Here is a compilation of all posts from the Kerala series I was writing till now.
BANDIPUR AND WAYANAD
* Beginning of the series
* Driving past Bandipur
* At Wayanad
GURUVAYOOR AND CALICUT(KOZHIKODE)
* Kappad Beach
* On tusker trail at Guruvayur temple
Kappad beach, North of Kozhikode
KOCHI
* Cherai Beach
* Arriving at Fort Kochi
* Around Fort Kochi
* Kerala Backwaters
THEKKADY
* Journey from Cochin to Thekkady
* Periyar Tiger Reserve
OTHERS
* Impact of tea estates
* Of loosing photographs
* Sorry, the hill is closed!
* A Tourist’s eye view of Kerala
Bandipur -> Wayanad -> Kozhikode -> Guruvayur -> Cochin -> Periyar
+Previous: Journey from Cochin to Thekkady
+Go to the beginning of the series
Let’s work on the names first. There are three names you can use and mean the same. ‘Periyar Tiger Reserve’ is the entire protected forest area, covered under project tiger. ‘Thekkady’ is the place inside the park where tourists arrive to enjoy boat rides, go on treks or register for any tourist package offered by the reserve administration or Kerala Tourism. Kumily is the town head, a tourist town just outside the park. The names are often used interchangeably.
Kumily is a town high in the hills and has the lovable, cool hill station weather. Go to any corner of the town and look around, and you will not miss seeing a couple of hotels in all directions. Whether you are looking for a Rs.100 per night lodge, or a Rs.10,000 per night plush resort, you will find it in Kumily. It is a tourist town cashing in on the popularity of South India’s most popular wildlife reserve.
We arrived at Kumily in the morning and checked into the beautiful Coffee Inn, close to the reserve gates. It was around 11am by the time we settled down and headed to the sanctuary. A couple of birds – a very pretty White Bellied Treepie, a pair of Black Drongos and a big bunch of jungle babblers kept us amused just after the park entrance. As we drove forward, we got glimpses of the lake shore now and then through the trees. Periyar lake was a sight I wanted to see. The huge artificial lake appeared all around us once we reached Thekkady. It is a large freshwater body tucked between the hills, with dead trees popping up here and there in the middle of it. A few boats stood on the jetty waiting to carry tourists on a boat safari. We had some time left before the next boat-trip schedule, and we used it to wander around the park office.
Thekkady is a small place with tourist facilities like a canteen, a forest department office and a couple of hotels run by Kerala Tourism. A sign indicating rules of behaviour for the tourist mentioned boldly that alcohol is prohibited inside the park. And soon followed another sign from one of the Kerala Tourism Hotels in the park, welcoming you to their ‘beer parlour’! Tourists can avail an hour long boat ride facility at a nominal cost, where a large noisy boat that can take a hundred people will ferry you around the lake. There are other ways to go around the park, like chartered motor boat trip, man powered floats, or trekking, all of which are expensive.
We took the evening boat trip on the lake. Within a minute of start, we had moved far from the jetty and sailing into the lake in the middle of hills. Water in the lake is clean and clear and it feels good to be floating on it. It is probably the greenery around that gives the lake its green color. It was a cloudy day and it looked like it is going to rain anytime. In the first half hour, we saw a few big birds like the black necked stork and egrest, a tortoise and a bunch of wild buffaloes. It started pouring heavily on our way back and visibility was considerably reduced. The rain added to the beauty of the lake and the experience of the evergreen tropical forest. I loved every moment we spent in the water and wish it lasted longer. I hoped to come back here some time and spend many days floating in the lake surface and enjoy the views of the hills, the forest and see all the fauna that the forest conceals.
We returned to Thekkady next morning, and this time we walked the 3km stretch to Thekkady from the park entrance instead of driving. We encountered a few Samabar deers and Chitals on the way as we walked. After idling in Thekkady enjoying the beauty of the lake for a while, it was time for us to get back and move on. We started out of Kumily at around 12pm. It was our last day in Kerala and we were now driving back to Bangalore. We passed via the towns of Theni and Salem and reached Bangalore around 11 in the night, ending a six day long eventful journey.
The End.
Bandipur -> Wayanad -> Kozhikode -> Guruvayur -> Cochin -> Periyar
+Previous: A Tourist’s Eye View of Kerala
+Next: A Tourist’s Eye View of Kerala
+Go to the beginning of the series
Thekkady was our next stop after Fort Kochi. We left Fort Kochi on a late evening and had our dinner at Ernakulam. The place where we had dinner – Gokulam Restaurant – was decorated like a village in Kerala and served local food.
Our plan for the journey was to drive to Kottayam which is two hours away, stay there for the night and continue driving towards Thekkady in the morning. It took some time for us to figure out how to get to Kottayam and then we were on our way quickly.
All along the way for the past few days, Kerala was good to us. We saw good places and the people we interacted with us were nice. But Kottayam changed all that. Hotels were priced unreasonably and in some places, we had bad experiences. My guidebook had warned earlier that finding a hotel of any level is difficult in Kottayam, and it did turn out true. In some hotels, the person at the security would question us in detail as if we were criminals, only to send us away saying that they have no rooms free! And at places where we made it till reception, we met rude front-desk people, or were quoted some unreasonable prices and even some strange conditions to be given a room. We spent nearly an hour looking for a friendly place and were only greeted with ugly frowns! After getting through all of them, we became like one of them – frowning about all that we had to go through.
Having a car puts you in an advantage in such situations. We did not want to succumb to bad treatment and decided to continue driving towards Thekkady till we could find a place to sleep for the night. It turned out be a long drive, and we went on for almost two hours without much luck. At the end we just pulled over the car by the road and succumbed to sleep. We were somewhere in the middle of the jungle – we had no idea where we were – and it was pouring heavily outside and visibility was minimal. We were so tired that we slept heavily in the car, ignoring all that was outside.
We woke up in the morning to realize that we were in the edge of small town somewhere high in the mountains. We continued driving through the road that took us through some amazing vistas and many tea estates(Read my earlier post on tea estates). We reached Kumily – the town head to Thekkady at around 8am. It was cold and foggy at Kumily and it looked like 6am even when the clock moved to 9. After looking around for a place to stay, we settled down at the beautiful Coffee Inn built on the edge of Periyar Tiger Reserve.
To be continued..