Today started with a 5:30 am pick up for the jeep safari to the Periyar Tiger Reserve. About halfway into the park entrance I realized I didn’t put in the battery for my Nikon which was recharging overnight. The benefit of traveling luxury style was being able to call our driver Bijou (we were in the safari jeep) who was allowed to enter my hotel room with us on the phone, deliver it to where we were waiting, and having a delicious, perfectly brewed roadside tea while waiting.
This is a good time to share that Kerala has had a communist government for a long time and so you see hammer and sickles all over the place. I am not sure how the government works philosophically since Communism is rooted in the government owning all land and people being paid by their ability – neither of which is happening!
We finally entered the tiger reserve, knowing we wouldn’t see tigers. However, thanks to Eagle-Eye Zeeshan we saw: Nilgiri Langura monkeys, a large spider, huge beehives, and Giant Squirrels. Since the photos I took were not very good (bad light and far distances), on the left are the photos I took, while on the right are what the animal really looks like thanks to the internet!
I do have two videos of the monkeys. If you look at the top of the video on the left side, you will see one of the monkeys jump from one branch to the other! It was fascinating to see how the older, bigger monkeys were on the top branches, while the smaller ones had to settle on lower branches where the leaves were smaller.
The drive was of course beautiful, but the main part of the day was a hike to look for elephants. This was a grueling walk, with rain and leeches! Let me give you the details!
First we stopped at the restaurant for a mediocre breakfast but with a lovely view.
To get ready for this hike, one had to put on leech pants and salt – to prevent leeches from crawling up. Unfortunately, this didn’t prevent them from climbing up my poncho when it rained or dropping down on my hands while we were walking. I noticed most of them but did end up with three bites that irritated me for a week until I learned that the poison stays in the wound area because either the leeches throw up when you pull them up, or their head comes off. Once I scrubbed the area with salt (thank you Alex for the advice) the wounds cleared up.
As we started our walk, we passed some hostel rooms with this traditional art called Warli.
We also saw evidence of elephants who came into the compound because someone didn’t close the gate properly. The elephants did some serious damage but that was cleaned up. This is the footprint evidence that was left to remind those staying there is a real reason for the ‘keep the gates closed’ rule!
Periodically the two guides would walk off while we waited, seeing if they saw elephants in the distance. While waiting I took some of these photos and then was politely told that the small noise will alert the strong hearing of elephants, so I switched to my phone on silent mode.
We knew there were elephants close due to the VERY fresh dung and broken branches.
The first elephant we saw was across the valley eating on the hillside. That was exciting as we were really giving up on ever seeing one.
Then the amazing happened – we saw a female with her baby. I knew this was a special moment because even the two seasoned guides were jumping up and down excited! No good photo as the mother and child were walking very fast away from us, but the moment is in my memory!
Feeling complete, we then started the hike out of the dense woods to a road. Luckily the rain stopped so I was able to take off the poncho. Of course, it must be noted, that while I was fully covered – the guides were in flip flops! They had some leeches attach to them but of course calmly pulled them off…
As we left the park, we passed this homestead, where a family farms cardamom. As this is rural land, a man was carrying tree trunks home for his fire. Of course, we waited for him to return and our guide helped him get the next very large, heavy trunk onto his head to carry home.
We made it back to the jeep and started the ride back, not interested in any more walking but stopping a few times for some scenic views.
There were two magical moments on the way back to the hotel. First, was seeing the temple and homestead of some tribal people (the only ones allowed to live in the forest). The teenage boy was building the amazing car. I wanted to complement him but he thought I wanted a photo of him, so he never looked up. Oh well.
I loved seeing these types of homes along the road – clearly made by the residents, who maintain them to the best of their ability while also choosing beautiful colors for individual expression.
This was fascinating, seeing men on their puja to the famous temple called Sabrimala. No women are allowed inside because the god it is dedicated to is unmarried. The celebrants walk 15 km and carrying the offering on their heads as a sign of respect.
Closer to town, I saw this truck transporting tapioca plants, saw some growing on the roadside and then being sold!
We then checked out of the hotel and on the way to our next destitaion stopped at the wholesale spice market. Zeeshan bought kilos of everything his mother cooks with, her supply for the year! I went a little crazy but the prices were amazing for such organic goods! Christmas presents….
Saffron 1g 350 rupees, approximately – $4.20
Vanilla 40 g 1000 rupees, approximately – $12
Turmeric 100 g 80 rupees, approximately – $1
White pepper 100 g 140 rupees, approximately – $1.70
Green pepper 100 g 150 rupees, approximately – $1.50
Bay leaves 50g 30 rupees, approximately – .30
Cloves 100 g 120 rupees, approximately – 1.40
Black cardamom 100 g 160 rupees, approximately – 1.60
Black pepper 250g 150 rupees, approximately – 1.50
I end today’s post with a screenshot of our location in India.
