Periyar Wildlife Reserve

| Previous | First post | Next |

Periyar Wildlife Reserve is the main attraction of Kumily. Most of the, often very expensive, tourist activities in Kumily are based in the reserve. It is located two kilometres from the centre of Kumily. When you get to the reserve entrance you have to pay the admission fee; Rs. 25 for Indians and Rs. 300 for foreigners. Considering how cheap most things are in India, it does bring a painful smile to your face handing over Rs. 600 for two people. Mort did promise the guard that he would be back some day with an Indian residency permit which would qualify him for the Rs. 275 rebate. On a positive note, the money is spent on the reserve; a very worthwhile cause.

Once in, there are two possible activities. First, you can go to the boat jetty, three kilometres from the entrance, from where a number of boat companies do two hour tours on the lake. The purpose of these tours is to see wildlife, e.g. elephants, and Periyar Dam. However, acquiring tickets is the usual Indian rigmarole. We had decided to use the Forestry Department boat which bore all the right hallmarks: it was cheap and small. Unfortunately, the boat trip only happens if at least 30 customers are willing to pay the Rs. 15 admission fee. In effect this means that the boat has to be full since it has only 30 seats. It is an interesting policy since it only has two scenarios: either there are not enough people or there are too many (unless exactly 30 turns up); i.e. there will always be dissatisfied customers. As it happened the problem was solved by the 17 passengers chipping in the extra rupees.

The boat ride itself was quite uneventful. We saw some deer and monkeys and somewhere in the most distant of distances three elephants were walking in dense hillside growth. The passengers on the three other, more expensive, boats, which all set off shortly after us, probably didn't see anything at all since all the creatures we saw took off as we passed them in our noisy boat.
The most spectacular view on the boat ride should have been the Periyar Dam, but it came and went faster than you can say “dam”. The lake is actually an artificial lake created by colonial Brits in 1895 to supply the dry, low lying neighbouring state Tamil Nadu with water. To control the water flow they also built a dam. Unfortunately, the dam is not of the same quality as the Idukki Dam, which was also built by the British. Idukki Dam is practically indestructible because the building materials naturally have developed the strength of rock, but Periyar Dam contains a high proportion of lime stone which is very weak. As a result, it is paramount that water levels are kept as low as possible; if the dam breaks there will be massive flooding of Kerala all the way to Kochi and the casualties are expected to be enormous. However, Tamil Nadu needs a lot of water and is demanding that the water levels are raised. Kerala is contesting this in court arguing that the dam is carrying the maximum safe amount of water. The experts seem to be supporting the Kerala Government, but, unfortunately, Indian politics aren't always, even when serious safety concerns are raised, determined by sense. It seems like Tamil Nadu will succeed in convincing the relevant national authorities that water levels should be raised. Meanwhile, in November 2006 the dam administrators had to flood areas surrounding the dam because the dam was cracking due to the water pressure. And in December 2006 seismic activity was measured in nearby Thrissur; even a small earthquake could, if it happened in a sensitive area, break the dam. The Government of Kerala seems to have realised that it is time to build a new dam.

The other way to spend your time in the reserve is to simply take a stroll. The walk from the entrance to the boat jetty can be done with small detours down to the lake where local people do washing, presumably for the hotels; every inch of available ground is used for drying the clothes.
Incredibly, it doesn't seem like the tourists visiting the reserve are much into walking. The only people we met on our walks were employees of the reserve. Some of these were collecting the rubbish that Indian tourists throw from whatever vehicle they are travelling in. Let us list the common mistakes of the Indian tourists who visit the reserve:

1. They travel in or on a vehicle. This picturesque place should be seen by foot. The whole purpose of visiting a wildlife reserve is to see what can only be seen when walking. When, for instance, we were there we spotted a family of black langur monkeys close to the road. These would have remained invisible to any motorised person. Of course, part of the problem is that the authorities, who make the rules, haven't banned motorised vehicles. Instead they should introduce non-polluting electric shuttle buses running at regular intervals.
2. They sound their horns. The horn is an integrated part of travelling in India. For instance, we calculated that our driver on the six hour trip from Trivandrum to Kumily used his horn approximately 2000 times. However, in the reserve area there is so little traffic, and the traffic there may be is obvious to a blind person, that the use of a horn is completely unnecessary. Only the most stupid of people would not realise that the use of a horn in this place is a nuisance to any creature in close proximity. On top of this, the reserve is littered with “Do not sound horn” signs.

3. They throw litter. India is a plastic hell, there is no rubbish collection, and in general people don't care. Shockingly, this is reflected in the reserve; a place of “outstanding natural beauty”. It is beyond belief. The reserve is by no means like the rest of India, but the plastic bottles and other packaging are there. The guard we talked to was, almost, swearing his head off about Indian tourists.

4. They are noisy. For some reason, groups of young Indian men seem to appear in these areas of natural beauty. In Munnar they came up the mountain sides in Jeeps, music blazing, beer bottles flying. It wasn't as bad in the reserve, but they contributed more than their fair share in raising noise levels.

5. They are rude. This point is more a general rant than specific for the wildlife reserve. Everywhere we have been, the Indian tourists have treated their fellow local Indians as if they were mere servants. There are too many examples to mention, but don't worry, it is true: they basically expect to be waited on hand and foot.

All in all, the reserve is worth a visit. We went there twice; the first time to go on the boat ride, and the second time to spend a few hours walking around and have a picnic. Strangely, we met a Japanese tourist who wanted to take our photo (why?), and we met a group of Indian medical students who wanted to be in a photo with us.

Excursions
Going for a walk in the reserve, including the boat trip, is one of the cheapest activities in Kumily. However, the public area of the reserve is only a very small part of the reserve, and going for walks in the public area is, unfortunately, not the best approach if you want to get the wildlife experience. There are a few recommended tours into the reserve.

The first is the jungle safari. The appeal of this trip is that it doesn't involve an awful lot of walking. You are taken 40 kilometres into the reserve in a Jeep. There will be a bit of walking and a bit of boating in big canoes. The trip lasts for 12 hours and costs Rs. 1500 per person. The main attraction of this trip is that there is a realistic hope of seeing different wildlife at close distance.

The second is the nature walk. It is a three hour walk with a guide who will be showing you trees, plants and insects. You are unlikely to see any exotic animals, but it seems like a good choice for people who are particularly interested in fauna and flora.

The third is to join the armed night patrol who go on their nightly patrols around the perimeter of the reserve. Possibly a bit spooky.

Finally, there are different variations of treks; anything from a day to week. If you like extensive walking that is.

Going on these trips is the key to seeing wild animals. Apparently, 70 percent of all of India's plants and animals can be found in Periyar Wildlife Reserve. Also, the reserve is exceptional in that the people who previously made a living from poaching in the reserve have been retrained to be guides and protectors of the reserve. Tourism has actually helped save the wildlife and the reserve itself by providing these people with alternative jobs.

Unfortunately, we never managed to go on any of these excursions; we felt strangely deflated whilst in Kumily, and took it in turns to need a days' rest. However, we have decided to go back through Kerala from Tamil Nadu before we fly home from Kochi and intend to do the jungle safari.

Spices and tea
What we did do was the tea and spice plantation tour. Just like Munnar, the Kumily area has plenty of tea plantations, and one of the local tea factories is open to the public. We were taken there by a guide recommended by Sujatha. The tea making process in the tea factory was similar to that in the tea museum in Munnar, but the scale was a lot larger.

The tea factory was located 30 minutes in a rickshaw from Kumily. Actually, we didn't go there in a rickshaw, but in a tucktuck. A tucktuck is similar to a rickshaw, but is a fraction larger. However, where a rickshaw is very quiet, a tucktuck sounds more like a Boeing 747 taking off. Also, when you are passed by one it seems to leave it's tuck sound hanging in the air for minutes. The introduction of the tucktucks' incessant noise pollution in Kerala, and Kumily in particular, is a definite evil that must be fought by all means. We won't ever get into one of those machines from hell again.

After the tea factory visit we continued on to the spice plantation. Our guide was more experienced in spices and seemed reasonably knowledgeable. It is quite interesting to see spices that you use in your daily cooking in their original forms; sometimes their shapes are unrecognisable, but usually their smells reveal their nature.
The photo above shows vanilla pods growing on a tree. In the UK most people use vanilla essence, and the people who use real vanilla usually will have to make do with a poor, shrivelled cousin of fresh vanilla. We later bought the freshest vanilla we have ever seen and smelt.
Kerala is renowned for its high quality pepper. It is grown on a tree, picked and then dried. A few years ago we bought some Keralan pepper from an Italian delicatessen in Edinburgh. It is easily the best pepper we have ever tasted, but we expect this batch, direct from the source, to be even better.
Even the bark of trees is used for spices. The bark from the tree in the photo above is cinnamon.
Rubber trees grow in most of the higher lying areas of Kerala. The rubber is extracted in small bowls and made into rubber sheets.
The extraction of rubber doesn't harm the tree. The growers' have no interest in destroying their source of income and make sure to change the point of extraction every so often. In the photo of the extraction process, the yellowish part of the bark on the left is where rubber was extracted a few years earlier. The bark has grown back and it will be used for extracting rubber at some point in the future.

We finished the trip by going to one of the many spice sellers in Kumily where we bought a kilo of spices for Rs. 600. For the first time we had to apply our principle “if it is not worth sending home, it is not worth buying”. These spices were definitely worth sending.

| Back to top | Previous | First post | Next |

This entry was posted by pundabee, on Tuesday, December 26, 2006. You can leave your response.