By Pankaj Singhal (28thFebruary, 2008)
It wasn’t until my first elephant safari in the dense grasslands of
Periyar that it truly revealed itself to me. I never anticipated a more
brilliant day had ever been stretched across the tall grasses with few puffs
in a much hush hush way added character to an otherwise seamless sky.
I always love to travel alone but this time i was accompanied with one of
my friends Srikant. As he was a native to that place he guided me well to
Periyar National Park, which spreads over 350 sq km.and draped along the
spine of beautiful Western Ghats in the state of Kerala. From Kottayam to
Periyar was through on the local bus via Kumily. It was a huge national park
and we were excited pretty much to sneak peak into tigers habitat. I always
was a big fan of big animals and I was told that Periyar forests were well
known for Asian elephants. .
Without any second thought we hired an elephant for safari that coughed up
paltry sum of money. The terrain ranges from hilly to grasslands and almost
in the center of the park, a huge man made lake, which was a resting ground
for tourists. Still we were disappointed not to catch any tiger but
satisfied ourselves with barking deer, Nilgiri Langur, some bonnet macaque,
wild boars and sloth bear. From the lake we decided to trek the park through
the forest to the temple of Mangla Devi. We finished our lunch with crushed
rice banana and yoghurt on a banana leaf. Srikant told me to wear our leech
socks for further expeditions.
The park was full of Indian tourists and also foreigners trekking with us.
They were equipped with camcorders and other items. We befriended with a
local correspondent who informed us well about the park. Periyar is among
the oldest national park in India that situated in 1934 and became a tiger
project sanctuary in the year of 1978. Finally in 1982 it was recognized as
a national park. We were told that the month of March and April were the
driest period of the park and animals spent most of the time near the lake.
On the way to the Mangla Devi we witnessed some of the fierce reptiles and
it was more excitement than fear. On my last trip to Kaziranga i witnessed
my first monitor lizard but in Periyar the size and texture of lizards had
an obtrusive difference. Apart from Lizards we sighted pythons, king cobras,
and flying lizards. The ubiquitous elephants were almost everywhere in the
park. The striking feature of the park was the countless species of birds.
Fortunately, we were carrying a book on Indian birds and thus we could
understand much better than our fellow travelers. We spotted darters,
cormorants, ibises, grey herons, mynas, flycatchers, orioles, wood pigeons,
kingfishers, kites, ospreys, thrushes, and an appreciable number of
blue-winged parakeets.
After few hours of trekking with lots of blood suckers on our legs (despite
of leech socks) we finally exhausted. I stopped for sometime to sip some
beer and few cigarettes while Srikant was busy with a Mexican girl
explaining everything what he knew and what he didn't. My disappointment of
not having rendezvous with tiger(s), by then had pacified a little bit.
Considered myself a seasoned traveler i graded the park 8 out of ten.
Related Links
Periyar National Park
Jeep Safari
Cochin
Kerala Backwaters
Trekking
Indian Wildlife Parks
Jim Corbett Park
Kanha National Park
Sunderbans
Ranthambore National Park
