Roadside shrine on the twisting road down from Ooty
10 January Polachi
Julie had been researching a visit to Parambikulam
Tiger Reserve, a lesser visited place that offered an attractive package of
accommodations, a safari, and a nature hike. Booking a visit through the
reserve’s website proved impossible, but we managed to connect with a travel
agent in Polachi who could make the arrangements. So we decided to travel to
Polachi today and see if we could get to Parambikulam tomorrow. Glenda and Julie
found that yesterday’s local bus experience sufficient and didn’t wish to go
that way down the mountain from Ooty. So we hired a car and driver through our
guest house for the ride to Polachi, a far more comfortable and faster than
going by bus. Maybe a bit too fast as our driver was keen to pass lots of buses
and trucks on the descent! The road was almost as scenic as the rail trip,
though far more hectic with heavy traffic. At Mettupalayam we reached the plains
and straighter roads on to Polachi, a large dusty town. The Polachi travel agent
for Grass Hills Holidays (or Grass Hills Tours & Travels) recommended three
hotels in town. The first we tried, Nivethas Inn, didn’t have any rooms, but
Rathna Square around the corner did, though its rooms should have been cleaner
and hot water more reliable for the price. We had dinner across the road at an
Adyar Ananda Bhavan, considerably quieter than the one in Ooty.
Roadside shrine on the twisting road down from Ooty
The travel agent, Rajkumar, was out of town during the day, so we met up in the evening at his home. He not only arranged the package at Parambikulam, but also a car to take us there tomorrow morning, a car the next day to take us to the railway station at Palakkad, then train tickets to Ernakulam, the railhead for Kochi. All this was very convenient and worked out well. The costs, which we split three ways was Rs. 13,310 for the Parambikulam package, Rs. 4,900 for the two taxi trips, and Rs. 285 for the train tickets. That worked out to Rs. 6,165 ($87) for each of us for everything. Doing this trip solo would have been prohibitively costly.
11 January Tented Niche at Parambikulam Tiger
Reserve
Our driver picked us up in the morning as planned and headed west to
the reserve boundary, where we had to stop to register and pay an entrance fee.
The road went to potholes and our driver admitted not liking to come here
because the road is so bad. A long series of twists and turns brought us high
into the hills to a place called Topslip, then a bit farther and just across
into Kerala state we reached our destination. Our home for the night was in a
large ‘tent’ that had a metal roof and a spacious modern bathroom attached to
the back. The women each had a bed and I got the mattress on the floor, which
was fine. After lunch and a rest we got on a bus for our safari. We saw many
small herds of spotted deer (Axis axis), also known as chital or axis deer.
Dark-furred Nilgiri langur (Semnopithecus johnii) hung out in the trees. And we
passed gaur (Bos gaurus) or Indian bison, a massive bovine with formidable
horns. We stopped to admire one of the world’s largest teak trees, the
40-meter-tall Kannimara Teak with an estimated age of 460 years. The reserve has
three reservoirs and we drove past two before beginning a long climb, with fine
views along the way to the third and largest—Parambikulam Reservoir. Here we
hopped on a pair of large rafts made of bamboo for a short excursion as the sun
set behind the hills. Afterward we stopped in a nearby village to watch tribal
dances with women doing circle dances while men played drums and a small
oboe-like instrument. The dancers invited to the audience onto the stage, and
Glenda enthusiastically joined in. Back at Tented Niche we enjoyed a late buffet
dinner.
On the drive to
Parambikulam Tiger Reserve
Driving through the
jungle
spotted deer (Axis axis)
Nilgiri langur (Semnopithecus johnii)
The Kannimara
Teak
And a
photo op!
We go out onto
Parambikulam Reservoir in two rafts.
Sunset on the
reservoir
A
tribal dance
Then the women pose.
12 January Kochi
A bit of fog added to the jungle atmosphere
the next morning when we began our nature walk. Before leaving we found a herd
of spotted deer and a few wild boar foraging. On the hike through jungle we saw
birds and heard many more. No tigers, but the guide found fresh scat of a
leopard.
Our home last night
(Tented Niche)
This wild boar sauntered through our camp.
As did these
spotted deer.
That’s
gotta hurt!
Looking for birds on the nature walk
Time-worn teak leaf
Lastly we had a buffet breakfast before meeting our drive—the same fellow who brought us here yesterday—for the trip east and north to Palakkad, where we boarded our KSR Bengaluru-Ernakulam InterCity SuperFast Express to Ernakulam, about a three-hour journey. Kochi, on a peninsula across the water is the big attraction for visitors, and we caught an Uber taxi to our Airbnb rooms at Beechboro Home Stay, a heritage building on Napier Road in the northern part of the peninsula called Fort Cochin. We went out to dinner at nearby Oceanos on Elphinstone Road, which was ideal as it had a long menu with seafood for the women and vegetarian for me.
On to Kerala State: History and Kathakali in Kochi
Back to Beginning of South India Backpacking Dec. 2018-Jan. 2019