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

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.

Thekkady - Periyar Natural Reserves

THEKKADY

This is part of theWestern Ghats range and is located in the state of Kerala.  Its about 550 Kms from Bangalore http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Bangalore,+Karnataka,+India+to+Thekkady+Wild+Corridor,+Kerala,+India&aq=0&sll=13.116747,77.577746&sspn=0.042548,0.055189&vpsrc=0&ie=UTF8&t=m&z=7  

 The roads were good in  September 2011 in spite of the monsoons earlier.  We did this distance in our Ford Figo aram se.  This was in the month of September 2011 and it was rainy season.  We stayed at Mahindra Resorts in Thekkady town. 

They have lots of activities, such as  Day Trips inside the forest, Camping inside the forest, Elephant rides, trekking etc., in Thekkady, but we chose to spend an entire day at the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary.  We booked a 4x4 from our resort  alternatively you can book one from the Forest office- Kerala Forest Development Corporation Ltd (they are located near Mahindra Resorts).   You can find so many of them from the site.

We were picked up from the lodge at 6.00 in the morning.  We had a long drive to reach the entry gate of the forest.  The road from the city to the gate was not good.  We reached the gate at 6.30  & had a cup of chai.  The guide cum driver was registered our names against the vehicle number at the gate before entering the forest. 

It was green and very moist; to top the beauty, the sunlight was out just then.   The drivers here are not strict on anything.  They let you do anything (sometimes to our advantage but not always).  We don’t like throwing garbage in the forest, we won’t like people smoking inside the forest etc, but unfortunately these are possible here.  We hated the crowd who came in the other vehicles as they had no regard for the forest.

First, we spotted some Elephants just few kms as we entered; they were not on the road side but a little inside.  The vehicle was stopped we stepped down and went a bit inside to have a better view.  There were 4 or 5 of them .  Since the we were too many of us,  the elephants started moving to the other side.  The early spotting of those elephants relaxed our mind to while proportionately fuelling our interest.  Water streams, waterfalls, chirps of birds added to our experience.  Thekkady is full of ups & downs.  So the view is good.  

The driver was able to spot some Bisons & Sambar Deer on top of the cliff,   we then opened our Binocs and saw them.   It was quite a distance and tiny looking; so no videos or photos.  I have always wondered how these guides are able to spot something so minuscule to our sights.  Similarly, we again spotted a few elephants, but this time on the other side of the water stream inside the lush green.  Not a very clear view.  We continued our drive with some panoramic view of mountains and taking some snaps.

We reached a place called GAVI and office is named Gavi Eco Tourism.  I discovered  that they also have a website named gaviecotourism.com.  We had to register again in the office.  The officials are very kind and nice to you helping with all sorts of queries.  We learnt on packages offered while the breakfast was being prepared.  If you go for full day trip you will be provided with breakfast, lunch and tea with snacks.  The office  associated us with a guide; a guide who is dedicated to you for the entire day.  They follow strict timings for all food and trips.  Morning after breakfast we went for a drive by paying extra.  Lunch at 1.30pm follows the trek/drive  After relaxing for few minutes we were taken for a boat ride that lasted an hour or so. 

We took a drive inside (instead of trekking) since the talk of Leeches all over the forest due to the heavy rains was alarming/scary.  The drive into deeper pockets of the forest started at 9.30.  We spotted a huge herd of Bisons and some elephants again.  We also saw Nilgiri Langurs, Sambar Deer and Lion tailed Macaques, but all these were too far to photograh.  We drove for 3 hours and blesssed with no rains. 

As we returned to the office, the other groups who went trekking were excited showing some snaps in the digital camera.  We also peeked in and it was a tiger.  They spotted the tiger not very far from the beaten track which they took.  They were excited and sharing their moments with all of us.   While we were enjoying the delicious lunch, mist covered  the  entire space.  What a wonderful feeling!  

Boating was our next activity.  We saw cottages/tents already laid up at the banks where one could stay.  As you move further you will spot a huge water falls called Gavi Falls.  One shouldnt miss having a bath in this falls.  We thouroughly enjoyed ours.  After the shower in the falls we rowed back to the dining area.  You hardly see any animals on these stretches due to the movement of too many people.  We had tea, snacks and left the place for our lodge in our 4x4. 

We are planning to revisit this place in Dec, this time we want to go and stay at Gavi Eco Tourism place.   The accommodation looks attractive and also more opportunities to spot animals.   We will update soon.