaurs and sambar and spotted deers. The next day morning we got up to the singing of the birds, had a hot tea and got ready for the bird walk which was for an hour. We saw a lot of Drongos, but no Racket Tailed Drongo. We also saw beautiful Blue winged Parakeets and Alexandrine parakeets, Some Coucals and Snake Birds by the water. We came back from the bird walk and had a good breakfast. By the way food is very good here, I have seen people appreciating the food served, even though you don't have a big variety of it.

Blue Winged Prakeet

After some rest, we went for the trek in the forest. This was very thrilling, even though, we have done it several times in the last 6 years or so, each time we feel butterflies in the stomach. We went to Kariancholai range if im not wrong, which is behind the tents accommodation. We were just 2 of us and the guide in the front. We had trekked for about 2 kms of open space and over a few rocky places and  just entered the dense shola forest on a narrow track. We were trekking with a gap of about 15 feet between us. A few meters into it, all of a sudden, we saw  a lone Gaur on the right side, about 15 feet from the track. A huge male one. Initially the gaur had not noticed us. When he saw us he was taken aback and just gazed at us for about 10 secs and we too didn't know what to do and were gazing back at him. There was silence and he moved into the bush, turned and saw us again for about 5 secs. Then he made a big Whoofh sound and ran away making a lot of noise. We were still baffled and getting to senses and suddenly, very close to us we heard a low grumble. Again we three were frozen and took  a few secs to realise that it came from an Elephant that too from very near. The guide signalled us not to move and was trying to locate the elephant, but couldn't. We were getting a bit panicky as we were sure it was an elephant and that too very close. The guide signalled us to move back slowly without making any noise. One thing was clear, the elephant knew were we are but we couldn't see him and he was a bit upset with the gaur making so much noise while running away. It was like a warning grumble to say keep away. We stared retracing our steps as fast as we can but without panic, easily said than done. After a few steps back, we both turned around and started running as best as we can, into the open space. Well one cannot out run an elephant, if he is chasing you. The guide came a few feet behind and signalled us to go as he saw the elephant approaching us, atleast that's what he told us. As we ran down to the rocky place, we felt a bit safer and thanked god that the elephant didn't chase us further. After a while we felt it was thrilling to be in that situation.

Snake Bird by the Water

We kept talking about it over lunch. we were the only guest that day and had the privilege of driving our vehicle into the forest that evening.

We managed to get a trip into the forest in the evening and were very lucky to see an Elephant carcass. We were told that a Tiger had killed the elephant, which was an adolescent and not a fully grown one. But how the Tiger managed to bring it down was a surprise and we couldn't understand. Normally elephants are in groups and how did the tiger manage this!!!!

We could see tiger pugmarks all around the carcass. The belly was open and all intestines were out, typicall of a tiger kill, as they first remove the intestines before they gorge on the meat. A part of its trunk was bitten off. But surprisingly the entire carcass was in tact but for these, and the for some reason, the Tiger had eaten nothing. We have been to Parambikulam several times and never had such a sighting!!!!

Elephant Carcass with intestines out

Raft ride in the dam

On the way back from Parambikulam to the tents, we were little late and it was dark. It was thrilling to see animals in the car head lights. We saw a lot of Indian Gaurs, Sambar, Spotted Deers and a few elephants. There was



a couple of elephants in one of the turns and they were on the mound very close to the road. A male and a female. As we approached them, they watched us and the male was visibly upset and didn't want us there. He trumpeted and it was really threatening as it was very close to the road. Later we were told that the male was protecting the pregnant female and that's why he behaved so.


It was fantastic trip we had in October, considering the Tiger kill sighting and the encounter with the elephants. Fantastic Parabikulam!!!!!!!!.

White Bellied Drongo