My fourth visit in the last 3 months to one of India's richest wildlife sanctuary both in terms of income and biodiversity was certainly one of the best i recently had.Periyar Tiger Reserve [PTR] is one of the best managed tiger reserve in the country and its action plan is famous 'Periyar Model 'which become the model for many other reserves in the country by involving local communities and tribes.Periyar Tiger Reserve known for the world as Thekkady[Teak plantation] attracts thousands of tourists and researchers across the globe for decades.Last year around 6.5 lakh tourists visited the place.There are many eco tourism programs there other than just boating.But if you want to explore its complete wilderness,you will need a 1000 years to spend there.
Traveling to PTR took only 3.5 hours from my home and i usually travel with my friend rony in my bike.This time i am with my old class mates from Bharananganam,Karthik.Sooraj & Ebin.We reached thekkady by 12' O clock and greeted by a gang of monkeys out there.Bonnet macaque [common monkey] which is found almost every tourist place india is first wildlife which catches our attention here.You can spot Nilgiri Langur which is ones locally extinct here in the upper branches of trees near the Information centre.During my visit in May,there was no sign of a Langurs in the tourism area,but once the monsoon came there are large numbers of such Langurs came to this area.You can spot sambar deer,barking deer and malabar giant squirrel while you traveling from the check post to the boat landing area.I just wanted to keep your eyes open and be a good listener,then you won't be disappointed.
We started our trek @ 12.45 after filling up the forms and putting trekking socks to prevent leach bite.It's always advisable to wear trekking socks during the monsoon.We crossed the periyar lake via mulachangadam[boat made of bamboo tied together] which is tied to a tree on other side.We are accompanied by forest watcher Aravindan.He was a nice person who knows the depth and breadth of the forest.As we walked through the semi-evergreen forest,we heard a large cry like sound.We walked towards the sound along the trek path,we saw a group of Great Pied Hornbills sitting in the upper branched of a big tree.Periyar harbors a good number of such endemic birds.As we proceed further we came across the skeleton and body parts of a baby tusker which was killed by Kolavilikomban,a lone tusker in musth .It's found that the rouge tusker was responsible for the death of about 7 female elephants and a baby tusker.We followed the trek path towards the Nellikkampathy .A huge monitor lizard was lying on the forest floor jumped out when it happened to see intruders in its territory.There were amazing bird sightings too.Scarlet minvet,white bellied treepie,malabar grey hornbill ,purple heron were the main sightings of the day other than numerous darters,kingfishers and commorants which can be seen on the old trees in the lake.We saw tiger scratch marks on several occasions which remind us the phantom of the forest.Aravindan told that he saw a full grown tiger from Nellikkampathy vayal about a months back. We saw tracks of Elephants and Gaurs throughout the trek.Luck was not there with us this time maybe because of wrong time chosen.Even though the sightings was poor i still have an affection on Periyar Tiger Reserve .I promised Aravindan that i will be soon back for a detailed trip,till then good bye!!
2 comments:
you seems to be a dedicated person for the cause of the environment as well as eco tourism.more and more youngsters should come up with such enthusiazm and an appetite to take on some adventurous trips which ultimately put seeds of interest for conservation in the minds of people of all ages and groups.wish all the best,rajuthomas8@yahoo.co.in
every school should inculcate an interest in the minds of the young sparrows of their institute for the importance of protection and preservation of mother nature.this can be initiated by taking the children to small wilderness,to the perifery of forests,lakes and other water bodies,and explain them a little about the same etc.
Post a Comment