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One Monday morning, after a sleepy ride to office in the back seat of our office cab, the day was normal like any other day in BangaloreAfter reading my mails, some how I double clicked the folder where I used to store the photos I clicked.

Nostalgia, I started browsing through those photos from my earlier trips, and I got stuck in Pics from Parambikkulam. Those were from days of Film Cameras that was a basic Camera (Yashika fixed Focus - MF-2 Super), which I scanned some time last year. I have been there at Parambikkulam several times with friends and family, and was one of the sweet spot to be in for me. Thought of trying luck or fate or whatever you call, a quick call to my friend who used to accompany me for some of those trips. Success, I got the positive answer and he is available for the date which was in my mind clap:

To add a bit of info here for those who are not familiar with this place, Parambikkulam Wild life sanctuary is situated in Palakkad District in Kerala. But the route to reach is only via Tamilnadu and so the nearest town is Pollachi.It comes after Top Slip which is a part of Tamilnadu. So to reach Aanappady (Where over night stay reservation, ticket booking etc), we have to cross two checkposts of Tamilnadu and one from Kerala. In 2010, it was declared as a part of National Tiger Reserve and from then they introduced some more restrictions One of the restriction is self driven vehicle are allowed inside the park only if we book an overnight stay which was not the case earlier. Two wheeler was strictly not allowed from earlier itself. Tribal people who were working inside the park for daily wages helps in maintaining the park extremely well and we can rarely spot a plastic bottle/Waste paper in and around the park. As a result it was selected as best maintained Tiger reserve in India by a Calcutta based NGO (I guess in 2013?)


Now back to computer,googled and got the contact number from www.parambikkulam.org which is the official site maintained by Kerala Forest Department. To my wonder, Our trip got finalized in next five minutes!. With first call itself I got the reply and our accommodation got confirmed - A tree top hut at Parambikkulam. Its was an extremely unusual thing to happen with me ( May be true for any other city dwellers too), Normally it takes days for me to finalize any trips like this, or atleast a few hours of google, ask a friend, then rest for me to find a suitable date. But, here nothing of that sort happened

Now let me introduced my Travel Companions

- My Brown Heron: Duster RXL 110:-
A full tank Diesel from Shell Bunk
Air pressure checks
Water Wash I did myself
ProKlear Water Repellent coated myself for wind shield, side windows and rear.

- My Extra Eyes: Nikon D3300 with Kit Lens :-
AF-S VR ZOOM-NIKKOR 70-300MM F/4.5-5.6G IF-ED
(I was a Canon guy recently changed to Nikon and getting used to it and process of collecting Lenses)

- Dash cam: SJ4000 :-
(I love this device even its a compromise Model, it serve the purpose)
My Friend is against it since it record the conversation inside the car - Need to see option to disable Voice Recording

- My Guide: Map My India :-

The Plan was to have a Solo drive from Bangalore to Udumalpettu in Tamilnadu, form there after picking my friend, then head to Parambikkulam which is our destination. Animal sightings at Parambikkulam are as usual like any other wildlife Sanctuary, its purely luck and timing. Earlier at Parambikkulam, I have Sighted Elephants, Crocodiles, Alligators Snakes, Spotted Deer, Sambar, Bison, Leopards, Wild Boar, Malabar Giant Squirrel, Malabar Hornbill, some other Birds. Not lucky enough to see a Tiger, but heard roar of tiger from distance in the early Morning. Now Waiting for the planned day to start.


Bangalore to Udumalai Route
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Udumalai to Parambikkulam.
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Day1:-

The Starting Point.It was a Sunday early Morning since my luggage were already loaded into the car previous Night itself, I started around 2:30Am from Bangalore to Udumalai. Its around 390Km drive and normally when I am alone, I prefer a non-stop drive. Around 50Km before reaching Udumalpettu, there is an area with lot of Windmills installed for power generation and if you happen to be there at just sunrise, its a nice view


Windmill Background
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Reached Udumalai around 7:30Am after half an hour nap in between, and met my friend.We had breakfast and by around 9:30Am, we headed to Parambikkulam. Its another 72 Km drive. This route was nice with lots of greenery around hence I preferred a slow drive enjoying the surrounding. Around 11:30Am we reached the first check post on Tamilnadu, There they check the car for liquor, then some fees for car and camera, we continued. Within 15 minutes first Wildlife sighting - A group of elephants with a calf which is not very young at the road side. One of them, may be Mother elephant was bit suspicious about our presence for some time, but was not angry mood and then continued calmly. Enjoyed them grazing for about 5 minutes and from there we reached second check post in Tamilnadu which is in Top Slip. There they register the vehicle number, checked the tickets. Here also there is option for safari/Elephant Rides and stay, but less people prefer it


First glimpse of wild Elephant.
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Safari Elephant at Topslip.
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We started from Top slip and climate started changing slowly, Till then it was a moderate day. From there It started drizzling and it went through out the day which I like, but my Camera/Lens doesn't. We reached Parambikkulam, Aanappady around 12:00Pm and to my Surprise, my car clocked exactly 22000Km at out destination. There we paid the fees for our package which includes food, safari, Boating and guide fee based on the accommodation being selected. We got our guide, Murugan, who was born and brought up in same forest and belongs to one of the four tribes officially allowed to live inside the park.

He explained us the schedule and it goes like as below

- After Lunch, a Safari in the Otter and in that ride, the following are included
(They named Safari vans based on different animal seen in the park, mostly Swaraj Mazdas and Mahindra tourister, Other names are Hornbill, Thar etc)

- Dam view point
- One more view point
- Two Dam Site (Tunakkadavu and Parambikkulam)
- Lake Rafting
- Kannimara Teak - Worlds Largest natural Teak
- A Tribal Dance

The Lunch will be served only at 1:30Pm. Hence we thought of keeping our luggage in the hut, but our purpose was to have a drive through the park with our guide expecting some animal sightings and it paid off. Peacocks, wild boars, Black Langurs and Spotted deer were in abundance. Within 200 meters from the Aanappady, On road side again a group of seven elephants with one male calf and rest are females. The calf was peeling off the skin if a tree using it's small tusks and eating.

Elephants
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More.
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Male Calf Peeling of a tree Skin and eating.
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A Butterfly.
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An owl and Birds around the Reservation Counter.
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Deer - Practice Fight.
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Peacock.
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We reached our tree top hut and I parked the car in front of it. This hut is familiar to me from my previous visits and its the first time I am going to stay in it. Its on the side of the lake created by the Reservoir. The hut is supported by four giant live teak trees and one or two small trees. The flooring was vitrified tiles, (But I prefer it to be natural wood/logs, which some people disagree), Walls are with bamboo and bamboo ply. Inside the room there is a table fan, two bed, a water filter, Plates and Glasses.There is an attached bathroom with heater which I find it OK for a place like this. At the veranda there are two cane chairs which is very comfortable with another hanging chair. There were lizards in the tree which is expected in a forest environment, and more over we are into their territory. The view from the veranda is facing the lake and is amazing, felt like I can spend hours without getting bored or hungry and actually it is.

Our Tree Top Stay
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Veranda.
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Inside the Room.
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View From the hut.
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View Behind the Hut.
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A Sambar Deer on the way to tree top hut.
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Around 3:30Pm, , The Otter came, our safari van which was already full of foreigners (They were not speaking English) and two seats for us. It was heavily raining that time and I thought I should not take my 300mm lens which I am regretting now. The rain stopped within 10 minutes and sky was clear and I am handicapped with my 18-55mm Kit lens. There was a 10 minute stop at both view points and Dam sites which I didn't find much interesting. But one the way to teak tree location, there was open field, which was full of Bisons and Sambar and one among that a unusually huge Male Bison. Then we reached Kannimara teak Location. Actual meaning of the name in Malayalam/Tamil "Kanni" means Virgin and "Mara" means tree. There is a folklore behind this Teak which is written near tree site and you can easily get from internet also. I heard most of the people pronouncing this name as "Connemara" may be they are more familiar with Taj Connemara. There is one more Teak somewhere deep inside the forest which is not easily accessible. That is much thicker than Kannimara teak , but it lost the title of "Then Biggest Natural Teak" because its not tall as compared to this tree and the damage was caused by Lightning stiked at the top. (I am not sure if it is in Parambikkulam forest or some other forest in Kerala)


Kannimara Teak.
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The Board near the Teak.
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Our next point is River rafting Site which is at the catchment area of the Parambikkulam dam. It is near to Old Parambikkulam Round which was the only Location where food/Snacks were available earlier for the Visitors before announcing it as a tiger Reserve. In the center of the round, there is a Marble engrave showing this sanctuary was inaugurated by Jawaharlal Nehru in 1961, and that time it was under Madras State. There is a Police station near this and I remember seeing Leopard resting over the fence of the police station during my earlier Visit. Now it got a new Building

Parambikkulam Round.
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The Rafting Site was amazing without a piece of waste paper or Plastic.Lake was having crystal clear water. The raft we about to go is made of Bamboo and can accommodate 20 people. Three people were rowing the raft. I felt Happy as well as Sad same time because there are around 20 elephants at opposite side of the lake with a Huge Male Tusker Running Fast towards our left side. Where as on the same side of the Lake, where we are standing to board the raft, there were another five elephants with a new born calf. I come to know from the Boat guy that because of this new born calf only, this group of five is staying there and avoid crossing the lake. Why I felt sad is that I didn't take my 300Mm because of rain and those tusker and other elephants were well above the reach of 55mm Lens. They took us in raft for about 30 minutes and after the ride there they served a Hot tea/Coffee.

Rafting site.
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Otter resting after dropping us at Dam Site.
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Elephants on the other side,Too far for my Lens.
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Our Raft.
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While Returning back, it was almost getting dark and on the road near a turn, there is something on the road. A group of around fifteen bison. We stopped there for 2-3 minutes and one by one started disappearing to the Forest. Again within next one Km, elephants, there were three of them. Unlike Bison, elephants are determined to block our way even after waiting for 10 minutes. Now its the Safari Driver's turn. He started pushing the accelerator hard and with that engine noise also elephants didn't show any sign of leaving the way for us except one which ran to our left and still in out sight. Then he took the vehicle towards elephants and in panic, they started running, luckily it ran to the other side and went inside the forest. After that point road was full of Bisons, Sambar and Deers.

A heard of Bison.
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Elephant at Strike, Blocking us.
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A Langur, Our Bedsheet thief ?
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Otter dropped back us to our Hut and our Guide mentioned that not to roam outside during Night since this area is know to have Sloth Bear - One the the most dangerous animal to approach in Indian Jungle after Elephant. He also suggest to park the car a bit far away where there is a canteen for forest guards to avoid wild animals damaging the car. By around 8:30Pm, food was brought in a tower container bu our guide to our tree top hut and was good and we were Non-veg. After dinner, We sat in the Verandah for some time, thought of listening to the Jungle. Since its was raining, mating call of frogs were everywhere with sudden rush of Langur howl. This particular call is made when it spots danger and Langurs are watchers of the jungle. Mostly a leopard or a Tiger. Occasional calls of different birds which I cant identify clearly, I felt few of them are made by an Owl, The bigger species. Later some noises below tree where our Hut was made and when I checked, observed that it was a family of wild boars with tiny babies. Babies were having
stripes over their Body which will disappear while growing up.

Now Bed time - To our surprise, one the blanket is missing which was present when we got into the hut initially. We remember we kept one of the blanket outside the room by my friend and we started searching We found it in the Lake and some Monkeys visited our hut when we were out for the safari and they throw it into the lake which we recovered. The climate was so nice we didn't use blanker or Fan. The trekking was planned for next day 6:30 AM.

Day2 Continue Soon.

Day2:-

To enjoy the nature at early morning, I got up by 5:30Am and went to the Veranda and placed myself comfortable in hanging Chair. Fishing eagles has already started its day, I can see
occasionally those rocket engined birds diving down from sky, and catching fish from the lake surface. On the backside of our stay, there was a surprise Visitor, A bison.


A visitor at the Backside of our Tree Top, Bison
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My guide mentioned that in the lake, there were fishes like Catla and Kuyil (Don't know the English name for Kuyil, somebody help if aware) along with Alligators, turtles and Crocodiles. Kuyil can grow up to 50Kg. In that Lake, earlier in 2002, there was small shop which sells the fish caught by tribal people from same Lake. During one of our earlier trip with my cousins, we almost brought entire day's catch which served us for the next two days in the Park. Now that shop is no more available , May be a restriction came in after announcing as Tiger Reserve.

In the lake, I saw tiger-barbs (A Pet fish) which cost around INR 80 - 120 per pair in Bangalore. This is a common fish in most of the rivers in Kerala. I went near the car to clean up the wind shield since starting point of our trek was from Aanappady, which is near the ticket counter which we need to go in car till there. To my surprise, I found that car was fully dirty with mud all over the body. It looks like someone purposefully did it. In the dirt marks, I found some impression which looks like a Kids palm impression-The Monkey menace. I cleaned only the windshield and left the body like that.

Murugan, our guide reached by 6:45Am and we headed to Aanappady where our breakfast was arranged which will served only by 8:30 Am. Hence we had a cup of coffee Headed for trekking. He give us option to chose between 3 km route or 6 Km route for trek and and we replied that we like to take route which has more chances of animal sighting. For that he didn't give a conclusive answer, hence we opted for 6 Km route. Some part this route is via evergreen forest and it will be full of leaches.

Within 1 Km of walk, heavy rain started and my camera went back to backpack which didnt came out till the end of our trek. We completed almost 3 Km of our trek and still no animal sighting. We started losing hope. There was a small stream running across our path which is having crabs and some small fishes. Crabs were hidden under the stones and we have to remove to see it. All of Sudden our guide signaled us to stop and we did. Immediately we got to know the reason. There is a Bison of moderate size within 10 meters distance from us and its not aware of our presence due to rain. After looking forward, we come to know that its not alone, there is a group ahead. Murugan started moving forward towards it and leaving us back, and suddenly it came to know our presence. The entire group scattered in a slit of a second and went out of sight.

Now we completed 4 Km of the trek and now we have to cross a small cliff. We started climbing slowly and was already raining heavily and we were tired too. Suddenly from our right side a loud trumpeting and Murugan signaled us to run - The Elephants. Within no time we reached the top of the Cliff which we felt it was difficult to reach initially. It was a mock charge. Unlike bison, elephants are extremely good in sensing smell and we were directly in their wind path. Our guide explained, they would have come to know our presence much before reaching this much close to them if it was not raining. Now the evergreen forest area started so the leaches too which made my friend a bit uncomfortable. Normally for trek like this, we used to carry tobacco (From Cigarette or Beedi) wrapped in a small piece of cloth and soak it in water. We used to apply this to our foot/Boots/Socks occasionally to avoid Leaches which we forgot to take this time and we suffered a bit. After 10 minutes of walk, we reached back main road inside park and saw another group of elephants which was grazing calmly. They were OK with our presence and my eyes were searching for that majestic huge tusker I saw near the Lake But group was only having females and calf

Elephants
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Then we headed towards canteen and breakfast was ready - Dosa, Poori, Uppma etc with coffee and tea and found to be too tasty after trek. Since trekking was the last activity of our package,now its time for us to check out. But my mind was still around the lake we rafted and the Tusker we sighted and I was not ready to return. Hence thought of going for River rafting one more time where we sighted the Tusker. When enquired at the information centre, they told its possible by extra payment since we were from from tree top stay package.


Again back to our guide and to Rafting site. The boating tickets has to be taken near Parambikkulam Round and it costs Rs500. The Boat guy smiled and greeted us with an expression "Back again!?" . During our last day ride he was very friendly to us and we talked a lot. He explained about the elephants we sighted and how they behave during different situation. This time no elephants at the either side of the lake and we were bit depressed initially. Our depression slowly moved way to happiness after 30 minutes of rafting, when we saw a group of elephants. But was very far on an island. Stay option is available in that island for tourist and it costs around 12000INR a day and can accommodate four. We saw an alligator near in the lake which looks like double minded to get out of the water or not. Some spotted Deer and again we saw same group of elephants with new born we saw yesterday. The new born was not visible to us bushes were bit tall. They just came out of the bamboo forest and still no Tusker anywhere in the sight. I felt like he is hiding purposefully from us so that it gives us opportunity to visit again.



Alligator at the Dam
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Elephants far on the opposite shore, Too far for my Lens
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Dusty at the Lake shore
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After rafting, we returned to aanappady where we sighted some Sambar, spotted deers, peacocks etc.

Deers on our return trip
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Sambars on the way
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Road inside the Park
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At Aanappady there is a souvenir shop and thought of having a look. There where apparels printed with "Save Tiger/Horn Bill" etc, honey collected by tribal people, hats and some handicrafts made by people living in inside the park. Among, there is a scaled down model using wood of our tree top hut where we stayed.

Now its the time for us to return.We started around 1:00Pm form there and reached Udumalai and we had our Lunch there. The veg/Fruit market which is near to my friends house and at Udumalai, we went there and have a look. Fruits and veg are very fresh and less costly compared to Bangalore. But I am not a veg lover, so I brought only some Bananas, some variety normally that are not found in Bangalore. From there again its a lone drive to bangalore and I started back to Bangalore by 5:30Pm evening and reached by 10:45Pm Night. It was a wonderful trip even I missed to take good Pics due to Rain.

Thanks for reading

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A fantastic log with great pictures ! This is one of the best places to visit in south just around rains.

Great travelogue , another place to visit for me.

It appears that they don't have an online/advance booking system as I can see from http://parambikulam.org/wheretostay.php ?

A lovely travelogue. Brilliant weather coupled with less commercialized makes it a very good choice.

Hoping to the head there soon.

Thanks for sharing :)

Superb narration and pictures! We had been to Parambikulam a few years back too. A few questions:

1. How is the road condition from Udumalpet to Parambikulam?
2. Which tree house did you stay? There are 2 - one at Parambikulam and the other at Thunacadavu.
3. Is the tree house manageable to stay in, with a 5 year old child?
4. How far do you park your car from the tree house?

Thanks in advance!

Quote:

Originally Posted by PearlJam (Post 3782856)
Superb narration and pictures! We had been to Parambikulam a few years back too. A few questions:

1. How is the road condition from Udumalpet to Parambikulam?
2. Which tree house did you stay? There are 2 - one at Parambikulam and the other at Thunacadavu.
3. Is the tree house manageable to stay in, with a 5 year old child?
4. How far do you park your car from the tree house?

Thanks in advance!

Udumalpet to Parambikulam, the Road is single lane, but it good. Only once inside the park you see some places its bad. But its not that bad and is manageable for any type of car.

I stayed the one before tunacadavu. The Tree top stay, safari and rafting is manageable for 5 year kid also. In fact I want to take my kid who is 5 year and she love these type of places, but dropped because of her classes and stay was not available during weekend. Absolutely I wont suggest kids during trekking which you need to avoid.

I parked my car just 100 meters from the hut where there is a Canteen for guards.There is no online reservation, and its only via phone call

Quote:

Originally Posted by arunrajk81 (Post 3783072)
Udumalpet to Parambikulam, the Road is single lane, but it good. Only once inside the park you see some places its bad. But its not that bad and is manageable for any type of car.

Excellent pictures and log of your trip, thanks for sharing :thumbs up

Any idea how the road from Pollachi to Parambikulam is ? According to gmaps, that route is about 30Km shorter than the one via Udumalpet.

You are so lucky to spot so much of wildlife sir, it isn't that easy isn't ?
Nice photos and a very useful log. You've done a good job with your 300mm :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by arunrajk81 (Post 3781635)
My guide mentioned that in the lake, there were fishes like Catla and Kuyil (Don't know the English name for Kuyil, somebody help if aware) along with Alligators, turtles and Crocodiles.

Think they call kuyil as mahseer in other regions in India. They tend to grow large.
WOnderful post and great pictures. enjoyed reading the travelouge.
How did you book by phone? DOnt they ask for confirmation?
Also - Do you feel its ok to take family & children to this tree house overnight stay?

Very nice treat for the eyes and soul. Thanks a ton for a the wonderful write up. Having this in my list of places to visit. Thanks once again.

Very nice travelogue and a lovely place to visit. By the way, did you spot the obvious in the jungle? Would be interesting to know!

Fantatstic travelogue.Neatly written with wonderful pictures clap:

The months around monson are the perfect time to visit any state around the western ghats.

Alligators are not present in India and are present in US and China only.

What we are seeing in the above picture should be a Mugger Crocodile which is the most common crocodilian one can spot in India.

Here is how we can differentiate them:

Alligators have wide and broad snouts




and Crocs have narrow and long snouts :


Hi RJ,

Regarding Alligators and Crocs,That was my understanding too. But my guide mentioned that these lakes are having alligators and Crocodiles (I heard same story during earlier visits too). As per the view of tribal people there ,Crocs attack people and Alligators will not.
May be its two different variety of crocs rather than an alligator.

And to reply to Joe1980, if you mean Obvious - The Tiger, I was not lucky enough to spot it .

-Arun

Quote:

Originally Posted by arunrajk81 (Post 3783072)
Absolutely I wont suggest kids during trekking which you need to avoid.

Hi, can you please elaborate? Is it because of leeches, elephants, or slush/slippery terrain? Thanks!


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