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

Parambikulam, Valparai & Vazhachal November 2012

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.

While on the dam the second day we saw the elephants crossing the island with their babies.  This was the first time we spotted elephant swimming and crossing the river.

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.

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.

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.

Sridhar & Me watching the sunset

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.

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.

Athirapilly Falls ( Famously called Punnagai Mannan Falls)

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.,

Parambikulam

Parambikulam is part of the Anamalaia hills of the Kerala side of Western Ghats  Range of mountains. 

http://www.parambikulam.org/

We visited in Oct 2011. A rainy season, the forest infested with leeches. Five of us let from Bangalore in the  Pajero. This was our 5^th visit to this beautiful wildlife reserve. This is declared as Tiger Reserve and hence the authorities are very strict on the visitors. This is however, the first time we are writing about it.

To save time, we left at 11p.m from Bangalore and drove thru the night. We reached Pollachi early morning around 6 a.m and had breakfast there, a welcome break. From Pollachi, we drove to Sethumadai, which is the foothills of Topslip(Tamilnadu side)en route to Parambikulam. 

There is a check post at sethumadai, where in you pay for the cameras and for passengers entering Topslip. It took us 2 hrs to reach Sethumadai.  From Topslip after a km drive, we hit the Kerala check post . We registered at the check post and gave them the particulars of our reservations for stay. TAfter confirming with their list of reservations and after checking our luggage and vehicle for prohibited goods, especially liquor,  let us thru. Liquor is banned in Parambikulam. This procedure took about half an hour.

The Kerala Forest office is located at Anapady, which is between Kerala Check post and Parambikulam. The entire stretch is thru forest and has a well tarred road. There are several options for stay in Parambikulam Reserve. For the adventurous, we have accommodations deep in the reserve, like Sambar Machan, Thellikal I.B. Unfortunately now, only these 2 are available. For the less adventurous, we have Tree tops, Tents and other lodgings around Anapady Office and also at Parambikulam, which is about 20 Kms away from Aanapady. We had made the reservations about a month ago for the accommodation inside the forest.  We carried all our requirements, food, drinking water etc., as we stayed deep inside the forest. There is a small shop selling almost all our requirements for staying in the forest, except water, as plastics are banned in Parambikulam. We need to carry our own drinking water. We were accompanied by 2 guides from Anapady office to our accommodation. The forest department normally provide for torches to the guides, together with flash lights to be used at nights in the jungle. We always carried our own torches to be on the safe side.

Day 1, we stayed at Sambar Machan. To reach, we drove inside the forest on tarmac for about half an hour. The road is a bit rough. It will be difficult with a sedan to do this drive. We parked the pajero  just before the wooden bridge beyond which vehicles are not allowed. After a 2 km walk, we reached the Sambar Machan. This Machan about 25 feet from ground with a deep hole dug all around to keep the elephants away. Food at Sambar machan is not a problem, as there is Thatha’s(Old man’s)house, near the bridge,wherein he can cook  for us with the ingredients we carried. We also enjoyed a lot of Katta Chai(Black Tea) made at Thatha’s place. We left the food items at Thatha’s place for him to cook and trekked  to Sambar Machan.The accommodation can sleep about 6 to 8. They gave us beddings for the night and there is toilet facilities also. This is a very peaceful place and we had a nice cold water bath in the river near by. Later at about 5 pm, we came to the nearby rocky place and sat quiet expecting some sightings. We heard the barking dear and nothing much in the evening. Food was brought from Thatha’s place and we had dinner. As we were getting ready to go to bed, we heard the Leopard growling (sounded like sawing) and a deer panicking and bellowing several times. The air was echoing with these sounds and we were all awe struck with it. A little later an elephant trumpeted and every thing became quiet after that. We could hear all this very clearly as there was no other noise and it was very peaceful.

Day 2 at 6 a.m, we decided to trek back to the pajero and take a drive.We sighted spotted deers, Monitor(Udumbu) and a croc in the banks of the Thunakadavu Dam. The morning drive was very good and refreshing as the air was unpolluted. After about a 2 hour drive, we came to Parambikulam and had breakfast at Lakshmi Mess-hot  Idllis and dosas, it was very tasty. One shouldn’t miss Lakshmi Mess food –tiffin or meals-its too good.

At about 3 pm we decided to do some trekking on the route back to the Sambar Machan with a slight deviation en route to Full Moon Census Machan. This Machan is now closed and no trekking is allowed any more as it has been declared a core area.  It was very cloudy and we expected a lot of rains, so no cameras, only Binocs. We also prepared ourselves for leech bites and applied snuff powder mixed with neem oil, it did help a lot. As we trekked, we saw a lot of spotted deer, a couple of Bisons hiding  in the very nearby bush and Nilgiri Langur in close quarters and were calling. 

We also saw recent leopard pug marks on the track. It started to rain heavily and we took shelter under a huge tree, watching a few sambar deer in the nearby vayal. We were there for about ten minutes and wondering how to get back to the vehicle in the rain. All of us were fully drenched, but still trying to spot animals thru the Binocs. Suddenly our guide Babu, saw some thing moving by the corner of his eyes and whispered “Puli,Puli”-Tiger. All of us scrambled towards him asking where? Yes, we could see in the pouring rain in the distant vayal, very near the Sambar deer, a beautiful and majestic Tiger. He/She was gracefully walking past the Sambar. What a sight it was, there was silence amongst us. Everybody spell bound. The Tiger walked past the sambar very close and went beside a bush. The sambar were vigilant and was just watching the Tiger. The Tiger turned around and went past the Sambar again and into the bush. We sighted the Tiger for may be just about 2 mins only, but the sight was fantastic and very very rear one and worth walking thru pouring rain and bleeding from leech bites. The rain came down a bit and we found our way back to the Pajero fully drenched.It was an amazing trek even though it was only a short distance that we went. We reached Thatha’s place had a couple of katta chai and warmed ourselves. Nightfall came and we had an early supper, discussed a lot about the Tiger sighting  and went to bed happy as it was one of our best days in Parambikulam.

Day 3 We got up at about 7, had a wash finished our morning routines  and packed our bags. Had b/fast and chai at Thatha’s place, settled his bill and started driving back to Parambikulam. On the way we sighted a pack of wild dogs on the road, about 7 of them. They were a bit curious about us, walked a bit towards our vehicle and turned into the bush later. We spent about 10 mins watching them. 


We reached paramikulam,  picked up some eggs and veggies for our stay at Tellikal I.B. We drove back to Anapady office collected the keys for Tellikal I.B. We have to come back half way to enter into the forest to trek to Tellikal. We parked the Pajero close to the road, nearby a forest office, which is by the side of huge Dam. There are 2 new guest houses by the dam. We repacked our dresses, food to be taken to Tellikal and left the remaining clothes in the vehicle. We have to carry all our food, clothes,water etc. and trek about 5 kms to reach Tellikal I.B. We reached in just over an hour or so. We spotted some Bison on the way and a lot of Sambar in the vayal just opposite Tellikal I.B, This accommodation is like an inspection bunglow, which was recently done up and can accommodate about6-8 persons. There is no power and water has to be brought  from the near by river. The guides put up the beds and brought water and cooked the lunch. After lunch, around 3pm we went for trek to the nearby vayal after permission from the forest officer who stays by the vayal. We saw a huge herd of Bison in the far end of the vayal. It was cloudy, and they were grazing, looking up every now and then. We spent almost an hour there watching the Bison and expected some action. A sambar deer was panicking and came running towards the Bison herd and disappeared in the bush. We don’t know for what reason it did that.It was getting dark and we had to return to the I.B. We cooked dinner, while it was still drizzling. It’s a lot of fun when all of us take part and do some cooking. We do it every time in Tellikal I.B and never got tired of it. Had dinner and sat outside with our torches to spot some movement. We could see the same sambar herd we saw earlier in the vayal opposite. We heard a few bellowing of the sambar nearby  and expected some action but nothing else happened. The night was quiet and we could clearly hear the Langur calling far away, may be leopard or a Tiger  was on the prowl. We went to bed later in the night planning to make another trek to the  vayal in the morning.

Day 4 It was drizzling thru the night. Got up early, because of weather, only 2 of us went for trek, others went back to bed. The trekkers came back, no sightings. We all started to pack, the guides were busy making breakfast and cleaning up the place. After b/fast we all trekked back the distance to reach our Pajero. Almost near the dam, the guide in front suddenly stopped us and signed not to make any noise. We heard branch being broken off the tree and realised that Elephants were in the nearby bush, almost on our track. We waited for a few minutes and decided to back track and come around, as it is dangerous to go further near the elephants. Coming around, we saw 3 of them feeding almost on the track we took earlier. We spent some time watching the Elephants and then left for our vehicle. We started to drive at about 11 am, thanked and dropped the guides off at Anapady office, had some tea and left for Bangalore. A long drive back, talking about our sightings,and planning our next forest visit. Sighting a tiger was jackpot for us. We reached Bangalore at about 10 pm. It was a fantastic trip as usual, but extraordinary this time because we sighted Tiger.