A walk in the park

I took another horrible bus for a 5 hour journey south from Munnar to Kumily, which is the town from which to visit the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary.
The park covers 777 sq km and has a huge artificial lake created by the British in 1895. It is home to bison, sambar deer, wild boar, monkeys, 2000 elephants and 45 tigers (they count the elephants and the tigers).

I took a walk with my guide, Tangoma, who works for the park.  We put on cotton gaiters worn inside our shoes – boots for me and sandals for Tangoma (she had lost her boots). These were for protection from leeches, which are common after rain.

My guide - Tangoma

We started our walk by skirting a field of domesticated buffalo.

Buffalo

Two small boys were trying to catch small fish in the water in the field with a net made of a piece of material. I don’t know if they had any luck.

Boys fishing

We walked through a grove of enormous bamboo. I’m glad it wasn’t this kind growing by my patio!

Tangoma pointed out teak and rosewood trees. The nearby town is called Thekkady, which is named after the teak. This beautiful tree is called ‘flame of the forest’.

Flame of the forest

We walked through part of a tribal village. The people used to live and wander freely inside what is now the park. 40 years ago they were all resettled outside the park boundary. The government give them houses and provide schooling. Each house has a well for water. Outside one house two women squatted close to a fire cooking. A small naked boy ran around. One of the women was talking on her mobile phone.

Tribal village houses

These monkeys were sitting on a roof.

Monkeys

As we left the village we crossed this ‘dig’, which protects the village from elephants.

Elephant protection

We passed a man and woman carrying firewood on their heads. They spoke to Tangoma and told her that earlier in the day a guide had fallen into the ditch and broken his hand. Tangoma explained that the villagers have their own language, but also speak Malayalam and Tamil.

In the forest the crickets were load and there was the occasional bird song. Tangoma pointed them out, but I don’t remember their names except for parakeets. We climbed steeply uphill, stopping now and then for a breather and a drink of water.  I put my bag down on the ground and Tangoma said that was not a good idea. She picked it up and brushed if off underneath with her stick. There were two leeches on it. Tangoma suggested I tuck my shirt into my trousers.

 As we climbed she used a stick to break cobwebs across the path. There was a termite mound close to the path. We heard a samba deer barking lower down the hill.

We came out on a path at the top of the hill and walked towards an old disused water tower.

Water tower

We climbed to the top to look at the view.

Views from the water tower

We walked along a ridge, then started to descend. Tangoma pointed out interesting plants that we passed. This one is elephant grass. It can be dried to make thatch.

Elephant grass

I didn’t realise pepper is a climbing plant.

Pepper

Here is wild ginger

This plant is cardamom

This is coffee. The beans won’t be ripe until about next April, by which time they will have turned red/brown. They are picked and dried for 8 days before roasting.

This is cocoa

I was left with the impression of all the valuable natural resources there are here. It was a bit like a visit to the Eden Project – but for real!