VJ Blogs...: Parambikulam Trip from Chennai

Parambikulam Trip from Chennai – July 2009

(P.S 1: The pics below have been reduced in size - if you need the originals, please drop me a mail...

P.S. 2: I am still learning photography...)

We had been recently on a trip to Parambikulam, the wildlife sanctuary in Palakkad (Palghat) district of Kerala. It is adjacent to the Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary in Tamil Nadu. 8 of us started the journey on a Friday evening by train from Chennai to Coimbatore at 9 PM. The train reached Coimbatore at around 5 AM on Saturday morning. (the photographer is missing in the pic below )

From Coimbatore, we hired a Tempo Traveler to Parambikulam (as of July 2009, rates were around Rs. 1200/- per day hiring charge + Rs. 200/- driver charges per day + Rs. 5/- every KM). From Coimbatore, Parambikulam is around 90 KMS away (including a breakfast halt, it would take around maximum 2 hours to reach as the upward journey in the ghats would be a little slow)
July is supposed to be the rainiest time in Parambikulam, but who cares? J Enroute, it started raining frequently (it rains for a few minutes and then stops) but this made the “jungle” experience even more lively.

We reached the entrance to Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary and paid toll charges – all vehicles have to cross this sanctuary to reach Parambikulam sanctuary which is on the Kerala side. We reached Top Slip, a place within the IGWS and if as soon as we cross Top Slip, we enter the Parambikulam area.

The buildings that you see on the right hand side are the top slip quarters/restaurant
A closer look at the buildings @ Top Slip (clean and well maintained look)

We spent a few minutes of clicks & pics before we started off to Parambikulam side.

Finally, we reached the Parambikulam forest rangers’ office. Since we had already called when we started from Chennai and booked accommodation, it was all ready by the time we reached. In case you wish to book in advance, you can contact them at the following address/number:
Ecocare Centre,Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary,Anappady, Thunakadavu (PO),Pollachi (Via), Palakkad, Kerala – 678 661.Ph : 04253 – 245025

We just checked-in and got to know about the activities for the day and the following day. We reached our accommodation – tents – and my, were we in for a shock. The tents were very clean and well-maintained – in fact, many of the hotels in cities should be jealous of the way they had been maintained. The entire tented area is surrounded by electric fence. The tent was approximately 4000 Rs. For 24 hours for 2 people which includes the trekking/boating and the food.

Parambikulam also offers another kind of accommodation – a real jungle type – where you pack food items, go to an island, stay in the accommodation over there and cook during the night etc. The accommodation in the island has only solar powered lanterns but if you are of the adventurous type, make sure that you book well in advance to get that kind of accommodation.

The day was supposed to start off with an orientation session but sadly nothing happened. Guess they should organize it a little better. We refreshed ourselves and had a buffet lunch (both veg and non-veg are served) and the food was decent enough. We started off in the vehicle organized by the staff. First halt was at a tree which is supposed to be more than 450 years old. We spotted a few peacocks and deer on the way.

On the way, we stopped at a dam for some time and took some snaps.

Amidst intermittent rainfall, we reached the boating area but we spotted a tusker (read - wild elephant, run!) and could not reach the boating area. Disappointed, we went to watch the tribal dance. This was the sad part of the tour and this was a “organized” dance with the “tribal” women dancing in well clad sarees on a stage and before each dance, one of them would tell them which steps to do during that dance. The posters had depicted an actual tribal dance around a campfire but sadly this was not so in reality.

By the time we started the return journey in the bus, it was almost pitch dark and we spotted few deer, a wild elephant and bisons on the way. The bison was the scariest of the lot with huge horns and an awesome 8/10-pack abs! It could easily have over turned the minibus we were traveling in.

The forest officials could have arranged a better vehicle which is less polluting and silent – the engine made so much noise that almost all the animals would have heard it miles away. Definitely, we also need a guide who can speak a certain amount of English, the guide who accompanied us was narrating throughout in Malayalam! We reached our tents and after dinner and few rounds of playing cards, we hit the sack.

The next day, we woke up at 6 am but the breakfast was arranged at 7.30 AM and the ‘bird-watching’ trek started only at 8 am. We spotted hardly any bird during the trip and of course, that’s what we could translate from what the Malayalam-speaking-guide stated.

We reached our tents, had breakfast and then went for the boating ride which we had skipped the previous day. We rowed for some time and we also spotted some crocs on the banks of the river (good that they didn't notice us though!) The raft was made of bamboo.